ChiefSmoke

Coach Huff would be an EXCELLENT candidate, but I know for a fact the job has not been offered to anyone. Coach Smith will take his time to find our kids the best possible coach. David Buchanan

Dylan did a great job here last year as a Titan. I am really happy for him. Congratulations!

Congratulations Coach Jaggers!

Call me a bad guy, but these were our most productive preseasons and we were ready for the heat on Friday night. We did these on Wednesday, Thursday, one practice on Friday, then came back to these the following Monday & Tuesday. 9 am - 10 :30 am defense (full pads) 10:30 20 ounce Gatorade 11- Noon special teams (helmets or helmets & shoulder pads- shorts) Noon : lunch 1:30 20 ounce Gatorade 2:15- 3:45 offense ( adjusted gear as necessary, but full gear if allowable) 4:00 20 ounce Gatorade Water was always available through practice, anytime they wanted it. Fewer heat issues than we have had the last 10 years. It was a big challenge for our kids to stay focused in the afternoon and be productive. That challenge helped get our kids ready. Friday nights seemed much easier. I do agree you need a smart, experienced staff to do this and you have to have kids that have been conditioning for an extended period of time leading up to these practices. But, I am telling you it worked extremely well and I would argue was safer for our kids. One night we scrimmaged a much larger school that was going to extremes to stay out of the heat. They took 5 kids to the hospital. Our kids felt great. **During that time, Pepsi was donating a boatload of cases of bottled Gatorade to us for each preseason. Without a doubt, their help made this set up possible. Kids will drink alot more Gatorade than they will water and having the bottles made it very convenient to get it to our kids efficiently and fast.

When we did 3-a-days, we kept them there and fed them, and that was in a small county (Mason), geographically. Mercer is larger and that does impact some of our decisions in planning practices & workouts.

We did 3 - a - days. Short practices but in the heat of the day. We kept our kids full of gatorade and tried to be smart. It was tough, but on the first Friday night in August, we were ready. We have gone to a one a day 3 hour practice. I don't like it, but it is the best way for us to keep track of the rules and staying in compliance. I don't think we are as ready for the first game as good as we used to be. The positive is that it forces us to play more kids. I would be for backing up the season one week.

Final

Showing up at 8 am will be fine. Look forward to having you!

I read your earlier post and that is a fair question. Part of the motivation behind this is the shortage of football coaches in our state. Over the last couple years, I have had schools call me wanting help to find a head coach. Not many guys are getting into coaching football anymore. I don't want to get into listing the negatives, but the list seems to grow. We are doing this clinic at a very low price to encourage & support the guys that want to give it a shot. We want to better prepare them to be head football coaches. It is common for assistant coaches to aspire to be head coaches and we want to help them in that regard. If anyone else has questions, please ask them. We think the clinic will help young coaches and we are excited about it. I include Chuck Smith and Donald Wayne Smith when I say this. Both those guys love kids and they love football in this state. We are getting old and want to see HS football grow and improve long after we are done coaching. KY HS Football has been very good to us and we want it to have a bright future.

The plot thickens. :laugh: Heard from Steve Bramel today. You know him as "Will Bramel's Dad." Steve was one of those guys that ran us out of Danville. Photos and the entire story here: Black Shoes and White ShoeStrings: Maybe it was 1

ttt.... please share. We expect this to be a great day for helping young coaches and especially the ones that want to be a head football coach someday. We are trying to help young coaches and improve football in our state. Thank you- David Buchanan

Coach Smith will start on this right after spring break. We were in a tough spot last fall and found an outstanding coach. My thoughts.... I expect Coach Smith to take his time on this and believe he will find our kids another outstanding coach. It may take some time, but he will do it right. We are fortunate to have him in this role.

This spring I have been fortunate to see Georgetown, Centre, & UK practice. I was impressed with all three programs- their coaches & players. The players for all 3 programs were polite & personable... strong ambassadors for their schools and teams. I wanted to highlight the positive. Go Tigers, Colonels & Cats!

Stephanie says I only have one good story from high school, but I have been able to get some mileage from it over the years. One Saturday night in early September, 1982, myself and three friends went to see a movie in Danville. You may not remember Fast Times at Ridgemont High but I bet most of us old guys do remember Phoebe Cates. After the movie, our driver decides he wants to meet a girl he saw in the theatre. We drive out to the bowling alley in Danville to find her. Our first time through the parking lot, a few of the guys out there yell stuff at us. Undeterred, my buddy continues in his quest. A few minutes later, we go back through the bowling alley. But, this time, about 8 car loads of guys jump in their vehicles to chase us. I knew it was serious when one of them passed us & did a donut at the intersection of Maple Avenue & Lexington Street. At this point, we are getting back to Harrodsburg as fast as we can. We make it to Beaumont Plaza and all the guys that have chased us, circle their vehicles behind what use to be Long John Silvers. We are in good shape now, because we have the numbers. In particular, we have Woody Holt & the Elliott brothers. Woody became my brother in law, great friend, & a wonderful uncle for my kids. Woody rides his motorcycle into the circled cars and says. "I hear you want to fight some boys from Harrodsburg. I'm from Harrodsburg!" Our visitors began to get back in their cars. Many of the guys in the cars turned out to be some of my friends from Boyle County. They told me later that a KNEE came to the door of one of their cars. That would have been one of the Elliott brothers. Gradually, I began to realize many of these guys were my friends from when I went to Boyle County and also from going to Centenary in Danville. John Key( a good friend, played football for Boyle) told me just a few weeks ago, he didn't realize until I yelled his name that he was not going to get his "tail" kicked. John, and several of those guys and many my friends, would return for our game when the Rebels would play at Mercer, just a few days later. Todd Bryant was with those guys also that night and now we are both at Mercer together. Several of the guys in black & gold had been in Harrodsburg a few days earlier. September 24, 1982 It ended very well, with everyone standing around talking. My buddy that wanted to meet the girl, yes, he was talking to her while the rest of us tried to sort out the mess that almost got started. And, as you might have guessed, AFTER everything had calmed down, we had several more that were ready to fight if needed... bless their hearts. The first time I shared this story with my team was on a Thursday, in the locker room, before we played at Rowan County in 2010. In 2009, we had beat Rowan in a close game at home. They had everyone back, expecting to have a GREAT team, and had made arrangements to get our 2010 game televised. No one plans on televising a game they will lose. They had scored 71 points the week before on Fleming and they were foaming at the mouth to get us. I told our guys that we needed them at Kickoff from the very beginning, like Woody Holt. Woody stuck his nose in there for us when we needed him the most, right at the beginning. That night in Harrodsburg, we had a lot of guys ready to fight, AFTER Woody and the Elliott brothers had put out the fire. I have seen a lot of football players like that over the years. AFTER the game is determined, they are ready to be the heroes. But, when the bullets are flying early, they want no part of it! Our team doesn't really need guys for after the outcome is determined. We need guys that will fight and play hard from the opening kick off. You can win championships with those guys. I will give my 2010 team credit. Those guys played their tails off and played one of the best football games we played at Mason in my 19 years there. It was a wild dogfight from the beginning and our guys answered the bell and won that televised game by two touchdowns. I don't advocate violence & fighting. Usually there is a better solution and I am glad things worked out for us that night in September of 1982. But, I am thankful for Woody Holt & the Elliott brothers. And, those old Phoebe Cates movies are still pretty good. Black Shoes and White ShoeStrings: "We need you at Kick Off" and my only good off the field story from HS

Some times it is good being the dumbest guy in the room. This was my second day visiting Centre College spring practice. I got to sit in on a defensive meeting, team meeting, QB meeting, and watch practice. I especially enjoyed the kick off return drill work they did today. Football programs have their own language and verbiage. It is healthy for me to hear a different approach to the game. Football is football. But, the ways we can attack problems and teach the game can have multiple methods. I always think it makes me better when I see and hear a coach teach something in a different way and with different terminology. It helps me grow as a coach. It is a great reminder for me that even after 25 years as a head coach, there is a lot I don't know and I still have much to learn. Experiences like this keep the game fresh for me and keep me on my toes. Every chance I get, I try to visit quality programs that allow me access to their practices. At Mason County, I went to Fort Thomas Highlands. Since moving back to Mercer County, I enjoy visiting Centre & Boyle County. Adding Boyle to the schedule may affect that one a little, but being this close to Centre and the quality of their program is a gold mine for me. Coach Frye may begin charging me admission to practice! When the day comes that learning & improving are no longer a priority, I will do my team a favor and give up coaching. But for now, every chance I can get to learn and get better, I am going to take it. Photos at : Black Shoes and White ShoeStrings: Getting out of your own little world

Lanie was a great player also! Played at WKU.

I am a big fan of Coach Clayton. KY HS Football just got better!

Safety & Wide Receiver. Outstanding player.

No one to my knowledge is pushing Trevon to football as opposed to basketball. Because of his motor, talent, and height, he is receiving genuine interest from several schools in football, including Notre Dame & UK. My job is to help him have as many opportunities as possible. It's his life. I support him doing what is best for him and what he wants to do. I enjoy coaching him. He works very hard in practice and is very coachable. I have no idea where the "football only" stuff is coming from. The first time I have seen or heard that was here. As mentioned here, he is with an elite AAU team this spring. I am happy for him and believe that will open more doors for his future. My best guess on the reason for the football talk....people are surprised at the level of football interest he is seeing. I am not surprised for the reasons mentioned above. I've been through this type of thing before with Chris Lofton. Great stuff and a lot of fun. I wish Coach Young the best and I am confident Coach Smith, our AD, will find a quality coach for our kids and program.

Yes. Very good players and loved contact.

Dr. Steve Parker with Coach Homer Goins, early 70s. Paris at Paintsville, 1993 Twitter

If you are around old city school football, you never know who you will run into. One day at Paris, I noticed a car parked near our practice field at Garrard Park. As I walk closer to the car, I realize that Bill Arnsparger has come to watch our practice! Tonight, D Smith(UK) & Tyus Short(Ky State U) announced where they will play college football. They are both part of the Yeast family and one of the highlights for me tonight was visiting with Nick & George Yeast! Nick & George played against my Dad's Mercer teams in the mid 70s. They were very good players at Harrodsburg HS. Nick went on to a great career at EKU. George and I have crossed paths several times on Friday nights. George was a part of Bernie Jenkins officiating crew (one of the top crews in Kentucky) and did some of our games when I coached at both Paris & Mason County. George was an outstanding official, although I did tell him that everyone in Mason County still believes that Corey Jett scored a Touchdown, right at the end of the 1st half, against Rockcastle that night he did our playoff game in 2005! It's hard for a 51 year old man to feel like a little kid again. But, tonight, standing between George & Nick Yeast, I felt like a 10 year old, and yes, it was even a Friday night! old photos by Larry Vaught at : Black Shoes and White ShoeStrings: Old City School Football..... Nick & George Yeast *After my Dad died, I found all of his old newspaper articles. Trosper organized them into scrapbooks. I am very thankful for those. I can remember looking forward to getting the Danville Advocate Messenger on Saturday night and reading Larry Vaught's stories on Friday night HS football in our area. HS football is special around here and that was a great era.

A funny story from one spring..... we are getting ready for the spring football game and Murph does not want any baseball guys to play in the game because they have a game the next day. One of our baseball guys dressed out and came on the field. He threw a fit, threw down his helmet, etc. because I would not let him play in the game. Well, I had to hold him accountable but I could not run him because I didn't want to wear him out for a baseball game. What I did is after we completed spring football, I made him come in and put in every player's knee pads and thigh pads in their practice pants that we had just washed. At first he thought no big deal. After two pair and looking at the 40+ pants still remaining, he got frustrated and pretty upset. He got it done, but not the way he wanted to spend a day during spring break! :lol2:

No. When I was at Mason, and Chris Ullery & Mike Murphy were the baseball coaches, some kids wanted to do both and we tried to make it work. When Ty Sargent was our QB, he came for offense and went to baseball after that. We did it that way to help both programs. Some kids would have chosen spring football over baseball and neither program wanted that to happen. Coach Ullery was our DC and Mike Murphy did all the dirty work to run our football program. It was very much an old school set up in how we were all friends and connected. I like our baseball guys here at Mercer. It is just a different set up and we want our guys having fun and playing baseball. We get our baseball guys for Perfection Workouts in January and it has worked well doing it that way here.

Yes, it is. Terry Yeast is our track coach. Tremendous coach and person. And, obviously it didn't hurt our track season.