Knoxville Halls head football coach Kevin Julian resigns

[devilsden]

Maybe there was some hidden reason why KJ told the kid no. A better question might be why the heck did the kid wait til after spring practice was over and all the winter season workouts was over. I know he just got this sudden feelin that he could be a positive factor in this program.

ronin - is their somebody on the current staff that would make a good head coach? With it being so late, don't you reckon they will name an interim and then conduct a search during the fall. And you can look at many schools where a head coach for any sport has resigned and they can't replace that teacher because they have been at the school for a certain number of year. There are former coacheswalking the halls of HHS, some in PE, some in Dr. Ed., some in other academic classes.

My big question is WHY NOW?

[ronin]

Maybe the coach did have a reason. I know that one of the players had been trying to get the kid to come out and play and that he was just recently successful in convincing the guy to come in. The way my son saw it was that coach didn't want to take the time to see if the kid was any good.

I realize that the timing sucks on this move but during spring practice there were some issues that demonstrated the team had no cohesiveness and it appeared that the coach was unable to mold these kids into a team. I think that the reason it took this long after spring practice is that the principal put a lot of thought into the decision he was faced with. The principal is a former coach and understands quite well what challenges this program faces. I believe that he is acting in the best interests of the kids as he has demonstrated that in all his decisions, sports related or not. I am not saying that the principal is perfect, but I do believe that he is going to do what he thinks is right. Some people believe that this move was caused by disgruntled parents but I think that Mr. Duff is way too strong to let that be the deciding factor in this move. If he was going to cave in to the demands of the parents, the coach would have been gone at the end of the 0-10 season and wouldn't have had the chance to go 1-9 last year.

I really do not care if my son plays football or not, that is his decision. In fact, I feel that his schoolwork would be better if he didn't play. That being said, I will support my son in whatever he chooses to do.

I have no clue what they will do for a new coach but I support whatever decision Mr Duff comes up with. I am not sure about the abilities of the assistants to take over although there are a couple that my son thinks could do the job (whatever that is worth). I happen to like all the coaches, including Coach Julian, but I also feel that some kind of change was in order. Anyone who was even remotely involved with this program could easily see that there were many challenges that needed to be overcome to make this a TEAM. I am under no delusions that this team should be a contender for the state championship, but at the same time, I know that they could do much better than their record shows.

I would also like to say that what I post on this board is just the same as everyone else, it is my opinion. Opinions are like butts, everyone has one, they are all entitled to one, and they all stink. Anyone can choose to agree or not and I will do the same.

[blitzinbuc]

Stan, if your team was 0-19 in the last 2 years and you had 45 players at a school of 1600 students, would you turn away a kid that wanted to join your team? (Exhibit

 

Halls had some very good teams in the late 80's and early 90's when my sons were playing for another school. Halls also had an abundance of players on the varisty and JV teams.

 

With 1600 kids in school, there should definitely be more than the 45 or so you mentioned playing. I know kids don't want to play on a losing team, but the head coach has to be able to convince the young men to play football and be the foundation of the rebuilding and turnaround. Going winless in two years is obvious that Coach Julian isn't able to get the job done, regardless of how well he coaches or how good of a person he is.

 

Out of curiousity, are the quality players from the Halls community choosing to attend other schools to play?

[HTV]

 

Out of curiousity, are the quality players from the Halls community choosing to attend other schools to play?

 

The Hall folks can add to this if they wish, but I believe that to be a major factor in the downward spiral of the program over the past decade. A good number of the rising high schoolers, including some very good athletes, who lived in the Halls zone and played in the Halls youth program, which used to be one of the best in the county, have been leaving for other schools. And it's not just one school they have left for. Halls zoned players have ended up at Maryville, Powell, Knoxville Central, Gibbs, Grace Christian, and Webb - just to name a few over the last decade. I think that is going to be the first order of business for the new coach - to close the borders.

 

And that isn't a problem unique to Halls. South-Doyle lost several potential in zone players to other schools during its down time of recent years, including the state record holder in TDs scored in a season, who ended up at Alcoa. He certainly would have helped South-Doyle had he stayed in zone. One of the reasons Coach Duncan is seeing his program make significant improvement is because he has been able to keep most of those players zoned South-Doyle at South-Doyle. The new coach at Halls needs to do the same.

Edited June 10, 2012 by HTV

[ronin]

I know that there is a kid playing at Webb who was an awesome running back in middle school. He would have been a freshman last year. I also know that Webb is after the best prospect on this year's freshman team, a huge kid who shows a lot of promise and could potentially start as a freshman on this team. My son also told me that a few of his teammates tried to transfer and were unable to.

Maybe Halls needs to reach out to the middle school leagues and get those coaches to help with the earlier development of players. When my son played in middle school the coach had 11 boys that played both ways and everybody else stood on the sideline. He did nothing to develop any depth and he got killed in the 4th quarter of every game because his boys were exhausted.

[devilsden]

I think what Mr. Duff needs to do is form a comittee of parents and let them select the next coach and ronin you seem like alevel headed Halls parent/fan, I would name you the head of the comittee.

Next, I think all of the assistants need to follow KJ lead and resign that way a new coach can bring in his own people to coach the team and get the Devils back to the top of the standings.

[coach1076]

Im guessing since no one responded to my post on page 1 that no one really knows the answer. Will Halls conduct a true search? can they open a teaching spot for the new coach?

[Spartan88]

I know that there is a kid playing at Webb who was an awesome running back in middle school. He would have been a freshman last year. I also know that Webb is after the best prospect on this year's freshman team, a huge kid who shows a lot of promise and could potentially start as a freshman on this team. My son also told me that a few of his teammates tried to transfer and were unable to.

Maybe Halls needs to reach out to the middle school leagues and get those coaches to help with the earlier development of players. When my son played in middle school the coach had 11 boys that played both ways and everybody else stood on the sideline. He did nothing to develop any depth and he got killed in the 4th quarter of every game because his boys were exhausted.

[Spartan88]

Get your facts straight. It's WEST, not WEBB.

[devilsden]

spartan88, dont get all wadded up now. Webb has taken players from Halls before, the Beeler's. Than you get mad when players like A. Douglas leave and go to Maryville. It is a give andteake on both sides, public and private.

Don't think they can hold a true search cause of time. The kids are the ones going to suffer, now you'll have every assistant coach wanting to handle this and that, wieght room, conditioning, running routes, working on blocking schemes, etc. If I read the dead period right they aint got but 2 more weeks anyway. I say go and bring back Lying Larry Kerr - that would help Halls and probably help Clinton too!

[ronin]

Sorry Spartan if I was incorrect. I was told Webb.

Devilsden, I am not within 100 miles of being qualified to have anything to do with choosing a coach. That decision is in the proper hands right now. Mark Duff has my full support in this matter. I have supported him throughtout this whole mess. It even caused an argument between me and my son when I told him that he needed to believe that Mr. Duff would do the right thing. The parents should have nothing to do with this decision as it is Mark Duff who will have to supervise him. It would almost be a sort of poetic justice if those who were most vehement in calling for the resignation had to find someone better though. I had my opinions about what should be done but I tried to keep them to myself. Mr Duff was loyal to Coach Julian as long as he could be and I do admire that. I do not envy the position he now finds himself in this close to the season.

[Spartan88]

Im guessing since no one responded to my post on page 1 that no one really knows the answer. Will Halls conduct a true search? can they open a teaching spot for the new coach?

 

Coach Julian has seniority over some of the other coaches in the building. So, IF they move someone to open up a teaching position, it should be the coach who has been there the least amount of time. The "powers that be" at central office have to approve any move, so this could pose a problem. Their priority is not to find teaching positions for head football coaches. In the old days, this was probably how it worked, but not now.