Rebsguy

"Maryville has a hard schedule, but Coach Shores is toughening his players till they can stand the punching that they will get."

For some reason this was my favorite line.

Playing Grace to get use to turf ?

Won't we be practicing on turf from now on? Plus we get to play on it the last game of the season every year... I think Grace is a good team. Who we scrimmage is not as important to me as being able to 1. hit someone different and 2. Work out some of the kinks before the season starts.

The team should be competitive, there are some good athletes there, some are just inexperienced. Earlier in the post I was critical, but that had nothing to do with on the field coaching, it was purely off the field stuff. The coaches work very hard as far as on the field coaching goes, and I think they are doing fine, they just need a couple of more to help out. The head coach has realized areas that need to be addressed and has made an effort to address those needs with new coaches. However, there has to be positions open in the school to hire new coaches, and WB had to replace coaches in other sports also, so this has meant that the football coach has not been able to hire coaches as he would like. They have some good coaches out there, coach Whitehead is not only a good young coach, he is one of the best men I have ever met.

I have posted on this topic before in relation to the stability of the staffs at both Maryville and Alcoa. I think both city schools have great head coaches, but I also credit a lot of their success to the stability they have had at the assistant coaching level. Neither county school seems to have that same stability, but William Blount used to. Now every time I see them play it seems like they have a brand new group of assistants. Sure the administration should share some of the blame, but at a certain point you have to step back and wonder why are all of these assistants leaving? You can't expect a principal at a high school to simply hire two or three football coaches each year to fill teaching positions. This goes back to what was being said at the beginning of this thread. From what I have been told the coach at WB does not play well with others this includes his feeder programs his assistants, parents and players. Of course there are always going to be discontented people but I do believe this is a real issue. I think Heritage had the same problem with the last coach as well.

Man I will miss both of those. I will be depending on a good breakdown on here from those of you who are able to attend.

You put Maryville's staff at any school in Tennessee and I would bet lots of money they would be much better. Maryville has great tradition in winning but they don't put a lot of players in the NFL. I don't see any Peyton Manning,Eric Berry,Trent Richardson,Jamal Lewis or Leonard Little type players coming from Maryville.

 

 

Maryville won big in the 70s because of Ted Wilson and his staff. Maryville is winning big now because of GQ and his staff.

Couldn't agree more.

I didn't say I wanted Heritage to win... So I am not sure what you think I am "dreaming" about. My point is that the WB program has gotten to the point that they can only pride themselves on "owning" Heritage. I was confirming that I too have heard the current coach does not play well with others and it has cost him some players. That is all.

WB lost a lot of players from a team that was, at best, competitive last year. I won't say they are young, as much as it is inexperienced, but they are inexperienced in some key positions. Those kids will have to grow up in a hurry if WB is going to win very many. I see another 3-7 year, maybe 4-6 if those younger kids grow up quick.

 

WB has a coach that wants to win, but i am not sold on the fact that he knows how to win. What I do know is that he is teetering on making a decision that is going to cost him a lot of solid football players that are due to come to his program in the next 1-3 years. When you don't care if you are running off future players, when you don't have much to start with, kind of makes one wonder if he intended on being there very long in the first place.

 

Maybe one of the qualifications for the next coach they hire should be that his feet have to at least reach the floor when he sits on the toilet, cause I think there is some "short man syndrome" going on there.

 

GO REBELS

I have heard the same thing about that guy since the day he was hired and it seems like three straight 3 win seasons has confirmed it. I was especially surprised at how last year's team ended up, WB had a lot of talent last year and it showed against the Rebels. It seems like the kids play hard at both county schools I just wish they could build consistent coaching staffs like we have. Maybe the Mountaineers have finally figured that out. I think I will sneak over to Mike White field to see if Heritage can finally pull one out since the rebels will be taking on Oak Ridge the night before.

Hey man, I am not trying to put you down or argue with you or trying to change your opinion. I am just saying, I know a lot of people that have not agreed with some of the things in the program, but I have never heard anyone that did not speak highly of him as an individual. I know him personally and have nothing but respect for him. No, you do not have to have a kid on the team to have an opinion, having an opinion on anything is your right, but do you really think running him down on this message board is going to do anything constructive? I mean what you say on here is not going to get you a new coach, so why run a good man down on here because you don't agree with his decisions as a coach. BTW, I have talked to players dads from both schools and many people that were in attendance of the AMS vs. MMS game and you are the only one that has said MMS should have won, everyone else has told me that it was a mismatch and MMS did a good job of keeping the game as close as they did. Having said all this, I am not the authority on anything, if you don't believe me, just ask my wife....... so, by all means, if it makes you feel better to run him down, then let us have it, get after him.

"QSouth89, on 21 September 2011 - 10:35 AM, said:

Catholic is really down this year. Their most talented players (other then Coulter) are freshman and sophomores. Could be a long year for the Irish and the fans (I hope) are aware of that. The team is not very athletic.

and the coach is horrible. Hope the fans are aware of that. Hope they are proud of what they hired. I hear this is his last year there, now Catholic is trying to throw big money toward Rankin. "

So which one of you is the pot and which is the kettle?

Of Course I am going to say GQ, but Blade at Oak Ridge is impressive look what he did in the playoffs last year and look how quickly he has brought Oak Ridge back into the fray...

I am really looking forward to this one. It still feels weird that it won't be on a Friday night though.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/aug/13/the-calm-before-the-storm/

Looks like WB's number one's beat our backups and JV team (on a last minute interception). What really surprised me was that their coach left the Saunders kid in for so long. If that kid goes down WB might not win a single game. I guess the opportunity to win a game that didn't count was worth risking the health of your starters to this coach. Also didn't the same thing happen to us against Seymour a few years ago and those guys acted like they had won the Superbowl too.

Kyle Harris (come over from Farragut) was hired by Alcoa so IMHO Alcoa hires the best too.

Agreed! It's why both schools have seen so much success over the years.

He is moving up in the world

Looks like the county schools continue to be unable to keep quality assistants and Maryville continues to hire only the best.

Once again it is always someone elses fault. Listen if your school system would fix its other problems then some of those kids would stay put. Unfortantaly you guys keep wanting to point at AHS and MHS as your problem when it is your school system as a whole that is the issue. Again it starts at the top and works its way downhill leadership is where it starts hiring the right teachers and coaches.

I agree. The coaching staffs at both county schools are not very good. Poor leadership at both schools from what I hear. I think the assistants at Heritage are probably a little better, but neither school has much experience at the position coaching level. What I can't understand is that three or four years ago William Blount had a pretty experienced coaching staff and most of those guys seem to be gone. Heritage has a completely different staff from a few years ago as well. The problem with the county schools is a severe amount of instability, not just with head coaches. Maryville and Alcoa have built what they have by keeping the same people around and building STABLE programs.

Finally got permission from the "boss" to head over to Cookeville for the game. Should be a good one. Too close to call if you ask me. Hopefully the Rebels can bring back their first 6A gold ball.

Try not to pat yourself on the back too hard there. PEPVOL. I mean wouldn't White Station or Hillsboro be Big boys? Why would they be exempt?

 

 

Also I noticed that you skipped the UT question.Speaking of the Vols -there was only one arrest this week! LOL! I'm putting my money on the Black bears this week how about you?

Not too cocky NOW are you?

I can't speak for Pepvol, but Hillsboro was 4A when they won the state championship... I think "big boys" was supposed mean teams that were at a higher classification than MHS. I also don't recall White Station crying about MHS being afraid to play them because of being in a higher classification than them, then losing every time they have met so far. oh wait Maryville and White station were both 6A when they played. Surely you knew which teams were being referenced.

The only thing that matters is who is left standing at the end of the season. We will just have to wait and see, but I am sure this matter will be settled in early December...

Mike White is a great guy and speaks kindly of WB, but you can forget him leaving Maryville to come back and coach there.

 

Tpoole, you are a great guy and I think everyone in Blount County knows by now that you don't favor the Wing offense. Gregory does not run a true Wing T offense, it is sort of a hybrid Wing T. WB started the year putting in the spread type offense that Maryville runs, after about six weeks and no offensive production, they went back to using the old offense and started moving the ball. The problem is that WB does not have the athletes to run the spread, mainly on the O line. The blocking schemes in a true spread are extremely sophisticated and they could not pick it up with the time they worked on it in spring and fall practice, on top of the fact that they were just not athletic enough up front to block it. When you go watch Maryville play, instead of watching the ball just watch their O line, Quarles is in a league by himself when it comes to coaching, but David Ellis is a very huge factor in that success as he is the best O line coach in the state, IMO. As for me, I like a more open offense also, but I have been around football long enough to know that just because that is what I prefer, that doesn't mean they have the athletes to do it. You have to work within the parameters of the players. Heck, they don't even have a QB that can drop straight back and be consistent throwing the ball 15 yards down field, they have to roll him out for every pass and that cuts the field in half, but you have to do what your players can do.

 

The fact is that I can sit down and draw up plays from any offense and on paper, every play will be a success whether it is from the Wing T, the spread, the power I, or any other offense. The difference in paper and the field is the athletes to accomplish each play.

 

I am a Gregory fan. I think he has made some crucial steps to moving the program forward, but the #1 thing that will have to be done at WB for them to be successful is to implement discipline. Gregory has to make the rules, have a parent/player meeting, let them know that he truly cares about the kids, but if those kids cannot abide by the rules then they will not be a part of the team. Kids standing on the sidelines texting during a game is not acceptable and it was tolerated this year. Kids undermining the plays that a coach calls in the huddle is not acceptable and it was tolerated this year. Kids backtalking and even using profane language directly at a coach on a continuous basis is not acceptable and it was tolerated this year. I could go on and on but I won't. There is some purging that has to happen before the program can begin to grow in the right direction. We hear a lot about senior leadership and I continue to hear about the lack of senior leadership the last two years. I have a different take on that, I believe that the seniors are leaders, someone will be watching them, the question is what way are you going to lead, and the answer is that these leaders have led the rest of the team in the wrong direction. Now, I am speaking as a collective group, I know they have had some lead in the right direction, but very few. I could give several examples from this year but I think that would be a little too personal for a message board, so I won't. I know there are many out there that want to blame the kids attitudes on the turnover in coaching the last few years and I really do feel sorry for the kids, but at the same time most of these kids are juniors and seniors and they are young men that are about to enter the real world and the real world is going to deal you adversity on a continuous basis so how are you going to deal with it. Are you going to pick yourself up and meet the adversity head on and make the best of the situation or are you going to wallow in your self pity and play the blame game your whole life. Unfortunately, I believe a lot of them are doing the latter and that will follow them in life.

 

This won't be popular, but the next problem is parents. It was apparent to me after the West game that there was a kid at a certain position and he either needed to be replaced or moved to a different position. This was also apparent to many of the coaches by what the kid had told teammates and coaches. To make a long story short, he was finally replaced for the Farragut game. If you were in the stands that night, in front of the pressbox, you witnessed his father challenging one of the coaches coming out of the pressbox at halftime. This is just one incident, there are others over the course of the year and this may be one thing that leads a coach to not be as disciplined as he should be. If every time he tries to discipline, he has to have a parent conference with the parent, he may deem the discipline to not be worth the time he has to spend in meeting with parents.

 

I would have an easier time supporting the program if the coach laid down the rules and the ones that could not abide by them would leave. I don't care if they are good athletes or not, if they can't abide by the rules and put the team ahead of themselves, they are not winners, you can't win with them. I would be ok if they went out and lined up in 6A football with 20 players, but all 20 would look the coaches in the eye and say yes sir and no sir, do everything that was asked of them, and give 110% every play of practice and games. Forget the outcome of the game, you have to get the foundation there before the outcomes are going to change. Winning is a process of doing the right things, the wins on the field can only come after a whole lot of right things have been done elsewhere.

 

So, the people that want to blame the offense as being the problem with the program, don't have much of a clue. The problem is a lot more deep seated than the wing offense. It can be changed, but a coach will have to lay down the rules and have a "my way or the highway" attitude about it. If you trust your coach, you should not have a problem with it, because "his way" should be the right way, and if you don't trust your coach enough that you do have a problem with it then you either need to get yourself straightened out or get another coach.

 

I have two years to decide whether they have gotten it fixed, that is when my kid will be there. My kid doesn't have to be on a state champion team, but he will not be a part of an undisciplined program either, that would take all the lessons that I have taught him for 14 years and flush them down the drain.

Pretty good post, except you have no concept of how the spread offense works. The spread offense is much LESS complicated than the double wing or triple option that I saw WB run against the Rebels. The blocking scheme in the spread almost always involves zone concepts. This allows below average linemen, which WB has in spades, to simply get out in front of a man and basically cut him off. Do you remember how the undermanned Appy State team upset Michigan? Zone blocking in a spread offense. Michigan had much better athletes, but spread systems allow kids to "just play" because they are so SIMPLE. They give the appearance of complexity by running very simple plays out of multiple formations. I assure you that GQ and staff are not employing an offense that is hard for kids to learn, or complicated for them to execute. Switching offenses mid season is ALWAYS a huge mistake. It means you made a really bad coaching decision, either before the season when you picked a bad offense or later when you switched. If the Govs were more productive on offense at the end of the season they must have just stayed in the locker room at the beginning. I saw the Govs one other time at the jamboree in their "spread" offense. Here comes the twist, they never ran the spread... they blocked their run game the same way out of spread formations as they did out of the double wing and they did both poorly, with a gap blocking scheme. The Rebels are successful for two reasons. 1. they have the best head coach in the state 2. they have the best staff of assistants I have ever seen. I know who some of WB's assistants are and it is my belief that some of them do not have the knowledge of the game that is necessary to coach at the level they are currently at. I am starting to think maybe the head coach doesn't either. If what you say is true from a discipline stand point I suggest you send your son to MHS. I wish both county schools the best every week except one.

Time to get ready for the playoffs. Go Rebs.

Already home from the game... May be the worst WB team I have ever seen.

Won't make it out to this one, but I think the Rebels will roll. Maryville by three TDs.

Young's first half against the Govs was as impressive of a performance by one player as I ever remember seeing. And I've watched quite a bit of high school football. As someone else said, it WILL be interesting to see how his season progresses as the Bulldogs begin to play teams with better "d's" ... and teams that will be wise enough not to kick the ball to him.

Why would ANYONE EVER kick the ball to him !!!!!!!

This one could be really close. I like the Rebs, but only by a point.

How has Alcoa looked in 7 on 7 so far? That big city brawl is quickly approaching. Anyone have a prediction for the Rebs V. Tornadoes?

How have the receivers looked so far in 7 on 7? I have heard they are going to be a strength this year.