Wedgebuster

How big are your splits? Who is smarter? Who is more confident in what they are doing? Seen a lot of kids who can run a good 40 but have horrible "feet". Give me the kid who can bend at the knees and not his waist, knows what to do, has proper footwork and most importantly PLAYS HARD!

What is the advantage of their location? Just them being the biggest school in the county?

I'm enjoying the posts that are giving reasons for their picks. Wish a few of you would give more explanation as to why you feel the way that you do. I root for Mishawaka once NP is out. I love the tough, physical style they play and the community atmosphere surrounding that program. Same with Lowell. I love to see any high powered air raid type offense fail in November. We play in Indiana, this isn't college football where you can pick your QBs. Who can play in the elements?!

On a related note, will this become more and more of an issue in the near future? IMO High school sports at some schools are reaching a level of preparation and training never seen before at the prep level. At other schools athletics are a box for Admin to check off that they offered the opportunity for kids to play and not much thought is given to them beyond scheduling the games and officials. Is that just the wave of the future? Is there a way to turn back time? How will the IHSAA address this problem as a whole? Are we doomed to a European club sports model at some point in the next 30 years? Love to hear everyone's thoughts

Don't think a 35 point rule is bad, but I also think that Indiana could solve a lot of problems if there were some exceptions made to the QUARTERS rules for younger players. What a stupid thing to have to have your young guys wait until the 4th quarter to get in the game when your up 42-0 at the half. Also a stupid thing to potentially get a key player hurt because they were in the game, waiting til the 4th, when a younger kid can come in. Becoming more and more of a problem with low football numbers, not many JV teams have much depth these days. You need those kids to be able to play all 4 in the JV game because there is no one else.

So then my question is, as an administrator, is coaching not a major "plus" for a potential teaching candidate? I would think that what you can glean from an interview and a resume is pretty limited. The commitment to kids and community that someone who takes a lot of time out of their day to coach, not to mention the connection with kids that you know will develop from coaching, in my mind has to at least factor a little bit into the equation. Can you really gain a significant amount of insight into someone's teaching ability vs someone else's teaching ability from a resume, some letters of recommendation, and an interview? I'm a teacher/coach that has been frustrated in the past by watching admin pass over someone that you know would coach for someone who is "better with their use of technology in the classroom" or "more innovative with their teaching strategies" (in actuality probably just better at throwing out buzz words in their interview). Only to see that person struggle to connect with kids and therefore struggle as a teacher.

Totally agree here I am very thankful that as a teenager I attended a school where every football staff member 9-12 worked in the corporation, and most in the High school. Many of the assistants were head coaches in Winter or Spring sports. I did a lot of school work because I liked and valued my relationship with those teacher/coaches that probably wouldn't have gotten accomplished if I didn't have that depth of relationship with them. Why schools can't see that the relationship between coach (or any other beyond the school day activity leader) and participant, is going to more than make up for any perceived lack of skill in the classroom is beyond me. Moreover, in most instances, you see the best coaches are the best teachers. Great communicators who can quickly build relationships with kids. What more does a school want? A lot of the issue lies in the fact that most administrators aren't the grizzled former veteran coaches and teachers that they once were. With the teaching profession becoming less and less attractive, your seeing more and more young teacher jumping ship from the classroom to administration. A lot of principals and superintendents out there that have taught for less than 5 years and coached even less. These people do not value what a great teacher/coach can bring to a school the way that their predecessors once did.

Why does everyone get stuck on win-loss records? Don't you have to consider WHERE these guys put that record together at? Some places getting your squad above .500 might be much more impressive than winning a sectional somewhere else. Still everyone loves to post about win-loss records and why these coaches aren't great hires for this or that job.

Can any of the coaching turnover rate be attributed to some of the education policy changes that have been in place in Indiana over the last few years? Seems to be a lot of high expectations for an ever shrinking talent pool of teacher coaches.