FarmTeam

If allowed to post this here on the T, Golf tourney on May 7 for HHS program. Putting this out there for any golfers who might be interested in getting up a team to play.

No words are adequate. Tough, sad stuff. Joining all of you in lifting up Barney and his wife’s family during this difficult time. Hope he feels the prayers, from all of us here on the T & hope he finds at least a small measure of comfort in that.

Not sure if the school has officially announced the weight room hire yet, so out of respect to the staff there, I should probably not be the one to drop the name here first. Will say he’s a community guy, former player from a couple of decades or so ago, and is well educated in all things fitness. Practices what he preaches, is safe & knows what he’s doing. Has already worked with several of the multi sport athletes and it’s made a difference. (He doesn’t run a training business, so no conflict of interest. Has just volunteered his time and his home facility thus far for several of the athletes.) He’s a successful small business owner who has employed several of the current players seasonally for periodic manual labor. That’s been his main connection to most of them, and it evidently segued into him becoming the new weight room coach. Ask any of the athletes who’ve already worked with him, and they’re excited to have him on board & are glad he’s agreed to do it.

Bingo, Swift. (Regardless, I always enjoy a good dose of sarcasm.)

Whitehead is a top notch, composed guy and role model. Came up from the middle school 2 yrs ago, so he’s coached most of the rising Jrs & Srs since 6th grade and has built good relationships w/them. He knows them and their skill sets well and will know how best to use them, if he’s given the autonomy to do so. The middle school defense was solid when these kids were in 7th/8th grade & I suspect/ hope we’ll see some positive changes under his leadership this upcoming season. Also hope to see more players going both ways. Not popular, but they don’t have the luxury not to use the talent they’ve got both ways, if they’re going to compete, much less win. If done properly/carefully, they can maximize talent w/out burning players by the 4th quarter. Hope to see more of that next year. The new weight room coach is also a great hire. Very knowledgeable, current and good w/ the kids. Completely overhauling their entire program, with workouts individualized & specific to player position (vs the dated, cookie cutter regimen they'd been doing). He’ll bring high expectations, much needed old school discipline, current innovations & serious business to the weight room. Should see some huge gains in the off season w/ this guy.

Don’t disagree w/your assessment on those moving in here. But this was NOT abt having the money. The schools HAD the money sitting in a healthy fund balance for two yrs: It went thru school board, budget Cmte, and Commish in 2022. Was held up by a purchasing dept director who didn’t know what the heck they were doing. Or IMO likely DID know and was maneuvering at the direction of executive leadership, to create a technical snafu related to the bid process (which should have been easily sole-sourced in the first dang place, if done right.) So it had to go thru the WHOLE process again in 2023. Political obstructionism at its corrupt finest to make it he!! on the schools, to try & prevent it from happening. Hence the major delay. Also interesting how that director of purchasing quickly left before they could be questioned abt the whole debacle. The schools sat on the money for 2 yrs, but couldn’t spend it, based on approval process required by state law to spend fund balance. (And the money btw, could not be spent on things many argued it should be, like more teachers, bc you can’t spend fund balance on RECURRING line item expenses, only ONE time expenses , per prudent fiduciary practice.) Ended up costing the schools much more, bc a year later, the price of construction materials & everything else went up! Similar thing happened w/ the field houses. Money was available, schools went thru the right process, but minions of the county executive leadership on the Commish obstructed. Fast fwd a few yrs later & both county schools finally got them, but the schools didn’t get the design or construction they originally proposed, or at the lower bid cost. It took forever, AND based on what the schools were forced to do to get them (ie have the county construct them), it cost several $100K MORE, construction & design was shoddy, and they don’t even have a water fountain in them!! What idiot doesn’t design and build a fieldhouse & workout facility w/out a water fountain? I’ll tell you who: The executive C-Suite leadership of Blount Co, who maneuvered to have it be done THEIR way, or not at all. It cost the schools way more $ to get a substandard facility than what they originally asked for and had a bid for. While we’re at it, ask the co executive leader what happened to the $20K of tax payer money that was used on a study for the Eagleton ballpark renovation. I’ll save you the trouble: The study & plan was completely IGNORED, UNUSED and WASTED, in favor of the one the executive wanted. Will be interesting to see if said leadership will maneuver to turn the new potential cash cow back over to the 2 commissioners in his camp who were running it when it was a dump. Ppl wonder why things don’t get done correctly, expediently, efficiently and why their tax money is wasted. They’d know if they just paid closer attention to the actual facts, the alliances in leadership, and followed county budget and commission meetings closely instead of relying on the local rag sheet, the one or two idiot blow hards on the Commish as well as all the fringe so-called conservative radicals from out of state on social media to inform them.

Glad to see it. Good for old Everett High (Parks & Rec) field and good for the programs they support. Will enable much increased and multi use of the field. Interestin’ tho how this passed w/out so much of a blink of an eye or question from the mayor’s hand-selected budget Cmte, and then the entire Commish, but both county high schools had to go thru 2 years of tedious, ridiculous and hellish debate 2x OVER in budget Cmte and then again in the Commish, which was further manipulated & complicated by an incompetent purchasing dept debacle that purposely stalled the process, and then lots of push back from the mayor’s camp of minions on the Commish, etc, (even tho school board had already approved it TWICE, to spend just SOME of THEIR OWN robust fund balance -ie not the general county’s money) to get their fields finally upgraded. Obvious political agenda against & disparity towards the schools. Why does the mayor hate the schools and resent them so much and why did he try every way in the world to block the schools from spending just some of THEIR OWN money on said fields?!? But the parks & Rec request went thru w/out so much as one question? (Again, glad it did & glad they’re getting it. That AIN’T the dang point.) Both WBHS and HHS should have played on turf LAST YEAR. It shouldn’t take such a stinking FIGHT to get what’s rightfully needed for the schools, when there is absolutely zero fight or debate for same/ equitable request to upgrade another govt funded facility. If we want better education and athletic initiatives to go thru for county schools, then we need a NEW mayor. Hoping someone who is actually FOR schools will run against the current executive leadership. WE NEED A CHANGE. FarmTeam just sayin…

Good point Blaze, but with MTSU being a state school, all faculty & coaches there are also likely under TCRS as well. So his retirement could just probably transfer right over, and be even better, given increase in salary. I don’t think being vested in TCRS is contingent upon his tenure at the local high school level, given that TCRS is a state retirement benefit, extended not just to teachers, but all state employees.

Perhaps (?) a little known fact about Coach Ted Wilson here on the T: In addition to being a hall of fame, state championship football coach, he also had an astute ear and heart for music and ministry. Although he’d left MHS coaching right before I got there, he took a (probably volunteer) position at my church as a youth and choral leader, between his time coaching at MHS and DB. He was a great mentor, godly example, and he directed youth choir w/ the same enthusiasm and winning spirit as he coached football. He could get us kids to do anything, even sing! (And w/his teaching/coaching we became really GOOD!) Definitely got many of us, esp us athletes who would never have thought of joining the choir, out of our comfort zone to learn & experience something new. He didn’t just know X’s & O’s, he loved kids and knew EXACTLY how to get the best out of them, and not just on the football field! Wonderful man. I was really blessed to know him and be taught/mentored & coached in life by him. Although it was only for a short time, he made a big & positive impact on me. It’s THAT type of man that is badly missing in so many football programs today. I would add that Derek IS that kind of young man. BUT, he’s coaching in a much different & constantly changing culture, home life, demographic, admin, etc and that brings much different & bigger challenges than it did for Wilson, Story, and GQ. I can only hope the authentic rebel fan base knows & realizes this and will stick by him. If he leaves, it will be a huge loss to that program.

But that’s just my point - why was GL playing both ways against Heritage, of all teams anyway ? It wasn’t needed. Not a high stakes game, and could have easily won that one w/out him, period. I said “careful, strategic & safe management” for important games. No reason for him to be in as LB at all during that game, and could have probs rested as RB the whole 2nd half. That was not “careful or strategic use” of a player going both ways.

Boo Carter playing both ways…Not sure why we aren’t seeing more teams maximize use of talent & manpower like Bradley, esp in games that really matter throughout the season & obviously post season. Takes some careful & strategic management to most effectively/safely use players both ways, but clearly it CAN be done.

Worst officiating I’ve ever seen. Unbelievable.

GF I hope you were able to get a piece of that grass to plant in your yard & some dirt as a keepsake. A lot of the HHS alumni and current players did. The type of turf going in will be an excellent addition to various programs at both schools, but it is also historically bittersweet for the men who played on those fields.

That’s a great question, Barney. You have way more insight on the current Eagleton roster than me (other than I knew about the Maryville kid, and I’ve crossed paths w/a few others via youth sports in years past). I DO know that a lot of Eagleton zoned kids have historically in the past chosen to go to Alcoa vs Heritage (and not just FB players, but students in general, bc Alcoa is actually closer than HHS, on that side of the county). And some chose WB vs HHS, for various reasons, and esp way back when Meadows had a winning program. So I think there’s always been at least some level of loss for HHS to Alcoa & WB over the last 12-15+ yrs, before ECCA was ever established. And of course there’s always been attrition to Alcoa and MHS for talented players who wanted to invest said talents in a solid vs dying program. (And who could blame them?) It has not been at all unusual to see a talented HHS middle school football player transfer to Alcoa, MHS, and even Greenback. (That is, until MHS stopped taking tuition students a few yrs back, and we are now beginning to see glimmers of that impact on the MHS program.) That being said, I don’t think the CURRENT HHS depth issue is specifically related to ECCA, any more than it was in years past, w/losses to other high schools. Howevs, in the next few years, we may see that manifest much more, and esp like you said, w/Sam Everett in the mix. I think the current depth issue (esp w/HHS upperclassmen) is in large part due to the leftover impact of the previous unfortunate HHS program. There are numerous great athletes who played football in middle school, but chose not to play in high school (IF they stayed at HHS), for obvious reasons. If you look at the upper class baseball and wrestling rosters, there are great athletes at HHS, they just quit football once they got to high school. Like I mentioned before, one of the Sr starting WR/DBs (#8) hasn’t played since middle school, and he’s been a game changer this year. Same for the Jr DE (#11). Also until last yr, HHS hadn’t kicked an extra point, in I don’t know when. Coach O went & trolled the hallways & found him a Sr soccer player, who could nail it thru the uprights. He could also hit & tackle like a freight train after the ball left his toe, when needed. That kid probs could’ve had a full ride to a D1 school, had he been kicking all 4 yrs. His cousin, a Jr is kicking lights out this yr for HHS, too. Bottom line, you gotta give kids a reason to stay, and when they do stay, you gotta give them a worthwhile reason to keep playing. Football is one hard-#### sport. No one wants to invest their whole hot summer on a brutal moot point and then take repeated beatings on Friday nights, as well as take a risk on getting hurt (bc that risk is intrinsically elevated in FB), when they have a chance to play on the next level, in a DIFFERENT sport. Until last yr, HHS didn’t even have a working headset system to communicate w/the press box. I kid you not. And no active booster club in over a decade. I’ve heard good things abt the previous coach, as a person (and at one time in the distant past, as a decent coach). But he let the HHS program go off a steep cliff into complete crap-storm. Other than keeping the grass looking great on the field, I don’t know what the heck else he did. Never saw him at a middle school game or knew of him to reach out to middle school coaches or players, much less connect w/ feeder program. Bottom line, you can’t undo over a decade’s worth of decay, in just one or two seasons. But the level of coaching needed is now there, the booster club is robust (headsets now bought & paid for), and kids are investing & staying, as evidenced by the talented pool of freshmen & sophomores on the roster, many of whom are starting. (At least 2 or more could easily be at MHS and 1 or more at Alcoa). There’s also been BIG work to do in undoing losing attitudes, and mediocrity as a norm, as well as getting used to extremely high expectations, discipline, commitment, and becoming LEADERS. Those expectations weren’t there before. Lost a starting Sr OL due to lack of such, at beginning of the season, which has hurt, but needed to happen. And I respect Coach O for letting him go, even tho it’s been a difference maker. Depth is s’thing that has to be GROWN, over time. And that’s just not happened, over last several yrs. Gotta retain & get players to invest, develop them physically, as well as mentally, on FB IQ and a better mindset than in the past, recruit right on campus, and make a connection w/middle school & feeder programs. (Coach O’s own son is playing in youth league & he’s at almost every game & practice, when the high school schedule doesn’t conflict). HHS can’t be a winning team, esp in its current class & region, w/out depth AND a whole mental paradigm shift from the previous program. HHS looks 180 degrees different than 1-2 yrs ago, but it’s still gonna take some time to grow experienced, fundamentally sound, physically developed, high FB IQ players, and leaders, as well as any depth in that mix of factors. And that starts with KEEPING players from feeder on up. But based on my observations, that seems to be happening.

West is such a fun team to watch. GREAT talent, depth, and well coached. And they played clean & were an overall class act on the field last night. Heritage is a very “young” team this yr (most probs don’t know they have several key starters that are undersized freshmen & sophomores, & a few starting upperclassmen who haven’t played since middle school, but have learned the system quickly & are playing rly well, esp #8 & # 11). HHS has little to no depth, so also got lots of kids playing both ways. But they didn’t just lay down & die. Kept giving it 100% till the buzzer & overall played some pretty good football, against a state champ opponent. (Not sure, but it didn’t look like West started putting in some of their 2nds & 3rds till late 3rd to mid 4th qtr ?) Obviously West had 2 injured key players tho, & that is duly noted. Best of luck to West in the playoffs again. Hopefully, HHS will keep on developing their young players & keep making strides in the weight room during off season, and will cont to become more & more competitive. (Esp if none enter the “transfer portal.”) Will also be interesting to see how dropping down a class next yr will impact potential future success of HHS teams.