coldweatherfan

You obviously like Marty. He and I are not what you would call friends, but I don't dislike him personally. I view him much the way I view Terrell Owens. He's knows football, no doubt. But the longer he stays, the worse the environment gets. And as I have said before, it wasn't all his fault, the parents share the blame. Cancer was growing on both sides.

This was the first time in 9 years that I didn't have a son playing football at Mercer. There's nothing you can tell me that I din't know. I was there for Duane, Marty, and Bill. I know what happened.

Personally, I think Jaggers got a gift from the gods. He took over a very talented Mercer team in '05 with 23 seniors and an absolute hog of an O-line that fit the bone to a T. From tackle to tackle Mercer was 300 plus. He did his best coaching at Mercer that first year. Then for '06 he got the blessing of adding a small but extremely talented and fast group of kids from Harrodsburg giving him 27 seniors and 30 juniors and they marched on to a state title. There are a whole lot of coaches that would have won with that team. The next year ('07) they underacheived badly. Returned 30 seniors. He lost the faith of his players and his parents. He was more arogant than ever now that he had a championship and basically spit in the eye of everyone from the administration to his players. A lot of them didn't want to play for him the seniors stayed, as did most of the juniors, but the sophmore and freshmen classes dwindled. In '08 it continued. Everyone was to blame for losing except him. He would go on the radio during the coaches show and blame the parents. Then he would blame the kids. Then he would blame the assistants. I've never seen a head coach who never ever felt he was at fault when his team lost. So the already bad situation spiraled further down. Then in '09 came Mason's turn. Personally I thought he did a solid job. The talent level was so far off from where it had been that he was behind the 8-ball bad. Unfortunately a core of the parents felt like they should be competing for a state championship and had no clue. There was not one player on the '09 team that could have started on the '06 or '07 team, they just didn't have the talent. The'10 showed marked improvement, especially in terms of strength as the weightroom had been a priority for Mason. They started out very competitive and looked pretty good. Then a couple of key injuries (Tailback and QB) and things stagnated and a lot of momentum was lost. Again the parents had unrealistic expectations. Then in '11 came Rains. I only made it to one game this year. I think Rains inherited a more talented team than Mason did, the schedule did not look as tough to me and he managed 1 more win, but he did get a playoff win. Don't get me wrong. The Mercer parents deserve their fair share of the blame here too. The state championship made them think they should be competeing for a championship every year, and if they weren't, it was the coaches fault. Never, they didn't have the talent.

This might be clear as mud. (Bylaws usually are) From the OHSAA handbook. http://ohsaa.org/sports/ft/boys/ftrglt.pdf

The other teams must have played better teams. You get more points per win based on the opposing team's division. You then get secondary points based on the wins of your defeated opponents. So if you go 9-1 against opponents that averaged 2 or 3 wins you could lose out on the playoffs to a team that 8-2 or 7-3 who played teams that averaged 7 or 8 wins. The objective is to get the 32 best team in each division into the playoffs. I'm assuming Ohio still has conferences in their sports. I graduated from an Ohio school in 1980, so it may be different now than it was then. You had to play the teams in your conference, and then you had some nonconference games. Some of the conferences are extremely tough and would send more than one team to the playoffs. Some conferences are weak and won't send any teams to the playoffs.

Ohio playoffs are based off points - not record. You can go 10-0 and not make the playoffs, if you play nothing but cupcakes.

3-grade Here's the old VI numbers 31% of the schools will make the playoffs in the new format. Was 27% in the VI format.

I've heard some of the better teachers have left or are going to leave.

Seems like outside of the first year, Mercer has gone to Hades in a handbasket since the merger.

iPhone

My son has really gotten me into The Avett Brothers.

State tourney record attendence. Was agreat attmosphereuntil it got totally out of hand

Wow is all I can say. Both teams played brilliant at times and both teams played poorly at times. It was an exiciting game to be at.

Don't know pitch count, but he breezed through 3 innings against Boyd and they got him out of the game. He'll be the starter against PRP.

Coach Raines is a phenominal hire.

That is an acurate statement. I have had one or more sons in Mercer football for nine years and the situation has never been worse. 1. The administration is not pro football. They did seem to like Mason, but still didn't have his back when they needed to. 2. The parents are extremely unreal in thier expectations. In the 9 years I've been here. The '09 team was the least talented and the '10 team was only slightly better. There is not one player (well maybe the kicker) on this team that could have started on the '06, '07, or '08 teams. The athletic comparison is not even close. People here who thought Mercer even had a shot to win more than 5 games were seriously fooling themselves. And that was if Johnson and Guay had stayed healthy. 3. Bill Mason was put between a rock and a hard place and wasn't given time to do anything significant. IMO the program was better this year than last year and the seeds were beginning to grow for steady improvement. I can't blame him in anyway for leaving. Why give up time with your sons who are playing sports of their own for the abuse that comes with the job? 4. How do you get a quality coach to come into this fiasco? 5. I hope they can get a very strong personality that can control the program and gets support from the administration. There needs to be a culture change 6. I also hope that Mercer fans get a grip and realize they don't have state championship talent right now and don't have unrealistic expectations. 7. The plus is that the '11 team should be more talented than the '10 team. There will be 20+ seniors and and 20+ juniors. 8. The down is that Mercer had no size last year, this year, and won't next year. Which is odd, because we have always been big, but we're not now.

My exact thoughts as soon as I saw the thread title.

I think Mercer will pick up their 4th win. I believe it will be a close game.

Thank you for the personal attack it's very kind of you. You know nothing about me me. So you speak of that which you do not know. I was supportive of Jaggers when he was here and am supportive of the current staff. If you knew me you would know that. But you don't know me. Marty Jaggers never heard one bad word from me and was never told how to coach by me. I have a different opinion as to why he waited so long to tell the administration he was leaving, and it wasn't for Bill's benefit. Bill Mason has never heard one bad word from me nor has he been told how to coach by me. I am one of the biggest fans and supporters of the team. But, I guess according to you I'm not allowed to have an opinion. I never said I wasn't happy with Mason. But I don't think we do a good job of adjusting. That is honest opinion.

While I will agree this was a bad group of officials. They did not cost Mercer the game. Southwestern was bigger and stronger, and won both lines of scrimmage. Mercer had a little more speed, and had a couple of nice edge plays, but once SW adjusted , they took those away. My critisim of Mercer's coaches is that they come out with a game plan, and if it doesn't work they either can't or won't adjust. Mercer has been in most games at the half, but it seems opposing coaches make adjustments and we don't.

Fot what. To thank him for chasing away most of the kids in last year's and this year's senior classes? He contributed to the problems at Mercer. His last year there there was no emphasis on weightlifting and there was no spring practice. He left the school, the program, and coach Mason behind the 8-ball.

The rest of the games on the schedule are winnable. Doesn't mean they will, but I think at least 4 wins, good shot at 5, but I don't think they will have the consistency for 6. As far as how long Mason will be there. You're guess is as good as mine. This administration is unpredictable, I really don't know if they care about wins. Mercer is in a position to get better. They only have 7 starting seniors. Junior class is pretty good. Sophmore and Freshmen are too. Mike Flora is running a good middle school program as well.

PP, Most at Mercer would tell you that Jaggers gets a share of the blame for the fall. Last year there were 11 seniors and 10 Juniors. Four of that 21 were first year players. There were near 28 and 30 in each class when they were freshmen, so out of the original 58 only 17 remained. These kids did not like Jaggers at all and quit playing. So part of the problem for Mason was that he inherited a program in complete disarray. The other problem, while I like him personnally, I'm not sure Mason is the right guy. As you have stated, he was the 3rd or 4th choice, because he was willing to accept the hand he was given.

What exactly is the touch back rule? Was at a game. Return man's back foot was in the endzone when he caught the ball. I always thought that was a touch back. Ref allowed him to return it.

Final