mbraiders

This is a great region in the fact that almost every team in the region has a shot at winning it. That's great considering how many teams are in the region. You must come to play week in and week out to be on top. From top to bottom it is one of if not the best region in the state.

Jeff Fisher!

For Hillsboro there is only one way for them to go and that's down. They will still be a force to be reckoned with within the region. I believe it will be much more difficult for Overton to stay atop the region especially after losing so many seniors. Columbia lost a lot of experience and athleticism to graduation. Tullahoma also lost many good players this year but should still have a chance to be in the top five in the region. Hillwood, Spring Hill, and Hickman Co. are the teams to look for to be on the rise. Hickman Co. is still a few seasons from being in the upper half of the region but the others are ready to make there own playoff appearances. I look for the top six to be made of (in no particular order) Spring Hill, Columbia,Hillsboro, Tullahoma, Hillwood,and Overton. Each of these teams has a shot at winning the region.

Zyiad is a wideout, but Spring Hill's John Hickman, 6'4" 200 gets the job done at TE. He has plenty of potential as a rising junior.

MTSU would be a great place for Jason, but the coaches there, especially Andy Mac, basically shunned him.

The sad thing is boneal52 is you are exactly right and anyone who has ever seen Jason play knows it. There really is no excuse for him going unlooked upon like he has been.

Jason has yet to sign although Cumberland has made a VERY strong offer.

I've seen Fred play many times and have also watched even more films of him. I also know quite a few of his close friends. #1 Fred is a great student and person and is a much needed highlight in the student body of Columbia Central. Sparkman has more potential than any thing else. His is not the fastest or the biggest, but the potential is there. He main negatives are mostly due to poor coaching. He has been allowed to develop bad habits and also allow to take plays off. His effort wasn't always there, but that is hardly all his fault. Do I believe he is one of the top players in the state? No, not by far. But I do believe that with better coaching he has the potential to be very very good.

I have long been a fan of rotating the state championships every year to one of three sections of the state. Middle Tennessee teams have long since had an advantage by not having to travel as far as many other teams from outside the area. Rotating the championship is a fairer way of doing things. AS far as a different place for each game, this becomes much more difficult and alot more finacially burdensome.

One receiver to keep an eye out for is Saddiq Zyiad from Spring Hill. He is a huge target at 6'4" and 215lbs and will be vital to the offense this year with the loss of quarterback Jason Hoath.

Every now and then college recruiters totally miss the boat and boy have they ever! I wasn't going to say anything about the lack of interest in Jason from Division 1A programs to keep from sounding like a whiner but obviously there are people out there with more intelligence and scouting ability than many coaches. Unbelievably, Jason has drawn almost zero interest from Division 1 programs. The school most interested in Jason is Cumberland. He is their #1 recruit and rightfully so. As many of you know he will be a great steal for any program.

Not taking anything away from Fred who is an exceptional athlete and kid, but he was hardly the biggest threat in the Columbia backfield and no where near as big of a threat as many others in region 6-4A.

Sparkman wasn't as much of a threat in the backfield as he was at linebacker. It will be in this regard where they will miss him the most. Once again Central will return with speed to spare in the backfield, but they lose a lot of leadership with the outgoing senior class.

To close a few matters at hand: 1) Coach Stone: Great Father, Great Husband, Great Friend, Great Teacher, Great Coach, Great Man. Period. 2) The coach at MBA and former Vanderbilt standout is Jeff Rutledge. 3) One person does not and cannot express the views of a community as a whole, therefore any attempt to do so is futile and irrelevant.

Coach Stone's name has been mentioned quite a few times for head coaching jobs and rightfully so. He is very good at what he does and an outstanding coach. Coach Stone is one of those few individuals that really enjoys where he is at and what he is doing. It is widely agreed that he would make an excellent head coach but he is just simply not interested in doing so. He prefers being able to focus solely on football and not all of the micromangement and responsibilities associated with being a head coach. Everyone within the Spring Hill family feel very fortunate Coach Stone feels the way he does.

I've held out from this discussion as long as I can. Here is a list of things that I KNOW: 1) About the issue of weightlifting: Wolaver as of now wants to do away with the weightroom entirely. He feels that that lifting weights is a waste of time and does nothing to help one win on Friday nights. 2) As ELA has stated many times, it will be very difficult to impossible to hire someone outside the county. This almost eliminates any candidate from outside the county including Lewis County. Also it very much depends on what teaching positions are open. At this point Mt.Pleasant has an English vacancy. Perhaps the only way any out of county candidate could be hire is if the fill a vital teaching vacancy. 3) With this being said there are some quality coaches in the county that have applied. 3 of those candidates are from Spring Hill. DeWhitt Whitaker, former Tiger and Mt. Pleasant native and currently 1 of 2 defensive backs coaches at Spring Hill. An all around nice guy, but probably not a frontrunner for the head job, but possibly an assistant since he is already in the county and a new coach will be hard pressed for viable assistants. Also former Spring Hill head coach Bill Cox. It would be a good fit for him as his offense works well in A and AA ball, but his age and health are working against him. He would make an excellent assistant if it interested him. The finally candidate from Spring Hill is current defensive ends and freshmen coach and former Meigs County head coach Roger Webb. Webb is a very strong candidate and a proven head coach. He strength is dealing with players, something vital to the Mt. Pleasant job. Whoever inherits this program will receive a diamond in the rough so to speak. With some hard work and good coaching Mt. Pleasant has the talent to be near the top year in and year out.

With Hillsboro and Overton lossing so much talent, how do you think the region will shape up next year?

I am glad for Spiegel's sake Coach Butler was not hired. I have been around Coach Butler at Sewanee and do know him. I try to be fair to everyone and think the best of everyone I know, but Coach Butler is the exception. I personally am not very fond of Coach Butler and have NEVER met anyone who thought otherwise. As far as what his players at Sewanee think of them, they also have a difficult time trying to find nice words to describe him. I really don't want for this to be a Coach Butler bashing, but rather I want to congratulate Speigel on what appears to be the hiring of the better man for the job. [Edited by mbraiders on 1-29-03 11:06P]

Coach Butler did apply for the Austin Peay job which has just been filled.

Yeah the ol' Goose is at CSCC, along with the rest of us. He lans on transfering to Memphis next semester. As far as coaching goes, would you be the least bit intrested in middle school? I know you've had great success with the WC Cowboys. I know that there are coaches here who would like to have you, and if there was a position avaliable at the moment it would be yours if you wanted it. This being said, the most valuable position to this program avaliable, or soon to be, is the position at Cox. Our community and program would be greatly benefited with someone of your experience and skills as the head coach there. Your style of offense is very complimentary to ours, and in the mean time, if a position came avaliable, which it very possibly could, well, you're already here. Regardless of what happens, good luck Coach.

Coach A, I can truly inderstand the sntiments of your players, as I was once one of them. Celina is losing not only a great educator and coach, but a great man. I strongly encouraged you to take a look back down this way, perhaps Mt. Pleasant or Lawrence County. I would be great to have you back in this area. If it were up to me I'd love to have you back at the Hill, provided you would come. Regardless, any place were you end up is going to be lucky to have you. I'm sure Celina is a better place with you having been there. Good Luck Coach.

The Mr. Football is an INDIVIDUAL award, therefore only individual qualities and statistics should be viewed. Thus being an individual award, the team a player is from and that team's record should be irrelevant. As far as Jason Hoath is concerned, it is a shame he isn't a finalist. Anyone who has ever seen him play would agree. Where ever he goes he is sure to make an impact. [Edited by mbraiders on 11-13-02 12:54P]

1998 Spring Hill Raiders. Great talent. Bad Coaching. Eventually lose to a team with much better coaching (which could have been almost anyone) and average players.

One of the many benefits of going to either a public or private school is being able to participate in varsity athletics. This is something that is known to all parents and students alike and therefore is one of the decisions that must be made in deciding whether to home school or not. Although some may think this is not fair to home school students, it is something they give up when deciding to be home schooled. Likewise, it would be just as unfair to students who were not home schooled if home schooled students were allowed to play because they have to abide by a whole different set of rules and do not have the added benefits of having class on very flexible schedules. So students and parents are given a choice: the benefits of home schooling or the benefits of institutional schooling. Furthermore, most areas have community sports programs which allow home schooled students to participate in athletics,

Mizer leaving? Certainly no time soon. As far as college job offerings, I'm sure he has his share and rightfully so, but he also had them prior to coming to Spring Hill. Does he have the ability and skills to coach at the next level, certainly, but he WILL be at Spring Hill next year and this is one person who hopes he will be long there after.