kidrock7

Agreed! Here's the latest from the Jackson Sun Sports Column. Hopefully this story is over, and the kids and coaches can get back to playing football. Liberty is one of the best teams in 4A, and Haywood has a boatload of talent. Should be a fun one to watch! http://www.jacksonsun.com/story/sports/high-school/football/2014/09/03/haywood-coach-come-back/15004617/

Confused by this statement dhs. Are you suggesting the coach wanted all of this to happen for publicity? I find that kind of hard to believe if so...

Quick turnaround for the Tomcats. Haywood Middle School and Haywood Freshman football coach, Ernie Jackson, gets promoted to Head Coach. http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20130612/SPORTS/130612022/BREAKING-Haywood-names-Ernie-Jackson-new-football-coach

Haywood's Slade Calhoun resigns, effective this morning. I hate this for the program and the kids. Seemed like the program was making some improving strides and the kids were finally buying into his ways. Now, they must start all over. Any thoughts on the search?

Trezvant Is definitely underrated. I was very surprised at how well this team performed. Seemed to be very disciplined, despite what happened a couple of years ago at the state championship, very fundamentally sound (especially on defense), did not make many mistakes offensively, and they are not scared to hit somebody! Dyers burg just could not get anything going. Congrats on a very good season Trojans!

Exactly right, look at all the great head coaches around and they all have/had an excellent staff around them. Look at Covington right now, may have one of the better complete staffs I have ever seen, and look at where it has gotten them. If Haywood could get a well rounded staff, it would definitley help out the cause. BUT, it is hard for them to do that because they are still on a seven-period schedule, where as many schools are on a block schedule, so it is hard to persuade someone to come coach with having to teach 6 classes without a planning period, and probably not the best paying position around West Tennessee either. Definitely believe good assistant coaches help make a strong, disciplined, winning team.

ChargerFan, I think it is a combination of a few things. And believe me, the true fans of the Tomcats are wondering the same thing you are. First, if you have not heard there have been quite a few problems and questions about the school system as a whole. Many people pulled their kids out and quite a few of the families that could afford it have gone to private schools in Jackson. Second, I hate to say it, but many of the kids that should be playing football in Haywood either are too lazy to play, more concerned about basketball or baseball and are not playing (which I can understand on concentrating on one sport to better yourself for college opportunities, but it's high school I think you should play every sport you can play!), or have gotten caught up in the wrong crowd. I can think of many athletes that played until around freshman year over the past 8-10 years and then strayed away because of the last reason. Thirdly, the coaching changes that have taken place over the past 4 seasons haven't helped either. These kids need a since of stability, and the changes over the past few seasons have not allowed that stability to be there. As some of the posts mentioned earlier, I think the program may be heading in the right direction. The record this year could easily have at least two more W's added to the list. But, the team lost it late in both games. I think that comes with knowing how to win and finishing games, which these kids who are juniors and seniors have not ever had that kind of experience in highschool, but hopefully that will soon change. The Freshman and Middle school programs are very talented and are use to winning, so hopefully the three reasons I gave you above will not be a factor in the next couple of years and Haywood will be able to get back on top.

95.3 FM covers Haywood, and The Brownsville States Graphic is the local newspaper.

You are exactly right. You can't give up that many points and expect to be a winner. Im a firm believe in Defense wins championships, and Offense draws the crowd. You do have to be able to stop people. As I said, this team is improving, but by no means am I tooting my own horn for my school. Definitely have a long way to go, but just considering the circumstances and how bad they were last year, they deserve the credit that they are improved from a year ago. JMO also.

Thoughts...

I think you are wrong on this. They are a greatly improved team this year, who got a huge win this weekend, dominating dyer co. They could easily be 3-0. Don't hate on these guys for getting better!

GREAT POST!!

Very intense game to watch..Haywood is a lot better than last year, but still very sloppy. Tons of penalties and players not in shape cost them this game. Crockett could not stop haywoods at times. Number 11 for Crockett is a great back. Haywood could upset some teams this year, and Crockett should have a solid season.

Are you serious? Watkins won Mr. Football he's senior year at Haywood. And I'm sorry he wasn't good enough to start at Alabama, o wait it might be because he was behind Courtney Upshaw and Donte Hightower. Two top round picks in this years draft. Watkins played every defensive special teams and killed people on kickoff coverage team, making sports center top 10 for destroying a kid from ole miss. (sounds like a team player to me, accepting a special teams role and excelling at it) He also made it to training camp with the titans this year and is on the practice squad roster right now. Sounds like a real lazy kid to me.....

Not too mention the boatload of players who unfortunately were not serious enough academically and were not able to play at the next level.

Brandon Douglas-Memphis Carlos singleton-Memphis Steven turner-Memphis Jocolby bond-Ball State Craig Harris-MTSU Aaron Carney-UT Martin 1-aa Greg Hines-Bethel Johnny Turner Cumberland Alex Watkins-Alabama (2 rings) Brett Stoots -Rhodes D-3 Harold Watson-TSU Jerry Bradford-Bethel Those are the ones off the top of my head, but many more to filler ju-co's and good 1-aa,2,&3 schools. No doubt the talent is in Haywood but the coaching staff has hurt the program. Current coach does not have community support nor tries to get it. Definitely in a rebuilding mode but hopefully can get a better staff in for a very highly talented sophomore and freshman class. Crocket should handle business in this one, but maybe the tomcats can turn it around.

I like what the Tomcats are doing. Looked a lot different than what people are use to seeing on the football field in Brownsville. They have a young quarterback that will need some time to learn the system inside and out but he still showed promise. Haywood's starting running back, top WR, and starting TE/MLB did not play. Like wardawg said, once Haywood gets everything together, they could be very very tough. Lots of good athletes for the Tomcats and showed a lot of more discipline last night.

Anxious to see what the Tomcats will look like in their new systems under Coach Calhoun!

Haywood's new Heach Coach is Slade Calhoun, D coordinator from Brighton High School. Know anything about him???

Any word on who will be coaching the tomcats next year?

What's the schedule and thoughts on these matchups and teams?

What happened?

All I know is when Bowling came to Dyersburg the kids and the parents acted like idiots..Stowe is in town and "SAME SONG, DIFFERENT VERSE"..and what gets me is "HOW MANY OF THESE PARENTS WHO ARE CONFRONTING THE COACHES ACTUALLY PLAYED ANY TYPE OF SPORTS IN HIGH SCHOOL"?.. I don't Coach Counce will ever return..but they need somebody "WHO WILL RUN THE PROGRAM WITH NO INTERFERENCE FROM THE PARENTS AND TAKES NO LIP OFF THE PLAYERS".. LOL..Tim Thompson isn't doing anything these days..since he got booted from the Ridgeway job for having ILLEGAL players in spring practice...Get him up here..He'll put some DISCIPLINE in the program. and we would be entertaining to watch..He won state titles at Melrose and had Fayette-Ware in the playoffs...Only thing they might call us the Dyer County of Football...Because he would have kids from Ripley to South Fulton playing for us... ( THIS IS A JOKE ABOUT THOMPSON FOR THOSE WHO DON'T GET IT".. First of all you are probably the worst high school football fan I have ever seen. You my friend are the great "In the Stands" Coach that everyone dreads hearing from. Secondly, I think you may have somewhat of a freaky obsession with the great "Coach Counce". You rag on Coach Stowe and his record, Im quite certain that Stowe Beat your beloved Counce on numerous occasions. Coach Counce is GONE and Coach Stowe is running the ship. Your exactly right when you say Coach Stowe is a fine man , in fact he is one the the greatest guys I know as a coach and as a person. He cares about his program, winning, the community, and most of all His Kids That He Coaches. It sounds like to me its the assistant coaches that are causing problems within the program, and I will have to say I saw that coming back in the spring when I myself visited during Spring Practice. The biggest thing people in Dyersburg need to do is rally behind Coach Stowe and their team, especially in a big game like this week . Yea so what you lost a couple of games, NO ONE goes undefeated EVERY YEAR!!! Its all about making the playoffs and running the table in High School Football. Quite talking smack and rally behind your team!!

Harold Watson QB/FS Demarcus Douglas TE/DE junior Terry Grandberry RB/SS