ChiefSmoke

Coach French had a gift for helping young men become the best they could be. For those of us that played for him, often, the first time that we were the best version of ourselves, we were with him. He helped us get there. He could make us as tough as we could possibly be. He could make us be the most unselfish we had ever been in our lives. He could help us do our jobs, better, than we had ever done them before. When we became men, husbands & fathers and needed to be tough, unselfish, and do our jobs well, we knew what that looked like because on a practice field or on a Friday night, he had helped to make us that guy we needed to be in that moment as an adult. We no longer wore a helmet. But, our old Coach continued to make us the very best we could be, and when we needed it the most. That is why we loved him. How did he do it? Ultimately, I really can't describe it. I do know that he set a tremendous example in regards to being tough, being unselfish, and doing your job at a very high level. But, he had a way of making his example come alive in your heart and between the ears like no other. Ironically, I am not sure how much credit he can take for his special gift in transforming lives. I really just think God wired him that way. He had an innate love for people, especially kids. His ability to see the best inside of you and bring it out was enigmatic. His method of communicating and getting you to look inside and examine yourself was inexplicable. When success would follow, his reaction would lead you to believe that he knew it was going to happen all along. In his own unique way, he would convey the message, "Of course you won. That is who you are." https://blackshoesandwhiteshoestrings.blogspot.com/2026/04/one-more-play-why-we-his-players-love.html

Got to see Coach Hayden Sphire at UK Spring ? practice yesterday. I can remember when he was born! Lol Good luck to the Bluebirds this fall!

Summer of 2022, they hosted a QB workout for me. Had a blast. Wonderful people. Certainly wish them the very best. The timing on this one is tough.

Been having a blast with Grok adding color to these old pictures that were black and white. Have also used Chat GPT, but prefer Grok. The more complex the picture gets, the less successful in getting the color correct. But, have really enjoyed this. Like jumping in a time machine! 1982 CKC Gridarama w/ Coach Larry French, Coach Johnnie Slone Boyle Co. 1973 My Dad, London HS's 1st football team, 1958 1982 Boyle at Mercer 1994 Paris HS w/ QB Cory Dumphord, now Greyhound HFC JCB (my 3 year old son) - water boy, Mason County, August 1999. 1986 Mercer Staff. Larry French in front. Back row: Chuck Smith, Dick Straten, Jack Robertson, myself 1982 Mercer at Wayne Co.

I didn't pay that close attention. Spent most of the scrimmage talking to Coach Cunningham.

I got to go to the scrimmage today. My son, Trosper, is a student assistant @ UK. Was fortunate to meet Coach Stein. Also, got to visit with Melvin Cunningham (Murray HS HFC), Pete Nochta (John's son) , Keith Towbridge (CAL assistant, now on UK staff) & Andrew Coverdale (former Trinity OC). What stood out... energy, enthusiasm, and they are all on the same page. Very encouraging. Once the weather turns warm, to an old guy, it feels like game day is right around the corner!

We have had a strong offseason. Spring break begins tomorrow. We will hit it hard when we return. Final Truck Stick testing for the school year is May 14. We will have a weight meet, here, with Taylor County, Monday, May 18. After the 18th, the guys will be off until June 1, 7 am. The quality and quantity of hard work, going back to April of 2023, has been significant. I feel great about the foundation. Still, that is no guarantee on results. Hopefully the results will follow. But, without question, we are a much better football program now than we have been over the past 3 years. Our strength coaches still track bench, clean & squat numbers. For me, for our rewards, recognition, etc.... my preference is Truck Stick ... Mass x Velocity. It translate better to on field success. And, our biggest issue has not been, "Are we Strong?" Our biggest hurdle has been, "Can we RUN & MOVE?" The answer to question number two is, "Better than any other time the past 3 years... as a TEAM." We have had some individuals that could run, but very few. Recruiting for our guys has picked up, substantially, the last 3 weeks. That is encouraging. This winter was the TOUGHEST I've ever seen it for HS guys getting recruited. Glad to see things improving in that area.

Zechariah 9:9 was fulfilled on this day, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. It is projected that the Word of God will be translated into every language by 2033. Matthew 24:14 My youngest son, Trosper, who is also a student assistant for University of Kentucky Football, shared the gospel last night to a packed room of HS & college students. It was on the top floor of the Christian Student Fellowship building at UK. My best guess.... maybe 300 kids. Unite. Jonathan Pokluda. Both are significant in this revival that is taking place across the nation among young people. Check them out. We are both blessed and fortunate in this country that we can celebrate Holy Week. I hope for all of us, we can take time this week to reflect on what Jesus Christ did because He loves us. He did what none of us can do for ourselves. He paid the price for our sins. Our Salvation is 100% available because of the blood He shed. There is NOTHING any of us can do to earn that. You guys know how much I love coaching HS football. My value is not in how much I love my players, or how many games we win, or how hard I work, or how many people like me.... etc, etc. My value is in the skin ripped off the back of Jesus Christ. Praise God!

Old guys... who was at this game, Rupp Arena, April 1st, 1985? I was a 19 year old sophomore at Centre. We decided to make the trip, sitting at dinner. The game of the century was less than 40 miles away. How could we not give it a shot!? We bought tickets right before tip off. $50 each. Front row of upper arena! Patrick Ewing, John Thompson, Rollie Massimino, Ed Pickney. That was the last Division I basketball game played without a shot clock. What do you think... does Villanova win that game if there is a shot clock? https://blackshoesandwhiteshoestrings.blogspot.com/2026/03/if-we-had-any-guts1985-national.html

Yes. We had that conversation. Coach Smith thinks it is too tough or messy to get some of the enrollment data. The OHSAA has figured out how to do it. The public vs private debate, is dead, at least to me. Chuck did a good job talking about the multiplier. He also offered his plan for alignment. Our next episode is TH, 4/2 at 7:30 pm. It is w/ Damon Kelley, KHSAA Board of Control President-Elect. He is coming on to discuss realignment. I sure do appreciate his willingness to do so. Thanks for being a listener! We appreciate it!

Coach McCann’s son is Eli, and he is a beast! Thank you!

Alot of the speed we have on our team is in our young guys and they play baseball as well. It was fun to see those guys get a win. Our bigger guys went to Bryan Station today and competed with them in the bench and the deadlift. Thank you to Coach Davey McCann & Don Miller (Bearcat Alum & Bryan Station Assistant) for putting that together. Coach Hicks got the youngest Bearcats out on the field today. It was a good day for the Bearcats. We've got several really good guys/coaches putting in work for our program / kids and they are making a difference.

OnTopAthletics does a super job w/ their camps. Will host one in May that will be attended by college coaches. But, they did share this yesterday. :

I don't think Coach Wolfe would be involved if it were shady. A few days ago, he let me know this was going to be a reality and he is really excited about it. I am happy for him. He is a good man and football coach. Recruiting for HS guys, right now, is the toughest I have seen, ever. The best advice an elite college coach gave me a few weeks ago was to get my guys to a California JUCO. A JUCO in Kentucky with Chris Wolfe involved at a high level is great for KY HS Football players and coaches.

Coach Izzo on where he gets his energy: “My energy is because deep down, I respect the guys that have left. I understand why some of them did. I appreciate what my boss told me a long time ago, ‘Your job is to be a steward of the game,’” Izzo said. “I don’t think right now enough coaches are standing up to be stewards of the game. A steward of the game means to try to do what’s best for the player. We’ll see as time goes but right now, at least for another week, I’m still hanging in there, man. Not going anywhere. Not going anywhere.” https://www.si.com/college-basketball/tom-izzo-important-coaching-nil-era-michigan-state-march-madness

These young guys won King of the Hill on Wednesday. We try to pull the younger guys for this drill and the North Carolina Drill to give them more live reps but in a controlled/condensed environment to protect their bodies. Also, gives them a chance to WIN because the older guys are at another part of the field. I take the young guys and do this work while the position coaches have their older guys. I really enjoy this and I like for the head coach to interact more with the young guys than he normally gets to do so. We finished with our spring red-white scrimmage yesterday. In the past, we did Top 22, Best Offense, Best Defense and depth or each set of scrimmage groups. This year, we did four groups and did the best we could getting everyone work on both sides of the ball. It was ugly, as you can imagine. But, believe we have some good pieces and can develop some others by the time we get to 8/21. Every time MOST HS guys can get live & tackle to the ground, 11 v. 11 reps, they will improve. Spring is the best time to do that. We go live all season, 11 vs. 11, in the summer and inseason, but try to stay on our feet (most of the time) to avoid injury. We had 38 guys participate in the scrimmage. By the time you add our baseball guys and the guys banged up, we are a little above 45 Varsity guys which is what we are after. Next spring, will try to be more deliberate... Practices 1, 2, 5 & 8... the non contact days... will be fundamentals & individual. Practices 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 & 10 will be almost exclusively 11 vs. 11 live reps. I was sad to see it end yesterday. At my age, you just don't know how many more of these you have left. As I have said, hopefully I can squeeze out 20 more springs. But, the huge positive is the AWARENESS that what you are doing in the moment is absolutely incredible. You value each day significantly more when you realize you are rapidly approaching the end. If he BGPreps crowd wants to make the trip to Bob Ware Field this fall, you will see an improved Bearcat Football Team. Thank you to @theguru for giving us a great way to celebrate KY HS Football.

Our next episode will be w/ KHSAA Board of Control, President-Elect, 2025-2026, Damon Kelley to discuss realignment. I sure do appreciate his willingness to come on and talk about it. The episode will air, Thursday, April 2nd, at 7:30 pm. We have not settled on a Tough Topic yet. If you have something we have not discussed yet, please post it here. Much of our BEST content comes from BG Preps. Thank you @theguru! Here is a screenshot w/ some of our recent episodes. https://www.youtube.com/@T.C.O.P/videos

Correct!

Got to talk to my 2015 QB & TB this week, Drew Davis & D Smith. Brought back some great memories of some TOUGH days. Saturday, April 4, 2015. I had just become the head coach at Mercer County HS. I asked to meet with Drew Davis and D Smith. I had coached Drew's Dad (Dennis) in HS and now he was my Boss as the Superintendent. D's Dad (Donald Wayne) had been a friend for a long time. We played HS football against each other when he was at Harrodsburg and I was at Mercer. Drew was going to be our Quarterback, as a senior. D was going to be our Tailback and a DB as a junior. I had never met them, but I felt like, "If I have got Dennis' and Donald Wayne's sons on my football team, those guys are going to be winners!" I was right. As we discussed preparation for the 2015 season, I asked them, "Should we do a traditional spring practice in May, and an install in June? Or, do we make spring practice install and do a June mini camp?" After that question, there was silence. They looked at each other and just stared. I said, "Guys, what's wrong?' One of them said, "Coach, nobody's gonna come." My response was, "Well, let's get to work and see what happens." "Nobody's Gonna Come": Getting to work, TODAY If you are facing a Monday morning that looks impossible, consider this..... Get to work and do what you know to do, the best you can. If you wait until you are 100% sure of what to do, you will never get started.

Last night, our guys had a blast and got better. It took alot of cooperation and support to pull it off...our families, staff & community made it happen. We had a great meal, valuable meeting time for position groups, both sides of the ball, and took some time to review our program standards (read initial post). Our execution in our drill work was the best it has been in March, as compared to previous springs. We ended with a short scrimmage and our North Carolina Drill. Execution is improving. The physicality was significantly better. Our spring game is Thursday, 3/19. Should get rolling around 3:30. The BGPreps crowd is always wanted and welcome.

We have had two coaches, also former Bearcats, running offseason workouts for our incoming MS guys. They use the HS weightroom (barely a year old since it was redone). We have a big open space in the middle for agilities and movement. I can't say enough about how this community and former players/alumni have jumped in to help us get back on the right track. Yes, the mountain is big. But, the day to day here is super and the people make it that way. For whatever reason, this place(admin & community) has an exceptional understanding of delayed gratification and the grind/commitment required to build a program the right way. Very thankful to be a Bearcat. ? @Polar Bearcat

We started spring practice Monday. Has been a good week. Tomorrow's schedule is a little different. 8 pm catered team meal. 8:20-9:30 Position Meetings & Videos 10 - 11:55 Practice #1 12:05 - 1 AM Practice #2 - Scrimmage Knocks out two practices. Gets the guys together for an extended period of time. Also gives us more meeting time to teach/coach. Any time we share a meal together it is a good thing. And, it is different! Spring game will be Thursday, 3/19 after school.

How can you not love the Polar Bears?! Congratulations Coach Ahrens!