Is Richland Football Dead?

[richlandfb]

It hurts me a lot to make this post, but is the football program dead? I do not like seeing the boys come off the field week after week with more injured and less pride. But that is what I see. It looked like the team had about 20 players last week, not enough to put up a fight before getting tired. Also the county has allowed the field, stands and grounds to get into very bad shape. It is in need of being bulldozed. Things would be a lot better for everyone if we could combine Bobcat and Raider football, other counties do it and it works out for them. Before anyone accuses me of being a Bobcat fan going after Richland's talent, I am not. I played for Richland and I see the truth about where things are at. It is time to stop punishing these boys because of where they happen to live in Giles County and let them have a genuine high school football experience. It is time to let Raider football die.

[BobBBucks]

It hurts me a lot to make this post, but is the football program dead? I do not like seeing the boys come off the field week after week with more injured and less pride. But that is what I see. It looked like the team had about 20 players last week, not enough to put up a fight before getting tired. Also the county has allowed the field, stands and grounds to get into very bad shape. It is in need of being bulldozed. Things would be a lot better for everyone if we could combine Bobcat and Raider football, other counties do it and it works out for them. Before anyone accuses me of being a Bobcat fan going after Richland's talent, I am not. I played for Richland and I see the truth about where things are at. It is time to stop punishing these boys because of where they happen to live in Giles County and let them have a genuine high school football experience. It is time to let Raider football die.

 

 

It pains me to see Richland go to this level as well. They were decent at basketball last year. Just what sports are they good at consitently? Isn't it a big enough school to field some decent teams? How many kids does Richland graduate every year? Is the football team supported by any elementary school football? If not, you could start there. Good luck.

[bigdaddy25]

The Richland program isn't dead yet.  They have had several years of neglect at the middle school level.  These seniors have had 4 different head coaches in as many years and they didn't get coached very well as middle school players.  I personally think that given a few years with the current head coach, they can make a change from the 6th grade up.  If the administration and assistant coaches will get on board with the "program" mentality, they can build the football program back to its competitve level of years ago.  The players will need to come through the ranks by learning the "same" offense and defense all the way through the program.  The last team to go to the 2nd round of the playoffs and were one play away from the 3rd round had that type of experience and they were very successful.  Comparing the Richland program to Giles County's isn't a very fair comparison.  There are very different types of athletes at these two schools with a very uncomparible feeder program.  Even with the exodus of players to Giles County, the remaining players are still working very hard as I have seen during the practices that I have attended.  I'll admit that they need more athletes from the hallways to play football, however, getting that type of committment from today's youth will be very hard.  If Richland was wiining games year in and year out, there would be more kids willing to participate, but having to start at the "bottom" and commit to making the program better with hard work and not "immediate" positive results will be a very big obstacle to overcome.  I think the community is behind the program and wants to help with the challenge, but, it will take a tremendous effort from everyone to see this task through.  Maybe former players could assist in the effort rather than wishing the "death" of the program as a whole.  Combining the programs in the county would only hurt the Richland kids because only a handful of kids would actually get to participate. The remaining kids would miss out on the experiences involved in football, not only on the field, but off the field as well.

Edited August 28, 2013 by bigdaddy25

[bobcat93]

Yeah it's pretty much dead.But certain families will not let it die because they hate Giles Co. high school so much.

[@38320]

It is sad to see good programs get down. I remember just a very few years ago (I think it was 06 or 07) Richland came to Camden and took our boys down to the last 1:00, and we were in the 9-1 range at that time. So many systems don't seem to appreciate how it all starts on the junior pro and junior high levels. I hate to say this but go to Huntingdon or Milan and look at the consistency in their lower age level programs. It takes more than a good coach. The school system has to support athletics (look what has happened at Cheatham Co), the community has to consistently support little kid athletics, and the boys have to see some stability. What I'm saying is, the parents rotate through just like the kids. As kids move from junior pro to junior high and on up, the parents rotate in and out - they move up and on too. When you have a few in the community who support athletics year in and year out regardless if their children or grandchildren are playing, you can achieve consistency -  small towns that always seem to be on the football map, like Trousdale Co., Huntingdon, Milan, Lewis Co., and more recently Adamsville. I hope there are some families in the Richland area that will get this worked out, and I bet there are. 

[bluedevilpride2012]

Who is the Director of Schools in Giles County again?  If anyone could kill an athletic program it would be that flute toating bag of hot air. 

[Hamblin]

The director is Tim Webb. Tim Webb is the former Principal of Richland. Tim Webb is also former School Board Director of Cheatham County. The current School Board Director of Cheatham County is Stan Curtis. Stan and Tim are childhood buddies and grew up together.

Are you seeing the pieces fit together?

[Vandychris]

Maybe if kids didnt start fights during games there would be more support for the system. That was a very ugly incident vs Loretto last year.....just a thought

[K1212]

I know everyone wants to win, and every kid that puts in their blood, sweat and tears deserves to win; however I firmly believe that if a man has character it will always be strengthened in defeat. If a kid loses on the field week after week, yet still gives everything he has week after week, that kid will have the character that many champions will never know. If that kid can pick himself up game after game, week after week, and still show sportsmanship and still be proud of what he is doing, that kid will win in life. High School football is about life lessons and I believe it teaches kids life lessons, and many of the best lessons I have ever learned came from defeat. If there is one kid in Richland with the heart and the desire to give everything he has got every week then Richland football is not dead. 

[howdoitknow]

The director is Tim Webb. Tim Webb is the former Principal of Richland. Tim Webb is also former School Board Director of Cheatham County. The current School Board Director of Cheatham County is Stan Curtis. Stan and Tim are childhood buddies and grew up together.

Are you seeing the pieces fit together?

Football in Cheatham County has been napalmed that's for sure.

[ksgovols]

Rather than kill off a small school program, I think other small schools in the area should invest in football.  Schools like Culleoka and Santa Fe in Maury County for instance.  Summertown is in it's first year of football and they've competed for state championships in baseball and basketball for decades.  I would be a proponent for keeping the football players in their school rather than co-oping with bigger schools like Cully does with Columbia Central.

 

Gotta sell the athletes in the hallways into playing.  That's no different than the biggest school in Nashville or Memphis and I think it's an easier sell in Richland and Ashland City than in urban areas.  Winning is cyclical to a degree.  Small schools in particular are not always going to have the talent to compete for championships, but they still need to compete.  All that starts with a charismatic coach imo.

 

From what I've heard and read, youth football isn't all that important to establishing a competent high school football team.  Several football coaches at higher levels promote playing sports that emphasis footwork and agility at an early age.  I would say flag football is more productive from 5-10 than learning bad technique and poor fundamentals in rec league football.  My opinion is most kids don't get a lot out of 11 man tackle football until puberty anyway.  Then, they need to work on skill sets and fundamentals and learn how to do things the right way.

 

Middle school football is a little over rated as well.  We killed Goodpasture 30-6 4 years before they won another state championship in football........

[bobcat93]

Fired their coach half way through the season?Yep could say its dead.