ChiefSmoke

Coach Engler is getting it done at Ryle. He was a guest on our podcast last fall. You will enjoy his comments and comparision of central KY football as compared to northern KY football!

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-coaches-office-with-coach-engler--56729664

Kevin Wallace does a super job at St. X. Experience is underrated. 

Here is on our podcast, fall of 2022!

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-coaches-office-episode-9--51546565

Tony Franklin did a super job on our podcast and would be an excellent hire for Mayfield HS. He kicked off the Offseason in Season 1 for us. Listen here!  :

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/coaches-office-offseason-episode-1--52363461

I met Tommy Greer in 1980 @ Phil Simms QB Camp. Fall of 2022, he was one of our first guests on the podcast. He retired on May 6. When did we get old? We should be walking to a QB workout right now at Morehead State.

He did a super job on our podcast. You will enjoy it.

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/coaches-office-episode-15--51997557

1 hour ago, common_sense_eagle said:

It’s a tough day for common_sense_eagle. I am not sure what KHSAA reasoning was for not pushing through these districts, if anyone has any insight please let me know. 
 

I will continue to do this every realignment year and I guess I’ll be driving 4+ hours for a district game again these next 2 years. 
 

I can only speculate why this was ignored, probably has to do with the same reason 6A rotates sister districts and nobody else does.

I appreciate your efforts. It made a lot of sense. With the advent of RPI… my best guess… it is only a matter of time before AI is used to do football district alignments and even more. 
 

Thank you and your day is coming…. Hopefully sooner than later! 

If you have a listener question for the June episode... please post here!

2 hours ago, theguru said:

I agree and my guess would be Corbin has a pretty good idea on who they are hiring to replace Coach Greer. 

I don't know this...but that is certainly what it looks like. I sure hope so. 

Like always, had a blast at Pikeville. Appreciate Coach Chris McNamee hosting us… we look forward to this trip every year!

Thank you to Trosper & 4thAnd40 Alum, Randy Maynard, who is now one of my bosses!

Trey Dalton made a 4 hour drive to be there today. Dalton Stamm & Bill Melton brought 6 Lewis Co. Lions. That meant a lot to me and I sure do appreciate it.

Look for the mountains of eastern KY to continue producing QBs that can sling it!

#4thAnd40

🏈⚡️🏈⚡️🏈 

Season 2: Offseason Episode 5 - Chris Mason

Chris does a great job connecting the dots with HS Administration and Championship Football!

Season 2: Offseason #5

On 4/17/2024 at 7:30 PM, BEChargers said:

 

Should Guardian Caps be mandatory for youth and middle school football?

 

 

We used this question for the 5/2 episode. Thank you! 

3 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

To be fair, I'd need to see how the play developed. I could see both being right. 😆 

A couple weeks earlier I had thrown multiple interceptions in our game against Wayne County. That loss was my fault. 
 

Wayne County had a good, young running back. His name was James Fletcher! 

As both a coach & administrator, Chris Mason has been to the top. Get the details this week on The Coaches Office: Behind the Scenes of HS Football w/ Chuck Smith & David Buchanan , Thursday, May 2nd, 7:30 pm! Also, this month’s sponsor is Vescio Fields. Thank you Doug Vescio!

Combined pro shuttle, scoop & score, Interception. Very efficient. High tempo drill. Required a full speed effort for an extended time. Kids enjoyed it. Good challenge. Had to properly catch & carry football…. All positions.

Coach Smith would have enjoyed this one. Would have been spit flying everywhere.  🙂

#FindAWayToWin

Looking for a TOUGH TOPIC for the 5/2 episode. We will record on 4/29.

Our last episode we used questions from BGPreps. 

Please post some questions in this thread!

We discussed this in our last podcast. When Coach Smith & I starting talking technology... it gets interesting. 

We discussed why there are 50 KY HS's that will have new coaches in 2024 on our last podcast!

We used this question on or last podcast!

Season 2: Offseason 4 The Coaches Office: Behind the Scenes of HS Football w/ Chuck Smith & David Buchanan

Thank you Listeners! As you would expect.... Coach Smith says, #6 is good, but we are after #1! 

🙂

On 3/15/2020 at 12:29 PM, ChiefSmoke said:

In December of 2007, several of us were standing in the hallways between classes at Mason County HS. It was finals week, just a few days before Christmas break was suppose to start. The weather was miserable, cold & windy. While standing out there, I get a phone call from my good friend, Chuck Smith, who at that time was coaching linebackers at the University of Kentucky. We are freezing, but Chuck is in Florida, enjoying GREAT weather on recruiting.

One of the guys I am standing with in the hallways is our head basketball coach, Chris O'Hearn. He is pretty excited. Our basketball team, lead by future Mr. Basketball, UK Wildcat, & NBA player, Darius Miller, is getting ready to fly to Hawaii to play in a Nike Tournament for the best basketball teams in the country.

I casually make the comment... "Yeah, all the good coaches are going to enjoy some great weather. The bad ones, like me, are stuck in the cold."

The bell rings and I return to class.

My classroom phone immediately rings.

The voice on the other end says, "Coach Buchanan, this is Travis Davis with American Football Monthly. We would like to do a video on the Triple Screen and some other areas of football with you."

I am stunned but really excited.

He continues, "We will fly you to West Palm Beach, Florida, to do the videos."

He continues to talk. My classroom phone is right next to my door. I am on the phone, checking caller I'd, and then sticking my head out the door. This has GOT to be a joke. I am looking around, up and down the hallways for the likely culprits... Coach O'Hearn, Steve Appelman, Fred Hester, Chris Ullery, Seth Faulkner, Larry Harris, Kent Moore (probably just hung up the PA from singing Christmas Carols).

I check caller I'd and ask again... "Please, now who is this?? Where are you? What is this for?"

I really can't believe it and don't believe it. But, it turned out to be legitimate!

So, one January morning, when the temperature was below 30 degrees and the wind had blown the kids basketball goal up next to the house, I jumped in the car and headed to the airport in Cincinnati.

When I arrived in West Palm Beach, the temperature was in the mid 80's and it was sunny. I was sitting in short sleeves, looking at palm trees.

I met Travis and then spent the next 24 hours working with Rex Lardner, filming the videos. This was insane... I was in West Palm Beach, Florida, doing football videos, in late January!

I enjoyed working with Travis and Rex. Really good guys who are exceptional in the work they do.

For me, the moral to the story is God can do anything He wants to do when He wants to do it. It was a really cool way for God to show me that He loves me. It definitely got my attention.

That event has also made me pay closer attention each day as different things happen. God communicates His love to us often through the day. If we are not paying attention, we may miss that.

Because of my faith in God, nothing seems too little or too big. When God chooses me to serve Him in the smallest, most menial, humble ways and in a way that would be beneath others, I am good with that. I am serving Him and working for Him. When God chooses big ways, extraordinary ways, even situations that I would be in over my head in my own abilities, I trust Him with the outcome.

I don't know what the future holds. But, big or little, I will be content to serve God in whatever way He chooses.

And, if He decides to throw in some palm trees here and there, they will just be a great reminder of the incredible phone call that cold day in December of 2007.

Good one for Sunday morning. Hard to believe this one is true... but it is!

I can't be sure, but I think I have seen them, all three, over the last three months. At a minimum.... feel pretty confident I saw Monster #1, twice. I really don't know for sure, but it looks like even if you make a lot of money, those monsters are still there. 

Most of the time, when a coach changes jobs, there are 3 monsters fighting in the coach's head and heart. 

 

Monster #1: The grief over leaving the previous job, most of all, the people and relationships. 

Monster #2: The excitement and anticipation of a new opportunity. 

Monster #3: The overwhelming amount of work that goes w/ starting over...day 1. 

 

JCB, me, Trosper, Larry Harris

Along with the 3 monsters, comes the moment my Dad always warned me about. Paris, Mason & Mercer, he told me, "At some point, you will ask yourself, 'What in the hell have I got myself into?' When that happens, don't worry about it. Just keep going. Keep working." 

 

For my Dad, those moments were when he came home from his first scrimmage at both Boyle and Mercer.  He was overwhelmed. But, both of those programs got much better and much faster than he would have anticipated in the moment. 

 

I can remember that moment, for me,  at all four places when it happened.  At Paris, it was in the weightroom (Lance Cordray was in there lifting) right after Mr. Goins had told me I was going to replace Coach Gruneisen, who was leaving for Bourbon Co. HS. As bad as I wanted to be a head coach, that was not a good day. At Mason, I was sitting in the office w/ Coach Hester, ordering equipment. At Mercer, it was walking up the sidewalk of the complex, looking over at the practice field... realizing that starting over after 19 years at one place, was going to be a workload like I couldn't imagine.  

 

At Anderson County, it was a year ago, today, April 11th. I had just got my keys. Without going into detail, the dang equipment room was a nightmare. A couple old coaches bailed me out. I called Sam Harp, a KY HS football legend who had been at Anderson. He is also incredibly well-organized and I knew he would have figured out how to make it work. He started laughing. I said, "I've got to put what's valuable in the equipment room and the rest in the laundry room." He said, yes, that is the only way to make it work. 

 

 

 

The other old coach that got me through that moment was my Dad. Although he is no longer alive, I could hear his words and hear him laughing at me. I could also hear him saying to me, simultaneously,  "You are nuts for jumping back into this" and "You are right where you need to be, doing what you were meant to do."

 

Back to these three monsters. For me, the day I left a program,  Monster #1 was by far the biggest.  The emotion of the ending is hard to put into the words. The relationships. The shared trials and triumphs. The collective accomplishments and disappointments. The sheer number of hours and days! When a shared mission that is pursued daily, with all you have in your heart, soul and guts comes to a sudden end...no words can do it justice. 

 

One of the positives about leaving Mercer without a job was that I only had to fight Monster #1. Taking the Anderson job meant that I only had to deal with two monsters. Amazing how much that helped both situations. 

 

Leaving Paris for Mason, and then Mason for Mercer...brutal. 

 

Ledger Independent: Interview from Office- The Day I Resigned at Mason County

 

My former Pastor, Paul Gibson, told me once, "The bigger we love, the bigger the grief." Monster #1 is tough beyond words... but turns out....that is a great thing. 

 

Monster #3 can eat Monster #2. Monster #3 needs strict parameters. For Anderson County, this was improved. But here is the foundation of the : Transition Plan .

 

To me, only a fool would start a new job without a very clear, organized plan for day 1 and week 1, in addition to what must be done ASAP.

 

October, 2023- Anderson Co.

 

 

So, which monster wins?  For me, they grow into one single BEAST.  That Beast only gets bigger every year. But, it is a GOOD BEAST!  This Beast becomes all the people you love, going back 55 years to my Dad's first team at Boyle. It grows into hundreds of stories... the people at ACHS are learning to avoid me or they are in for at least two stories per conversation.  The conversations and interactions with the players and the coaches on your team stir memories.... didn't this happen in 1994?  Is this the same conversation from 2003?  The Beast is so powerful, it reminds me on a daily basis of how incredibly blessed I am that I still get to do this.  When you are paying attention, you see God's love wrapped up in the totality of this good beast. But, as good as this beast is, it can also be exhausting and overwhelming. That is why I call it a Beast. But, it is a wonderful beast. I can tell you this.... I am going to keep it alive as long as I can. 

 

I really don't know, but I sort of think Coach Saban and Coach Cal may have felt the same way. 

 

*Nick Saban photo by David Carpenter