foozballman

There weren't any kids laying down and not playing because of what any Parent or member of the faculty did or didn't say. My son had been a member of the team for 4 years and starter for 3 and I promise you neither he or any other friends laid down. There were a bunch of kids including my own discouraged about this and other seasons and how they were treated by the coaching staff. My son who was told at the beginning of the football season that he had a real shot at playing college ball next year as a defensive back(which everyone else would have said as well) now no longer even wants to try and walk on at any program. My sons and others love of the game has been RUINED by this coaching staff. They are gone and no one is to blame but the coaching staff. So quit getting on here talking about whats happened to bring this about when you have no idea. If you want this to get ugly it can. Let it go and let Soddy move on in a better direction. I'll purchase season tickets next year, I have a lot of love for a lot of kids still there. I now feel like I can support Soddy Daisy and not just the kids.

DeadlyCatch it sounds like Soddy Daisy needs you because you have it all figured out. The coaches do everything and win games and parents shut up so why dont you come apply. I can tell you that there are a bunch of parents that would be happy with that. One last thing I am confused you know nothing about the prgram but yet you know everything that is going on. Sounds like you got your feelings hurt yesterday. Why dont you go get on a thread about your school that busted there tails to get to the playoffs this year and stay off this one......Oh I bet you are full of it and are very close to a Soddy coach if not a coach yourself. Get over it Soddys program will be better in the long run.

Amen, I am really trying not to have to go into details about the ridiculous lack of responsibilities taken up by the coaching staff. When they already don't do half of what other coaches at other programs do.

First of all I want to make you understand that NO ONE thinks that Kevin Orr isn't a good person.

However I want to let all these outisde people commenting on something they no NOTHING about to be a little informed. My son has been there for 4 years and i promise you there are very few schools that have a Booster Club that support the team as well as Soddy's. The coaches only had to be responsible for coaching, uniforms, (which doesn't mean cleaning) and the well being of their players. The booster club did EVERYTHING else. If you don't believe then go ask Slaughter.

You know I really intended on writing on this but I can't I would be on here all day. The Soddy Daisy football program is better off now.

I agree to an extent about coaching changes making a difference, but a lot of times there are so many circumstances that can can swing results one way or another. All of the new coaches at the schools listed are outstanding coaches; however, some of these schools had outstanding coaches last year. Slaughter goes to RB and has a down year..does that mean he is not a good coach? I know he faced some difiicult factors at Cleveland and did a great job teaching those kids character and football. Maybe it didnt show up on the win column every Friday, but that doesnt mean just because a new coach shows up that he pushes all the right buttons and now they are winning that he is a better coach. Fitzerald did a great job this season at Hixson. Taking nothing away from him but everyone knows that district was terrible this year outside of East Hamilton. Hixson lost a couple of heart breaking games last year and was a few plays from being 7-3 or even 8-2. One of their losses the starting QB was suspended and another the Holmes RB did not play. I am not making excuses for Houston White and last year, but there are multiple things that contribute to winning or losing, not just the head coach. Coach White goes down to LFO and they have a great year...so he couldnt coach at Hixson, but can at LFO? Just remember that high school coaches deal with a lot and do not get to recruit (at least some of them do not). I know several of the coaches who took over at these schools and a few who left these schools. Each are great coaches who know plenty of football and who also know their most important job when dealing with these young men.

It ABSOLUTELY makes sense that a coach can have more success at one school than at others. Some coaches systems just fit the kids he has available to him at the school. No one thinks Nick Saban is a bad coach.... but he sucked it up at Miami. Your coach has to fit your with your kids and those kids have to fit with the system the coach is trying to run. Tom Weathers system didn't work at Soddy( and we all know why that is) but Slaughter came in and with the SAME kids turned it completely around at 7-3 (8-2... Rhea County) from 2-8.

If a change is not made soon next season is over before it starts. I have already heard from to many parents at Loftis that they are going to move their kids to Hixson if somethings not done soon ( amazing what a change of coaches can do). Hixson was a more talented team the year before Fitzgerald got there and there is not a parent at Hixson that would tell you any different. If you don't think parents move kids for sports your fooling yourself. This will also hurt other sports i.e.... baseball and wrestling. My son has decided to wrestle for the first time this year because he was so frustrated with football this past season. Its only taken 3 weeks to understand why the wrestling team is a juggernaut and the football team "is what it is".

Maybe all of them can go to Sale Creek.

I think Indian was referring to the kids.

I heard Ron Cox was selected to be the head coach at Sale Creek.

Talking about kids, I would never put their names out on a message board unless it were my sons but the ones you mentioned would all start along with these. NG, SH, WP, AC, TL, DD, TJ, CJ, These are just the Juniors and Seniors I can think of off the top of my head. I am SURE I can come up with more.

The principal seems like a fine man, and the school is outstanding. You want to get rid of everyone because our football team has below average talent. Tyners head coach set a world record for losses at Kirkman. He goes to Tyner and now hes one of the most respected coaches in our area.Bill Price didnt set the world on fire at Coffee Co., yet has built a good football program at Signal. If you have an eduamacation, you may can connect the dots...........good football players equal good football teams. Maybe little johnny aint so good. We have great community support, and a great school. We need more football players, not a new principal........Holy Moly

We don't have community support! Where the heck do you live? I pretty sure will get to find out whether its the talent of the kids next year. I am pretty sure one variable will CHANGE!

First call should be to the man who brought Soddy Dasiy football back in the mid nineties. Lots of his former players have children coming into the high school and I'm sure 99 percent of them would love to have him back at Soddy Daisy. We all know he loves a challenge of building a program. Another person who should receive a phone call is Sid Fritts. Very good football coach in Georgia who has family in Dunlap and Hixson. He has been interested in the opening at Soddy Daisy in previous years. Both guys are hard nosed strict coaches. They would get the boys out of the halls and on the field. Look at all other sports at SDHS, no reason to get mercy ruled almost each game against our district. We should be competitive with these teams and at least have a 5-5 or 6-4 season with the occasional 8-2 or 7-3. Let's see what happens in the next few weeks. Should be interesting.

This thread will blow up in a few days.

I hope you are not trying to say Slaughter is the answer because if you remember he lost to Soddy this year and is sitting at 4-5 and probably going to lose to Tyner this week. If he can only go 4-6 at Red Bank I dont see him being what Soddy needs.

Its a matter of finding the round peg that fits the round hole. I promise you I talked to alot of Hixson parents before the season and none of them were to keen on Fitzgerald, but he just happens to be a great fit for Hixson where he wasn't at Rhea.

The 2007 record was 2-8. Just because you're successfull at one school may not translate to all other schools. Everything has to come together...Coaches, Kids, Parents and Community. My biggest point was that the talent just didn't get amazing for just one year.

how long has the present head coach been in place? does soddy daisy not have any good athletes or are they just not playing now?

Here is Soddy's record for the last 5 years 2008 belongs to Slaughter( not including playoff games)

2008 8-2

2009 5-5

2010 6-4

2011 4-6

2012 at best can finish 3-7

Wonder how many fans would show up at each other's games if they were set up on different nights?

 

The parents of the players and bands and so called regular fans, maybe not, but the pure fan of HS football would if they had the chance. I know I would love to be at all three if I could.

Good point, I know I absolutely would and a number of others as well. We miss a lot of good games for having them all played on the same night.

SD is one of the smallest 6A schools in the state however that being said, there are a lot of potential players not playing or at least providing depth. The next statements will probably cause an uproar but a big part of the problem is a lack of emphasis on the football program at the school which I don't understand. Just look at last week - homecoming. The game itself was almost an after thought. All week long there were activities that did very little to build up the fever toward the game and instead distracted from the game. During the game, the band played or did not play with no reference to the events on the field. The cheerleaders do very little actual leading of cheers. The number of fans that simply stand around and do not participate in watching or cheering is astounding. With all that lack of emphasis on the football program at a football game is it a surprise that a lot of boys do not feel that the hours spent in the weight room and in the heat after school is worth it. And other schools seem to be able to find positions for coaches - what do we have 2 who are at the school? This is a lack of support and shows in the facilities and the willingness to sacrifice.

 

I'm not saying the football program has to rule the school (i.e. Signal Mountain) but there is a balance that can be struck. There is so much positive to say about the program - the academics of the football team exceeds the male population of the school as a whole and the discipline issues are lower. That can be attributed to the boys, the coaches and the parents. The feeling of being a team and being part of something will stay with these boys forever.

 

Until we come to the realization that we have to support the program and make it the priority in the fall, then we need to be content with 4-6 seasons, pleased with 5-5 and excited by 6-4.

Don't think I've heard a more accurate ascessment. Being a small 6A school only matters in the playoffs. Every other team we play durring the regular season with the exception of Bradley and McMinn are smaller than us. I have long talked about the lack of support we get from the city. They don't donate any money nor do they even advertise the games on the electronic sign at the municipal building. Lakesite supports the team more that Soddy Daisy does. If you didn't see the lights on Friday night driving by the school you would never know there is football game being played. As far as the band goes they are there only for their own amusement. The same tired songs are played over and over again. While every other band is playing top forty we are play "Hang on Sloopy". I mean really....... the bands original purpose at games is to "pep up" the crowd. My family loves hearing the other teams bands play songs my grandmother doesn't know. With that being said I love the band and the kids but the their agenda needs to change. We have lost 2 other games this year in which we didn't have homecomming week so I don't think we should blame anything on that.

I am tired of hearing that there isn't any talent at Soddy, if you really believe this maybe you should attend the quartbacks club meetings and discuss this with the parents. There are a lot of traditions that need to be changed to bring about a better atmoshpere of winning at Soddy. But that winning atmosphere has to be manufactured through change. Take a look at Hixsons program right now, there is a great article in the Timesfreepress on their reenergized program and what Fitzgerald has done to create that. It can be done at Soddy and it can be done by the coaching staff we have. Someone has to put that plan in motion.

I ran into a friend of mine who happens to be in the media. Before anything was said he looked at me and said, "Central......really, Central"?

"This is a 6a program with 1a type talent to be honest." Not sure that is the case but we do have 1A type depth. Here is the bottom line the QB is my son and I cant say that I agree with him playing defense full time, but I feel the reason he has to is because of the kids sitting in the stands that dont play because they are listening to what people like SDFF say and think the coaches are not worth playing for. If everyone would just come to the games to support the team and not to bash the coaches things would probably be better than they are. Kids would play football because they want to play football and not sit in the stands because their parents or SDFF say the coaches dont know anything. I guess what I am saying is we have enough talent (or definately kids that could help depth wise) walking the hallway to play with Bradley, Red Bank, Cleveland, McMinn, and Ooltewah (you can forget Baylor they will go get kids from all over the country to win) but if all they ever hear is how stupid the coaches are why would they want to play for them. No coach will ever succeed without support from the fans and the community. Go Trojans!!!

Ok, Trojansrule4ever what SDL and I both know from being around these kids since they were 7 years old is that there is enough good if not great talent walking around the halls to make up a very competitive 1a football program. We ARE the LARGEST program as far as numbers go in Hamilton County, we have 2 feeder middle school programs, but if you look at our sidelines and Central's you would see that those numbers aren't represented by the number of kids on each team. As far as #14 goes, I promise you, and SDL will back me up is that he is not going to be recruited as a Safety. If he weren't a QB he would put on 20lbs and be one of the most dominate defensive ends you'd ever seen. Playing him both ways wears him down and he CANNOT play to the best of his ability at QB and he is not able to have time on the sideline to get the needed instruction from Coach Roberts. The recruits aren't going to take into consideration when they look at the film and say well he couldn't avoid that tackler or make that throw because he was tired. There is a lot of frustration going on with the program. Especially when you compare it to the other sports teams at SD (funny how the lack of talent doesn't affect them). So there will be things said whether it be on this message board or at the games.There maybe one or two who get on here only to bash the coaches but there are some on here playing nicely too. However, DONT BE A HYPOCRITE and start bad mouthing kids who aren't getting paid to play this game, and yes I know not all coaches are getting paid. Lets try to put all this behind and focus on the next remaining 5 games, they aren't getting any easier.

Size and depth are a definite advantage for Signal in this one. The Eagles need to take control of this game and not let it be decided by the intangibles. Can we? Yes. Will we? IDK.

 

Signal needs to run straight at South Pitt's front seven the whole game and win time of possession. With so many Pirates going both ways, the best way to slow their offense is to pound them when they are on defense.

 

Signal should pull away late in the game and win by 2 or 3 scores.

GO EAGLES !!!

If you win by 2 or three scores they will all be safeties.

I have seen him in person and on TV multiple times. His ability to evade tacklers, to make them miss him, is simply amazing.

Corn was All-American in Freeze tag in Elementary. What he can do is SILLY good.

You think the penalties were one sided? You want to see a poorly and one sided officiated game, check out the tapes from last year's RC/SD game at Soddy Daisy. Hands down worst job of officiating I have ever witnessed.

I am really trying to figure out how a 40-0 blowout last year was dictated by the refs.

Question, WHY DO SO MANY OF YOUR FANS SIT ON THE VISITOR SIDE WHEN YOUR SIDE IS NO WHERE NEAR FILLED?

But lets travel back 2 years ago on the swinging ladder play where your team wasn't even set when the ball was snapped or

4 years ago when Fugate blocked an extra point when he was in the backfield WHEN the ball was snapped. You don't beleive me ask him, he'll tell you he was. Just watched the tape there were 0 not 1,2,or 3 but 0 holding calls on Rhea. The only 2 penalties you had was a facemask and a false start. The fake field goal the reciever was OUT OF BOUNDS!!! He slid to make the catch and his entire lower half was out of bounds before he caught the ball. I just watched it, slowed it down, replayed it numerous times. I can pull a pic of it off the video when I get it uploaded.

I am telling you know had we thrown the ball DOWN the field more we would have scored 40. But not in the first half while the olympic yellow hanky competition was going on.

However, your field looks nice and I really like your PA guy, great voice and very professional. No sarcasm there.

I think you have missed me, CBRF! I was there tonight and it wasn't pretty. Moments of brilliance and moments of absolute devastation. I will say this - I think the teams were evenly matched. I think we were out-coached (and I will be more specific and say out HEAD coached). We have some talented players - 23, 22, 2, 53, 31, liked the way 50 was putting pressure on the quarterback tonight, and of course there are many more I'm leaving out but I've had a long day. In the end, a team is only as good as its head coach. JMHO

 

Hope your boys in blue are doing well this season.

Soddy should have won this game by 2 scores or more. The penalties called in the first half were beyond ridiculous. Worst I have ever seen. Turned the first half in a way I have never seen officiating do. Also more than obvious the refs were not calling penalties in the second half for fear of WAY over doing it. Will look at the film for the official count of flags. Absolutely one-sided. I'll discuss this game more tomorrow.

Did not see much wrong with Rheas coaching. The biggest problem was you had more drops than catches. Game was not that close.

If you can't make it to the game Friday night, you can watch it LIVE at http://www.chslive.com, complete with play by play, analysis, and scoring updates from around the area. Stream starts at 7:00PM September 14.

 

http://www.chslive.com

As our team had a bye last week I watched the Cleveland and Central game online. Very well done. It would be nice to see all high schools be able to offer this quality of service.

Soddy 35 Rhea 20

Just realized this is almost exactly what SDL predicted. Oh well,

Soddy 35 Rhea 20

Inspirational message for the Trojans provided by Vader

I was at the barbershop today and everybody is sold on WV to win this game.

Nice to know Supercuts is backing the Mustangs.

Why do I hear so many people talking negatively about Baylor? The Baylor Athletic Department has to abide by rules just like every other school, but for some reason many people like to accuse Baylor of recruiting. Baylor got some key transfers this year, so be it. They have established themselves as a top school its no wonder that parents want their kids to attend. Who wouldn't want their kids to be part of a school with the best facilities, teachers, and coaches?

Baylor has finally realized that in order to have a chance at a state championship they will have to go into the public school system and recruit or offer "financial aid" in order to compete. There are a number of athletes on the football team that would not be at the Baylor school had it not been for their ability on the football field. Not condeming anyone looking to better themselves when given the opportunity to attend Baylor/McCallie, but its one thing when they come to you and its another when you go to them. There is a fine line between Recruiting and "financial aid". Its just taking Baylor longer than it did Signal Mtn to understand this.,

You know it was not EK that got us to 6-4 it was a soddy / red bank tb named Mobely.

E.K. brought them there, so in essence it was E.K. 32 showed 6 that he wasn't missed at SD.