Jet Football

[macdaddy]

Stu who? Which program are you talking about? I am a coach at Kenwood HS in Clarksville. I am not Coach McNeely.

[wingman10]

Go Jets

[blueangel51]

my bad macdaddy, thought u were our coach mac

[stonecold07]

The only way you are going to get an experienced winning coach is to PAY them. I am not sure how your supplement are but I am sure they are not the highest in your region. You rank 119th in the state in teacher salaries for bachelor's and masters.

 

How do your facilities compare to area schools. How good is your weightroom, fieldhouse, equipment, etc?

 

You guys would be smart to support the coaches you have and maybe find them some help. You do not want the reputation of a school that is not exactly loaded with talent that also changes coaches every year or two.

 

 

 

I can tell you what the problem is in Cumberland County. It's not the coaches, the weightrooms, the fieldhouses, or equipment. The problem is that there is not enough focus on secondary sports and entirely too much focus on elementary school sports. For those unfamiliar with Cumberland County, we have a very unique situation here. We now have eight elementary schools in this county, four of which feed into CCHS and four which feed into SMHS. Prior to many of the schools being built, there were always deepseated rivalries that date back to the 50s and 60s, but back then these teams still played the majority of their games outside the county, as many of the schools did not have football teams. Now with so many additional elementary schools, these traditions have grown to enormous proportions and the majority of football is played inside the county. In basketball there has always been a county championship tournament at the end of the season where just about everyone in the county attends. Now in football we have divisional playoffs and a County Championship to determine who gets the crown of elementary champion in Cumberland County. The championship game played a few weeks ago at Stone Memorial High School had in excess of 700-800 in attendance.

The problem here? Nothing, except you drive twenty miles in any direction and this game means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Then when these kids get in high school and start playing against other high schools they are way behind. Instead of playing against each other in 7th / 8th grade for trivial intercounty rivalries and the hunt for a large trophy to put in their case, they should be in a middle school playing together against teams outside the county that they are going to face in the years to come when the rewards are much greater. I'm not saying that intercounty teams should never play each other, because rival competition is fun, but the mentality of "keeping it in the county" will have to go if SMHS and CCHS want to be competitive on a consistent basis. For anyone who attends games at either school, unfortunately about the only time that either stadium is packed with fans is when they are playing each other. A while back, I was reading a thread where someone from another county dubbed the SMHS/CCHS game the "Nobody Cares Bowl" and another one "The Biggest Loser Bowl". This is sad, but true. Cumberland County athletics for the most part get very little respect outside of the county and this will continue to be the case if something doesn't change.

[THE SQUAD]

I can tell you what the problem is in Cumberland County. It's not the coaches, the weightrooms, the fieldhouses, or equipment. The problem is that there is not enough focus on secondary sports and entirely too much focus on elementary school sports. For those unfamiliar with Cumberland County, we have a very unique situation here. We now have eight elementary schools in this county, four of which feed into CCHS and four which feed into SMHS. Prior to many of the schools being built, there were always deepseated rivalries that date back to the 50s and 60s, but back then these teams still played the majority of their games outside the county, as many of the schools did not have football teams. Now with so many additional elementary schools, these traditions have grown to enormous proportions and the majority of football is played inside the county. In basketball there has always been a county championship tournament at the end of the season where just about everyone in the county attends. Now in football we have divisional playoffs and a County Championship to determine who gets the crown of elementary champion in Cumberland County. The championship game played a few weeks ago at Stone Memorial High School had in excess of 700-800 in attendance.

The problem here? Nothing, except you drive twenty miles in any direction and this game means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Then when these kids get in high school and start playing against other high schools they are way behind. Instead of playing against each other in 7th / 8th grade for trivial intercounty rivalries and the hunt for a large trophy to put in their case, they should be in a middle school playing together against teams outside the county that they are going to face in the years to come when the rewards are much greater. I'm not saying that intercounty teams should never play each other, because rival competition is fun, but the mentality of "keeping it in the county" will have to go if SMHS and CCHS want to be competitive on a consistent basis. For anyone who attends games at either school, unfortunately about the only time that either stadium is packed with fans is when they are playing each other. A while back, I was reading a thread where someone from another county dubbed the SMHS/CCHS game the "Nobody Cares Bowl" and another one "The Biggest Loser Bowl". This is sad, but true. Cumberland County athletics for the most part get very little respect outside of the county and this will continue to be the case if something doesn't change.

 

 

Good post!

 

Do y'all's elementary schools ever play Avery Trace(Cookeville),Burks(Monterey),Cornerstone(Baxter),or Algood in 7th/8th grade games?

 

I agree it would be beneficial to get some experience against other counties.

 

 

 

THE SQUAD /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

[CoachSwitzer]

So are the elementary schools the only problem?

 

I have a hard time believing that they cannot find some teams they can beat to put on their schedule.

 

Do they have the athletes to compete in their region?

[brumfield]

So are the elementary schools the only problem?

 

I have a hard time believing that they cannot find some teams they can beat to put on their schedule.

 

Do they have the athletes to compete in their region?

 

I do not think the elementary schools are the problem. Look at Cobb Co. Georgia, 6th, 7th and 8th middle schools and NO! sports of any kind and some of the High Schools have great programs. The biggest problem here is the split of the schools. Go back to the 2005 season, the last year before the split. The Jets went 2-8, but look at the scores, Bearden loss by 1, Lenoir City loss by ll and we should have won it, Lincoln loss by 5, Coffee we won. In 05 the Jets played alot of sophmores, several started. I think had we not had the split the last 2 years would have been pretty good, but now we have to start over. Both schools are in the wrong regions. Another thing at SMHS is we just do not have any big boys. Every school we have played, with the exception of CCHS and Bledsoe, all have lines who are a head taller and 30-50 pounds heavier. Maybe the elementary schools need to order the "special chicken" for the boys only!

 

At SMHS we have 1000 kids enrolled and we have 48-50 boys playing football. This is freshman, jv and varsity. I think we should have at least 80! The big question is why are the kids not playing??

[JetFan21]

I definetly agree with the elementary school thing and believe that there needs to be a middle school. I think that should have been done before the new high school was built.

 

Another big problem in Cumberland County, is a lot of people just do not care about the success of team They just care if there son or daughter plays. It is pure politics, if you kiss the coachs butt you will play. To me that is not how it should be. We need a coach in here that will get rid of this.

 

These boys are better players than the record shows. We need someone who will put these boys in a position to win. The JV team looks half way decent, but then again we are playing everyone but seniors.

[brumfield]

I definetly agree with the elementary school thing and believe that there needs to be a middle school. I think that should have been done before the new high school was built.

 

Another big problem in Cumberland County, is a lot of people just do not care about the success of team They just care if there son or daughter plays. It is pure politics, if you kiss the coachs butt you will play. To me that is not how it should be. We need a coach in here that will get rid of this.

 

These boys are better players than the record shows. We need someone who will put these boys in a position to win. The JV team looks half way decent, but then again we are playing everyone but seniors.

 

Jetfan21, we typing at the same time. I disagree about elem vs middle, and you are right, both schools are better than their records show. Its just going to take time to rebuild and get in the right region.

 

Good Luck!

[JetFan21]

I do not think the elementary schools are the problem. Look at Cobb Co. Georgia, 6th, 7th and 8th middle schools and NO! sports of any kind and some of the High Schools have great programs. The biggest problem here is the split of the schools. Go back to the 2005 season, the last year before the split. The Jets went 2-8, but look at the scores, Bearden loss by 1, Lenoir City loss by ll and we should have won it, Lincoln loss by 5, Coffee we won. In 05 the Jets played alot of sophmores, several started. I think had we not had the split the last 2 years would have been pretty good, but now we have to start over. Both schools are in the wrong regions. Another thing at SMHS is we just do not have any big boys. Every school we have played, with the exception of CCHS and Bledsoe, all have lines who are a head taller and 30-50 pounds heavier. Maybe the elementary schools need to order the "special chicken" for the boys only!

 

At SMHS we have 1000 kids enrolled and we have 48-50 boys playing football. This is freshman, jv and varsity. I think we should have at least 80! The big question is why are the kids not playing??

 

 

 

I just wanted to reply to your question why are kids not playing. I think alot of them do not want to play because Cumberland County schools always lose. I have talked to a few kids at CCHS and they don't play because they don't like the coaches. I do not know if that is the situation at SMHS, because I happen to have a lot of respect for your coaches, but it may be. Some kids do not love the game as much as others and they believe why put in the effort for no results and I don't half blame them.

[blueangel51]

I personally believe a middle school would help alot, but it wont ever happen, our county is too split to ever agree on the issue and this is more evident than ever with the School board threatening to sue the commission over funding the schools. I've been told coaches arent getting their extra compensation this year because of the budget colamity. Earlier it was mentioned that the coaches arent getting help from paid assistants and they have to use volunteer assistants, sadly enough part of the volunteer assistants are better than the school assistants!! I dont care if youre employed by the school system or not if you know what youre doing, but just because youre a male employed by cumberland county doesnt automatically mean football knowledge is bestowed upon you!! Coach Gora is one of our best assistants and he is a volunteer. Reaching back Coach Fitzgerald (not Eric's Dad) was a great assistant too and he was a volunteer. But we cant hire teachers that can coach is ridiculous. Look at what they did to coach Mac instead of putting him in the normal school system they put him in the alternative school even though he's fully certified to teach high school social studies. No wonder coaches are leaving. This is job suicide to coach here and unfortunately until we get things straightened up at the top we'll continue to be lack luster. Give the coaches a chance they deserve it!!!

 

just my .02

[footballmom]

Good post!

 

Do y'all's elementary schools ever play Avery Trace(Cookeville),Burks(Monterey),Cornerstone(Baxter),or Algood in 7th/8th grade games?

 

I agree it would be beneficial to get some experience against other counties.

THE SQUAD /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

 

The Middle Tn Youth FOOTBALL LEAGUE could use some more teams.