Sullivan South - Sullivan Co. Football

[jhilts]

Pitiful.

[THSVikings2004]

Might as well add the Vikings to the cellar.  2-8 is looking highly probable.

[Gunner0331]

I would say Coach Robbie Norris and his staff.

[formerblazer]

Pitiful.

What the heck happened tonight?

[formerblazer]

I would say Coach Robbie Norris and his staff.

Great response. I think the South staff know their stuff, but they are riding pretty low now a days. It could be a two year slump which north had a few years ago.

 

 

If only there was someone from Sullivan County who decided they wanted to be a head coach again... Hmmmmmmmm

[formerblazer]

Might as well add the Vikings to the cellar.  2-8 is looking highly probable.

And East doesn't play them. Could have been huge.

[Gunner0331]

Yeah, East has never beat Tn high. They were rivals for like 200 years. TN high is lucky they didn't play East this year.East would have took Tn high to the wood shed.

[BlueDevil58]

I am all for winning games, but a higher population does not always correlate into winning games.  If that were the case, this year's DB team would roll over Greeneville with little effort.  Science Hill would beat Alcoa every year.

 

What I think is more interesting is.... who is going to coach this new 5A/6A school?

 

 

Either Robbie Norris, Sam Haynie, or maybe an outsider, but the outsider is unlikely.  Norris wants the job, but doubts they'll give it to him.  The only way I see an outsider coming in is if some important booster somewhere gets involved and thinks they'll get some visor wearing hotshot coach to run some fun and gun offense and magically win state, but I don't see that happening.

 

I thought the plan was to build a new school in the western part of the county for South, North, and most of Central, and then once that's done they'll build a new one to combine East and what's left of Central into another large school.

 

The problem is that East will be pretty crowded in the meantime, but wasn't it originally built to be about a 1400 student high school that now has about 1000-1100 students?  That should be doable, though they might need to get some "learning cottages" (aka: trailers) to hold some classes in the meantime.

 

As for this year in Sullivan County... HS Football in NE TN is really just not the big deal it used to be for kids.  30 years ago, it was a right of passage for young men and they all wanted to do it.  The newspapers and local TV devoted a lot of time and attention to it and pep rallies on Fridays were the norm.  Fans would pack the houses to watch teams play and travel to the nearby towns.

 

The papers've cut way back on that over the past 10 years and, in the days of standardized testing, schools can't justify taking the time away from test prep to do more than 1 or 2 short pep rallies a year.  It used to be that former football coaches became principals and encouraged athletics.  Now it's former bureaucrats from the central office who only care about test scores.

 

Now the roster numbers are dropping every year, attendance is down, and the community just doesn't take the same interest in football or any sports anymore.  We've lost something special.  With the Sullivan County schools, knowing that they're all about to close except for East hasn't made it any easier to keep the enthusiasm up.

Edited October 9, 2016 by BlueDevil58

[formerblazer]

Either Robbie Norris, Sam Haynie, or maybe an outsider, but the outsider is unlikely.  Norris wants the job, but doubts they'll give it to him.  The only way I see an outsider coming in is if some important booster somewhere gets involved and thinks they'll get some visor wearing hotshot coach to run some fun and gun offense and magically win state, but I don't see that happening.

 

I thought the plan was to build a new school in the western part of the county for South, North, and most of Central, and then once that's done they'll build a new one to combine East and what's left of Central into another large school.

 

The problem is that East will be pretty crowded in the meantime, but wasn't it originally built to be about a 1400 student high school that now has about 1000-1100 students?  That should be doable, though they might need to get some "learning cottages" (aka: trailers) to hold some classes in the meantime.

 

As for this year in Sullivan County... HS Football in NE TN is really just not the big deal it used to be for kids.  30 years ago, it was a right of passage for young men and they all wanted to do it.  The newspapers and local TV devoted a lot of time and attention to it and pep rallies on Fridays were the norm.  Fans would pack the houses to watch teams play and travel to the nearby towns.

 

The papers've cut way back on that over the past 10 years and, in the days of standardized testing, schools can't justify taking the time away from test prep to do more than 1 or 2 short pep rallies a year.  It used to be that former football coaches became principals and encouraged athletics.  Now it's former bureaucrats from the central office who only care about test scores.

 

Now the roster numbers are dropping every year, attendance is down, and the community just doesn't take the same interest in football or any sports anymore.  We've lost something special.  With the Sullivan County schools, knowing that they're all about to close except for East hasn't made it any easier to keep the enthusiasm up.

 

 

It'll be an interesting pick within the county to see who gets it.  I would say that it would either be Norris or Haynie .  Norris is going to have a lot to argue for since he has got North on an upswing again.  Haynie was part of that strong South program, but if we don't see a rebound, I think it is evened up.  On paper you think one of these guys would step up, but I could also see them going outside.  Whoever takes over will need to have the ability to start bringing these kids together who are used to fighting on the gridiron.  Still, I think at the earliest we are three years away from finding out more on that.

 

I'll go ahead and tell you that while on paper East may have been built to house that many kids, but at the most, with what they have right now, you could probably get another 150 more, putting their numbers around 1050-1100.  That will be busting.  Zero room.  Classes being lectured in the gym would be what would have to happen.  Another 3-400 over that?  Not happening.  No way.  If they force it you'll have some major issues.  

 

This area has definitely changed in the past 10 years football wise.  You used to have a lot of programs that any year could battle for a title and home playoff spots.  That has all shifted West even further.  TN High, South, DB, Boone, etc. were making a lot more noise than they were.  TN High and South are really the glaring ones since they have always been so definitively good by comparison.  I think there will be some type of rebound, but until this area figures out how to be competitive state wide, forget any state title hopes.  

[BatmanDB]

It'll be an interesting pick within the county to see who gets it.  I would say that it would either be Norris or Haynie .  Norris is going to have a lot to argue for since he has got North on an upswing again.  Haynie was part of that strong South program, but if we don't see a rebound, I think it is evened up.  On paper you think one of these guys would step up, but I could also see them going outside.  Whoever takes over will need to have the ability to start bringing these kids together who are used to fighting on the gridiron.  Still, I think at the earliest we are three years away from finding out more on that.

 

I'll go ahead and tell you that while on paper East may have been built to house that many kids, but at the most, with what they have right now, you could probably get another 150 more, putting their numbers around 1050-1100.  That will be busting.  Zero room.  Classes being lectured in the gym would be what would have to happen.  Another 3-400 over that?  Not happening.  No way.  If they force it you'll have some major issues.  

 

This area has definitely changed in the past 10 years football wise.  You used to have a lot of programs that any year could battle for a title and home playoff spots.  That has all shifted West even further.  TN High, South, DB, Boone, etc. were making a lot more noise than they were.  TN High and South are really the glaring ones since they have always been so definitively good by comparison.  I think there will be some type of rebound, but until this area figures out how to be competitive state wide, forget any state title hopes.  

Boone is  dead center on the map between TH and Greeneville high.It's simple for the local schools,hire a great coach and compete with the best around the state.Still takes a special year to get past some of the very best teams and it doesn't happen often but there is no reason South should have gotton beat 70-0 by anyone,not even my Devils.No reason Dobyns Bennett with all the talent on the team and in the halls should have only won 3 of their last 14 games.No reason but lack of coaching for many local schools.

[BlueDevil58]

It's not the coaching.  It's the talent and culture.  There are trends in football that've hurt local teams that no coach can work around.  The demographics and the culture in a lot of the school district administrations is bad for competing with the elite teams in our state.

 

We don't have the speed in this area that the schools west of Morristown have.  The demographics are all wrong for it.  For a long time, we competed in the old I formation, power football days, which only required 2 or 3 athletes on each side of the ball... but now everyone wants to spread the field and get 5-6 athletes out there in space.

 

The thing is that spread offenses are now really AMPLIFIERS for great talent, not EQUALIZERS, because now defenses have adapted to contain the schemes.  The teams here will beat up on each other with spread offenses like the colleges run on TV... but when the Knoxville, Maryville, or even Morristown and Sevier County schools come calling, the local athletes just get outclassed in the spread.  Those western schools have better athletes to match up on both sides and it just doesn't end well.

 

That's why the most successful programs from our area lately have been the smaller schools.  There's less speed at those schools for the locals to run into until you get to about the 3rd or 4th round of the playoffs, and most are lucky to have 1-2 really good athletes.  If you get 3 or more, like Hampton had last year, you can compete with just about anybody in the state.

 

At the upper levels, though, the teams farther west will have 5-6 guys with 4.6 speed or better and some backups who can run like that, too.  The bigger NE TN schools might still only have 3 or 4 on the whole team.

 

Robbie Norris has had a great strategy by lining up and running the Double Wing at North.  It's worked well and has led to some nice playoff runs, despite them having much less raw talent to work with than most schools.  However, the Double Wing is weird and not much fun to watch, so if he wants to bring that to the new school, those Colonial Heights parents who think their kid is the next Curt Phillips are going to balk.

Edited October 9, 2016 by BlueDevil58

[Swipes]

It's not the coaching. It's the talent and culture. There are trends in football that've hurt local teams that no coach can work around. The demographics and the culture in a lot of the school district administrations is bad for competing with the elite teams in our state.

 

We don't have the speed in this area that the schools west of Morristown have. The demographics are all wrong for it. For a long time, we competed in the old I formation, power football days, which only required 2 or 3 athletes on each side of the ball... but now everyone wants to spread the field and get 5-6 athletes out there in space.

 

The thing is that spread offenses are now really AMPLIFIERS for great talent, not EQUALIZERS, because now defenses have adapted to contain the schemes. The teams here will beat up on each other with spread offenses like the colleges run on TV... but when the Knoxville, Maryville, or even Morristown and Sevier County schools come calling, the local athletes just get outclassed in the spread. Those western schools have better athletes to match up on both sides and it just doesn't end well.

 

That's why the most successful programs from our area lately have been the smaller schools. There's less speed at those schools for the locals to run into until you get to about the 3rd or 4th round of the playoffs, and most are lucky to have 1-2 really good athletes. If you get 3 or more, like Hampton had last year, you can compete with just about anybody in the state.

 

At the upper levels, though, the teams farther west will have 5-6 guys with 4.6 speed or better and some backups who can run like that, too. The bigger NE TN schools might still only have 3 or 4 on the whole team.

 

Robbie Norris has had a great strategy by lining up and running the Double Wing at North. It's worked well and has led to some nice playoff runs, despite them having much less raw talent to work with than most schools. However, the Double Wing is weird and not much fun to watch, so if he wants to bring that to the new school, those Colonial Heights parents who think their kid is the next Curt Phillips are going to balk.

The Fact that Greeneville High school is the same demographics would make your argument invalid. They run the spread and train on speed training with Coach Lyons. (He even hold classes for other sports also). There was a reason that in 06 Greeneville was 4-6 and in 07 went 10-3 and went to the quarter finals. New coach, new work ethic, new expectations but the same players from the 06 to 07 team Edited October 9, 2016 by Swipes