Trusttheprocess

Jamie, what a great post and the absolute truth. What many parents don't understand is if they are running their child's coach down in front of their child, then they are undermining the program because that child is not going to follow his coach to great depths to improve. Also, if the child falls for the stuff the parent is saying about the coach, then that child becomes uncoachable and will probably never see the field, I know he wouldn't for me. High School sports are about much more than playing time and winning. If you have a coach that cares for his players, works tirelessly to improve their skills, and most importantly teaches them life lessons along the way, then you need to consider yourself blessed. I have been around baseball my entire life, and I have coached kids my entire adult life. I personally know Coach Martin, and think the world of him. He does things the right way, regardless of what some people that are not around the program on a daily basis might think. If I lived in Coffee County I would love nothing more than for my Son to play for him, and that says everything to me.

I just saw the video and there is no way that the TSSAA is going to overturn the ejection. #2 clearly lowers his head and leads with the crown of his helmet directly into the helmet of the Grundy County running back, knocking the Grundy player's helmet off his head 10 feet away. Intentional or non-intentional can not be determined, but what can be determined by the video is this is absolutely the type of hit that the TSSAA is trying to prevent.

Firing the AD would be a start, but there are many other deep rooted issues in Grundy then just the AD. Grundy is a beautiful place with many wonderful people, but they continue to elect people to their school board that have no interest in making the schools or the athletic programs better. The focus of the elected officials are on hatred and bitterness of people that disagree with them. People in the north side of the county try to one up people in the south side and vise versa. They would much rather see their enemies fail then see any aspect of the county schools succeed. This cycle has repeated itself for years on the mountain, and the students, teachers, coaches, and student athletes are last on the priority list. If people in Grundy ever elect school officials that care about the schools more than they hate their enemies, and put what's best for the students first, not only the football program will improve, but every sports program at the school will see vast improvement. I really hope they can figure it out, because they have many great people in the county, sadly however, I don't have a lot of faith that they will.

In 2002 Coffee County went 0 -12 in 8AAA and got put out by Franklin County in the play in game. As I remember, they went on to have several successful years after that. The 2002 team was very similar to this years team. They had a very talented group of sophomores and freshmen that took their lumps during the 2002 season but were totally invested in turning things around. As I remember they also had a group of parents that stayed the course and believed in the coaching staff, and as a result the players totally bought in to the process of getting better. I have absolutely no doubt, that if left alone, and allowed to do what he does, Coach Martin will get the baseball program where it needs to be. I have been around the game of baseball basically my entire life, and have been around coaches of all levels. I have seen the very good and the very bad. Coach Martin not only has one of the better baseball minds of coaches I have been around, but he is one of the highest character and integrity people I have known. Good luck to Coffee County in the play in game tomorrow, but regardless of the result of tomorrow's game, trust the process under the leadership of Coach Martin.

I know one coach that is available in the middle Tennessee area that would be a great fit for one of these schools, Scott Smith. He won a state championship at Ezell-Harding in the early 2000s. He is passionate about football and the players that play for him. He got absolutely screwed by Grundy County after being hired by them last spring. I have never seen a school system treat a newly hired coach the way he was treated. They changed administration and fired him out of spite of the previous administration. He runs an innovated offense that the players love, and, with a couple of key personnel position players, can be absolutely explosive. He is also a great person that has paid his coaching dues and needs to be on the sidelines leading young men.

Good luck to both teams tonight. These are two programs with great young men representing their community and school. I think Sequatchie has a substantial advantage and will win big tonight, barring turnovers and/ or penalties. Saying that, Grundy has some very good athletes that can make things interesting. The two Nunley boys for Grundy are legit. The oldest one is one of the best all around football players in the area. Sequatchie just has alot more overall talent and has an established program moving the right direction and is led by one of the best coaches in the area.

The phrase, the coaches way or the highway comes to mind. This is what parents seem to forget today, The only side that really matters in this type of situation is the coach's. When you are a head coach and overseeing your program, you have to make tough decisions. I promise you, no coach wants to kick players off there team, especially players that can help them. However, if a player does not abide by the rules a coach has established, that player has to go. It not only sets a standard for that season, but it sets the standard for as long as the coach is at that program. I have tremendous respect for coaches that put character and doing things the right way above simply winning. Coach Powers is teaching his players much more than how to play baseball, he is teaching them important life lessons. The problem with student athletes today is many of themt are coddled way too much and have parents that come up with a thousand reasons why it is not their fault or why it is the coaches fault they are not playing. The most important lessons any coach can teach their players is they can choose to do whatever they want to, but there are going to be consequences for what they choose to do. I have no idea what the circumstances in this decision were, but I know Coach Powers is doing what he feels is the best thing for his program and totally support his decision.

You would think there would have to be a legitimate reason to fire the coach 30 days before the start of the season. The sad reality though, is this is just Grundy County. Coach Smith was hired by the former DOS and a 10 team hiring committee last spring. At the end of last school year, the school board ran off the DOS, put their hand picked person in as the DOS, and hired there hand picked AD. The new AD has no college degree, has never been a teacher or an administrator in the school system, and was a constant figure behind the scenes the last few years doing everything possible to destroy the DOS and bring the entire school system down with it, if that is what he had to do in order to get rid of her. Many members on the school board are no better. Members on the school board would much rather see there own agendas followed and destroy anyone who disagrees with them, even if it means they destroy the sports programs and the school system in the process. Several members on the school board can not spell education or athletics, yet they try to micromanage both of them. The reason given for firing Coach Smith was the fields were not cut good enough, the locker room was not clean enough, and he did not want to put South Pitt and Marion County back on the schedule until he got the program to a point where they could compete with them. The real reason they fired Coach Smith is because the former DOS hired him and they wanted someone else. In there great wisdom, they hired a coach that has very little, if any high school coaching experience. Nothing against the new coach, he was a great player. However, being a great player does not make you a good coach and certainly does not make you a good head coach if you have very little coaching experience. Becoming a great coach takes time, you have to learn how to lead 40+ young men and have many other responsibilities other than just football fundamentals and Xs and 0s. Part of the learning process is making mistakes and learning from them. I don't think you can truly evaluate what a coach is doing with his program until after 3 years, but watching them play this year, they have gotten worse each game instead of better. From what I am hearing, there are going to be several kids moving to other schools next year, and they are dropping three teams they could compete with and picking up three teams that will beat their brains in. They will be lucky if they win a single game next year. The same people that put this coach in his position will be some of the first to turn on him, that is what they do. The bottom line is that until Grundy County decides to elect school board officials that can put there differences aside and do what is best for the students in the school system, not only the football program is doomed but so is every other sports program and the school system itself.