Stonewall

D-B is very fortunate to have Charlie Morgan as their coach. I've watched them practice and it is a lesson in discipline. It's a very Marine-like approach where everything stops on a dime when Coach Morgan blows the whistle. Discipline and defense are emphasized and the kids are treated right. I don't know if my son will be good enough to make his team, but he can play for him anytime

Boy that is interesting. That's one thing that I know goes on in tradtional football powers.....last period football. That's a way of life in Georgia and Florida. It has never really been embraced here in Tennessee. I believe Don Woods gets that at M-W. Be prepared for the academic crowd to howl at that one, but I believe that would be a HUGE advantage if the Devils could push that through.

Fitness.....I'll take your question and I'll try to be articulate rather than just a "homer" in my answer. Nobody beats someone forever. Science Hill will certainly win a football game against D-B at some point. They have had some really good looking athletes over the years that really concerned us. In some recent years that our fair weathered fans have apparently forgotten, we have had some awesome athletes too. We were dangerously close to winning the state in both 2000 and 2002. As for the "whipping boy" comment, it will come down to 2 things. 1.) Athletes....who has got 'em and how well are they being coached. If Smith isn't allowed to bring some assistants with him, I think he will have a hard time. As I posted recently, the atmosphere in J. Fred next fall for the Toppers to deal with will be very intimidating. In the last 20 years they have completely fallen to pieces in there, only to play us very well in JC. 2.) The mental game....The Science Hill Seniors will have been in kindergarten the last time the Hill beat D-B. If things are going well for them and they have been able to buy lock, stock, and barrel into Smith....they will have a chance. If it's more of the same (6 and 3...hoping for the upset), it will be hard for them. Darrel Watson will bring more pressure than Scott Smith has ever seen. The mental state of Science Hill at that time will greatly determine if it's "their time", or if their QB gets knocked senseless all night.

I think that the enthusiasm of a new coach would have the potential for real trouble if D-B were playing AT Science Hill. I think new SHHS coaches have bumped off the Indians a couple of times in their first meetings with the game in JC. However.......the game will be at J. Fred Johnson Stadium. Coach Smith will find a daunting task handling that environment. I venture to say he will have never seen anything like it if the game means anything at all. (IE- D-B isn't an uncharacteristic 6 and 3 or something like that). Look at the history books. How long has it been since the Toppers played a competitive game in there? The massive crowd, the 300 + member band raining that warhoop down on them, the Tomahawk chop, and the swagger the Indians play against JC with at home. The Tribe has stumbled a bit in the post season the last couple of years, but this is Science Hill. History says it will be a tough house for a guy who wants to run trick plays and throw the ball. Before you bet against Darrell Watson you had better do some reading!

THE winningest High School football program in the history of the state of Tennessee. Deal with it.

Yup, and meant to be. Blow it up, make a big sign out of it, post it, and touch it out on the way to the field. Then shake your head like they have over there since before WW II after D-B tattoos that azz! Roll Tribe!

Get in line Mr. Smith, you're about to learn what about 7 generations have learned before you. Get fired up about D-B, hate D-B, focus on D-B, have a big pep rally for D-B...........get your asz kicked by D-B. Remember this post in November friends.

I mean replacing Coach Clark will be a High School version of replacing the Bear. He is the man in Kingsport and has been there basically his whole life. No one will be able to overcome the "Graham never did it that way" issue. Like a coach I know that used to work there once said, "Make sure you're the guy who replaces the guy who gets fired when Graham leaves."

Not so fast my friend. I wouldn't say they are "tops in basketball already". They are the team to beat right now, but they were at this time last year as well, and they thumped D-B by about 35 in JC. Still, D-B beat them in the Dome and played deeper into the post-season than them....again....for about the 4th straight year. Respect the 90's, but respect the present as well. Compare the Region titles, substate titles, and state tourny trips with the Indians for the last 5 years and you will come up considerably short. Also, "baseball is as good as D-B if not better"??? Again, count the titles and the distance gone into the state playoffs. D-B wins that one too. Science Hill caught lighting in a bottle back in about '98 and won it all, but haven't outshined the Indians since. The Hill was rewarded last year when D-B beat them and sent them on the road only to have to host State Champ Farragut at home. I will agree with you in one regard, Johnson City is booming! It only has one High School and it could become fierce if someone could stop the infighting over athletes and harness the talent available. The time to look to end D-B's dominance is not with your new coach, it's when Graham Clark steps down. I don't know how many more years he has in him and whoever replaces him in Kingsport is doomed to failure....no question.

Split 4 or 50? That's easy, 50! The option will kill you in the split 4!!

This thread certainly proves one common saying found on the T-shirts around D-B. "Loved or hated, but NEVER igonored". D-B has been out of the playoffs for 3 weeks and we're still talking about them. That's a tribute to the passion the Indians create. Whether you hate them and love seeing them fail, or you love them and die inside with their losses, 90 years creates passion not found in most programs. As I've said in other threads, D-B will eventually win a state title. Then, others will have to find something else to criticize (and they will). The shame of it is the timing. Judging by who is left in 5A, this would have been a great year to win it. However, as timing so often works, this D-B team wasn't the right one to come around on the wheel to do it. It will time up sooner or later. Just ask Sevier County from 1999.

"and an coach who they know keeps alot of other kids away from the program that should be playing." That brings up an interesting point. How is the situation over there now as far as basketball and baseball players being not only allowed, but encouraged to play football? Pitts absolutely hated his guys doing anything but living in the gym. No one who's in touch with reality can argue that. Bernie Young was pretty much the same. However, both of those guys are gone now. What's the climate over there for that now?

Ralph Nelson? Why would Ralph Nelson be a done deal? No disrespect intened to him, but did they really fire John Bowles to emulate what Sullivan East has done?

"I don't think he would have lasted 8 years at db and their expectaions from their community." No he wouldn't have, but that's hardly a fair comparison. Science Hill doesn't have a string of conference titles that spans over the course of many years. Granted, Bowles didn't win one either, but he did come close. I think his team's played D-B at least twice with the Big East title on the line. Think about this; Bowles inherited the same group of assistant coaches that were employed when he got there. He was allowed to bring no one that I'm aware of. The guys he kept were hardly successful. He should have been able to fire every one of them and build his own staff. Then you could hold him accountable. However, he kept them all, and from what I hear, he was a Christian man who just tried to get along. Now the new coach gets those same assistants.......are you following me? If the new coach gets to bring people with him, Science Hill owes Bowles a big apology.

Not that it makes a difference now, but I heard the steam is coming off of Clark's head over at the school today. I talked to a teacher after school this afternoon and she said that Clark was fuming over two blown calls. The 90 yarder (ineligible man downfield) had NO ONE downfield on film. Also, the big play to Throp that was ruled out of bounds apparently was clearly in-bounds on the film. I know that can't be changed now. However, she said the officials were assigned from the Knoxville/Oak Ridge area and the staff was fighting mad, feeling that they had been screwed at home.

You're joking, right? Please tell me you're not putting Science Hill football and D-B in the same sentence! Please tell me that you're just drinking and you really don't mean it. Otherwise you are making a complete fool of yourself. We've whipped you publically like a prison --tch for 13 straight years! This is like a Vandy fan wanting to talk trash to Tennessee. At least they did finally beat them last year. Go live your life through that basketball team that can't get to the state tourney anymore and pretend you're successful. You and especially your team have no place on a football board.

This isn't a particularly mature post Waco. It's about PLAYERS man, nothing more, nothing less. D-B was great in 2002, 2000, and 1998. All of those teams had PLAYERS. I'm talking about guys who were SEC, ACC, and other D-I players. Shoot, two of them were draft picks for goodness sake. Those teams were good enough to win it all. Championships also are won with some good luck. No way Red Bank was better than us in 2000, no way. But, they had a monsoon rain that benefitted their power running game and they beat us by a touchdown. Riverdale beat us in 2002 when we ran up and down the field all night, but lost our 275 pound Senior center and couldn't punch it in when it counted. We also let them pick up a shanked punt and return it for the game winner. That's what I'm talking about ....it also takes a break here or there to win a title. It's not about choking, bad competition, D-B stinks, or any of that garbage. All of these haters will be the first ones sprinting onto the bandwagon when D-B does win a title.

You might be right, but they've got far greater problems to solve than John Bowles. The town it's self has never been a football town. Just ask ETSU. I remember a D-B assistant telling me that before a big game in JC, the fans were taunting them BEFORE the game with "we'll get you guys in basketball." They will have to overhaul their whole acceptance of what football is before firing one coach will matter. Do you really think that in a town like Johnson City they would accept an old time football coach? I mean one of those guys who works them like dogs, makes them hit, makes them practice hard, and demands from them what winning coaches demand? Do you really think they will let a new coach bring in 3 or 4 assistants who are in-your-face types that preach the toughness of football and that basketball and baseball are sports for wimps? Nope, not in that town. When they get an old school guy who tells interfering parents where they can go, they will have the Johnson City Commission holding special meetings to run him out of town. It can be done there, but it will take far more than running one man out of town.

I don't know the exact numbers, but Clark is something like 130-21 at D-B. He's been in a big game or two. How can you dare question his play calling? He did what good, experienced football coaches do. He kept it conservative in the rain and got the W. Dont' worry about D-B's offense. They will be there and they will be well coached.

Umm, Art, I with ya bud, but they already know about paybacks. They came to J. Fred the very next year in the first round and got obliterated 48-0.

Right, and that team got stomped by D-B. So, what's the criterion for firing him now?

I think that if Elizabethton wins, they jump all of the way to 3rd and avoid Morristown West.

The '96 team was incredibly talented and brought us one of the great wins ever at J.Fred. Oak Ridge was LOADED that year (3 SEC players) and D-B beat them. However, the '96 group won't get remembered as the best because they were gone after the 2nd round of the playoffs. Fair or not, you can't be counted among the greats and be home before Thanksgiving.

I really enjoy your work Art, but I disagree with you about this being Graham's best team ever. Memories are short in sports, but the 2000 team was likely better. There won't be a Division I player on this team. The 2000 team had the best TB D-B ever had (Adonis Johnson). They also had D-I starting receiver Chris Henry and NFL starter Gerald Sensabaugh. That team scored over 60 points 3 times. They also dismantled a much better Oak Ridge team than this year's edition 32-6 AT Blankenship. The Defense allowed virtually 6 points per game with the starter's in, and that may be generous. Patrick Ghee started on that team as he does at Wake Forest (another D-I player). The 2000 team had unbelievable speed and would beat the current one because of it. I say all of that with a tip of the cap to the 1998 team that went 13-0 before losing in the semi-finals to a great Oakland team (that won the State the next week 52-20). The '98 team also had multiple college players, two National Champions, and an NFL draft pick on it. Not being ugly mind you, I just disagree.

The truth hurts.