Hillwood Football Position

[Veer]

the website in metro has a deadline of Jan 22. Anyone have any information

[bigchief]

What do you want to know? I think they have won 5 games in the last 5 years combined with 3 different head coaches. Also, three different head principals in the last 6 years. Tough place to coach. The facilities are horrible. The best athletes in their zone all go to private schools or special transfer to Hillsboro. Now I am sure there are a few guys out there who think they could get it done there. I hear even Batman the tree hugger has applied. However, having spent three years there as an assistant I can tell you they are in for a rough ride. We had probably the three best back to back seasons the school had ever seen from 2002-04 going 6-5, 9-2, and 12-1. Since then I believe it is 1-9 with Link (the win was over Batman, by the way), 0-10 with Baskin and 1-9, 0-10, and 3-7 this past year with wins over two 0-10 teams (Stratford, Cane Ridge) and a weak 1A team Nashville Christian) for Phillips. Mose resigned to become an assistant at Hunters Lane. What does that tell you? They do have a solid athletic principal in place with Chauncey. I guarantee that the Hillwood Country Club would love to see Metro close it down. Then the land would go back to the Hill family and they would add another nine holes to the golf course.

[mindlesschatter]

who is batman?

[bigredbird]

Who has applied for this position? Didn't they remodel the school a few years back? We played against the Hilltoppers way back when I was in HS but it has been a long time. Have they not improved the facility in the past 16 years.

[Hoganknows]

Tuff job for sure..great principal

[cougarblack]

who is batman?

 

Scott Smith... formerly of Science Hill

[bigchief]

Who has applied for this position? Didn't they remodel the school a few years back? We played against the Hilltoppers way back when I was in HS but it has been a long time. Have they not improved the facility in the past 16 years.

The school was "remodeled" in the late 90's, but that was mainly spent on a new auditorium instead of a gym and renovation of the old HG Hill elementary building. The school is really three buildings with two of them joined together and the G or gym building having a breezeway to the other two.

 

The football stadium was actually closed due to unsafe conditions about 4 years ago. Metro had to come in and fix it so they could play at home. They were going to have to play at Bellevue middle.

 

When I got there, the weight room was in an old classroom. Not an oversized classroom, but just a regular room. 1400 kids. When Mr. Johnson was the principal we upgraded it a bit and did manage to get it moved into the old wood shop, but a later admin moved it again to the old band room.

 

The practice field is actually the baseball field. If you have ever been to Hillwood you know that the outfield is basically uphill from just behind 2nd base to the fence in center and right so you only have the left field area to use decently. There is no open space even close to size anywhere else on campus. The freshman team used to practice in the outfield on the softball field. With 9th and 10th grade football now, I guess they practice together on the baseball field.

 

The locker room is another old shop room. Pretty cramped and dirty. A small storage area in the back. Two washers and two dryers. We also parked the golf cart we used in there. The coaches' office is about 6x6 on the top. It is on two levels since they cut out another storage area to enlarge it. At the bottom it is probably 6x10. No bathroom in there. Everybody uses the one in the back by the roll-up door.

 

I used to nail drag the infields with a 1941 Aliss-Chalmers tractor. We did have a rear deck Kubota to mow with, but it broke down once a week. The auto shop guy used to keep them running, but I think they closed that down too.

 

We were lucky to break even on basketball games. Football crowds were not good either except for the Hillsboro game. That meant not much money was available for improvements either.

 

I hope Chauncey can change the mindset around there, but I really doubt anyone can. This will be the 4th coach in 6 years...........................................................................

[FBCOACH]

Big Chief: If you don't mind can you tell us a little more about HHS. I know you have a good relationship with the folks in Metro.

 

1. Does the county kick in any money for sports at HHS?

2. I know you said the gates were low, what kind of average gate can one expect?

3. What kind of numbers does HHS have on Varsity and JV?

4. How many assistant coaches are provided in Metro?

5. How will the new zoning affect HHS?

[bigchief]

Big Chief: If you don't mind can you tell us a little more about HHS. I know you have a good relationship with the folks in Metro.

 

1. Does the county kick in any money for sports at HHS?

2. I know you said the gates were low, what kind of average gate can one expect?

3. What kind of numbers does HHS have on Varsity and JV?

4. How many assistant coaches are provided in Metro?

5. How will the new zoning affect HHS?

Answers

#1. Metro does not "kick in" anything to any school for sports other than coaching supplements and one security officer per varsity game. ALL equipment, uniforms, referees, other security, ambulance service, field paint, scorekeepers, gatekeepers and any other expense that you can think of other than coaching supplements is the sole responsibility of the school in question. That means your gates and concessions have to support not just your revenue sports, but also your non-revenue sports. A lot of schools choose to roll their vending machine proceeds into athletics, but it is not required. Plus, with all the new health requirements that have been put into place with the machines in school buildings, that amount will be dwindling.

 

#2 I really have no idea what the gates have been like over there the past two years, but they were probably lucky to sell between 400 and 500 (depending on who they were playing) at $6 a head. Maybe not even that. Referees cost $485 a game. Ambulance service is generally $200. Security can take a lot depending on who you are playing and the # of officers you schedule. Concessions is counted on to help offset.

 

#3 I think they dressed about 50-55 against us. I don't know how many he had on JV, but I would think he dressed everyone for a home varsity game against us.

 

4. Assistants in Metro are provided according to how many players you have participating. The more players you have, the more assistants you are allowed. I believe for 50-55 players you are allowed 4. I won't go into the creativity some coaches show in putting a # of kids on their eligibility lists to help get assistants. None of my business.

 

5. The new zoning for Hillwood went into effect this year. Who knows if the board will give in to pressure and change it back. Lawsuits are pending. However, the initial change took out a big pocket of North Nashville that was brought over to Hillwood. I can tell you that we had quite a few players from that area in 03, 04, and 05. They would now be zoned for Pearl-Cohn. That same area from the Cheatham projects all the way out to Bordeaux on that side of I-40 was zoned for McGavock back when I was there in the '90's. I know that Mose used to drive a bus out to North Nashville and pick kids up to get them to practice on days when school was out.

 

I tell people all the time that you just cannot explain what it is like at Hillwood. Like always, experience is the best teacher. I wish anyone luck that coaches over there. You better be willing to roll up your sleeves and do the dirty work yourself. Some of these guys that think they walk on water because they coach football will get chewed up and spit out over there. You will teach a full-load of classes and go crazy over kids who will not show up for practice after seeing them in the hall all day. Our all-state quarterback in '05 skipped practice the day before we played White House in the quarter-finals of the state playoffs. He was on campus, just chasing after some girl. We were 12-0 at the time.

[FBCOACH]

HHS has only four home games in 2010. How do you fund a program if you don't even make enough money to cover the game expenses?

[bigchief]

Pray without ceasing............................

[bigredbird]

Pray without ceasing............................

 

chief... is it much better at Hunters Lane or Hillsboro? How do you rank the metro schools in supporting athletics?