HHSFB10

There are a number of reasons for the state of Heritage football. 
 

1. Lack of resources and support at the county level 

2. Subpar coaching 

3. Drop in student enrollment and subsequent rise in city schools. (Not just athletes but all students) 

4. Athletes choosing to focus on one sport. 
 

5. Kids deciding they have better things to do than play football or any sport for that matter. Numbers are down across the country, so it’s going to have the biggest impact on programs that are down. 
 

6. Again back to coaching because the coaches are unable to overcome these issues. 

5 minutes ago, Red Rebels said:

From 2001-2007 WB had a 7 game winning streak over Bradley Central. It started in 2001 -  WB 40, BC 8. It ended in 2007 -  WB 41, BC 2. WB thumped them for seven straight years. Now look at Bradley. 

And your point is? That was 11 years ago, it has not effect on what's happening now. 

1 hour ago, FightOnForWilliamBlount91 said:

Creating two super divisions would be a simple solution to that problem. One with smaller schools and one with bigger schools.

TSSAA needs to do something. 36 games from last week in East TN were won by more than 3 scores. TSSAA needs to create more competitive regions. Not trying to pass the buck, schools and school systems need to be more responsible for building competitive teams as well. But, I think the TSSAA can aid in the process. No reason for Heritage to play Maryville or Bradley. 

2 minutes ago, BarneySox2007 said:

Blame the kids father on that one. Goes and rents a house in Alcoa and gets In Like Flynn. The coach was a surprise to me but I can say without a doubt his coaching was needed more at Heritage than Maryville and I'm sure his loss can be felt.

At this point I don't know if it matters? I don't think Rankin, GQ, or any other coach could fix the disaster that is Heritage football. 

You mean the battle of two schools getting screwed out of getting new field houses because of a county budget committee? 

Heritage is on a 16 game losing streak. If they couldn't break it against LC I don't know if it'll come to an end this season. 

Heritage should have a pretty good shot in this one. If they can get a win this week, they could potentially win 2 or 3 games this year. If they lose this week, it will be another 0-10 year. 

2 hours ago, Red Rebels said:

I would have already heard through multiple channels if this was true. 

It’s true. He’s coming back to blount count to turn heritage around. 

1 hour ago, rebelwoman87 said:

Why?

Why don’t you ask coach hunt. 

20 minutes ago, Throwdeslant said:

Then quit playing Alcoa in ALL sports..... And, just forfeit to Murvul while you’re at it...

Alcoa football is a different monster than all of the other sports. They probably should forfeit the maryville game. Heritage has no business being on the field with maryville. Maryville has won every game over the last 18 years by more than 42 points. 

26 minutes ago, 32hammer said:

Kids tell other kids, on social media, at youth groups, etc, you're coaches are scared to compete with us.

Kids see the evidence backs the statement up. Same coaches demand kids compete and work hard, but coaches have no credibility.

I've seen first hand at one school how a coach that kids know doesn't do the right thing destroys moral and sends the program into a tail spin.

Its hard to get teenagers to do the right thing, when adult role models don't, its almost impossible,

It’s true that when adults do the wrong things it’s impossible to get kids to do the right things. BUT, and this is a big but, heritage not playing Alcoa is not the wrong thing. It makes no sense for heritage to play them. They gain nothing from it. 

If I decide not to fight mike Tyson it doesn’t mean I’m running from competition, it means I know I’m not in the same league as Tyson and have no business fighting him. 

3 minutes ago, 32hammer said:

Heritage and Wb played Alcoa for decades. Then decided to run away, take an easier route, avoid an obstacle, etc.

The kids know the adults are doing this, so the adults have zero credibility with the kids when they are trying to hold them accountable.

Its like a preacher that openly cheats on his wife with several women in the community try to preach about adultery to the families in the congregation of those same women.

You can't demand respect, accountability, hard work, commitment, Competition, from kids, when you blatantly don't practice some of those qualities yourself.

The kids hear from other kids that they are scared to compete, the adults actions verify what the other kids are telling them then the coaches have the nerve to get mad at the kids for not competing.

 

That’s not the case at all. There is no way a kid has thought to themselves, “hey I don’t have to work hard, and lose every game because we don’t play Alcoa”. Teams get better by playing similar teams that they can compete with. Heritage can’t play with Alcoa. Heritage had played Maryville year after year, and it hasn’t made heritage any better. 

27 minutes ago, Red Rebels said:

 

I said it helped. Being in 5A helped mask some talent deficiencies. 

They were talking about coaching not talent. 

27 minutes ago, 32hammer said:

No doubt better coaching played a part in Heritage's improvement. But now they are having a hard time convincing kids to compete every day at practice when the adults running the program ran from playing Alcoa.

All these kids know each other, they all talk.  When a kid knows his coaches/Admins run from competition in their backyard, those same adults have zero credibility in holding those kids accountable for competing hard at practice and in games.

 

What does heritage gain playing Alcoa? Playing a team and getting your teeth kicked in does nothing to improve the program. I understand the idea of playing the best teams  to make you better, but you shouldn’t play the  best of the best if you’re one of the worst. 

3 minutes ago, HSfootballfanatic12 said:

So, are you saying the coaching staff had nothing to do with it? It was strictly based on being 5A? I agree  that helped, but those Heritage teams weren't beating some of the teams they played on just talent alone. They weren't talented enough to do that. 

Heritage beat a much more talented south Doyle team last year they had no business playing with. That was mainly because heritage looked more disciplined and more prepared. 

4 minutes ago, Red Rebels said:

I'd rather play at Heritage than ride the bench at Maryville.

There aren’t many who think the same. 

1 hour ago, BarneySox2007 said:

The only thing I can say about this one is the second half should go by pretty fast. Also would like to say I live out near Heritage and passed by last week two different days and the team was practicing during fall break while another school on the other side of town took the week off. Being 0-7 with the hardest part of the schedule to go shows me these kids that have stuck it out are the real winners and should be very proud. Don't know what the future is out there and would rather wait til season is over before speculating in best interest of the team.

Yes, those kids are real winners for sticking it out and not quitting. Unless, they wanted to quit and transfer to Maryville. Then it’s ok to quit, because who can blame them? 

4 hours ago, BarneySox2007 said:

Why don't you go talk to a few of those parents that pulled their kids out of WB and Heritage to find out why. Their easy to find and more than happy to tell you why.

I have a really hard time figuring you out. I follow most of the heritage threads and you’ve been very complimentary of the young men at heritage who’ve stuck it out, and continue to compete against extremely tough odds. You’ve criticized the players who quit at heritage, and stated how much better in the long run the guys who stay will be. 

Then on a maryville thread you commend and defend families for moving their children to another school. Are those kids not quitters also? Did they not quit on their teammates at hhs or wb? Would they not be better off in the long run for sticking it out? 

Not trying to start the transfer city vs county argument again, just trying to point out Barney’s hypocrisy. 

3 hours ago, BarneySox2007 said:

This should be a good ballgame for Heritage this week. I watched part of the replay from the S-D game and what I did see Heritage didn't just roll over. Not sure what happened to all the Sevier County Bear Posters this year unless they all went and hibernated.

Sevier county by a lot. It’s going to be a long year for Heritage. 

22 minutes ago, BarneySox2007 said:

If I were Robbie I would go to each boy that tried out for football going back to spring when they had 60 players out and  ask each why did you leave. From that I would make a decision on the future. Their best option now is to play JV games and forfeit the varsity because of the risk of getting young kids hurt that shouldn't be out there. You can't go out and get beat 75-0 every week and send 3 kids to the hospital each game.

You’re probably right, but if they only play jv the program will never be able to be rebuilt. Every parent who thought about sending their son to heritage will send them to one of the city schools, and at this point no one can blame them. Any kids who thought about coming back out never will. And the county will never take the steps needed to resurrect it. 

14 minutes ago, BarneySox2007 said:

At the rate their going you might be right. That number includes freshmen as well. A Friend of mine that has a kid on the team said we are dealing with a new generation of kids that are soft and spoiled with many choices and choose the easiest way out. Common sense would tell anybody their in a situation out there that having to forfeit the season could be the only option. This is a very sad note for Heritage High since they put all that money into updating their stadium. Who would of known last spring they should of sent a wrecking ball to tear it down instead.

I think the biggest concern is just that. If they have to forfeit the entire season, the county may just come in and bulldoze everything. Idk if the school will ever have a football team again. 

15 minutes ago, ThePunisher said:

I just heard from someone at Heritage that 3 more seniors quit the team yesterday.  Where does that put them numbers wise?  Based on prior posts, they may now be at or below 30.

Another player was dismissed from the team too. Not to sure if Heritage will have a team by the end of the year. 

9 hours ago, BarneySox2007 said:

HHSFB10 I am the last person in the world that wants to see this happening. I have to many great memories of those teams that went into this school to see it in this condition today. Anyone my age or older will tell you this was a big mistake but it can't be reversed now. I do know Hammontree is a good coach but his personality is that of a rock and I'm sure that doesn't suit well with the ones that have left that program and went to Alcoa. Anytime they usually get a new coach out there it's always someone from away from here no one knows and it never works out. If I were the coach out there my first thing I would do is stop the bleed of players going to Alcoa anyway I had to. The next thing would be the feeder system. I don't blame either WB or Heritage for not playing Alcoa because I wouldn't want to get beat by a team using players that should by all rights be on Heritage. I also believe both Heritage and WB need to be in 5A due to circumstances. Enrollment is a poor guide alone to determine which class they should play in. Schools that have the money and short distances to get to school have a major impact as well on how many will or can play. Remember when those other schools were from small communities they had more out versus driving from 30 to 40 minutes away.

I’ll agree that heritage needs to be in 5a. The little success they’ve had recently was in 5a. I want to point out that you said you were sick of hearing the excuses of losing kids to the city schools, but you just identified that as a major issue that needs to be addressed? Also, you said that Heritage needs to stop the bleed of players going to Alcoa, but failed to mention Maryville who’s starting QB lives in Walland and drives past HHS every day. 

47 minutes ago, BarneySox2007 said:

I know the county isn't going to go back to small schools because they have no choice but to live with what they created, a mess. I also know kids have changed now days versus the days gone by with so many choices.  Just tired of hearing that excuse because Alcoa and Maryville have no problems like that.  No one has ever held a gun to anyone's head and said you have to go to a city school or Greenback. Those people go to avoid the mess that can't ever for some reason get straightened out. Could be the people of Blount County thinks a leader is someone who was an ex fireman and their only solution to any problem is to get a longer fire hose instead of a successful professional business man. 

So what should the county do? What’s the solution? 

7 minutes ago, BarneySox2007 said:

I'm just curious how a school that has 1,650 students in it has such a low turnout for football as I'm hearing from a few sources this year. The 10 thru 12 grades are turning out in the mid to high 30's of players this coming season. The schools that went into this consolidation alone always had more players out for football then this. Walland usually had in the mid 40's out, Porter usually had close to 40, Everett would have 45-50 and Townsend a school with only 125 students averaged about 22-25 a year except the last season when 18-19 played. Walland won the Single A State in 75 and Porter was also a Single A Power. Those communities had rich traditions in football but you would never know it by what you see now. I keep telling all my friends from Roane County this is what consolidation does and they will also reap for the day back in their lives if they move forward and put all their schools together. This was the worst mistake Blount County ever made.

Heritage’s attendance is actually under 1500 at this point not 1650. You can continue to point out consolidation as the problem, and it may be, but the county is never going back to the small high schools. 

There are a number of reasons heritage has such low numbers. More and more kids are specializing in one sport. Both county schools, for whatever reasons, have had a difficult time keeping kids from the city schools, and now greenback. On top of fewer kids willing to play such a demanding game. My grandfather was on one of those porter teams. He would get up in the morning go work on the farm, go to school and practice, then go home and finish working on the farm. Most kids these days are built like that.