theunderstudy

I hope you are right. Two good coaches mentioned right there at the end of that comment. Wish Vic was still at South Pitt. SE TN has a slew of good football coaches right now and a ton of good teams to watch. As far as Rankin, Boyd is starting to roll at that level of DII in that part of the state. Adding Fant to the community will only help. Silverdale is much improved. Reynolds at CCS is a good coach. Baylor and Mccallie, well are Baylor and Mccallie. Interested to see how ND will look with a familiar face to the landscape returning to state.

As someone who now works at a DII institution in administration, but once upon a time was a teacher and coached middle school football in an MNPS school that was competing for the city every year, this is how it works.

I don't disagree with that assessment. They want a guy who is going to be around for the foreseeable future. CPW was going to be a guy that every single year had the chance to jump ship for a bigger job. How long is the leash for CJP? How many years does he get if this thing goes South?

It doesn’t make me mad. Just makes me question the process and what the criteria they were looking for was. It sounds like they keyed in on wanting a DCA guy who knew the community. So, we shall see how that plays out. If that is what they were looking for, I would say they found it. My hope is JP does well and I look like an ### for not trusting admin to do their thing. But I will say, passing on guys who are perhaps more qualified and have had some success at other similar (and honestly better) programs for an unknown is a huge gamble. If JP fails here, the job gets a lot less attractive.

Are we really comparing an ex NFL QB and a DI football player/ DI football coach to JP? This is incredible. Let me think, Which one do I want? Resume 1: 7-24 as high school head coach, 60-9 middle school coach Resume 2: DI QB at Boston College, stuck around the NFLfor half a decade, sports analyst. He also has been a part of the Ensworth football and linked to Bowers the last 4 seasons. Resume 3: Prior experience at Lipscomb as a passing game coordinator and position coach. He also spent time in the public school ranks as a position coach Hillsboro. If that wasn't enough, he then worked on the staff of DI football program. Multi-year started at 2 sports at an SEC school. It's also funny that you mention Ensworth when DCA could have had the guy who just left there after 5 seasons and a 32-22 record. If you think JP is a better hire than Jamie Graham or Tim Hasselbeck, you are on crack.

I just know we passed on a guy that was a combined 96-53 in 13 years at two larger and respectable DII schools as a head coach. Instead, we went with a guy who thus far is a failed head coach at the high school level. And instead of him going somewhere to change that narrative after his failures, he hid in middle school ranks in Rutherford Co. I guess his plan worked. He got the job he wanted. Has his time at the middle school level prepared him for this gig? Time shall tell. I do believe that if the committee got this wrong and he proves to not be the guy, heads should roll.

Why do we care about Goodpasture on the DCA thread?

I’m sure that rant just convinced a lot of folks to see it your way. I bet the admissions office will be busy tomorrow. Maybe Jay will let you give the half time speech to fire the boys up. You say symbol of change, exactly what change is needed? The momentum at the school is unfounded. I wouldn’t think that DG or CPW thinks the program needs a change. We need a leader that has taken programs to great heights and that has the ability to sustain the winning tradition and culture. Why should we be convinced CJP is capable of that if has not been able to do that other places? Any coach hired will care and put his heart into the job. You think he didn’t do that other places?!

Yes, largest in state. I appreciate your response. It definitely gives a nod of confidence hearing stories of guys who have worked with him in the past. My concerns and opinion are based off nothing more than a non-biased eye test and resume test. That's it. I want DCA to win games. Period. If JP proves to be the guy that can do that, awesome. Like vol9093 said, only time will tell. My posts have detailed my concerns of him not having the pre-requisite success or experience of other candidates at the same level or at an independent school. I don't know how critical that is and why people are upset at that? Just because I have doubts of a candidate doesn't mean I want the program to fail. It's quite the opposite. I"m tired of commenting on this thread, but I will close my thoughts with wishing JP the best of luck. Let's go win some more gold balls.

My concerns in order are: 1. Head coach experience as a high school coach is a limited sample size with disappointing results (7-23). The guy has never coached in a TSSAA playoff game or at a DII school. 2. Middle School coach for the last ten years. You convinced me he did a great job there. But, dude had numbers. You guys said it yourself, biggest middle school in RuCo. 3. How will he get guys when the cup does not runneth over with numbers? If Pierce was such a sure thing at Blackman and a staple of the middle school development, etc. why wasn't he hired to be on staff with Kriesky when he was hired?

"THE largest middle s school in the state of Tennessee with over 1600 students. A football program with 70 players." I think this statement is meant to convince others, but for me it raises questions more than anything. Blackman Middle has 1600 kids in 6-8 and he got 70 of them. DCA has maybe 200 kids in high school? I see the point of the post saying he has run a large program at a large Rutherford county middle school that is larger and better ran than most public high school teams in the area. But, he does not have 1600 kids to pull from here. He has about 100 guys in the entire high school versus 800 guys in the entire middle school. How does he manage that if you are use to having 70? I don't necessarily see him building the roster in some type of huge number adding overhaul. Not because he's incapable, but because the numbers don't really allow for that with such few kids. The academy has always had a handful of athletes who did not want to play football. And another group of high school guys that don't play sports at all. The DCA roster will be somewhere around 30-35 kids. The point to this post is he didn't have to do that at Blackman. He had numbers, kids showed up and were coached well. But there was not much effort to find guys because the school was so big. I think the most telling sign of his success will be what you mention, though. Does JP have the ability to convince guys to play that have not in the past. If he can get the numbers to around 40 instead of 30, that will be a good sign.

Fair. I do know that DG had been on staff though. And for the record, I hope you are correct. It’s all about raising good men and state championship banners. I do believe in DG and want to trust the process. The amount of momentum that is building at the school is unparalleled for the DCA world. It would be a shame to lay an egg with all that talent.

Playerscoach - I appreciate the response. You are as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. And like I mentioned before, I’ll be the first to publicly respond and apologize to this post if I’m wrong. The reality is that DCA plays in a very winnable class of D2 football. And they could have continued success. My argument is that on paper it does not make sense. He is not a proven winner at this level. That is all. Others in the running for the job, have been better at other places. So as someone who knows the institution, and the TN state football scene very well, it raises eyebrows. So for you to sit here and anoint him as the next Dennis Goodwin or CPW prior to any evidence is strange to me. I hear what you are saying. He knows the community, went to school there, etc. I guess we shall see if that pans out. As far as no one winning at East Robertson, they did pretty well this year. I don’t care who is there, you coach who have.

I get how PR works in the private school world. I am not putting word in PW’s mouth, but he realistically would have said he expects continued success regardless of the hire.

As a former DCA student athlete and member of the program, and employee of another TN independent school, I am displeased with the news of the new hire to say the least. To hire a guy who was 7-23 in his 3 year tenure at East Robertson is absolutely wild. People are going to rebuttal with "he's done a great job with Blackman football" etc. If the measuring stick for DCA football is now a proven Middle School football coach who won a couple of Rutherford County championships, I'll be da****. The drop off from Paul Wade to Jay Pierce is enormous. You are talking about a TSSAA HOF coach to a guy who got a job because he attended the school and has a bit on institutional knowledge. My question is what did Goodwin and others see to make him seem qualified? Because on paper he sure as heck is not. Is it from his time at the school 2 decades ago? Is it from having a brother on Wade's staff who likes to make tiktoks? I don't doubt Jay know's ball. But, I do seriously doubt he was a better option than guys like Roc, etc. that were wanting this job. I suppose it remains to be seen, I hope I'm wrong and I have to apologize in a couple years via this threat. But if I'm not, maybe Coach Pierce is a good fit to steer the middle school program in the right direction.

Not so fast my friends.... Baylor takes a close one led by their Do-it-All running back and a tough 2nd half effort from their defense.

Anyone have a schedule of upcoming scrimmages?

DM ME. I have contacts at DCA that can pull the film for you.

I laughed at this one. Aged very well... LA ready for CPA on any occasion nowadays

Yes, that was Pulaski Academy. That head Coach is Kevin Kelley, who took the Presbyterian College job but left after only one season.

True, but reunited w/ Kimrey who was his first coach at Hammond

Shiny new QB on his way to Baylor...

DCA alum who works in SE TN at the Red School now. IMO, PW is the best coach in DII not named Dilfer or Martin. He's been legit everywhere he has been regardless of size, empty cupboard/no talent, etc. he's proven to be able to build.

Quinn another really good option. I don't love the Sneed hire honestly. I think there is a handful of guys in Nashville that would be better.

I am not sure on either accounts, but he would have been my first call if i'm JP2.