Sunbright HBC Opening

[TrenchWarrior]

On 2/8/2023 at 11:57 PM, BarneySox2007 said:

I would honestly love to pick out the 11 worst teams from East Tennessee big and small and go see everyone of them just to try and understand why each have had the hardest time in trying to win a football game. Sunbright and Jellico would be on that bucket list. Being a Maryville fan that has seen most of their games especially during the years of the 70 and 60 game winning streaks it would be very interesting to see how the other side lives. It wouldn't be fun unless I could figure out how I could see everyone of those teams at their own place just to be able to set amoung and meet their fans . I've done crazzier things in life.

I actually coached at Jellico years ago and we played against Sunbright.

Jellico honestly has too many problems to list.  If it could screw up a HS football program, Jellico probably has to deal with it. There's no money for anything there, many kids struggle to survive in horrible poverty, kids are all spread out with unreliable busses to get them to school, and it's just plain hard to literally get kids there, especially for July and early August camp before school starts and no busses run.  A lot of times, kids have very legit reasons for not being at practice... but the others see that and take advantage.  It's very much a "learned helplessness" thing with the kids thinking that 1 win a year is good enough, but the community and school district don't do them any favors with the politics.  The whole situation is just toxic for building anything positive.

As for Sunbright... the school, facility, and community is beautiful, but they're just... so... small.  They're one of the smallest schools with a football team in the entire state, with enrollment around 174 when we played them (1A goes up to enrollments of around 400).  That means there's only about 70-80 boys in the entire school, so it's hard to build any kind of team with depth (or even 11 dependable starters).  When I coached against them, they had a good coach from the community who basically installed middle school level schemes and coached them hard on fundamentals.  They weren't great, but they didn't beat themselves and made other teams work for it.

Another problem that plagued all the Morgan County schools at that time was their inability to keep good coaches around or get assistants into the system.  Teaching jobs are scarce and the system used NOTHING towards insurance, meaning you'd accept a job for $40k a year and then pay $800-$1000 a MONTH for insurance, so many people just can't afford to coach there and support themselves and their families.

[pdover1776]

59 minutes ago, CaptainGuru said:

Unfortunately it is a very slow process in Morgan County. The politics are bigger than you may think in Morgan County. Even for jobs such as Sunbright. I am Captain Guru and I approve this message. 

I know but dang!  I know for a fact they have a tenured coach with tons of experience that actually wants this job!  They will settle for rec coaches again if they don't jump on one of these guys.

[BarneySox2007]

4 hours ago, TrenchWarrior said:

I actually coached at Jellico years ago and we played against Sunbright.

Jellico honestly has too many problems to list.  If it could screw up a HS football program, Jellico probably has to deal with it. There's no money for anything there, many kids struggle to survive in horrible poverty, kids are all spread out with unreliable busses to get them to school, and it's just plain hard to literally get kids there, especially for July and early August camp before school starts and no busses run.  A lot of times, kids have very legit reasons for not being at practice... but the others see that and take advantage.  It's very much a "learned helplessness" thing with the kids thinking that 1 win a year is good enough, but the community and school district don't do them any favors with the politics.  The whole situation is just toxic for building anything positive.

As for Sunbright... the school, facility, and community is beautiful, but they're just... so... small.  They're one of the smallest schools with a football team in the entire state, with enrollment around 174 when we played them (1A goes up to enrollments of around 400).  That means there's only about 70-80 boys in the entire school, so it's hard to build any kind of team with depth (or even 11 dependable starters).  When I coached against them, they had a good coach from the community who basically installed middle school level schemes and coached them hard on fundamentals.  They weren't great, but they didn't beat themselves and made other teams work for it.

Another problem that plagued all the Morgan County schools at that time was their inability to keep good coaches around or get assistants into the system.  Teaching jobs are scarce and the system used NOTHING towards insurance, meaning you'd accept a job for $40k a year and then pay $800-$1000 a MONTH for insurance, so many people just can't afford to coach there and support themselves and their families.

Thanks for sharing. It's an absolute miracle how either one of those schools can put a team together.

[pdover1776]

16 hours ago, BarneySox2007 said:

Thanks for sharing. It's an absolute miracle how either one of those schools can put a team together.

 I just don't understand why they don't pounce on the coach with experience and now I'm finding out he definitely has  state championships!   Why he would want to come to Sunbright is beyond me...but gahhhh what else would they want!?   He probably doesn't exist.  Just a stupid rumor.

Edited March 21, 2023 by pdover1776

[RTDB939913]

pdover1776, since you seem like someone involved and from the community, what are the actual issues with Sunbright? Is it really just a matter of the size and there not being enough boys in the school to consistently field a team? Or are there other issues with the program an outsider wouldn't know? 

[pdover1776]

25 minutes ago, RTDB939913 said:

pdover1776, since you seem like someone involved and from the community, what are the actual issues with Sunbright? Is it really just a matter of the size and there not being enough boys in the school to consistently field a team? Or are there other issues with the program an outsider wouldn't know? 

It's always going to be size of the school and number of players.  They have to hire someone that can "will" those boys to win.  Make them believe they are better than they are.  It's very possible.  They just keep hiring a buddy here or do a favor for this guy or the worst thing they keep doing is settling for someone with little to no experience even coaching at the high school level.  I'd like to see someone in there that not only believes he can win but knows he can convince those boys they are worth more than they ever imagined.

[catchnburn]

43 minutes ago, pdover1776 said:

It's always going to be size of the school and number of players.  They have to hire someone that can "will" those boys to win.  Make them believe they are better than they are.  It's very possible.  They just keep hiring a buddy here or do a favor for this guy or the worst thing they keep doing is settling for someone with little to no experience even coaching at the high school level.  I'd like to see someone in there that not only believes he can win but knows he can convince those boys they are worth more than they ever imagined.

It is an intriguing challenge. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by catchnburn

[deercreek]

Edited March 23, 2023 by deercreek
None

[pdover1776]

It's no longer on the TSSAA website 

[LTCB]

6 hours ago, pdover1776 said:

It's no longer on the TSSAA website 

After 60 days they automatically come off the site

[pdover1776]

14 hours ago, LTCB said:

After 60 days they automatically come off the site

Oh ok.  I did not know that.   Thanks

[Indians18]

Coaches could be nervous about applying and accepting the job due to the way Rusty Yaden was treated. Came in and turned that girls program around only to be fired after a winning season.