KWoodroof

I really don't think this team underperformed that badly, and I don't think their performance warrants the hand-wringing and calls for house-cleaning that are surfacing. This is not, imho, a spectacularly talented team. They have some pretty good athletes,but I don't see many of the seniors playing football next year, even at smaller programs. You can't ignore the impact of off-the-field issues on this team. McGugin's departure was anything but seamless, and the way it dragged on created factions and divisions, and none of those are good for a football team. I also suspect Euverard was badly handicapped by coming in just before spring practice. Certainly other teams coped with coaching changes, but this one seems to have created a level of divisiveness not often seen at MBA. Add to the off-field issues the departure of Jalen Hurd and C. J. Sanders, both of whom would have been significant contributors. Further, Div II-AA was just better this year. BGA has more talent than usual with Beathard, and he has a very competent, well-drilled, and disciplined team around him. I mean no slur against BGA, but they generally lack the talent and depth to compete in this division. I can't help thinking that Euverard is somehow a part of that. Likewise, I think Baylor is a better team than anticipated this year. That's not to say I'm thrilled with everything, or that I think everything will automatically be rosy again soon. I'm disturbed by the number of penalties; MBA teams are traditionally nothing if not disciplined. And while I'm no expert on defensive football, it's pretty clear that there's a lot of confusion on defense. I would expect to see improvement in that next season. Lastly, all the panic seems to me to ignore history. MBA has always been a top flight program, but I wouldn't consider it a dynasty at all, certainly not in the sense of Alcoa or Maryville or BA. MBA produces 3-4 good teams, with the occasionally really poor one. The '69 team went 2-8, as did the '76 team. Most of the '70's were fairly forgettable. And MBA never won a state championship on the field prior to the split. Not an ideal season, certainly not what anyone wanted, but hardly the end of the world. With the exception of the BA game, the boys have played hard. I don't think things are all that bad.

I'm really not making either statement. My point is that in Bowers' tenure as a head coach at both MBA and Ensworth (once they had 4 full classes), there aren't a lot of coaches who've had much success against him. He assembles a good staff, and his teams are well-prepared and well conditioned. He's likely to be the skunk at the garden party for a while to come. Again, not taking a shot at any school or staff, just acknowledging that he's got a really good record.

Nothing about Div II-AA makes any sense at all.

Yes, but the line "The truth is that the darkest hour is just before total blackness" sounds a lot like something that comes from a demotivational poster website.

I always preferred it when the handshakes were spontaneous, and genuine, instead of a line everyone was expected to pass through.

If you can't beat Bowers, you join a growing fraternity of teams. Say what you will about the man, he assembles a solid team.

Ok, you count 3 bad calls each way...that squares with what I've heard from MBA fans who saw the game. Inept, but not corrupt officials. As to the "fan," sadly, we all have a few of them. Somewhere, we've lost perspective, very badly. This is still a children's recreational activity, albeit they tend to be awfully big children. Not sure how anyone can be happy when one of them is injured. I think that the pregame prayer used to have a civilizing effect on everybody. Of course, now I'm dating myself.

Why thank you...I'll take you up on that.

Without consulting RRR's Holy Writ (i.e., the HD Football Database), my recollection of MBA's games with the Chattanooga schools have always been good games, even if the teams haven't always been great. The games are hard fought, but everybody seems to conduct themselves in a classy manner. They're just two games I really like. And the posters here are polite (usually, except for the idiot who attacked Bluemom last year, which was just wrong on so many levels). Hopefully I'll be there for MBA's next trip to McCallie, a place I've never been.

It's always refreshing to read a post from someone who clearly grasps the school's mission. The sky is not falling at Ryan (or anywhere else) simply because the football team's success is something less than spectacular. Further, the football team is not the only thing in the athletic department.

I do admire the way you're willing to go out on a limb with this one.

I haven't heard anything from anybody connected with the school. Has any action been taken?

Can't seem to get the phrase, "Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" out of my mind....

I can't imagine the authorities would be thrilled with with a profanity laced tirade, but I also doubt they'd view it as a really egregious issue. The famous English teacher Mary Helen Lowrey, who was at the school so long she'd known Montgomery Bell, used to talk about the '48 Litton game. MBA was celebrating 50 years of football, and apparently not playing well. As she told the story, Coach Allen informed the lads at the half that "This is a horse-hockey way to celebrate 50 years of football here...and he didn't say 'hockey'."

I don't always agree with everything you post, but I think in this case you're dead on. The money issue is the driving force on a lot of really bad decisions, starting with the idea that a relatively small state can somehow justify 8 state champions. And the whole idea of a state championship from a pool of 11 teams is beyond ludicrous.

Not sure we want to preserve evidence of a lot of these games.

While I generally enjoy a good skunk fight, I'd rather discuss football related topics in a friendly fashion. You've been here about a week, and I'm guessing you haven't read a lot of my posts. I'm assuming you mean the whole situation regarding MBA's violation of financial aid rules. No point rehashing the whole thing here, but if you go back some pages, you'll see my comments (a lot of them) on that subject. In a nutshell, I think both the school and the TSSAA handled the whole thing badly. I'm not aware of any pending issues with the TSSAA, but if you are, I'd certainly be interested.

MBA is doing the same thing. It's a good freshmen team, undefeated against a pretty decent schedule. Of course, that's no guarantee of anything in the future. Ryan has had a very strong freshman program over the years, but it's translated to fairly average results.

Always glad to help.

Siegel, BA, Ryan, Cookeville, Blackman, and JP II. Certainly I'd rather have the frosh winning rather than losing, but success on the freshman level doesn't necessarily translate to success at the next level.

I think the MBA community is delighted you're moving on, hopefully at high speed. I suspect your village has missed you.

I never actually thought you had graduated from MBA. And you're quite right that I'm sensitive to not being considered a gentleman or scholar. As much as MBA values its athletic teams and their success, the priorities are quite rightly, "Gentleman, Scholar, Athlete." As an alumnus, I do take the school's reputation seriously. Rather embarrassingly, you have correctly surmised that the MBA has not hired me as a coach. My own theory is that the school has not offered me a coaching position due to the fact that I have no coaching experience at all. Further, I may have been passed over due to my failure to express any sort of interest in any coaching job (vacant or otherwise) at the school. And this thread really isn't about football. You've given it a title that slurs both Ensworth and Maplewood, with no justification that I can see. You've only mentioned football tangentially, and blaming MBA's season on injuries is not really the most incisive of insights. It misses the point that they lost two excellent TB's to non-football matters, the fact that they have a new coach, and the effect of the upheaval at the school during the spring. Beyond that, Baylor and BGA are considerably better this year than in years past.

You'll notice most of the long time MBA posters are gone. My guess is this thread gets closed/deleted in pretty short order.

I've seen players under Coach Owen wear sleeves under their jerseys on cold nights, or on artificial turf. The black socks and untucked jerseys just don't look right at all.

It's nice to read a threat about a heated rivalry where people conduct themselves in a civilized, even dignified manner (as a simple-minded man like me would expect). I was a big fan of Sportsmanship. I was present at its funeral, where it was laid to rest near Common Sense and Personal Accountability. Sportsmanship's close friend, Good Manners, was on life support and unable to attend.