WreckingCrew

Every parent has the right to do what they feel is best for their child. But for you to paint the whole Central football program as "win by all means" with no discipline, nor any quality coaches or players, then I'll just say I'm glad you made the choice you did by leaving. If your son isn't at Central any more, and you're happy with him being at Polk, then you what are you frustrated about?

Maybe Brandon didn't know all the details when he took the job? Some people say you can do certain things but AFTER you're there you see it's not true. I don't know what all transpired or was said during the interview, so I'll not guess. I know that Brandon was aware of certain social situations for some of the young men and thought he could change it. What may have worked for him in Georgia won't necessarily work here. I'm blaming it more on situations of young people Brandon deals with than I am in him possibly lacking administrative support, though. Trying to balance punishment with compassion is hard to do, as each peron being reprimanded responds differently. That even applies to adults, too.....so there is no clear cut answer in today's society. Perhaps Brandon had too much confidence in himself in being able to change behaviors? Perhaps he has been too lenient at times? Perhaps his exuberance is viewed wrong by certain players? It's a learning process for the coach, and knowing Brandon much better than anyone at any other program in our Region, he's relentless and will find what it takes to improve himself and the program.

Many times that environment you speak that is forged at the person's home from birth, is virtually impossible to change by the time they get to high school. But to totally paint them all with a broad brush by not giving them an opportunity can make them worse. I thoroughly agree with discipline and rules, but some compassion will go a long way with some of these young men because they've never had it. No, I'm not saying you overlook their indiscretion, but you can try to mold them through love and discipline. I'm still in favor of paddling kids - even in grammar school. But are teachers allowed to? This is only one example of what I'm talking about in what our society has regressed to. And whether anyone wants to believe it or not, there are certain young people from certain areas who have absolutely no supervision or direction at home. It may take time for that young person to be able to accept that someone does care about them and their welfare. Some of these young people hear stuff at home, or in the community, about how they're a better player than so and so, or how they ought to be the *star* player and carry the ball every time.....thus their immaturity comes out in negative ways because they believe it. Sometimes this pride builds up in a player and comes out in a big way.....like last Friday night. As far as the coach I had, he wouldn't be allowed to coach today if he were still alive. But I thank God I had him, as well as a Father who was just as tough.

OK then, since you've stepped on my toes so many times (and probably OSChargers, too) then you can buy our lunch and watch us eat. /hungry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":hungry:" border="0" alt="hungry.gif" /> That warm fuzzy feeling may be because you pee'd all over yourself when OSCharger said we were all like-minded. /blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />

Are you buying?

I believe Brandon has more discipline than most people on the outside realize, but less than some local "kool-aid" drinkers realize. In other words, the actual truth lies somewhere in-between. You're preaching to the choir when you say the coach needs to be the boss. No one is more old school than I am. The high school coach I played for (yes, the one who practiced the wet hands/wet ball theory) was a former miltary man who had played football for the Army team in their heyday during the mid-to-late 40's. He took no crap from the players and let us know quickly from day one that playing football on HIS team was a privilege that you earned. He even went as far as making sure that we were clean shaven, and had our hair cut what he deemed properly. Sometimes we only dressed out 35 players, but that was the toughest, meanest 35 kids you'd ever seen. We were extremely well conditioned and several of us played on both sides of the ball. I never left the field for any reason unless I was hurt......and even then only if a broken bone was showing, or something to that effect. We beat many teams that dressed out 60-70 guys, but yet we were still in better shape than they were in the 4th quarter, even though many of us had never left the field. Gamenight was actually a relief for us compared to our grueling paractices. If you recall, when I first started posting on here, I stepped on many toes of the Central fans because I didn't drink form the same proverbial kool-aid pitcher they did. I called Brandon out on several things, and was berated by many of the Charger fans as a know-it-all, or someone jealous of Brandon. Since I had shared many of my opinions with Brandon, I really shouldn't have been as "honest" with the information I had by posting it on a public forum. BUT, I knew there were a few players on the Charger team prior to the season who wouldn't have ever played for me just due to their general attitude observed by me in the preseason. Perhaps I'm too demanding, old fashioned, and hard core.....but it would have been my way or the highway, Brandon possibly overlooked some minor things from the players because he truly wanted to give these young men a chance. And even with some major issues from certain players, Brandon knew these guys had no one else who cared about them and loved them, and he kept thinking that he could help them by showing he cared about them. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Unfortunately, with our mamby-pamby society, things are a lot different now. Coaches can't make players to be clean shaven, or tell them to have their hair cut to look like a male, and they can't instill the discipline they may desire because of parental complaining and influence by the school administrations. I know this varies from school to school......especially with the social makeup differences of Englewood/Etowah, and Benton. Coach Davis has an ideal situation and probably has the full support of everyone in the community, and the administration when he disciplines his players. Coach Derrick isn't afforded that leniency, but I do think he wants it to be that way. However, the change can't always be made for these young men by the time they get in high school. Respect and discipline has to start at the home when their younger. Again, I believe in general Coach Davis has a better overall raised young man to deal with than "some" that Coach Derrick deals with.....thus making Brandon's position a tedious one to balance in knowing when to totally give up on helping. My point is that although you or I may see something one way, there are other people working with these young men on a daily basis, and as their coach they have the right to do things their way. Again, bear in mind, that sometimes doing something different than you or I would do does change a young man's life sometimes. Coach Derrick's legacy will be determined by more things than wins and losses.

Actually, I think region 2 (teams in and around Knoxville) is very strong, and they regularly beat region 4 teams in the playoffs. Which shows you just how weak region 3 really is.

While I think it was good to scrimmage these type of teams, a scrimmage is a far cry from a real game. I know for a fact that Alcoa had eight (8) starters not playing against Central in their scrimmage. I'm sure Central had some startes out, too, in that scrimmage......as well as the other teams Central scrimmaged against. Although a good experience for the guys who participated in the scrimmages, and for the coaches to evaluate, it still wasn't a game with all the startes in there. Schedule some of these teams DURING the season, when it counts, and that will help the team see how competitive teams like the ones they'll see in the playoffs. No doubt there were some ego issues on this Central team, and at least one of the two dismissed from the team at midseason was the very one I predicted wouldn't make it the full season. I know Brandon wanted to give this particular young man a chance to excel, where he probably would have had many scholarship offers and a chance in life. But nooooo, this player thought he was bigger than the team and had to have things done his way. What a waste of tremendous talent, as well as the opportunity to turn his life around with a college education. Who knows where his athletic skills may have taken him, also! Sad to say, but he'll probably end up hanging around the wrong people again and getting into trouble again. Hindsight is always 20/20, and I suspect that Brandon is learning more and more each with each problem child he has, and how he must remove the cancers from the team sooner.

Ooltewah by 17.

I'm hoping McMinn has enough left in their tank to pull the upset, but realistically I know Farragut is a better team. Also considering that the Admirals will be playing at home, I think they win by about 14-17 points. If Farragut does win they'll probably be playing Ooltewah the next week, which will end the Admirals season.

Normally a coach will address you as your coming off the field and tell you to sit down and cool off. I don't know how severe of a tongue lashing he took when he came off the field, or if the coach said much at all. Part of a coach's success is knowing the psyche' of each player. Some players respond well to a chewing out, and others takes it personal and never learn anything. I haven't talked to any Central coaches yet, so I don't know the whole story. Even if a player is angry, you try to diffuse the situation as best you can, while trying to get your message across to him. There's a fine line there and a good coach will recognize it. Naturally, the coaches wanted to get back to coaching the game - which was still winnable at that time - and probably didn't think the player needed a babysitter. Not making excuses at all, and I truly believe if the coaches knew beforehand what the player was going to do, they would have certainly handled it differently.

I, for one, loved it. Anyone who can't appreciate school spirit from students and fans of opposing teams, don't have an appreciation of their own school spirit. Driving that far and beating a higher ranked team on their own field is something to celebrate!

Based on my many friend in Meigs County, I don't know of ANYONE there who would have stated that about Mr. Rayl. I was probably more critical of Mr. Rayl transferring to Central than anyone (which I don't comment on any more) and yet he helped our team! I think a lot of Meigs people were truly hurt over him choosing to transfer to their biggest rival, Central, because of the Rayl family tradition at Meigs, and the hope he brought to the athletic programs. From everything I've heard, all is pretty much well now between Mr. Rayl and his friends at Meigs. I'm sure that like everywhere else, you'll still have some ignorant people who takes it personal. I don't think this idiot who posted that about him is a Meigs fan.

Honestly, hearing from many coaches of teams in this area over several years, DB just isn't mentally tough. They say when you line up and start smacking the Indians around physically, they fold like a cheap towel. D-B has plenty of talent but they have no guts, no fight, or no fortitude to respond back when the other team is challenging them. Maybe D-B is loaded with kids who've had too much given to them and have never had to do without, so they're spoiled and mentally soft and they don't know how to work hard and earn something? Just a thought.

Sorry to disagree with you, but Mr. Moss has had a lot of support and guidance at Central. If you accept what he did tonight as just a random act of losing your cool, then you're delusional. He has some serious issues if he can't control his emotions better than that. He displayed a total lack of respect for his coaches, teammates, and fans. I hope he gets some counseling, or he'll end up doing something serious to someone. I hope Coach Derrick removes him from the team until he straightens up and shows he has control over his anger. The Central program was damaged tonight and they deserve better than what Mr. Moss showed tonight on the sidelines and in the stands. No one person is bigger or more important than the team, regardless of their talent or ability.

Yeah, and we both took abuse saying it. Remember me chiding all the Central folks prior to the season for them talking about playing for the state championship game? I told them the Chargers would go no further than round 2 and I took severe abuse for stating that. I honestly hoped I'd be proven wrong, but the only things I was wrong about was that we didn't even make it to round 2 this year. Padding your won/loss record with out of conference patises is alright "IF" you play in a strong region. Sportswriters are easily impressed by teams that are undefeated. Look what happened to undefeated, #1 ranked 5A Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett tonight. Another weak, overrated team in a weak region that went 0-4 tonight.

Read it and weep, Region 3 Coaches: White House beat ER 39-0 Station Camp beat Polk 14-7 Dekalb beat McMinn Central 28-14 Sycamore beat Howard 34-20 Congratulations to Polk County for at least going on the road and playing a close game.

Yes, there were some bad calls, but as you said they have to learn to overcome them and not lose their composure. the referees didn't beat Central....a better prepared team did. And I certainly don't agree with one of those 4th down attempts.......especially running the same QB sneak? Our offense totally tanked after the Polk game! I said it before the seaon started, and maintained it all season long, and I'll continue saying that our weak schedule kills us. Central isn't prepared to play against a solid, fundamentally sound, skilled team because they don't see any during the regular season. Note that Region 3 champion Howard got drilled at home tonight by the #4 team from Region 4. Last year's Region 3 champion Central team lost to the #4 team from region 4. Year before last Region 3 champion Meigs team lost to the #4 team from Region 4. Notice a trend there? If that doesn't send a message to our Region 3 coaches, I don't know what will. Padding your won/loss stats with patsies will do you no good when the playoffs get here.

If people only knew how true your statements are. I won't say much or name names, but Brandon and some of his coaches are the only resemblance of male authority and love that several of these kids ever see.

I can't say for sure, but maybe he was sent to the dressing room by one of the coaches so he would cool off. I missed seeing who he got into a fight with behind the bench. It was a bad situation, nonetheless, and just another one Brandon needs to really work on with these guys in the off-season.

Can't remember them all, but you can click on 'scoreboard' at the top of CoachT. Howrd got their butt kicked! McMinn Central got their butt kicked! East Ridge got their butt kicked! Looks like Polk County played pretty tough and only lost by 7. Congratulations!

Well it shocked all of us down this way. McMinn isn't that good of a team, trust me. But I guess it doesn't take a very good team to beat D-B. #1 ranked in Tennessee? What a joke!

Cleveland - class? /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

I thought for sure Howard would win, and felt Central probably should win. I don't know how Polk or East Ridge fared, but I suspect they both got beat too. Well, back to the drawing board once again Region 3.

The REAL Tribe rolled tonight