Calico Jack

Florida went to a population density factor.  That’s the difference maker.  
 

•The usual suspects are Independent schools (extremely low square mileage, many or all are just a handful and several that are less than a handful of square miles in terms of the size of their school district).

•College towns

•Metropolitan areas

•Private schools

Many schools fit into a couple of these criteria.

All of which, not necessarily my opinion, but it’s fact- has so much to do with PEOPLE. 

 

3 hours ago, theguru said:

It doesn't make any sense to me either.  I think parents and students should run away from Warren Central. 

Then why aren’t people lining up to play non district schedules of X, T, Male, BG, Boyle Co, Douglass, etc?  
 

There is no difference. 
 

South Warren and John Hardin back when they both started playing football, granted they were new programs, but the kids weren’t new to football, had some extremely softer spots in their schedule.  Boyle Co some 30 years ago even dropped and/or wouldn’t play some of the local schools they had a history with because, at the time, Boyle was a doormat.

You see all kinds of coaches on here and twitter heroes that talk the talk of playing competition- low key shaming programs that don’t or need a change in their schedule.  Yet I don’t see them playing some of the aforementioned programs.  However, you can take it to the bank that in private responses to those “average” programs on the listserve that they are trying to sand bag all they can into softening things up. 

“Georgia can RUN the football.”

- Herbie

The speed that is out there on the field for both, but especially for Georgia.  Keep running the rock.  
 

Some will scoff at this, but go ahead.

They’d maul people no matter what they did.  Imagine them running the flexbone w all those running backs and guys up front and the speedsters out wide.  
 

If Air Force, Army, Navy can win doing that w guys who have no P5 offers, imagine what UGA would do.  Granted Army and Navy has fallen off some, but Air Force this past season and the season before were wrecking people. Before that, Army and or Navy had been.  

First and foremost: he can flat coach. A dang good one at that, and to be honest, I’m not so sure that those in and around the ‘blue bloods’ of the state don’t realize just how hard it is to win any at all throughout the state at rural-county schools. Some of the best coaching in the state goes on at these places. You better believe he does just that. You said it with your first post  

It always mind boggles me when head coaching jobs come open and records get brought up about current head coaches that are either interested in the position or maybe their name gets thrown out there purely on speculation that don’t have winning records. Coaches with good jobs (chance at winning/competing for district-region titles and more year in year out) don’t leave for other good jobs. They’ll leave for great jobs (if those aren’t hired from within, which is the case many times and who can blame them- if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it). Coaches at state championship winning jobs very seldom leave for one of the same. So, back to an aforementioned point about coaches at some of these places being able to win any at all at their previous or current school- if you get a guy like him that wants to come to your place? You hire him. Casey did that. The man can coach his tail off and then some  

 

But, I’ve never understood this way of thinking “a style that will get the community excited.”  I guarantee communities like Belfry (flexbone), Lawrence County (flexbone), Johnson Central (wishbone), Bell County (three back fun from the Wishbone, Power I, I-Wing), Scott County (Wing T), Southwestern (Wishbone + some spread looks), CAL (full on pro style with multiple personnel packages, both under center and gun), Elizabethtown (wing t), McLean County (wing t), Union County (see Southwestern), Hart County (wing T), etc. with their success this year and another one coming, etc are just as excited in their communities during the fall as anybody.

 

Good players usually make any type of offense exciting, good offenses usually make things exciting because it mostly leads to winning.    Not every school or even half of them across the state are built to win a state title or even compete for one. I don’t care if Nick Saban, Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin were to all three walk through the door on the same staff. 

 

Being 4 and 5 wide and throwing it all over the yard isn’t the only style that’s exciting for the community.  For every program that has success doing it that way, there are just as many and truth be told, probably more that don’t have any kind of success. 

 

Conversely, it always seems like “old school” approaches lack of success seem to be magnified.  I’d even say that programs who have success being throwback styles always seem to have a shadow around them when it comes to putting up the same amount of numbers and wins compared to those that are deemed ‘wide open’.

I got to reading some of the posts when it came to Adair vs Casey, which is a better job, how does Casey compare to area schools, etc. So, I decided to do some comparisons. 
 

Before I lay those out, though, I think Adair/Casey are programs like many, many others out there where it’s really splitting hairs.  More times than not, these one horse town, rural, county schools hope that good class(es) of kids align with a favorable schedule/realignment.   I’ve said it before and I’ll say it, again, but yes “culture” is a fun thing to throw around and it is extremely important. But there are places out there average to below that have good culture, what they don’t have is better, God gifted players year in year out compared to who they are playing- vast demographic differences. Years that they do have those guys? You usually see better years that stand out, especially if they aren’t the norm. 
 

I digress, and back to the comparisons.  Casey County, geographically speaking is a very large county that is bordered by Adair, Taylor, Russell, Boyle, Lincoln, Marion and Pulaski County’s.   
 

I didn’t factor Pulaski/Somerset, Boyle/Danville, Taylor/Campbellsville into the comparisons because all three of those communities are a little different than Casey (multiple schools in the county, multiple districts, the towns themselves just being drastically different, etc).   
 

Using Adair, Casey, Lincoln, Marion and Russell County I totaled up (since 2000):

1 ) • Winning Seasons

2) • 5 Win seasons (5-5, 5-6, 5-7, etc)

3) • Playoff wins

4) • Region Final Appearances 

5) • Region Titles

6) • Coaching changes since 2000 (there is a lot to be said with that) to this day 

 

Adair        

1) 7 
2) 0

3) 3

4) 0

5) 0

6) 8 

 

Casey

1) 7 

2) 3

3) 6

4) 1

5) 0

6) 5th since 2000 TBD

 

Lincoln

1) 5

2) 5

3) 7

4) 1

5) 1

6) 7

 

Marion

1) 5

2) 3

3) 5

4) 1

5) 1

6) I'm not touching this one with Marion County having tragically lost two head coaches who passed away in the last 8 years in Jeff Robbins and Rob Reader.

 

Russell County

1) 10

2) 1

3) 4

4) 0

5) 0

6) 5

6 hours ago, barrel said:

Don’t get me wrong they’ve got some good players. Looking at the KHSAA roster and it looks like well over half were freshmen and sophomores this past season. To say they have better players than most of the teams they played against this past year is a stretch.  Look at the schedule and either the teams were pretty loaded with talent (Douglas, Scott Co, Great Crossing, Lloyd) or were heavy upperclassmen loaded. 

Without a doubt! That’s what I meant. If this was on the administration, then shame on them.

12 hours ago, zoneblitz24 said:

I don't know anybody who coaches just for the money.  If they only coach for the money then they probably aren't a good coach.  Everybody that I know coaches because they love the game and understand the impact that it can have on young student athletes later on in life.  There aren't many lessons I remember from the high school classroom but I sure do remember what I learned on the football field, weight room, and locker room.  To build a successful program you have to have support from top to bottom in a school system and the community has to buy into the program as well.  There are so few schools that have that type of support that if you can get it I believe you can win 7-8 games a year because there might only be 1 team on your schedule that has it.  

Great post.
 

Same here.  Those that think the ball fields or courts don’t teach you as much, or mean as much to the total academic-developmental in all area(s) process? I can’t even have a conversation with.  Because they are either saying it because they don’t know or they are just trying to sound P.C. 
 

I never dreaded going to an English class, but I did to a 98 degree “in the shade” practice at 3:30 after school, but knew that’s what needed to be done for the betterment of the team, myself, my coaches, etc.

I never got knocked to the ground in Math class, having to get back up and go at it again and again. However, I did at practice and games where your teammates, several hundred to a couple thousand people were watching

That list could go on and on.

I agree with the last part, too, but I’m telling you…the natural talent that you have vs what your opponents don’t have, IMO, or vice versa, get left out big time in all this.  If that wasn’t the case, then you’d see coaches at other programs instead of the ones they are at- or you’d see them never leave for better situations.  
 

You show me a team that wins on a Friday night and the overwhelming, vast majority of the time? I’m going to show you a team that just has better players.  God gifted, naturally, better athletes.  
 

Some coaches don’t like acknowledging that, or at least not harping on it as much as they should.  Why? That deflects from their own personal impact on a program.    I get “culture”.  Culture is real thing, but I can promise you there as many average to below average teams out there that have as good of a team culture as successful ones.  The difference(s), at least in many cases, not all…
 

P-L-A-Y-E-R-S

 

1 minute ago, brooksville said:

Just an idea… if Bracken is in 2A.  They should opt to play up in 3A.

District in 2A: Beechwood, LCA, Walton Verona, Daniville

District in 3A: Pendleton, Lewis, Powell, Fleming. 

They 100% should, but their district isn’t going to have LCA and Danville in it. I’m not so sure I wouldn’t If I was them as is even just with Beechwood in it.  

1 hour ago, Breds82 said:

With schools like this, how can a coach who knows what he’s doing not have some success if he can get the numbers to play? I can understand the administration getting in the way, but can’t a true motivator/coach make a something out of nothing?

To that last part & generally speaking:

If their schedule is right then they can. Also if they have a naturally gifted group of kids come around.  

 

Good players.  Players better than the people you have to play for the most part. For whatever reason that’s like the elephant in the room when it comes to success.  

6 hours ago, RetiredFan said:

Player Reclassification.

As another football year comes to a close, I still look at players that reclassified due to Covid.  I think there should be some type of class that identifies theses players.  Something like an (R) associated with their school year.  Like R-Sophomore, R-Junior and R- Senior.  Knowing this went down into middle school in some districts we will be dealing with this issue for the coming years.  It is misleading to see teams show players in a certain grade when in reality they are a year older than others in the class.  I know not all schools allowed the reclassification.  There is a big difference in a 15-year-old sophomore and a 16-year-old sophomore and so on up the ladder.  The media makes some reclassified players out to be super athletes when in reality they are a year older and more mature. Just food for thought.  Any comments. 

I don’t think they make them out to be super athletes.  I’ve never understood the backlash for being 18 all of your senior year, or even 19 during your senior year so long as it’s after the August 1 deadline.  No rules have been broken. 
 

I’ve never understood the (not you saying this, but the general thought of ) “they should be in a grade older because of their age.”

What about, “they should be in a grade lower because of their age.”? Because when I see or a 17 year old graduating in May of their senior year, heck, even not turning 18 until their senior year of school is halfway over and sometimes not turning 18 until that last month of high school and sometimes on into the following August, September’s that is my immediate thought.

36 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

It will help them as far as district will be weaker but beyond that I agree.

Captain Obvious here, but that’s how you start the building process- giving yourself a chance in your district.

Central AD said it all right here:

“Whether it’s in 3A … or 4A, at the end of the day every single class is going to have four, five or six schools that are consistently going to be in it for a championship,” Bringhurst said. “There’s a reason the same schools are making it to Thanksgiving weekend consistently. You’re going to have those in every class.”

19 minutes ago, montana16 said:

I have been told that Washington is going to opt to play in 3A

That will help sort out 3A some and geographically, they’ll get it.  You’d likely see a Bardstown, Thomas Nelson, LaRue, Marion, Washington district with that.  

3 minutes ago, ImJustHere said:

Adds another dog to the top of the list. That’s for sure. 4-5 schools who can be real contenders every single year. 

We can go ahead and do that in every class come January, for the next four years.  4-5 in every class, give others the field, and you will hit 90%+ for the next four years. 

33 minutes ago, Hearsay said:

I still think there is a lot of wild cards.  For example, right now Mercer County plays with the Louisville schools and we haven't named them here.  Also, whether Central asks to play "up" may depend on whether Hunter Cantwell & Co. is still at CAL.  If Brohm takes a job at Louisville and brings in several of the coaches from CAL, it changes the landscape a bit.

Very true.  But I think Mercer with LexCath moving down and then you have Bourbon, Garrard.  I think those four wind up together. 

5 minutes ago, wingt51 said:

Congrats on your 1 seed Bardstown, you get the play 2 seed CAL or Central in the 2 round. 

 

What a draw

Brutal. I don’t see anyway Bardstown isn’t in a district or region with those two, though.  Do you?  Central I guess could petition to move up to 4A where the chances are high, at least from the looks of it, that there will be at least one all Jefferson County district with Western, Doss, Valley, Waggener and J-town.  It would make a 6 team district, but they’d have a more than valid argument travel wise. 

40 minutes ago, Westernside said:

What do you think District 3 and 4 would look like?

After looking at it I think it goes like this:

D1

Union, Trigg, Hop Central, Webster, Butler Co

D2

Franklin Simpson, Adair, Edmonson, Hart

(D1 and D2 are all CST teams)

D3

Bardstown, Larue, Marion, Thomas Nelson

D4

CAL, Central, Henry, DeSales, Lloyd Memorial

Just now, rjs4470 said:

Yep. And if the sister district stays the same, they’ll get Boyle County in Round 3. 

Right now that goes to RPI. 

2 hours ago, barrel said:

What’s the odds of Cov Cath wanting to play up? Is there really any benefit to it for them?

I’m guessing here but if they stay 4A the district probably is going to look like

Cov Cath,  Holmes, Grant and maybe Harrison?

 

Exactly what it will be.  They’ll have no reason to. I’d stay right there.

3 minutes ago, Hearsay said:

Obviously we have concern that they are going to create a super-district in 3A out of Central, CAL, Desales, and Bardstown.

I don’t see any way around it.

4 minutes ago, Nuke LaLoosh said:

Plus Ashland and Mason County who played in the semis this year.  Definitely a big shake up for 3A.  Districts will look a lot different I believe except for maybe district 1 who loses Paducah Tilghman, but will probably gain Hopkins Co Central.

Right you are, along with Butler County.

I could see D1 and D2 both being a 5 and 6 team district, respectively.

District 1:

Union Co, Trigg Co, Webster Co, Hopkins Co Central and Butler Co

District 2:

Franklin Simpson, Hart Co, Edmonson Co, Adair Co, Larue Co and Marion Co

Those schools aren’t going to choose to play up and then get thrown in the mix with a potential district/region w  Tilghman, Logan and Hoptown. 

47 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I definitely wouldn't count on it.

Agreed.  I’d stay right where they are.  That’s going to shake out really nice for them

1 minute ago, Nuke LaLoosh said:

Louisville Central drops to 3A as well

Right. I put them in there.  Even still though, when you match up the districts geographically.   Outside of potentially that one which could include them, CAL, Bardstown and DeSales is bound to bounce back, I don’t see a single potential district there where you don’t look at it from a stand point (outside of also who is with LexCath) where you aren’t thinking that “We can win this thing or at worst compete each year for the 2 seed and host a playoff game”.

Talking about a class now that while they gained Lou Central and LexCath, they lost Belfry, Tilghman, Glasgow, Taylor County and Etown which have obviously accounted for several state titles (only Belfry), final appearances (Tilghman and Etown) and/or region titles (even appearances) in this last go round and before in the previous ones (Glasgow and Taylor).