Coach Flatt is out of touch

[itzme]

Mustin, Adcock, Compton, Dunlap, Vaughn, Bliss

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Actually, Mustin, McTorry, Adcock, Dunlap, Vaugn and Bliss were the six. Compton walked on at Auburn, and was awarded a scholarship this year.

[wild rooster]

I wonder if they should bring back Tom Moore or maybe D. Pack? They are legends at BA.

[TheBigRedDog]

Actually, Mustin, McTorry, Adcock, Dunlap, Vaugn and Bliss were the six.  Compton walked on at Auburn, and was awarded a scholarship this year.

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What D-1 schools did Mustin, McTorry, and Adcock go to, respectively?

[WesVLT]

When some people talk about Brentwood Academy football, their lack of knowledge would be shameful if it weren't so darn funny. Most of the people in this thread have presented well-informed opinions, but some folks need to take swimming lessons before jumping into the sea of criticism without so much as a lillypad to keep themselves afloat.

 

I haven't yet read the Williamson A.M. feature, so forgive me if I repeat a few details...

 

Brentwood Academy was founded in 1969 on a dirt road known as Granny White Pike. Its first graduating class had no more than 30 members. For lunch the headmaster, Bill Brown, would take orders and head to the local McDonald's; when he took the food back to the school, the students would gather in the locker room to eat because they didn't have a cafeteria. This fledgling cluster of teachers and students fielded its first football team in 1971; the team practiced in a cow pasture across the street from the school.

 

A young former college assistant coach named Carlton Flatt took the coaching reins. Flatt had coached at Tennessee Tech after receiving his Master's in Mathematics, and had a job lined up with NASA after the season just in case his head coach lost his job. He turned down NASA, but after the AD's vote of confidence took a sour turn, Flatt was looking for a job. After coaching at BGA for two years he decided to head to Vandy for a doctorate in Math, which he would use to become a professor; but in the summer of 1970 he got a call from Brentwood Academy -- and the rest is history.

 

Flatt's first season was a difficult one -- with low numbers and widescale inexperience, the Eagles limped to a 3-7-1 record, including a season-opening loss to Fairview (the only time BA has ever lost to a Williamson County team). 1971 would be Brentwood Academy's only losing season. With those same players the next year, Flatt guided the Eagles to a 9-2 mark. Two years later, in only its fourth year of varsity competition, BA won the 1A State Championship, blasting South Pittsburg 35-12 to complete a 13-0 season. Carlton's crew moved up to 2A the next year, posting double digits in the win column every year from 1975-1984; in fact, in Flatt's 33 years of coaching, his Brentwood Academy teams have won 9 games or more 29 times.

 

A lot of people criticize Carlton Flatt for one reason or another. I'll tell you a couple things for sure:

 

1)Coach Flatt does not recruit. Thanks to Brentwood Academy's community atmosphere, I was at least acquainted with every football player in my seven years there. I knew many of them personally. All the students in my grade attended BA because they were academically capable and wanted the education and personal growth BA offers. Of the 6 D1 signess in my grade (Bliss, Vaughn, Dunlap, Adcock, McTorry, Mustin), 4 entered BA in middle school and 2 as high school freshmen. David Holbert, a UT recruit in the class below mine, came to BA in 7th grade. It's hard to recruit the halls of elementary schools; scouting the pee-wee ranks isn't exactly the most effective means of garnering talented players. It's much more fruitful to take whomever comes to your school and develop them into outstanding players -- a task at which Coach Flatt and his assistants specialize.

 

2)BA could have been a 1A school from 1971-1996, but instead played up and beat schools who were sometimes 6 times its size. Coach Flatt is often criticized for declining to play in Tennessee's highest classification until 1995; however, many ignore the fact that BA did, in fact, play at a higher level than rules required. While many fans would have loved to see the Eagles play Tennessee's finest, BA still played and beat some legendary teams -- Maryville, Austin-East, Loudon, Memphis University School, Knoxville Rule, and Cleveland all played in the same league as BA at one time or another before the Eagles moved up to 4A in '93 and 5A in '95. Then the Eagles beat such squads as Riverdale, MBA, Lincoln County, Germantown, Pearl-Cohn, and Clarksville Northeast. Despite not playing in the highest classification for some time, the Eagles still beat schools several times their size and never shied away from the finest competition in the state and beyond.

 

Brentwood Academy is 4-3 this season, a mark that lies far below casual expectations of the BA program. But let's not forget why those expectations are so high -- because Coach Flatt has built such a strong program that a 3-loss season is considered a sore disappointment. And it isn't like those 3 losses have been to weak teams -- McCallie, Christian Brothers, and MUS are all elite teams in the state, and every loss has been by deficits of 10 points or less.

 

Things aren't clicking for BA yet this season, but it's not time to panic or call for anybody's job. After watching East Tennessee 5A football all season long, I've come to realize the sheer prestige of Brentwood Academy's (and the Super Seven's) gridiron exploits. Don't count Coach Flatt -- or the Eagles -- out yet. After all, 30 years ago he took 30 McDonald's-eaters and made them state champions. Who's to say he can't do the same with 100 men who eat real food?

[uncfan13]

Boy, you guys are rough! You got the smallest school in DII. The quality of football in DII is arguably the best of any classification in the state and a lot of that quality is because BA made everyone better. If you dump Flatt, there will be a waiting list of schools wanting his services. And maybe the number one reason you guys need lighten up is Coach Flatt builds character and athletes.

[BAbest]

When some people talk about <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a> football, their lack of knowledge would be shameful if it weren't so darn funny.  Most of the people in this thread have presented well-informed opinions, but some folks need to take swimming lessons before jumping into the sea of criticism without so much as a lillypad to keep themselves afloat.

 

I haven't yet read the Williamson A.M. feature, so forgive me if I repeat a few details...

 

<a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a> was founded in 1969 on a dirt road known as Granny White Pike.  Its first graduating class had no more than 30 members.  For lunch the headmaster, Bill Brown, would take orders and head to the local McDonald's; when he took the food back to the school, the students would gather in the locker room to eat because they didn't have a cafeteria.  This fledgling cluster of teachers and students fielded its first football team in 1971; the team practiced in a cow pasture across the street from the school. 

 

A young former college assistant coach named Carlton Flatt took the coaching reins.  Flatt had coached at Tennessee Tech after receiving his Master's in Mathematics, and had a job lined up with NASA after the season just in case his head coach lost his job.  He turned down NASA, but after the AD's vote of confidence took a sour turn, Flatt was looking for a job.  After coaching at BGA for two years he decided to head to Vandy for a doctorate in Math, which he would use to become a professor; but in the summer of 1970 he got a call from <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a> -- and the rest is history.

 

Flatt's first season was a difficult one -- with low numbers and widescale inexperience, the Eagles limped to a 3-7-1 record, including a season-opening loss to Fairview (the only time BA has ever lost to a Williamson County team).  1971 would be <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a>'s only losing season.  With those same players the next year, Flatt guided the Eagles to a 9-2 mark.  Two years later, in only its fourth year of varsity competition, BA won the 1A State Championship, blasting South Pittsburg 35-12 to complete a 13-0 season.  Carlton's crew moved up to 2A the next year, posting double digits in the win column every year from 1975-1984; in fact, in Flatt's 33 years of coaching, his <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a> teams have won 9 games or more 29 times. 

 

A lot of people criticize Carlton Flatt for one reason or another.  I'll tell you a couple things for sure:

 

1)Coach Flatt does not recruit.  Thanks to <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a>'s community atmosphere, I was at least acquainted with every football player in my seven years there.  I knew many of them personally.  All the students in my grade attended BA because they were academically capable and wanted the education and personal growth BA offers.  Of the 6 D1 signess in my grade (Bliss, Vaughn, Dunlap, Adcock, McTorry, Mustin), 4 entered BA in middle school and 2 as high school freshmen.  David Holbert, a UT recruit in the class below mine, came to BA in 7th grade.  It's hard to recruit the halls of elementary schools; scouting the pee-wee ranks isn't exactly the most effective means of garnering talented players.  It's much more fruitful to take whomever comes to your school and develop them into outstanding players -- a task at which Coach Flatt and his assistants specialize.

 

2)BA could have been a 1A school from 1971-1996, but instead played up and beat schools who were sometimes 6 times its size.  Coach Flatt is often criticized for declining to play in Tennessee's highest classification until 1995; however, many ignore the fact that BA did, in fact, play at a higher level than rules required.  While many fans would have loved to see the Eagles play Tennessee's finest, BA still played and beat some legendary teams -- Maryville, Austin-East, Loudon, Memphis University School, Knoxville Rule, and Cleveland all played in the same league as BA at one time or another before the Eagles moved up to 4A in '93 and 5A in '95.  Then the Eagles beat such squads as Riverdale, MBA, Lincoln County, Germantown, Pearl-Cohn, and Clarksville Northeast.  Despite not playing in the highest classification for some time, the Eagles still beat schools several times their size and never shied away from the finest competition in the state and beyond.

 

<a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a> is 4-3 this season, a mark that lies far below casual expectations of the BA program.  But let's not forget why those expectations are so high -- because Coach Flatt has built such a strong program that a 3-loss season is considered a sore disappointment.  And it isn't like those 3 losses have been to weak teams -- McCallie, Christian Brothers, and MUS are all elite teams in the state, and every loss has been by deficits of 10 points or less.

 

Things aren't clicking for BA yet this season, but it's not time to panic or call for anybody's job.  After watching East Tennessee 5A football all season long, I've come to realize the sheer prestige of <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a>'s (and the Super Seven's) gridiron exploits.  Don't count Coach Flatt -- or the Eagles -- out yet.  After all, 30 years ago he took 30 McDonald's-eaters and made them state champions.  Who's to say he can't do the same with 100 men who eat real food?

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Very Well Put Wes!!!! Don't think for a minute that the BA football team or their fans have mailed it in for the season. I look for this team to continue to improve all the way to the playoffs and beyond. GO BA!!!!!

[TheBigRedDog]

Wes, I'm with you on everything, but the recruiting...it was happening when I was in school and I'm sure its happening now. In fact, I've talked to several current and former BA parents and alumns who are getting fed up with what's going on over there and I don't mean wins and losses. I'll just leave it at that.

[fromthetop2]

From parents who have talked to me, their biggest complaints with Flatt at this point are: predictablility, unwillingness to change, and taking over the offense and defense by himself while not listening to his assistant coaches.

 

Maybe it is time for a change, maybe it isn't. Maybe this season is an abberation. That's not for me to decide. But with many long-term coaches, their methods or styles can get stale unless they change (see Bear Bryant) or refuse to listen to anyone else and they lose support (see Johnny Majors). Or maybe time just catches up with them and their methods (see Joe Paterno).

 

Flatt deserves his day in the sun-he's earned it. But the criticisms of his effectiveness today are valid.

[MBAalumnus]

Wes, I'm with you on everything, but the recruiting...it was happening when I was in school and I'm sure its happening now.  In fact, I've talked to several current and former BA parents and alumns who are getting fed up with what's going on over there and I don't mean wins and losses.  I'll just leave it at that.

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have to agree with you...it has gone on for years over there. I saw it with my own eyes in the late '80's at BA's football camp. It's a shame because there is no doubt about what an exceptional coach he is, and "this" is going to be a big part of his legacy.

[WesVLT]

Brentwood Academy -- and any school, public or private -- has the right to spread its name and let people know what it stands for. If Coach Flatt encouraged people to look at BA while they were one of his football camps, all he was doing was telling them about BA -- not offering any kind of incentive for them to go there. And who says they wouldn't have gone there anyway? The fact that they were at a BA football camp indicates that they possessed at least a little interest in the school's football tradition.

 

You gentlemen what you saw, and I don't intend to discount anything you've witnessed -- I'm just making sure people are aware that there's a difference between spreading a school's name -- advertising one's product, if you will -- and giving people incentives to attend that school.

[jek]

MBAalumnus Posted Today, 11:03 PM

  QUOTE(TheBigRedDog @ Oct 15 2004 - 05:11 PM)

Wes, I'm with you on everything, but the recruiting...it was happening when I was in school and I'm sure its happening now.  In fact, I've talked to several current and former BA parents and alumns who are getting fed up with what's going on over there and I don't mean wins and losses.  I'll just leave it at that.

 

 

have to agree with you...it has gone on for years over there. I saw it with my own eyes in the late '80's at BA's football camp. It's a shame because there is no doubt about what an exceptional coach he is, and "this" is going to be a big part of his legacy

.

 

What a load of arrogant nonsense from both of you. My son attended an

MBA football camp the year before he came to BA. Two of the coaches

from the MBA staff personally encouraged him to apply to MBA rather

than BA. Does this constitute recruiting? Of course not! You guys are

full of it.

[bulldog69]

Wes vol...I would call contacting my 7th grade son to come to the Championship game and then attend a banquet at BA afterwards more than interest.....how about more than 10 phone calls and"contacts"...that is besides the point...if anyone believes ALL the players just show up there...I will show a ZERO federal deficit today!!

 

I still cannot believe how Moore was treated...........