footballinTN

Heard his wife had her desk cleaned out before Tuesday morning.

I keep hearing a lot of buzz about the school down 411 and their young coach. I'm sure the school between Vonore and Madisonville would take them. Quite a few people that have been around football say they are just a couple pieces away from being really successful.

That's Mark Ingram. He's a school board member for Madisonville. Derek Dooley had an impressive resume. Still didn't mean he could coach. I heard Bollinger is coaching at William Blount as an assistant. Good place to learn and it is great he is taking the initiative to do so. He'll be really good in the future because of it.

Would David Staff be an option? He's already on the coaching staff.

Optimism is always a positive thing. I really think that Sequoyah went as far to the bottom they could go with that last set of coaches and everything positive is a win for these kids. That is what the school needs, instead of negativity all the time. They can't even get support from the radio station that calls themselves "The Voice of the Chiefs". The radio station dogs them during games. That is how bad the situation was at Sequoyah. Thank goodness I can use the NFHS site to listen and watch the games. Hopefully there is enough optimism around the school that the athletes will want to participate. People complain and gripe and moan about how bad things are. People should try being supportive and giving the kids a reason to want to play. It really speaks volumes of negativity when the athletes refuse to play. That starts at the top with coaching. I hear parents saying all the time how that with Vestal their kids actually have a chance to play and that status has nothing to do with it. That is why I think Vestal is going to do good. He doesn't know anybody and is building his own relationships. When you hear words like Cancer and Constant Negativity about a group of coaches, it is definitely time to clean house and start over. Even if Vestal does leave, it happens. The key is to remember that it's the kids that are most important. The KIDS. They need to have our support. They need to know that there are going to people there other than their parents to support them. Community. And so far, it seems like the Community is coming back.

Monroe County doesn't have an assistant director. I attend church with two of the supervisors and they said Dr. Windsor hasn't named one.

I have been reading this thread as well as watching Sequoyah from afar. I read in the newspaper that Sequoyah set an all time school record for total offensive yards with over 4,000. I also saw where that Sequoyah played in the #2 district in the state for 4A. I try and listen to Sequoyah's games on the radio, and I know of 4 or 5 games this past year where they were winning at the half and then lost around the same number of games really close. Like 7 or 10 points or less. I checked with teachers I know that work there, the old record for yardage dates back to when Coach Satterfield was there. That sounds like some really awesome potential. Satterfield is the last time Sequoyah had a good coach. A couple of the parents have said on multiple occasions how far behind their kids were in just regular football knowledge. I have been told stories that the players were almost in shell shock when they actually practiced something other than offense the entire practice. They talked about how the players had no experience with special teams, and no real experience working within a defense until Vestal and his crew got there. Kids were having to be taught basic skills to play defense, not just run around hoping to run into someone and make a tackle. One kid told me that he didn't know what to do since he actually had to show up to workouts and practice in the summer, because all he previously had to do was show up in August. The people are constantly complimenting the team because they aren't acting like a bunch of thugs on the field, they are trying to play and win a ballgame. All I can say is that Sequoyah is much better off with Vestal than any of those previous coaches like Bollinger. It would have been a ton more of the same if they had hired any of the assistants as HC. Vestal and his staff seem like they know what they are supposed to coach and how to actually coach. It seems like every kid last year was on a freshman level, even the seniors, and they had to teach the basics instead of building on prior knowledge. I have seen pictures of how much improvement Vestal has done just with the facilities. I remember being in the field house back when White was there and I felt like I needed a tetanus shot when I left. The pictures posted online make it look like a totally different place. I hear you can even catch Vestal there and he'll take you on a tour. I think that as Vestal and his coaches get the bad habits put into these boys from the last group of coaches and change the culture to one of respect, hard work, and discipline, they will be just fine and maybe back to the level of when Satterfield was there.

It has been rescheduled. I posted this before the announcement.

So, who wins this one? Someone has to come out with their first win.