Mike Check

Yeh, here's a couple of thoughts. First, what kind of offense will they run? Next, i am with Buffalo. We know there is going to be ripple affect with the schedule but that should have no bearing on doing what is best for the kids and community of Mercerburg. It is not personal it is just business. If they merge the other schools will lose a game. They will survive and their schools and community will go on without a game with Harrodsburg. Whether or not the other schools have a game is not that big a deal in the overall scheme of things that are happening in Mercerburg. It is unfortunate but it is just part of the merger. Sooooo deal with it. You will continue to have a team regardless if we play you or not. Of course all of this is just my opinion and not to be of a negative nature to anyone who might be uhhh Offended. Go Mercerburg! :thumb: :thumb: :creepy: :lol: :lol: :banana: :fire: :dancingpa :scared: :flame:

Speculation on what plan they will use to phase in is just speculation. I am sure the admininstrators will have an official plan to present to their prospective boards of ed. before the vote. I doubt that they will send all the mercer freshman to the Harrodsburg building just so the athletes can have room to come to mercer high. But, i think it's great that athletics can have this kind of impact. Most likely all freshman (whether playing a sport or not) will go to the other building to make room for the growth of the overall student body. With this kind of undertaking there will be some uncomfortable changes or temporary adjustments but nothing that will have a major negative impact. GO Mercerburg!! :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump:

Amen!!

I'll say that I think some people are obviously either afraid or jealous of the powerhouse that will be in Harrodsburg with consolidation. Also, there is no reason to even compare who would be head coach if they merge. But, if you must; compare the two head coaches resume's and wins and losses and then decide who is the head coach or make it simple and give it to who has the best head to head record against the other. I don't think there will be any animosity between the two coaches due to the fact that they already get along very well. If the guy that becomes head coach is smart he will want the other head coach on his staff to help with the transition. This is like Remember the Titans. Could a state title be right around the corner in Mercer County?? I hope it all goes smoothly for both sides. Maybe Bourbon County and Paris will see this and figure out they should be merging also imo.

There are some highly successful programs that often don't get enough kids to have spring ball. I know of two that have been either state champions or regional contenders most years that don't have a real spring practice. I know of another team that had about 7 kids do spring ball 4 or 5 days last year and that team won 10 games. I wouldn't put to much into how many you get our for spring ball. So what if a team has 60 out for spring practice. The question to that is how many state or semi-state finals has that school participated in the last 10 years. But on the other hand i see why there is concern due to the way Greenup got blasted a few times last year. This is not a jab at the new guy there but Greenup administration screwed up when they allowed TJ Maynard to leave. If he had gotten support i don't think he would have left and i don't think this would even be an issue imo. :jump: :ylsuper: :walk: :banana:

Agreed; Carver will do a solid job. He has done a very good job with Pendleton Co. Have no clue as to why he has stepped down there.

Anyone against the merging of these schools is thinking with their heart and not with their head. The benefits would be tremendous. All the resources are in Mercer county to have state level teams in all sports. I personally don't really care about the academic changes. The kids that want to will do great in the classroom regardless of the ratio. Let's get the Hogs and Scotties and make 'em into a big mean cross-bread crazy dog! Go Hogs; razorbacks or 'er whatever you want to call 'em.

Congrats to coach Massie. I hope his supporters realize that he could do a great job and go 0-10. He could do a bad job and go the same. This is a tough situation but Bourbon has always been able to compete with people like Western Hills, Jessamine and Harrison and even Franklin county. But times have changed. Hopefully Rick can at least get them to compete with those schools and Paris. Remember the old saying that a coach is only as good as his talent. I believe that to be a fairly accurate statement. Bourbon does have the talent to compete with the above mentioned schools. It will be a long road to travel. Hopefully the uphill battle won't burn the new coach out in a couple of years. Does anyone have Bourbon's schedule for next year?

Rowan is also going to cut coaches salaries (only 4 paid assistants currently) . Also, the assistant coaching pay at Rowan is very low. The top assistant made $2,500 last year. The new head coach will make half of what the last head coach made. What does that tell us about a committment to improve? :eek: :eek: :scared: :scared:

Bottom line is this. There is a cycle with Rowan county. It goes like this. Drop off very low every 4 to 5 years. Rise a bit (to average) and then find a new coach. Start over and put themselves in the hole again. The new staff will consist of many of the former coaches from the Mick Cabba staff (0-10) and Ray Ginter staff: 1-9, 2-8, 3-7 and 2-8. Baldridge will be the only change. He was on last years staff 5-5. The only hope is the young talent coming but it won't make a real impact for 3 years. There is a solid junior class and senior class next year. But with the new philosophy from current principal that they are going to throw the ball all over the field (notice i said principal's philosophy) they could struggle with a run oriented group of kids returning. If they do a solid job they will win 7 if not they could lose 7 or 8. IF they throw it more than 8 or 9 times a game they will struggle. But the principal will be happy because they are throwing it. He has been assured by the new coach that he wants to throw the ball alot. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I would love to but i won't call out anyone on here publicly. PM me and i will let you know some info. It sounds like you are a bit familiar with Rowan County and the history of their support (or lack thereof) for the football program. So you can imagine how all this has played out. :fire:

If you only knew what i do about who is on the interview committee!! This is a real laugh for me but it is sad for the players. I will describe the committe as a Political Action Committee. :lol: :lol: :lol:

What does Henry Co. have coming back?

I hope that they get him the help he will need to build a quality program. One man or two can't do it by themselves. Does anyone know what kind of help Brad will have? :thumb:

Bill Baldridge is going to get this one! He helped last year and is well liked by the committee that has been assembled. :thumb:

It is getting late so the competition for the Henry and Rowan jobs won't be very strong. I have heard that Combs from Nelson county got the Lewis County job.

Every school and coaching job has its challenges. Some are tougher than others. I do know that he has spent a few days in the building there already and is pretty happy with the school and atmosphere. He says there are over 60 signed up for next year in grades 10-12. The school has already began purchasing some additional equipment he has asked for. They have also made a committment to allow him to bring in whoever he wants on the coaching staff. That is pretty good stuff. But a good point is that this will be a challenge different than one might have at a county school. :thumb:

David Williams - Western High School . In 5 years will be a good one if he wants to step up.

Exactly! :cry: :cry:

I heard that they are lifting a couple of days a week at Rowan. I also heard attendance is very poor. The principal told the assistant that is trying to do it that the weights weren't that big a deal right now and not to get to worked up about it. The kids are pretty down right now and it is becoming a little more depressing for them as each day passes.

He has taken the job as head coach at Western. He is taking assistant David Williams with him as his defensive coordinator. He and Williams met the team at Western last week. From what i know they both will conduct spring practice with remaining Western staff. Western assistant Clint Lovely (former head coach at Lou. Central) is running weight program with Patterson on the days Preston is not there.

From what i am hearing Western High School out of Louisville will have a strong and very talented group of players returning. With Doug Preston going there and his diversified offensvie attack the Warriors could challenge in the West. I hear that Preston is taking long time assistant David Williams with him to run the defense.

That's good to hear that they (Bo. Co.) have a solid class coming up, but as you know one class can't carry a program. There has to be all the extra things (i.e. in scholl weights, asst. coaches) in place to keep or build momentum. Most likely a strong class at Bourbon would be an average class at Franklin, East, West, poor group at Catholic etc. I hope Foley does not make the mistake of taking this job. He will be taking a step down if he goes to Bourbon. Either way i hope the Colonels get a good coach but most importantly i hope they are willing to give that coach all the tools needed to help in this monumental challenge. :thumb:

Head, Here are some facts. Rowan finished the season with over 50 players the last 2 years. There has been only one coach depart the program the last two years. That coach was a volunteer that Coach P stood up for when the super wanted him gone last year. I do know that Preston did finally dismiss the coach toward the end of this season because of the way that coach was handling some of the players. Regardless anyone can post their opinion. But i think some people just don't like to work hard. Facts about Paris. Preston started there with only 9 players at his first practice. I have no doubt you know coach P because he tells the Paris story all the time. He had no kids quit at Paris; he lost some good players to injury and finished the season qualifying for the playoffs. They played their last game with 10 kids (by the way Paris has since went through 3 head coaches and their numbers run around 18-22 kids on a given year; they have number problems regardless of who coaches there). That is why they decided to sit the playoffs. They were considering the safety of the kids. Which i think was the right thing to do. If he was so bad for the (Rowan) kids I don't think the seniors would have cried their eyes out at the banquet like they did. I also know the players cried when he told them he was leaving for Western. As for his wife's race i would bet he could care less what you think about that. The topic is Preston going to Western not where he has been or who is mad at him at Rowan or what race his wife (or top assistant) is. But you have a right to your opinion. I do know he and his family are very excited to be going to Western and Louisville. I wish them the best. :jump: :jump: :jump: :banana: :banana:

Not intending to be aggressive Palmer. I was just giving you some basic info and was curious to your football background so we could talk a little deeper on the subject. Sorry if you misunderstood. Have a nice day.