WaveGoodbye

No replies in the last 24 hours?!? Surely somebody has to know something!

So you heard $65k?

Sweet! The rumor pendulum is swinging the other way today, it seems. Let me try…. I heard they’re actually going to re-hire Mark Williams, and that the budget is $22,000. But he only agreed to take the job if they tear down the stadium and start playing games on the soccer field since it’s on campus.

I’m interested to see what he does at Kirkwood. Both of his new coordinators were on this past year’s staff at Gallatin. But to my knowledge, neither of them has any coordinator experience at all.

Beech also drops to 5A next year, and they won’t have Gallatin on the schedule. So who knows. I would sell a kidney to get Creasy in Gallatin.

Gotcha. Well…. I know Blade has won a couple championships at Hboro and Indy, but I worry about his last several years. After his runner-up year in 2016, his records were as follows: 6-6, 6-6, 7-5, 7-3, and 4-7. Not great.

I’m not going to ask who your source is…. But what kind of source is this?

I know for certain that the majority of Gallatin fans do not feel this way. In fact, there are at least one or two metro coaches being looked at in this process. There are a couple issues though. One, Metro pays significantly more than most (if not all) surrounding counties. Two…. Outside of Brunetti, Woods, and Broome there is massive turnover at Metro schools. By my count, 5 of the schools have gone through 4 coaches since 2015. Another 4 schools have gone through 3 coaches in that time period. The challenges are different. Although rare, it isn’t unprecedented for a metro coach to go outside MNPS and be successful. Ron Aydelott made the jump from Hillsboro to Riverdale and had several 11+ win seasons. Scott Blade also made the jump from Hillsboro to Oak Ridge, and he eventually won a championship at Indy. I think most Gallatin fans don’t care where our next head coach comes from, as long as they come in and restore a winning culture.

I’m with you on Woods, Stewart, and Brunetti. But Broome has only had 1 season of 10+ wins in the last 10-11 years. Broome and Brunetti are also both bringing in 90k a year. Not much of a reason for those guys to go anywhere.

Either one of those guys would be great choices. Stewart could be a star in the making, time will tell. I’m curious to know if any names get leaked this week with interviews being conducted. My top 2 are still Rang and Caine. I’ve heard there are some very good candidates this time around. We shall see.

Who are you hearing as the front runner?

Sequatchie County and Upperman have 47% and 43% winning percentages in their school histories, respectively. Caine went 72% and 81% at those schools. Dresden has only won 48% of their games, and Rang won a state championship there (their only one in school history). Give me either of those guys.

Which is why guys like Adam Caine and Derek Rang should be an automatic phone call from the Gallatin administration. Winning big at multiple schools with no history of producing talent shows how good they really are.

Chad Broadrick. I think he has a really good defensive mind, but his head coaching record hasn’t been too good. 13-28 in 4 years at East Robertson and 1-9 this past year at WH Heritage.

In the 3 years prior to Inman being at Portland, they won 38% of their games. They have won 43% since his hiring. So yes, that’s improvement. At Darnell Bass’s last head coaching stop, he went 2-28 over 3 years. They averaged giving up 47 points per game on defense, and they scored 9 points per game on offense. Nothing against Darnell, because he is an extremely nice guy. Same goes for Inman. I just don’t know that any of those guys will win enough games to get those casual fans back in the seats. And you are correct about Gallatin still being a football town. I’ve spoken to a couple coaches from across the state about this hire, and they still view Gallatin as a top tier, destination job. I know not everyone will be happy with whoever the hire ends up being. I just hope they win games and represent the community well.

This is what I’ve been worried about. There is a segment of the fanbase that wants a “Gallatin guy” just for the sake of them being a Gallatin guy.

Caine would win football games here. I have no idea how well he would interact with the community, what his coaching staff would look like, or how long he would stay…. But he would win football games. Another guy I would 100% go after aggressively is Derek Rang at Lewis County. That dude wins everywhere he goes to, and he has some hardware to prove he can win the big game (Dresden state championship). Nothing against Hohenwald, but surely Gallatin has to be a better job than Lewis County.

WHAT?!? Who on earth is consulting the administration right now??? Alexander is 57-69 as a college coach. 16-36 at TN Tech! His high school record isn’t much better. 34-30 between WC, Upperman, and Jackson Co. And if it hadn’t been for his final season at WC, his record was 24-28. Alexander would be an absolutely disastrous hire, and it would upset the community even more than they already are. Admins have got to do better than that.

Before I get into any of this, I want to say that I genuinely liked Chad. He is a good man, and he cares deeply about his players. I hope he has a ton of success at his next stop. The upcoming decisions that will be made are huge for Ron Becker and the administration at Gallatin. This coaching search and subsequent hiring are vital to restoring a damaged relationship between Gallatin football and its supporting community/fanbase. Our last 2 hires (only one of those being on Becker's watch) certainly didn't pan out. I know Dr. Becker wants more than anyone to get this one right. Having said all that... I've been keeping a running list for about the last 2 years (ever since Gallatin started running the flexbone-triple option) of my "wishlist" of potentially realistic coaches I could see leading the Green Wave. They are as follows: 1.) Adam Caine 52-12 overall at Upperman 26-10 overall at Sequatchie County Caine has done more with less, which is why he is my #1 pick. No one will mistake Dunlap and Baxter as hotbeds of talent, yet AC has won at a 78% clip between these schools. This is among the highest winning percentages in high school football today. 2.) Chris Smith 48-8 overall at Haywood 31-16 overall at Germantown Smith probably won't even pick up the phone. But the young man has won double digit games in each of his last 6 seasons. That in itself is reason enough to contact him. 3.) JR Kirby 39-12 overall at Covington 15-7 overall at Munford Another west TN guy who probably doesn't have much interest in moving to the Nashville area. But who out there just LOVES living in west TN??? 4.) Brad Waggoner 18-7 overall at Gatlinburg-Pittman 19-8 overall at Trousdale County I'm sure that everyone in Hartsville not named "Satterfield" wishes they had this guy back right now. His offense puts up gaudy numbers, and he produced a QB this year with over 2900 yards through the air. 5.) Thomas Osteen 81-30 overall at Marshall County Always fields a competitive team. Several double digit win seasons. 6.) Matt Smith 93-44 overall at Hardin County Multiple 10+ win seasons. 2800 yard passer this year (possibly his son though?) Who wants to live in Savannah??? 7.) *** This is my "outside the box" hire - But is also probably my #1B behind Caine *** Scott Martin 80-23 overall at Charleston, MS 41-24 overall at Kirk Academy MS I think Scott Martin is actually get-able for Gallatin. This is a guy who won 10+ games every year except 1 while at 3A Charleston - and that season was 9-4. 5 seasons of 12 or more wins between the 2 schools. But my favorite stat is his 28-10 playoff record. Martin is currently an assistant coach at a school in Oxford, and I spoke to someone earlier today who told me that Martin will be a head coach again at some point - given the right opportunity. I understand that some, if not all of these men probably won't entertain the idea of coaching at Gallatin. But these are the guys that I would make a phone call to. Go Green Wave.

Gallatin fan here… My honest opinion is that this coaching staff is in over their heads. There is enough raw talent walking the halls of that school to make it to the quarterfinals every single year. Watson got away from the option toward the end of last year, and ran more I-form. Won a couple games because of it in my opinion. Then they come back and do the same darn thing this year with that dumb flexbone stuff. It doesn’t work at this level. I don’t know if it’s his ego, incompetence, or a mixture of both…. But by George, these coaches are determined to play the most boring style of football imaginable. A lot of the kids hate the offense, with good reason. Station Camp didn’t have near the talent of Gallatin last week, but they beat them anyway. Doing exactly what Gallatin does - run, run, and run some more. The difference is that Station Camp has a coach that seems to have a grasp on how to run a football program. I think Gallatin finishes out losing to Hendersonville, Beech, and Lebanon. We will make the playoffs, and the powers-that-be will say “Look! A successful season!” The fan base will grumble and moan…. Watson will make a couple staff changes. There will be promises of what’s to come, and hope will spring eternal with transfers that have the potential to change the program. We will hold our own against some powerhouse in a preseason scrimmage. We will then proceed to go 6-4. Wash, rinse, repeat. This is the current state of Gallatin Football.