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That thought crossed my mind, that they would use the survey as a tool to find out the areas that need to be improved, and just keep Maynard with his assurance that he would make certain changes. I would agree that the booster club should keep collecting money, but not spend any on the program. As best as I can tell that won't happen since I think they have already committed to (and scheduled) the speed training, and are just going to railroad it in tomorrow. Their excuse will be that they have to get it scheduled now before it is too late. And if that is the case, then does that mean Maynard lied to all of us late last spring when he said he was going to get it last summer knowing it wasn't possible to get it scheduled? I don't know if that is the case, but it sounds a little odd to me that last year we could still get it set up in late May or earlier June, yet this year, we have to commit to it in November (if we basically haven't already committed). I dont' know what the school administration is going to do, but Mrs Jenkins said that "we run this like a business". So we will see if she truly can. Although up to this point, she has yet to instill much confidence in her ability. My most current example would be that school counselors tell students and parents to check the school web page to find out various information, yet, maybe it is just me, but I can no longer get the school webpage to come up. So, if were running this school like a business, I would say again, they are definately not support their customers. I guess maybe our children just go to a poorly managed school. One other item, Mrs Jenkins also said they evaluate it every year. So, what were the results of their evaluation last year? In regards to taking this downtown, if that doesn't work, the next step would be going to your School board person and then to the entire board. Because if they do decide to keep him, I think we will be at least owed the reasons and reasoning used to make that decision. And also possibly to question the ability of the administration as well.

First thing, I think the 57-0 game the one guy was talking about was the last freshman game at Sevier County, not he Varsity D-B game. I agree with what you say about uniting (and I hope my one post earlier reflected that to some degree). I think if discipline and fairness comes to the program, most of the issues (especially about the various classes) will be put to bed. I too got the survey and found it interesting. I even heard through the grapevine, that some of the players have already filled out surveys. Part of me is glad they are at least asking for comments, but part of me has a few concerns. 1) Why are they going to Mr Hill? 2) Who will get to see them? 3) Who determines what ones Mrs Jenkins sees? Also, while happy to give my comments, it does concern me about the ability of the Athletic Director and Principal if they need parental comments to make determinations about the coaching staff and the program. It they are qualified for their positions, why then can’t they make the decision themselves? Do they not watch and follow the program? Have they not previously talked to students that played and then quit? Talked with outgoing seniors for their comments in previous years? Have not parents come forward before with thoughts and comments? I can understand the principle not having done some of this, but what about the Athletic Director? Just some food for thought.

And you expected him to be punished. Heck they had a kid pull a fire alarm at camp. That incident could effect whether we get to go back there again. But was that player sent home and kicked of the team. NO. Why wasn't he? Maybe because the coach's own son was also involved? Does anyone in the administration know the whole story? Well, I sure don't and I doubt we ever will.

1) I wasn't aware that the QB didn't play with this group in rec, I thought those freshmen parents that told me that "this group has been playing together for a long time" were telling the truth. My error. 2) I disagree, the Freshmen team does matter, and I think many cared about their record. 3) Why wouldn't someone want to go to camp if they had the opportunity to go? I never blamed them for the opportunities they had, but was just trying to point they had additional ones not given previous classes. 4) I would agree, and maybe add a playbook as well 5) You only give one example out of seven (7) games. Needless to say, I don't think citing one event can be used to say that I don't have my facts straight Besides, that game was different because it seemed they wanted to rest the starters so they could play in the JV game, which in turn only took playing time from the "regular" JV (who already had one less game than the freshmen). However, the thing I find interesting was the head coach had said previously, all freshmen would play in each game in his program, yet before the first game, the freshmen coaches told the players they might not all get to play. 6) I agree, we all do need to become unified. The administration needs to do whatever they are going to do and in my opinion resolve this by the first of the new year and let their decision become public. After that, we all need to rally together, players, parents, boosters, coaches and administration and get this program moving in a positive direction. Because currently, parents and players alike are being "forced" to pick a side, and this program can't move forward until the administration makes their decision. And one last comment, the players do need to come together. No matter what happens, I feel the players might even want to consider having a meeting themselves, set their goals as a group and discuss what they should expect from each other during the off-season. And that no one is above working out, and that everyone needs to put their full heart, mind and body into being the best player than can be and the best teammate they can be. I honestly believe many of the players have never been told, that no matter their individual role, their individual hard work directly effects this teams level of success.

Special?? .. I will admit they do have some talent, but it is far too early and very wrong to tag them as the saviors of the program. So they won a rec league, big deal. This year's junior class supposedly did well in rec league too. In fact you own quote was "... the current junior class did very well in rec league..", but now in your above post you are throwing them under the bus and replacing them with this years freshman. And why weren't the freshman successful the previous year. Was it lack of talent? Was it lack of coaching? Maybe that this year's freshmen were given far more advantages than last years freshman (i.e. go to camp, pre-season scrimmages, dressing and playing in JV games, etc). Had both classes been treated equally (which a public school I feel should do), maybe this years sophomore class would have had better success as freshmen. As it stands now, if I had a son who was now a sophomore, I would have no reason for them to go to workouts and play next year, since the anointed classes seem to be the upcoming seniors and sophomores (which also coincidentally are the classes of the head coach’s sons). Last years JV went undefeated and most of the varsity that year was seniors, so using your logic, this years team should have been undefeated or at the very minimum a winning team. WOW .. but they weren’t. So what does that mean, just that previous years results don’t guarantee future success. So putting too much stock on this year’s freshmen class and their rec league championship (especially when other posters talk that rec league is not the same as high school varsity football – see previous post I responded too) is foolish. This year’s freshmen class does have potential, but I have seen many teams with individual potential, but will that group mesh with the other classes, or do the players feel they are “special” and might even look down or something similar to other classes. To me, it takes all three classes (Soph, Jr, Sr) working together, working hard, doing all the off-season workouts and working for common goals for them to be successful. Everyone can’t be a starter, but for a team to be successful, teammates need to be pushing the starters in the weight room, at camp and during practices. They all need to do their best whether they are a starter, on one special team, or on just on the scout team in practice. It takes everyone to be a winner and it takes every player understanding that their teammates, in what ever role they have, are needed for the group to be winners! And as best I can tell, some seem to think and I’m afraid it will carry over to the players, that some how this Freshmen team is something great. They need to respect the upper classmen and what they have had to endure and they need to pay their dues as well, even though thus far they have been given many advantages and special treatment. This freshmen have a lot of work to do these next three off-seasons, so let’s see how they do with that before they are judged. I have seen teams with great promise and ability, but they end up not being a team and/or don’t work hard, and then don’t live up to expectations. One other thing to consider, is how many of this freshmen team will return? The previous year, they had around 45 players, yet, what less than 20 returned and this was not just the starters that came back. In fact, many that didn’t return were starters. Did the coaching staff do what was best for the program this past year in regards to the freshmen. What I saw was opportunities missed by not getting more players in this past year. Yes, they have some with talent, but shouldn’t a goal of the program be to make all players better? Who knows who might grow 3 or 4 inches or put on 30-50 lbs between seasons. I’m not psychic, and I doubt the coaches are. So why not let more kids play, especially when you have games that are blowouts. In my opinion, winning the game is important, but also preparing all the players for next year is just as important. I’ve seen many kids who were “great” as 8th or 9th graders, and then fizzled by the time they were a junior or senior. Need I remind everyone of the classic story that Micheal Jordan didn’t even make the team his sophomore year. Things can change, players can get worse, some will get better. Being a rec league champion in 8th grade means absolutely nothing to me when it comes to high school varsity football. And one other thing, the Freshmen QB is older than some of the sophomores that were on the team. So, would the Freshmen have been rec league champions without him? I don’t know, but if that had been the case, would we even be having this discussion? Food for thought.

Good point about the school website. The principal tells the booster club to trust her to do her job yet the school website is a disgrace and for many, that might be their first contact/information about Bearden. You can even hit the link that is suppose to get you the principal's bio, but what do you get, not her bio, but an error page. Trust her to do her job she says .... yet, if being overall responsible for the web page is any indication, I would say she is failing and she has had almost a year to get that fixed. Heck in her letter to the booster club she said she was unable to retrieve her email for almost a week. Someone is sure running a good school over their as best I can tell. But to answer your question, the site is www.beardenfootball.com And your right, you are probably lucky not to go there (especially if you played football), and I am seriously debating how many more of my children will attend there as well.

You are Clueless!! ... how you can call the previous person "ignorant and juvenile" when all one has to do is watch how coaches son's were treated this past year at Bearden. Only one starter on defense was never individually taken out of a game, do you know who that was? It was the coach’s son. He played almost every down on Defense this year (except for one game where we went out with an injury). Other than that, he played all but 3 plays on Defense (and those were the two times they put in the second string defense). You can look at the Bearden website and see examples about his own son. In two pictures, every player is doing the warm-up exercise, but him. In another, everyone is huddling up and he is standing off to the side. His own son didn’t do weight max’s at the end of the summer or have to run the 40’s (supposedly because of some back ailment), yet during that same time, he was dunking a basketball in the gym. And mysteriously, he got all better two days later and could run full contract drills at camp. How about the coaches younger son. He is probably the only Freshman that will get a varsity letter this year. Wasn’t there a qualified or deserving sophomore or junior that could have done long snap duties. I would think so, especially when his son blew two fumble plays on punts, and did everything he could to avoid contact. Of course he learned the no contact part from his brother who the year before on special teams, would avoid making contact/tackles on punt coverage as well. I will however agree with you basic thoughts about some parents can be good coaches and that this is not a rec league and will even give you the benefit of the doubt that you assume the Bearden program is like most other HS programs and the people in them. However this program is not!! Coaches son’s get special treatment. As to your comments about “some parents need to realize that their kids might not be better than the guy in front of him ..,” I agree, but that is not the case with this program. I believe some kids arent’ given a chance because they might do better than the starter. Also, I have no problem with my son playing behind someone that is better than he is as long as he has worked as hard as my son has. I can handle that situation just fine, as I teach my son to do his best and to strive to get better. But in this program, it doesn’t matter how hard you try or that you make all the off-season workouts and practices, if the coaches feel some other kid has more talent (i.e. speed, ability), they get the reps. And what does this do? Well, it breaks down being a team. A team is one that all has gone through the same stuff , made the same sacrifices, trusts and respects the players next to him. As long as some are given preferential treatment, it will get no better. I also take offense that you tell us to quit making excuses and go play another sport or activity. You really don’t have a clue. This is our child’s school and a sport our child wants to play. Why not do what we can to make it the best we can. And besides, maybe our child already plays golf and does band, does that somehow now make them not able to be a football player (mine has done all three). Yes we do have choices, and I choose to do whatever I can to make Bearden football better. If that means changing a coach, then so be it. I take personal offense that you believe we are trying to break down the program, when in fact I believe most of those that comment are trying what they can to help push the program in a new and better direction. You said you aren’t in the know and that was probably the only accurate thing you said. You haven’t a clue what has gone on and what our children have had to endure. No, I don’t fight my child’s battles (whether it be a grade or playing time) and don’t’ plan to. But I feel I have an obligation to do what I can to make this program better. And no, it is not about my own son, his situation is his, but this program is my concern. Let me put it this way, would you think the principal of any High school was being successful if they kept getting more students each year, and over a three year period, not only were the ACT test scores lower, but they were having less students take them? Would you think as parents we should just keep quiet and not say anything? Do you think we should just believe that for some reason our students had less talent then the students in other High Schools? Or that it was the parent’s fault for putting to much pressure on our children and that we teach them to expect the highest levels of achievement for them? A bad program is a bad program, and it starts at the top. Our children have to apply for college and scholarships and they just don’t ask about their academics. Yes, they do ask about the sport participation and yes, they ask about Letters earned. So, should I be concerned about football and be passionate about it. YES!! Kids might be able to get scholarships from playing football and we as parents should demand the best, not only from our children, but their coaches and their administrators. I feel that all any parent should ask is that all children play by the same rules. Plain and simple. But with the Bearden program, that is not the case, not hardly.