Middle Tennessee Football

[Gambler]

Question about why Middle Tennessee Football looks the way it does ?  With all the growth in the city I would think teams talent level would be high across the board.  

What has happened to MBA, Ensworth, and BA seemingly they are down more than ever thought possible ?  Lipscomb has moved up a division and Mawai didn’t bring in a fresh recruiting class. Will they be able to compete at a higher level ? CPA seems to be one of the few programs performing  at a high level. How would they do in the bigger division ? 
 

Are the Williamson county schools down ?  Franklin fired their coach and Centennial is having a great year.  Other than that I haven’t heard much. 
 

Is Oakland all Rutherford County has playing at a championship level ? 
 

Pearl Cohn beat CPA so I guess they are the flagship school in Metro ?  Overton ?

could someone provide some insight 

 

 

 

[3DayWknd]

Some insights. Some thoughts

A study in WillCo 10 yrs ago predicted that 1/2 of the population growth would be among people past the point of having school-aged children. 

Joe Williams just did a piece in the Williamson Herald about Franklin's challenges as a result of rezoning years ago.

Some moving to WillCo from Southern CA don't seem to be previously enrolled at Mater Dei or St John Bosco. Football doesn't seem to be the motivation for their move.

To the credit of Coach Martin at CPA I think the stability of the program goes a long way - especially at a time with ridiculous transfer numbers.  And some of the transfers have been from Nashville school to Nashville school. If a kid can't start at one school, he moves to another where he can start. Doesn't mean the talent pool in Nashville is getting better. 

Frankly it feels more competitive across the board. You probably know who's going to win but you have to remember that these are kids and stuff happens.

Lastly, it was 5-6 yrs ago that the national media was talking a lot about athletic related concussions. Are there fewer good athletes playing football these days as a result of parents not letting them play when they were in 6th-7th grade? I don't know but it's a possibility.

[cbg]

5 hours ago, 3DayWknd said:

Some insights. Some thoughts

A study in WillCo 10 yrs ago predicted that 1/2 of the population growth would be among people past the point of having school-aged children. 

Joe Williams just did a piece in the Williamson Herald about Franklin's challenges as a result of rezoning years ago.

Some moving to WillCo from Southern CA don't seem to be previously enrolled at Mater Dei or St John Bosco. Football doesn't seem to be the motivation for their move.

To the credit of Coach Martin at CPA I think the stability of the program goes a long way - especially at a time with ridiculous transfer numbers.  And some of the transfers have been from Nashville school to Nashville school. If a kid can't start at one school, he moves to another where he can start. Doesn't mean the talent pool in Nashville is getting better. 

Frankly it feels more competitive across the board. You probably know who's going to win but you have to remember that these are kids and stuff happens.

Lastly, it was 5-6 yrs ago that the national media was talking a lot about athletic related concussions. Are there fewer good athletes playing football these days as a result of parents not letting them play when they were in 6th-7th grade? I don't know but it's a possibility.

Just a few things:

1.  CPA has benefited greatly from Ingle Martin being a steady leader of the football program.  A prime example is look at how quickly the CPA basketball program dropped off when Drew Maddux retired.

2.  Due to the number of football concussions and kids/parents just being lazy the numbers for football players have dropped off significantly.  Other than a few teams you rarely see teams with 40 freshmen, a JV team and then a varsity team with a total of 75+ kids in the program.  For most schools that ship sailed many years ago.

3.  You mentioned St. John Bosco and Mater Dei out of California.  Everyone can rest assured that the Catholic schools in Tennessee will not ever compete at that level.  For whatever reason the Catholic schools in Tennessee refuse to provide the necessary resources to even be really competitive within the State of Tennessee.  

Being ultra successful at the high school level requires great people all pulling on the same end of the rope.  Just look at how much DeLaSalle has dropped since Bob Ladouceur retired or Brentwood Academy after Carlton Flatt retired.  What so many of the high school administrators don't understand is that if a school has a great football team and encourages/forces the players to be multi-sport athletes all of the other athletic programs in the school will be strong.

Edited October 6, 2023 by cbg

[Fnltexas]

2 hours ago, cbg said:

Just a few things:

1.  CPA has benefited greatly from Ingle Martin being a steady leader of the football program.  A prime example is look at how quickly the CPA basketball program dropped off when Drew Maddux retired.

2.  Due to the number of football concussions and kids/parents just being lazy the numbers for football players have dropped off significantly.  Other than a few teams you rarely see teams with 40 freshmen, a JV team and then a varsity team with a total of 75+ kids in the program.  For most schools that ship sailed many years ago.

3.  You mentioned St. John Bosco and Mater Dei out of California.  Everyone can rest assured that the Catholic schools in Tennessee will not ever compete at that level.  For whatever reason the Catholic schools in Tennessee refuse to provide the necessary resources to even be really competitive within the State of Tennessee.  

Being ultra successful at the high school level requires great people all pulling on the same end of the rope.  Just look at how much DeLaSalle has dropped since Bob Ladouceur retired or Brentwood Academy after Carlton Flatt retired.  What so many of the high school administrators don't understand is that if a school has a great football team and encourages/forces the players to be multi-sport athletes all of the other athletic programs in the school will be strong.

The CPA basketball team made the elite 8 post Maddux while moving up a Division.  Not sure Maddux would have faired better in the higher division.

Middle Tn has never had more talent.  The idea that its a shortage of players is non sense.  If you go out and watch different teams play the majority of the issues are in development, scheme, and adjustments.  I would argue the level of coaching in Middle Tn maybe at an all time low.  There are teams all over Middle Tn with multiple D1 players yet fail to consistently move the ball or stop the opponents.  You will also watch teams with SEC commits' yet never know they are on the field.  This is an inability to scheme for play makers.  I would say there is not 1 school in Middle Tn that runs a multiple offensive scheme.  Not a single one.  The passing games are simply plays they are not concepts run against certain defenses.  There is little to no understanding of the passing game in Nashville area.  I have watched teams with multiple SEC skill players fail to touch a ball against average HS teams.  That is a coaching issue.  I think the discussion needs to be around why is there not quality coaching staffs in the area.    

[kappy]

2 hours ago, Fnltexas said:

The CPA basketball team made the elite 8 post Maddux while moving up a Division.  Not sure Maddux would have faired better in the higher division.

Middle Tn has never had more talent.  The idea that its a shortage of players is non sense.  If you go out and watch different teams play the majority of the issues are in development, scheme, and adjustments.  I would argue the level of coaching in Middle Tn maybe at an all time low.  There are teams all over Middle Tn with multiple D1 players yet fail to consistently move the ball or stop the opponents.  You will also watch teams with SEC commits' yet never know they are on the field.  This is an inability to scheme for play makers.  I would say there is not 1 school in Middle Tn that runs a multiple offensive scheme.  Not a single one.  The passing games are simply plays they are not concepts run against certain defenses.  There is little to no understanding of the passing game in Nashville area.  I have watched teams with multiple SEC skill players fail to touch a ball against average HS teams.  That is a coaching issue.  I think the discussion needs to be around why is there not quality coaching staffs in the area.    

You make some good points

[BobbyB]

On 10/5/2023 at 10:09 PM, Gambler said:

Question about why Middle Tennessee Football looks the way it does ?  With all the growth in the city I would think teams talent level would be high across the board.  

What has happened to MBA, Ensworth, and BA seemingly they are down more than ever thought possible ?  Lipscomb has moved up a division and Mawai didn’t bring in a fresh recruiting class. Will they be able to compete at a higher level ? CPA seems to be one of the few programs performing  at a high level. How would they do in the bigger division ? 
 

Are the Williamson county schools down ?  Franklin fired their coach and Centennial is having a great year.  Other than that I haven’t heard much. 
 

Is Oakland all Rutherford County has playing at a championship level ? 
 

Pearl Cohn beat CPA so I guess they are the flagship school in Metro ?  Overton ?

could someone provide some insight 

 

 

 

If the NIL takes off in high school Ensworth ,MBA ,BA will all become top programs. I think Williamson county has so many options for private schools it waters down the talent pool. Having 9 divisions in high school football to many below average clubs making it into playoffs. CPA is well coached lost its QB to injury, they should have moved up DivIII . PC does a great job of keeping kids in public program, they are involved in interacting with peewee, JV football. Oakland has elite program, only had 3 kids in TN top 100 prospects first one 66, tells me coached very well. Riverdale having great year with 3 kids in TN top 100 all in top 40 of ranking. Rutherford county doesn't have a lot of private options so a lot of talent in public schools. Overton no clue other than 2 great private schools less than a mile away.