leatherneck

That's fair. I know some might not be aware of it, but Bardo is doing extremely well as the starting QB at Univ of Dayton.

Is the bolded necessarily a bad thing? If we can still impart the values of commitment, teamwork, discipline, etc. to kids playing recreational extra curricular activities, would we be returning to what high school athletics used to be like?

I know the KHSAA allowed Holmes to move down mid cycle in the prior 4 year classification cycle. So I'd have to think that if Team A had a decrease in enrollment above the percentage set by the KHSAA, Team A could be moved down. Likewise, I'd assume that a school with a large jump in enrollment would be moved up mid cycle but to be honest I don't recall that happening. Perhaps it did. I just don't remember.

For the record, I agree with you in that if a fair number of teams are being incorrectly classified because of changing enrollments, then they should look at re-classifying every two years instead of four if the current policy isn't working. I don't remember where the KHSAA came up with the percentage (16% or is it 12%?) used to make mid-cycle adjustments. Obviously enrollment size matters or we wouldn't have classes. I'm just pleased as punch that the number of kids playing high school football has increased so dramatically over the last 6 years. As stated before, football is the best high school sport. I feel that way not just because I love the game of football but also because unlike other sports that have roster limits, in football you have a large number of kids that can gain the benefits of high school athletics. Julian in particular has done a fantastic job.

And to amplify on those comments, if the KHSAA felt there was a compelling reason to re-classify every 2 years, it would do so. Maybe it will do so in the future. But we went with the 4 year cycle when we went with 6 classes because we wanted to make sure enough time was given before we started changes classes and districts. We are now in our second 4 year cycle. Based on Julian's participation numbers, the 6 classes is a success to me. Because the only way I can justify the expenditure of tax payer dollars on high school athetics is the belief that kids are learning important values and life lessons through participation. And let me be very clear here: during my two terms on the BOC, I never experienced one member of the staff or one BOC member that I thought came even close to being lazy. The BOC position is unpaid and I "invested" 100s of hours each year to high school athletics. The staff busted their butts to make high school athletics as meaningful and positive for the kids participating. Unless something has changed in the one and a half years since I left, the staff members were considerably underpaid when compared to other high school athletic associations and overworked on top of it. I don't even come close to associating the words "being lazy" with the KHSAA.

I think you are mistaken. I'm almost certain of it. This is at least the second time we've gone 4 years between re-classification.

Being lazy.Give me a break. If you only had a clue as to the amount of time I put into being on the BOC, you'd be amazed.

And if we re-classed every 2 years, some coaches, administrators and fans would be grumbling about that too, claiming it's too frequent. One of Tackett's points has always been that whatever you do, someone isn't going to be happy and will be grumbling about it. You do what hopefully is best for a majority of the kids playing high school sports and you move on. I'm fine with the existing policy of re-setting the classes every 4 years and allowing for a mid-term adjustment if a school's enrollment dramatically swings. That obviously doesn't make you happy, but I'm fine with that.

Seems to me like your issue should be with the KHSAA resetting the classes every 4 years. When they last did it, the schools were placed in their correct classes based on the enrollment figures available from KDE at that time. Since then some schools have shrunk; some have gotten bigger. Some would argue that perhaps we should re-classify every 2 years instead of 4. There may be other reasons to not do so, but as someone that was involved in the process twice, it is an immense amount of work when re-classification is done.

Explain why it was against the best interest of the KHSAA that the Cooper players and coaches got the opportunity to play in a state game? Same with Caldwell County, Fairview, PRP and Collins? Frankly, I think it was great for high school football in those communities that their teams made it to the state championships. Caldwell hadn't made it there in quite some time, and I don't believe the other schools mentioned had ever been there before. I have to think playing in the state championship game did nothing but help build enthusiasm and support for the game of football in those schools. How will reducing the number of classes and decreasing the number of schools making it to the championship game be in the best interest of the KHSAA?

I'm also very sorry your son won't be able to play in the State game. Huge disappointment for him; huge loss to Highlands defense. Please don't misinterpret my earlier posts supporting Coach Letton as in any way condoning what 70 did. Because I know Coach Letton, I'm totally shocked that 70 was allowed to remain in the game by the LexCath coaches now that I've learned the head butting wasn't a one time occurrence.

Fair enough. Even though I was at the game and in an endzone, I didn't see any of this happening. When I made the post you quoted, I was aware of only the one instance that I saw on the youtube clip. Evidently he had been doing it on other occasions, which I have to assume the LexCath coaches in the press box saw (particularly the one in the youtube link as it is out in the open). Can't say if Letton saw it for certain because I know that when you are at field level, you often miss things that can be seen from a higher elevation. In any event, the LexCath coaches in the press box most likely had to have seen it going on. If they said something to Coach Letton about it and he did nothing about or if he saw it and did nothing about it, it does greatly diminish my opinion of him. If they didn't say anything to Coach Letton and he didn't see it, maybe not. I won't judge all of LexCath and all of their players because of this kid's actions, which were deplorable.

If you want to make judgments of a man based on one instance, by all means do so. But I know a whole lot of people in FT that should be thankful I don't do the same. I'm thankful that a whole lot of people don't judge me based on one instance too. Letton is a good man based on my definition of a good man. My guess is that you have never personally met the man in your life. I have (and it wasn't at a social function either). He's a solid coach, a solid person and a great father from everything I know about him. That makes him a good man in my opinion, even if he made a mistake Friday night. I won't defend what happened Friday night. But it by itself will not change my opinion of him.

Let it go folks. I don't know the player, but I know Coach Letton. He's a good man. Even if he did make a mistake by not yanking the kid off the field, it was just that. A mistake. He's still a heck of a good person and a heck of a good coach. We won. We won big. Let's move on. This thread as more than ran its course.

Thanks for the kind words about Dee. Trying to set aside my bias (Mitch Dee is my nephew and carrying on the tradition of my sons by wearing # 62), but the kid flat out gets it done every week. Other than Thome, he's dwarfed by the other Highlands O linemen. In spite of often being matched up against huge nosemen and having to snap the ball before taking his first step, he's done a fantastic job blocking this year. He and the other O linemen have all had a great season, and as talented as McCoy, Harris, Seidl and Hayes are as RBs, much of their success is due to that O line. This old O linemen is quite happy with what he's seen from our O line this year. Coach Turner again has done an outstanding job. Don't know what Collins D line and Lbers look like, but if Highlands is going to win Friday night, the O line will have to do another outstanding job.

Nevermind. This thread got back on track and I don't want to hi-hack it.

Totally agree with both Clyde and All Tell. Life threatening injury, I can see everyone in the stadium stopping what they are doing to pray. Other than that however, I see no need to take a knee.

Sorry for Coach and his boys that the season ended with a loss. But it still was one heck of a good season for the Royals. Learned a lot from some early season losses and really came on strong. Well done. Congrats.

Nice post RM. It bothers me when I see fans taking potshots and digs at their opponents. Some things, even accurate things, are best left unsaid in public.

It does seem that way doesn't it. Oh well, as long as we keep winning, I can deal with the digs.

I've felt that way on several games in the past. The problem is, that's not the way Dale thinks. Why he does what he does is often puzzling to me. Maybe he wants more on the line as he works on things. No pressure to complete the long pass up by 35; big pressure to complete it while tied or losing. Bottom line however is, regardless of his reasons for doing what he does, what he does works a very high percentage of the time.

Thx Watusi. Good luck to you guys this week too. RCC9, I wasn't in the stands (was in the endzone) and if you saw me, you'd have put me in the category you describe. Someone came up to me early in the 2Q and asked if I was worried. I said not one bit. I'm not spoiled at all. I just know what I saw in the game to that point. Dale is an interesting coach, but a very, very smart one. I agree with Whackem in that early in the game, Dale was not going with the strength of his O. I felt he did not do so, but rather he threw the deep pass often, for two reasons: 1. running the defenders deep, not only would pay dividends in the second half by tiring them, it caused the defenders to be very wary of the deep ball the rest of the game. Which made the short to medium passing game much easier to run if and when it would become necessary; and 2. the more work you can get on the deep pass the better. Even if it doesn't work (as it didn't Friday night because it was apparent that Blazer put an emphasis this week on not getting beat deep), it was an opportunity to get better. If CovCath puts a lot in the box this Friday to stop the run (and given the last game, they have to be putting an emphasis this week in stopping the run, particularly by the QB which most teams do by cheating the safety up a bit), then the deep pass will be thrown a lot. Might as well work on it as much as you can when you can. So I took what happened in the first half with a grain of salt. Besides, Blazer never got up by more than 1 TD, so there was no reason to go with the bread and butter O in the first half out of necessity. Dale could sit back, work on some things and set up things for the second half. Folks, that is an example of where coaching comes into play as to why some teams are successful year in and year out. I don't mean to insult Blazer by saying I felt confident that Highlands would win big by the end of the 1Q. Nice football team. Very good lineplay. Very nice athletes. But the outcome was pretty easy to predict by the end of the 1st quarter. Blazer just had too many two way players; and an O too reliant on one phase of the game. Congrats to the TomCats. A very nice season. Well disciplined and coached players. Kids played really hard the entire game. Was their season a success? If the players and coaches can look one another in the eyes and say they did everything they could to be the best possible team, players and coaches, then the answer is a resounding yes, regardless of the fact that they didn't win a state title.

Would it be completely unfair of me to wonder if the performance of his team this season may be reflective of his opinion on the value of another week of practice?

Pulling for the Royals and Coach Smoke. Get 'em Royals.