Kenny Powers

We are on the same page. I just was trying to debunk the myth (not necessarily perpetuated by you) that HHS has had this revolving door of huge D1 talent and numbers. It just simply isn't true.

@TheDeuceI finally had some time to compile the list. These are the only players who were offered scholarships to Division 1 schools. Bolded teams won state. There is an obvious lack of D1 type talent the last 6-7 years. There are, however, multiple state title teams with very few, if any, D1 players. Hopefully, the D1 quality will come back but this proves that HHS has won many times without those players. 2000 - Brent Grover (Purdue), Gino Guidugli (UC), Brett Hamblen (UK), Ben Scott (UK) 2001 - Jeff Reinstatler (UC), Rob Smith (Tennessee) 2002 - N/A 2003 - Sean Sester (Purdue) 2004 - Jordan Nevels (UK), Mike Mitchell (Ohio) 2005 - Ben Guidugli (UC) 2006 - N/A 2007 - Luke Stein (Gardner-Webb) 2008 - N/A 2009 - Austin Collinsworth (Notre Dame), Tyler Grubbs (Miami, OH) 2010 - N/A 2011 - Drake Bruns (UC), Pat Towels (UK) 2012 - N/A 2013 - N/A 2014 - Beau Hoge (BYU) 2015 - Austin Hergott 2016 - N/A 2017 - N/A 2018 - N/A 2019 - Brycen Huddleston ( E. Michigan) 2020 - N/A 2021 - N/A

100% agree with your first statement. Beau Hoge covered up a lot of deficiencies on the state title team his senior year; HHS does not come close to winning state his senior year without him. Your second point I will disagree with. If you truly break down the roster of the HHS state titles teams, very rarely were there multiple D1 players on those teams. I don’t have time this second to do it, but I’ll go through all the rosters from say the last 20 or so years to present that won state and ID those guys.

I think the two year cycle started in 2020. I was told the only changes were the bowl game and McNick. I guess that means all the other teams signed another 2 year cycle for 2022 and 2023.

It is actually pretty common around the state for the coach to be the AD.

I’ve heard for numerous years that Jeff was ready to retire. AD and HC is A LOT to handle; especially the last couple of years with Covid and all the hoops involved. If Jeff is in fact stepping away, congratulations on an awesome career!

There should only be two changes to the schedule. South Warren replaces BG in the Rafferty’s Bowl and then someone needs to replace McNick; to my knowledge that game was a one year deal replacing Boyle.

Let me help you out here. The best thing for NKY football is to have ANY team advance as far as possible in the KHSAA football playoffs. By doing so, attention is drawn to all of NKY and allows for other parts of the state to understand that we have quality football in the area. This allows for exposure for programs, and most importantly the players of all programs, to other parts of the state and colleges and universities.

Ok... I will play ball. Do tell. Why would the Cougars winning be a win for NKY?

I am with you 100%. Wasn't saying otherwise. I think the biggest issue isn't high school baseball or basketball though; it is the traveling/AAU teams that so many players play for as well.

But the schedule didn't work. Not sure how else to explain this. Coach Sphire didn't think it would work so therefore he didn't move forward.

Coach Sphire maybe thought it wasn't a good fit then. No harm no foul.

I agree with a lot of this. Offensive production and, most importantly, improvement, left a lot to be desired. The offensive was far more creative and far more productive to start the year that it was at the end; regression concerns me. In terms of your first point, at least in the NKY area I think it is very common for the HC to call at lease one side of the ball. Just thinking about the schools in the area, I don't know of many HCs who don't but I could be wrong.

Please don't get me wrong! I don't like the trend of single sports athletes and I really hope HHS has as many multi-sport athletes as possible, I just think there are a few that will choose to specialize.

I agree; I especially could see some would be seniors choosing not to play football for baseball.

Well, then I would encourage that person to apply for the open positions posted on the schools's website for football and email the AD/Coach Sphire and tell them they applied. Has this person you know reached out to the coach/AD and expressed interest? If not, sitting back and just waiting for the AD/Coach to call you is kind of ridiculous.

Really good post. I especially agree with posts 2-3. Getting physically stronger and bigger is absolute must for the program and finding a QB and going all in on 1 QB is essential; I think it is fair to say that if it is going to be Bottom, he has got to have an awesome spring. Does he play baseball? Another point that I would add to your very strong list is to hire, or assign a current staff member, the position of Special Teams Coordinator. Good Golly, Ms. Molly, special teams were awful this year. Finally, I am interested to see what changes in staff Coach Sphire makes. Who will be added and who will be gone will be interesting to me. Really hoping it is not more dads...

Not sure if that makes up for 20+ points.

All do respect to LaFrange and Robinson, but let’s not act like that changes the game.

Totally agree. Offensively it was disgusting to watch. There is way freaking more talent on the offensive side of the ball for HHS to turn in a major lemon. Again, I will be really interested to see if fellow HHS faithful call out Hayden Sphire for his offensive development like they did past OCs. I could careless who the OC is, I just want improvement and logical use of talent.

Score looks way closer than the game actually was. Embarrassing. All three phases were not only beat on the field but also out coached. I will be interested to see if some of the "lifers" on here call out the staff like they did in the past. I know it is a process and I know as well as anyone that it is going to take a year or two, but tonight was a step back and the Birds 100% did not look prepared to play. Really disappointed.

The Bottom experiment is really not going well...

Kenyon would be really cool. He is one of my all time favorite college basketball players.

For sure. Those games happened a lot. If things would have been more “together” for him I truly believe he is a major college prospect. Some will say I am crazy, but I put him right there at the level of Sean Alexander who was just a year older and Justin.

Agreed. His numbers would have been absurd if he played more than 2 quarters a game! I would love to know how many carries he averaged a game and his yards per carry.