Taking a look into Oneida Football

[TheBigOFan]

Hey fellas, it’s been quite a while since we last chatted. Season ended last year not how we all wanted to see it go down, but it happened. Now we have to take a leap and start all over again. Looking into the season, I know we lost a few guys, but for the most part we have most of our guys back, juniors that have been playing since they were Sophmore. How well do we believe Team Chemistry will play a part in this? 
 

THIS YEAR! We automatically make it to playoffs. Only 3 other teams in our way in the region. I believe this could be a good thing so we don’t end up missing them again this year. Has everyone got a chance to look at the schedule? What games do you think we can win?
 

Im hoping for a big outcome this year, semis to state. I believe the HARD NOSE indians can do it. Everyone let me know what you think about the upcoming season. As always, GO BIG O!

[CYJACKETT]

A lot of transfers have arrived at oneida over the last 20 years and I assume more will be there this year. Should be a 7-3 team. 

[PoundTheRock37]

On 3/19/2025 at 9:02 AM, TheBigOFan said:

Hey fellas, it’s been quite a while since we last chatted. Season ended last year not how we all wanted to see it go down, but it happened. Now we have to take a leap and start all over again. Looking into the season, I know we lost a few guys, but for the most part we have most of our guys back, juniors that have been playing since they were Sophmore. How well do we believe Team Chemistry will play a part in this? 
 

THIS YEAR! We automatically make it to playoffs. Only 3 other teams in our way in the region. I believe this could be a good thing so we don’t end up missing them again this year. Has everyone got a chance to look at the schedule? What games do you think we can win?
 

Im hoping for a big outcome this year, semis to state. I believe the HARD NOSE indians can do it. Everyone let me know what you think about the upcoming season. As always, GO BIG O!

Oneida has plenty of talent to go far but for that to happen they will need a few key factors. #1 The offense ABSOLUTELY has to be more aggressive and consist of more than 3 plays. #2 Defensive players will need to all be placed correctly this year. #3 The Indians will need to play as ONE this year and keep that mindset the entire season. #4 Oneida has got to be flat out physical, something we haven't seen in a while as a whole. #5 The offensive line has to be on the same page this year, know who to block, how to block, and when to block. They also have to be nasty, if they don't, Oneida will go 5-5, maybe 6-4. It all starts up front. Will the Indians have a good season this year? Only time will tell.

[Spike016]

Same ole same ole

[TheBigOFan]

I’ll comment again, how do we think the staff is going to look this year? Will Jimmy be running the offense and grow a pair? Will another coach take over the offense? Will Mark step in and help do both? Will we see Mark handling a lot of the business this year? Will we see other coaches stepping up? All of this is interesting, I’m excited to see what it’s gonna look like.

[IndianOutlaw24]

The young readers will not understand this post. Oneida is revisiting the cycle from 20 years ago. The comparison shares many characteristics. I can't even share all the similarities without making it personal.

In the early 2000s Oneida was able to protect a few wins with scheduling. Taft and McCreary Co allowed us to grab a few wins. Small and under talented district opponents such as Oakdale provided the same boost. All this said, we were going 7-3 and people deceptively claimed program stability. However, we would face the strong team in the region (usually greenback) and get beat 40s to 0. Round 1 or 2 of playoffs and we were a 30 point underdog. Not a great place to be considering the classification, region, area, etc.

2005 hit rock bottom... 4-6. No playoffs. Change in coaching staff before season. Program corruption. No player buy in. Furthermore, 4-6 then is about like 2-8 in 2025. Scheduling makes it much tougher to find easy wins. I hate to predict the 2025 season... but it smells a lot like 2005. 

My hope is in the comparison of what happened next. Late 2000s Oneida found success. TL and staff found consistency. New classes came in. Middle school coach was on a mission. He was sending tough kids who knew how to win. County kids pitched in at times. The region, overall, was still weak. However, it was single A rural area football so that's not unreasonable. The new (2025) region and classification worries me a bit, but no reason to give up hope. 

I guess all this post to say, small school sports goes in cycles. I have heard that time and time again. I believe I have a good understanding of the cycle we are repeating. My biggest concern: do those calling the shots understand, care, or even have any desire to drive us out of this cycle and back towards a successful football program???

[Crow]

17 minutes ago, IndianOutlaw24 said:

I guess all this post to say, small school sports goes in cycles. I have heard that time and time again. I believe I have a good understanding of the cycle we are repeating. My biggest concern: do those calling the shots understand, care, or even have any desire to drive us out of this cycle and back towards a successful football program???

This 💯 

[TheBigOFan]

On 4/21/2025 at 9:57 AM, IndianOutlaw24 said:

The young readers will not understand this post. Oneida is revisiting the cycle from 20 years ago. The comparison shares many characteristics. I can't even share all the similarities without making it personal.

In the early 2000s Oneida was able to protect a few wins with scheduling. Taft and McCreary Co allowed us to grab a few wins. Small and under talented district opponents such as Oakdale provided the same boost. All this said, we were going 7-3 and people deceptively claimed program stability. However, we would face the strong team in the region (usually greenback) and get beat 40s to 0. Round 1 or 2 of playoffs and we were a 30 point underdog. Not a great place to be considering the classification, region, area, etc.

2005 hit rock bottom... 4-6. No playoffs. Change in coaching staff before season. Program corruption. No player buy in. Furthermore, 4-6 then is about like 2-8 in 2025. Scheduling makes it much tougher to find easy wins. I hate to predict the 2025 season... but it smells a lot like 2005. 

My hope is in the comparison of what happened next. Late 2000s Oneida found success. TL and staff found consistency. New classes came in. Middle school coach was on a mission. He was sending tough kids who knew how to win. County kids pitched in at times. The region, overall, was still weak. However, it was single A rural area football so that's not unreasonable. The new (2025) region and classification worries me a bit, but no reason to give up hope. 

I guess all this post to say, small school sports goes in cycles. I have heard that time and time again. I believe I have a good understanding of the cycle we are repeating. My biggest concern: do those calling the shots understand, care, or even have any desire to drive us out of this cycle and back towards a successful football program???

Oh fella. You’ve got it exactly right, and I’m glad you brought this back up. Oneida had Sexton at middle school head coach, he had his players ready for everything coming up. TL and his staff had it made out for them at the time, and I’ve heard rumours of him saying if he was offered the job, that he wanted it to win a state championship that he never got around to, which from a VERY RELIABLE SOURCE, HARD TO GET THIS TOPIC WRONG. If you catch my drift. Jimmy is done, I don’t believe he necessarily cares about what’s to come for the team since he’s dipping out after this year. He’s crashed and burned alot and we have kept giving chance after chance which we shouldn’t have. I made my predictions in the other board, but I could very much see this being the turn around. We have way too much talent, minus what we’ve lost from corruption. We could very well have a good season, but since the staff decides not to buy in, possibly neither will the players. This is a topic I hate to even talk about, but it’s all the truth and nothing but the truth, because the BIGOFAN said so. This is just sad, and pitiful that Oneida football has turned into this. I believe we need to bring the people back that helped the program the most, even though our board has decided not to like these fellas for some reason. 

[PoundTheRock37]

On 4/21/2025 at 9:57 AM, IndianOutlaw24 said:

The young readers will not understand this post. Oneida is revisiting the cycle from 20 years ago. The comparison shares many characteristics. I can't even share all the similarities without making it personal.

In the early 2000s Oneida was able to protect a few wins with scheduling. Taft and McCreary Co allowed us to grab a few wins. Small and under talented district opponents such as Oakdale provided the same boost. All this said, we were going 7-3 and people deceptively claimed program stability. However, we would face the strong team in the region (usually greenback) and get beat 40s to 0. Round 1 or 2 of playoffs and we were a 30 point underdog. Not a great place to be considering the classification, region, area, etc.

2005 hit rock bottom... 4-6. No playoffs. Change in coaching staff before season. Program corruption. No player buy in. Furthermore, 4-6 then is about like 2-8 in 2025. Scheduling makes it much tougher to find easy wins. I hate to predict the 2025 season... but it smells a lot like 2005. 

My hope is in the comparison of what happened next. Late 2000s Oneida found success. TL and staff found consistency. New classes came in. Middle school coach was on a mission. He was sending tough kids who knew how to win. County kids pitched in at times. The region, overall, was still weak. However, it was single A rural area football so that's not unreasonable. The new (2025) region and classification worries me a bit, but no reason to give up hope. 

I guess all this post to say, small school sports goes in cycles. I have heard that time and time again. I believe I have a good understanding of the cycle we are repeating. My biggest concern: do those calling the shots understand, care, or even have any desire to drive us out of this cycle and back towards a successful football program???

Spot on my friend. I don’t think anyone could have said it better. The sad thing is tho is Oneida could have arguably had one of the best looking group of kids in a while. Too bad it never amounted to anything. Seems like people around these parts just don’t care.

[PoundTheRock37]

48 minutes ago, TheBigOFan said:

Oh fella. You’ve got it exactly right, and I’m glad you brought this back up. Oneida had Sexton at middle school head coach, he had his players ready for everything coming up. TL and his staff had it made out for them at the time, and I’ve heard rumours of him saying if he was offered the job, that he wanted it to win a state championship that he never got around to, which from a VERY RELIABLE SOURCE, HARD TO GET THIS TOPIC WRONG. If you catch my drift. Jimmy is done, I don’t believe he necessarily cares about what’s to come for the team since he’s dipping out after this year. He’s crashed and burned alot and we have kept giving chance after chance which we shouldn’t have. I made my predictions in the other board, but I could very much see this being the turn around. We have way too much talent, minus what we’ve lost from corruption. We could very well have a good season, but since the staff decides not to buy in, possibly neither will the players. This is a topic I hate to even talk about, but it’s all the truth and nothing but the truth, because the BIGOFAN said so. This is just sad, and pitiful that Oneida football has turned into this. I believe we need to bring the people back that helped the program the most, even though our board has decided not to like these fellas for some reason. 

I agree with the part about TL. I also heard the exact same thing that he would be willing to come back. Looks like the board just doesn’t see it that way…

[IndianOutlaw24]

We are definitely in an era of finger pointing. Maybe even necessary at times. The confusing part is the multi-direction finger pointing. The board, the coaching staff, the school, the players, the community, the parents, cell phones, rural Appalachia, lack of turf field, too many Mexican restaurants... I am sure the list continues.

One we rarely mention is the 2 buildings (mostly 1) that sit on the southern border of the Oneida High School campus. The buildings are home to over a million dollars in annual salary (roughly 15 employees) and we never hear/see/smell/taste/feel even the beginning of a plan to push this thing the right direction. 

And please don't comment on this saying the 2025 change is a plan to fix any of this. I'll withhold my theory about the 2025 change, but I feel confident the inner workings of that plan had nothing to do with Oneida football winning more games. 

 

[PoundTheRock37]

45 minutes ago, IndianOutlaw24 said:

We are definitely in an era of finger pointing. Maybe even necessary at times. The confusing part is the multi-direction finger pointing. The board, the coaching staff, the school, the players, the community, the parents, cell phones, rural Appalachia, lack of turf field, too many Mexican restaurants... I am sure the list continues.

One we rarely mention is the 2 buildings (mostly 1) that sit on the southern border of the Oneida High School campus. The buildings are home to over a million dollars in annual salary (roughly 15 employees) and we never hear/see/smell/taste/feel even the beginning of a plan to push this thing the right direction. 

And please don't comment on this saying the 2025 change is a plan to fix any of this. I'll withhold my theory about the 2025 change, but I feel confident the inner workings of that plan had nothing to do with Oneida football winning more games. 

 

Decisions that have been made have obviously been quite harmful. Will this ever stop? I doubt it will anytime soon, but we’ll see.