LoneRanger

For many years Coach McKee organized the Bluegrass Freshman Conference. A great opportunity for Freshman Teams to have a dedicated Freshman Schedule and compete each week. Both Scott Co Schools, the Lexington Public Schools, Lex Cath, Both Madison Co Schools, GRC, Woodford have all been involved with it at some point. Have traditionally played a 9 game schedule with a very nice Championship Saturday slate of games the last Saturday after final regular season Friday.

On the question, really I was more making the point that it is very expected that players are with their team during Christmas and Fall Break. Coaches are as well. I agree working a few days off in a break like Fall, Christmas or Spring is doable and favorable to all involved. High School sports guys…

Serious question. Why does this break question only get argued with Fall Break and Football? Or am I missing out on the discussions of how Breaks impact other sports? I’ve never known of a Basketball Team that took Christmas Break off but also never heard of a Team that didn’t take a few days off for people to Travel. That’s perhaps a bad example. I've also never heard Baseball and Softball Teams taking Spring Break off…

C_W_B out there looking for clues ..

With the twists and turns this thread has taken, Shawn Thompson coming out of retirement to take the Pulaski job would be the equivalent to one of Stone Cold’s returns to the ring. Jaw Dropping. That would be must see stuff…. I can hear the glass breaking now.

Absolutely 💯. As well as more administrators willing to take a hard look to understand what is really going on instead of riding the wave of emotions and putting out the fire snowplow parent is creating, just to get the situation over with. Those that demand their way come and go fairly quickly when a commitment has been made to proceed in a specific direction (in this case a commitment to an HC and Staff) and that Staff are working their tails off and doing the right things. That HC & Staff are trying to build things for the long term. Snowplow parent and his crew only want their way in that particular moment and don’t give a rats backside if the whole thing burns down behind them. Next when those that demand their way impose their agenda, even in appearance or by appeasement, the next group will follow in right behind them and demand the same if not more. Many times the administrators handling these issues don’t ever see themselves being in their current spot long enough to handle longevity though. They know they won’t be there to have to handle the next problem created. Fire this guy, go make these influential people happy by hiring their guy and that’ll help roll to the next administration destination. Rant over. Best of luck to Coach Keuhn and the Bruins!

Was a heck of a QB for them during that late 98 - 99 time frame. Played at Georgetown.

11-2 in 1999 followed by some lean years. Jep Irwins 1st Tour of Duty in mid 2000s capped by a 9 win season in 2005. Chappell and Burdine kept them around .500 for most of their years. Unless I’m missing something…

Surely there is some interest in this position?

Not sure this was expressly laid out the way you have here but most definitely part of the intent from earlier. HS athletic programs survive on sponsorships and donations in most communities. And are certainly not money making machines riding the backs of the athletes playing them like perhaps was happening with the NCAA Level counter parts in Major Division 1. March Madness, Bowl Games and TV deals made the NCAA a Mega Power. That isn’t the case in high school. Most places there is only so much money to go around and the local businesses and folks supporting get tapped out as well. Like I said in an earlier post. No matter the amounts of money we are discussing, we are still discussing money and there will always be folks trying to get their hands on it.

Totally agree. Although if I were in a position to vote on such a plan I would not vote for it. I think HS Athletics should remain amateur in nature. However, if the only other option was for the 2 systems to have to co-exist and compete for same crown, I’d have to consider as a compromise.

No one (at least here on thread) is saying the kids shouldn’t benefit. The concerns are questioning the official policy making of the allowance of something that has likely always been allowed but now being promoted into a way that can and will likely alter the competitive balance of amateur High School (Middle School???) level sports. There have never been any rules against a HS kid that plays sports having a public job or finding ways to make money. If someone wanted to hire the local HS basketball star to stand in front of their business and hand out flyers they could have already done so AND paid them whatever they wanted. The NCAA did NOT allow college scholarship receiving athletes to do this BECAUSE in the early days of recruiting some schools had an advantage over other schools. This because they had boosters who ran businesses that would promise kids fantastic “jobs” that would pay them handsomely for menial tasks and that was used to encourage kids to pick a certain college to play for….. I’m sorry, I meant to say pick a certain educational institution to attend. The concept that this will be a way for certain places to draw players to their school at the HS/MS level is essentially legalizing recruitment of amateur players. On one hand you have rules saying we are making it tougher to transfer. On the other you have the development of a system to make leaving one for another more enticing than ever. It is a further separation of the Haves and Have Nots. There are a few communities around the state that are willing to do whatever to maintain their status. For most places, that isn’t the case. Could the KHSAA and other State Associations be headed toward a future of Divisions? Division 1: Private Schools, Prep Schools, Charter Schools and Public Schools who will accept, promote and provide players with NIL Opportunities and players be able to move wherever they want via a transfer portal. The primary piece of this being willing and able to accept students from anywhere and not be bound to a district of student populations. (No intent of Private School advantages implied, there is no need for that debate anymore). Division 2: Public and Independent Schools that operate on a more traditional model where the student has to be a resident of the school district they attend with rules more like those traditional transfer rules. Kids could still get NIL deals if they have that opportunity. Going to be very interesting to look back few years from now and see what it looks like from there.

Agreed that no question the parents and guardians of the kids should be assisting them in handling these business ventures. This furthers my thought process. Even as we've seen with players going pro over the years and now with NIL deals for older college age kids etc, In the BEST cases they have parents or trusted family to advise them. Many do. Many do not. Someone will be advising those that don’t have prototypical parent/guardian situations. Sure hope folks keep in mind that this is supposed to be a positive opportunity for the kid…. 10s of thousands or 10s of dollars. We are still talking money, and where that is there will be people trying to get their hands on it.

1st. I am amazed this thread only has 2 replies this long after being posted. That being said it makes me wonder if anyone knows what side of the fence to fall on this one. I understand we live in a new and changing world of opportunity for young people. For all people. Kids are making money off YouTube and other social media platforms and self promotion through multiple means is seemingly becoming the norm. I do have to wonder if this is yet another signal of the end of amateur athletics though. I know that’s one of those “get off my lawn” comments. But promises of NIL packages for kids will come with many avenues for using that system to the advantage of some and disadvantage of others. It also comes with many questions. Who will be responsible for tracking these interactions? Who will represent the kids best interest? If male athletes from a certain school have NIL packages but no female athletes have them, will the school be responsible for finding packages for them to be Title 9 compliant? Will kids have to give their school permission to make Schedule Calendars for instance with that players picture on the design? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for folks that are willing to work and find ways to make themselves better off financially being able to do so. But for the most part High School athletics are not the money making machine that the NCAA, SEC and other Power 5 institutions are. Will be very interesting to watch this unfold over the next few years.

Best of luck to Coach Cole and the Braves.

I really like that concept as well, certainly truth in that too. But sounds like the gardener invested in the soil he was on fully and gave it every opportunity to produce before coming to the conclusion it was time to move on. There are absolutely times to move on and make the best decisions for yourself and your future. I’ve never been one to stick around somewhere that I wasn’t wanted. 😉 Just make sure the move is for the right reasons and not on a lick and a promise. Everything that glitters is not gold.

Perhaps. However if that is the lesson that is now coming from High School Sports and the lesson we are teaching our young people now in general that may explain a lot in societal terms. By that logic there will be no more small businesses being ran, it’s too hard and have too many hurdles to overcome. They’ll either sell out or never open and go work for the larger company because it has better chance a success. By that logic there will not be any more top tier programs arise, because all the “players” will go to the ones with all the flash and dash. People continue to forget that Boyle was not exactly a contender prior to about 1993….. By that logic you won’t see another Bullit East situation from this year happen because why in the world would a bright young coach take a job that doesn’t have a $100,000 budget? Folks we hear and talk about the kids that transfer and are stars, but there are some that woulda been better off staying where they were. It happens. A friend of mine says all the time, “The grass is brown everywhere, maybe check your seed and try watering your own grass before you run over there where the grass looks greener.” There is a lot of common sense in that. Lastly, and I’m gonna make some people mad with this statement. It cracks me up listening to some of the folks from these places, that have apparently become destination programs, that are constantly getting transfers in crow about how they win with their kids and it’s homegrown hard work that makes the difference. I don’t have to put specific school names in this post, any reader can pause and think about how some of these “we work harder” teams have benefited greatly from talent that came from other backyards. And the answer is “No” by the way. I would not turn down a great player that wanted to come to my school. I sure would hate to see him leave though.

Not demeaning your post in any way, but think about doing all that for a $7000 per year coaching stipend while teaching a full load of classes and the guy who runs your booster club, helping you raise that 15,000 per year budget you need to make ends meet, is in your ear about his 5’7 260 son wanting to play running back. And oh by the way you have to figure out a way to beat Boyle on Friday night. LOL It rarely ends well.

While any school may have the ability to do the same thing, few have the opportunity to do the same thing. Just take the 2 schools in the county referenced. It would be hard to imagine Danville could start bingo and make as much money as Boyle. Also it would be logical that it could possibly hurt Boyle’s bingo. But more to the point many if not most school districts don’t allow for outside booster organizations (501c etc) due to the liabilities involved. Further Red Book policies are so tight on what is allowed with fundraising and consequently how those dollars are spent presents another hurdle. Many schools in this state at least, don’t have 6 figure operating budgets for the entire Athletic Dept let alone one program having over 100,000 to spend yearly. I’m all for the “anyone can do it just work harder” idea. But there is more to it than that. I’ll guarantee you that there are and have been coaching staffs and parent organizations over the years all over the place that have put in as much time and effort and still not had the means to achieve that. Whether the factors involved are Policy limited, location limited, or financially limited. The business side of High School sports, particularly football, has changed in a lot of ways over the last 25 years. But the true division of football programs particularly in this state in this decade is not enrollment size, history and tradition or even how hard a group of young men work. It’s money. Who has the ability to put money into the programs and take care of players at a higher level. Everything from food and gear to facilities and exposure. Show the money.

Congratulations Coach Levi Rogers! Very solid young coach and glad to see him get his chance to lead a program.

Congratulations to Josh Cole! Really good guy. His dad coached at Evarts back in the day. Hard working young coach.

Garrard will have a huge (6’5 295 - EKU Commit) hole to fill on the OL/DL in Mason Sulla, but return a lot of guys who played significant minutes during an injury riddled 22 season. The guys seem to have been hitting it hard in the weight room and workouts so far and will be another year older as a team. Really good kids that will continue to mature and grow. Hopefully the roster size will increase a bit as well.

Bump

I agree. I should have noted in there that that was a maximum and only a handful of teams reach that. Also note that I only took the Baseball and Basketball teams to the Region. Basically I was trying to show that the travel among all the “major” sports ends up being pretty similar and for the majority of Football Teams even with taking multiple busses on trips it still equals out or is a little less. Just like paying for Officials, Game Management, Security and the other Game Type costs, Travel as well is simply a part of the equation. It is what it is.

Travel is an aspect in football but for different reasons. 1st how it’s funded. Some Districts give sports a travel budget and once that is exceeded it is up the the school/team/club to make up the difference. Many other places the cost of travel is charged directly to the school and then to the team. In football an above average sized team plays 15 games and you assume a maximum of 8 of those to be on the road: 2 Busses plus an Equipment Bus or Trailer would be 24 “road trips”. Throw in a handful of Freshman and JV games per season and likely looking at a total of 30 or so road trips. In baseball and basketball most of the time the teams travel together with a few JV or Freshman trips thrown in. They most likely average only taking one bus per trip but perhaps two. We will say one for arguments sake here. If a team makes it to the Region tourney that’s approx 20 “road trips” and throw in a few tourneys in season and Freshman JV games and we are more than likely very close to 30 or so total road trips again. All in all, the travel aspect of the major sports is probably overblown in acting as if there is a big difference. The difference comes in mileage to the various trips and again that will vary GREATLY by school. Sure your District games in Baseball and Basketball are reasonably close. But the extra trips will likely make up the difference in mileage as well. Travel Budgets are a concern for all sports. Not just Football.