ChiefSmoke

Thank you to UK Football , Coach Stein, Coach Perry & Todd Shadowen for allowing us to use the K Club this weekend for our KFCA Hospitality Room. The coaches had a blast! Thank you to Adam Federle, Eric Windell & BSN for the Nike jacket & parka for door prizes. Thank you to Kelly Wilkins, Todd Donaldson & 5 Fs Fundraising for door prizes. Thank you to Ms. Wampler & the ACHS Culinary class for the excellent ? cookies. Congratulations to the teams & coaches that played this weekend!

I would think so. I know he was their starting QB in 93 & 94. May have been in 92 as well.

Scott has had a long and successful career. Best wishes to him going forward!

Had interesting conversations this week, highlighted by two coaches on opposite ends of the spectrum. One.. thought he had the best job I think I have ever heard of in terms of a set up. The other, thought he had the worst job I have ever heard of in terms of the setup. Seems like we are moving toward extremes with very few examples that are positive.

2010, we played Rowan and it was on TV. ShaDon Brown was their head coach. I think Kyle Singleton was running the offense. Adam Wing & Darrell Cross were big stars for them. We had Neal Pawsat, Josh Harris, Tyler Black & Jordan Gilbert. After the game, ShaDon says to me, "You never ran Triple Screen!" I said, "When you are yelling Triple Screen when we get off the bus, I am not going to run it." ? We stopped two fake punts that night as well. We sold an all out blitz then backed up and played defense. Our 2010 team had a very strong football IQ. We could do alot with those guys.

Got to see Chris tonight at Steve Ullery's visitation. We go back to 1996. Awful good man and coach. Dang good football coach also. He was our head freshman football coach. Freshman game, we had a kid break his leg, about 30 seconds before end of half. Fred Hester, AD, asks if he wants to call it halftime. Chris says, no, we are getting ready to score. Sure enough, trick play, scored right before the half. Maysville is a great town, wonderful people.

Congrats to the Bearcats!

Isaiah 40:3-5 New International Version 3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Good luck to Dustin!

From Coach Rich Brooks on Twitter this morning in regards to Coach Stoops: "All time record at Kentucky. Until NIL changed the game. Need to commit more to football or it will be tough to win in the SEC. Some great wins by coach Stoops and big bowl wins!"

Early 90's when I was at Paris, in addition to Mike Yeagle at Beechwood, Bob Schneider was at NewCath, Dan Ridder at Dayton, Charlie Coleman at Bellevue & Rudy Tassini at Lloyd. Excellent football coaches with tough, hard-nosed football teams. Huge challenge for a young coach and I had to grow up quick. Fortunately, we had good players. It was a great experience to learn and grow for a young head coach. It was tough but I had a blast in November when we would play those guys.

We are getting ready to play the Beechwood Tigers one night.. either 1993 (round 2) or 1994(Quarterfinals). Greg Hergott is their QB (in my opinion, best Tiger, ever). Both games at Paris. The Visitor's lockerroom is pretty nice, especially for the early 90's. Closer to the gamefield than the home lockerroom. But, Mike Yeagle comes out of that lockerroom , loud. Angry. Says that we have turned up the heat, full blast, to make them hot/uncomfortable. At the time, I was mad(at us) that we had let that happen, thought someone had screwed up. In hindsight, I always wondered if Mike created something to get his guys going. They were big favorites both times. We played them tough in 1993. Lost both. 1994 was ugly. I am/was a big Mike Yeagle fan. He was always super to me when I became a head coach, willing to answer questions, share video, etc. And, during that time, formations were a great indicator of what a team was going to run on offense. Not with Mike. He could attack the full field, horizontally and vertically, regardless of the formation. When you make your opponent mad because the lockerroom is too warm in November, that is a problem you don't prepare for. ?

We went to Nashville last week. Was super impressed w/ Pavia & the Commodores. Side note…. The only time in 33 years that Notre Dame walked through my door was when their LB Coach, Clark Lea, showed up to recruit Trevon Faulkner(Mr. ? 2018). If he were to attend camp & demonstrate he was serious about football, they were going to offer. I told Trevon , one time, “ I think you can play Safety on Sundays. “ He said , “Coach, I love Friday nights, but football practice is so hard!” ?

Beating undefeated #3 in the final week of the season, playing in the SEC, losing by a TD @ Ohio State.... they should still be in the hunt.

Congrats to Coach Wallace on his retirement. 2022 was a tough year for me. No team. Kevin let me be an analyst for him. Mondays watching them practice... impressive. Their culture, the way the assistants & players interacted was exceptional. For me, watching teams like Male, Manual, Trinity & Elder was a very cool experience. Now, what use to take an hour when watching video & breaking it down, takes about 10-15 minutes. I am very thankful for an experience that made me a much better coach. What was initially a negative, turned into a huge positive. Kevin is an awful good man, friend and football coach. One of the best careers in KY HS Football History! Congratulations Coach and enjoy those grand children. You get bored, we can always find some scarlet and navy for you in Lawrenceburg!

My mistake. Absolutely!

$1,000 for the summer camp. I thought that was awesome …. Especially in 1996!

I got to watch UK do their walk thru today. Hope they can get the W!

If you can ONLY watch one game this weekend, which one are you watching?

Our seats are next to the band. The alumni killed it last night. Don't think anyone enjoyed the game more last night than they did. Very cool to see Sean Woods, Richie Farmer & Deron Feldhaus there to be the Y.

I really don't know. But, my best guess is the distance from Lexington, Cincinnati or Louisville. Mason County was very similar. Before I got to Mason County in 1996, Felici Felice was the Superintendent. And, he was excellent. In the mid 90's Mr. Felice had the Mason County teacher salaries & coaching salaries among the best in the state. He knew it was tough to get people there and to keep them. He paid the head football & basketball coaches $1000 year, BOE stipend, to run a summer camp for kids. Our MS assistant coaches got 10 extended days. Mr. Felice did not get paid a huge salary. But, he made sure that the Mason County kids had the very best teachers and coaches he could find. It was a great place when I got there and I loved being a Royal. Joe Dan Gold continued that philosophy when he replaced Mr. Felice. That is who hired me. I don't think we have the same success without what Mr. Felice put in place. Those salaries helped us get some really good assistants who made Royals football much better. I got to see the Mason Co. AD who hired me last night at the UK game, Fred Hester. Coach Hester was super to me and Royals football. He was also a very successful basketball coach. And, he was the AD that hired Kelly Wells, Chris O'Hearn & Chris Ullery (baseball). On a side note, I was thankful I got to see Coach last night and apologize for the times I got angry with him and was absolutely over the top ugly. It's ok to disagree and try to do things to improve your program. But, I was way out of line, more than once. I would rather get hit by a truck on 127 than get ugly with one of my current bosses at Anderson County. Wonderful people as well. I am still learning to disagree but to do so in a productive manner.

Carroll has some really good kids returning.

Found this out today.... Chris Wolfe Brian Weinrich Jeff Walz (U of L women's coach) were all in the same homeroom at Highlands HS.

Coach Wolfe is going to be our podcast guest on Thursday, 12/4 ! We will release the link at 7:30 pm that evening. Thanksgiving is Brian Weinrich. Bert Bathiany was on earlier. Bluebird Alums are starring on the podcast these days. We have also had Dale Mueller & Bob Sphire. Highlands football packs a big punch, and that is not going away any time soon.