[TheTigersEye]

What do the Tigers need to do in order to compete in 2016? Losing most of our weapons to graduation seems to suggest another long year for us. Here's to hoping we right the ship.

[knox fan]

don't know about 2016 but it starts in your youth program and if knox don't do something with there youth program were going to be in the same shape in about 4 years

[E's Army]

Weight room goes a long way.

[SKINNYPIG]

What do the Tigers need to do in order to compete in 2016? Losing most of our weapons to graduation seems to suggest another long year for us. Here's to hoping we right the ship.

"Weapons" can't be effective without getting it done up front. Clay's line was young and inexperienced this year. Hopefully they stick around, get in the weight room and learn their positions.

[DarthVader]

Ball was in the air way too much with those young bucks up front, Clay was out of sync as far as the offensive system. Sexton was lucky to make it out of the season healthy. Work hard and keep your heads up, it will get better.

[Bird]

If Clay wants to build a program do it with a guy with a winning percentage. Looks like Mills is open now, they won't have to try to lure him away from somewhere. We got a nice group of middle schoolers coming up the next 2 years, and believe it or not young guys can compete at the highschool level. Look at Pulaski, they have been in the finals of 5A 3 straight years with the same core of players. Time to hire somebody that is going to have a better team in October than in August.

[DarthVader]

Combs will be fine if he chooses to stay. He just needs to get a better handle on the direction of his offense but that will come with experience I would think. Clay just didn't seem to have an identity of what they wanted to do this year on O other than take shots deep over and over. Not sure if anybody will hire Mills this upcoming season after blatantly disregarding the KHSAA by laws and the personal conduct issues he has had this season. You put yourself and your district out there on the line when you disregard by laws if someone gets hurt. Positive support is what the program needs at this point.

[Bird]

Mills will land somewhere. Positive support will likely come when positive actions are seen.

[CCFOOTBALL1]

how is weight lifting going? I know the numbers aren't anything this time of year but I'm just curious to how many players we have lifting?

[DarthVader]

I'd imagine for a school Clay's size there'd be 30-40 always lifting.

[TheTigersEye]

I hate to say it. It just seems like the bottom has fell out. The interest just seems like it's not there anymore. It's crazy how far we have fallen in the five years since 2010.

[CCFOOTBALL1]

How many people on staff are Teachers?

Tigers Eye, Why do you think the interest has fallen off?

[walterwhite]

How many people on staff are Teachers?

Tigers Eye, Why do you think the interest has fallen off?

I believe there are two teachers on staff.

[TheTigersEye]

I am mostly just looking at the number of people at the games, interest talking about the team online/around town, etc. This place used to have a lot of Clay fans online.

[bossman313]

As bad as I hate to say it, we have to ease our schedule up some. And I know someone on here will talk about the fact it's already not that tough but we have to get some wins no matter who we schedule. We have no reason going to Harlan County every year. We have no reason to schedule Corbin or East Jessamine. Our District is the best in the region right now. Every team was tough with the exception of Russell County but a couple years ago they were as good as anybody. When we schedule some teams that we can have an expectancy of winning and we get those W's then fans will come back and we will get our younger guys wanting to play. Winning breeds winning. How we get there I don't have clue. We can start by keeping this Freshman and JV team together.

[DarthVader]

One of the most sensible posts I have seen on a Clay Football thread in a while. When Clay and Knox both started becoming competitive in the early to mid 2000s both Stepp and Mills got really good at beating smaller schools with less talent. Gotta do what you gotta do to get wins. Even if you're a power school, you're going to beat who you are better than and lose to who is better than you. I have seen some solid 2-3 win teams and bad 6-7 win teams. The only difference is the schedule.

[Bird]

The schedule going into the 2015 season wasn't that rough. Corbin in the Appy Bowl was the only stupid game I saw on the schedule. Rowan wasn't all we made them look like they were. Harlan was coming off a 2 win season. East and West Jess had like 4 wins between them. Then South and Russell was awful as well.
Who close could Clay play that would soften up the schedule? They killed the Jackson County game with the fight most likely. Lynn Camp, maybe. Pineville would be a upset if we played and beat them if they are anything like 2015. What could we offer Berea to play? Get Breathitt back on they will suck again after Collins graduates. What options are out there.
Only option Clay has is to man up. If some of the coaches who were put down on that list that were going to be assistants this past season would have opened up that complex and let the boys lift and get prepared, like every other school in the state does, we would not have got pushed around so much. Being unprepared is Clay's biggest problem.

[DarthVader]

As bad as though teams were, they were still better than Clay this season. Clay would struggle with most 1a teams nearby except Lynn Camp and Berea at this point. Who was on a list that was going to be assistants and what happened there?

[bossman313]

Off season is key. No argument from me there. But I have heard some of these teams we can match up with won't schedule us. Sounds silly to me to think McCreary, Jackson, Berea, Pineville, Middleboro, Casey, Lynn Camp, Jenkins, Knott and Casey wouldn't want us on there schedule at this point. Regardless of how many wins the teams on our schedule won this year we can't handle them yet. I sure hope a few years from now we can beef back up the schedule but at this point we are who we are. We lack confidence and we need to pick up some games we can win if we play well. We need to get bigger and stronger no doubt but it sure is easier heading to the weight room in the dead of winter when you can look forward to the next season with some optimism. We need something positive to happen.

[DarthVader]

Gotta think though, those guys are looking for wins to and 9 times out of a 10 a school that has 2 or 3 times your enrollment will naturally be better than you... but unfortunately right now I don't see Clay being better than some of those teams.

[Bird]

I understand losing games, but 8 running clocks and a 29 point loss is pathetic. Clay won't build a program taking beatings like that. The boys have no fight in them. They are used to losing and when a couple things go wrong they competely lay down. If someone would work them into shape and make the believe they are as good as their opponents are the would start doing better. What better example than what Bobby Keith did with those guys. Do you think you are suspossed to win a state title with a 6 ft center?
There are players here, the basketball and baseball team aren't struggling, we just need a coach they will believe in and stick with. If combs screws up this 8th grade group coming up we might as well shut it down.

[bossman313]

I agree we have some great looking players coming up. Our freshmen jv teams looked pretty good and our 8th graders have some talent. If we can keep them and develop them into high school football players we will be on track to getting this turned around. The key for us is to have a big senior class every year. If we can get 12 guys to stick it out four years we should be tough. It's going to take a huge effort to get us back. KC, Wayne and Rock are not going to wait around on us to get better. We got to catch up.

[DarthVader]

Maybe like a lot of other schools these basketball and baseball kids need to figure out that a football won't burn their hands when they pick it up.

[bossman313]

That would be a bonus for sure. We have some athletic guys in our total sports program but some, for whatever reason, think they can only play one sport and be any good. I totally disagree with that mentality. There are carryover skills learned from one sport to another. But football is not for every kid. It's tough. Some simply do not want to play the game. It's easy for us to sit back and look at a six foot two kid weighing 250 and think holy cow what would that guy look like in pads. Of course I'm biased toward football and think every kid should play, but that's just not going to happen.

[DarthVader]

Clay has got to get more physical on offense. Just consistently forcing the ball down the field is not going to work unless you are playing inferior competition. I saw no direction on offense, they never had a base play that they could hang their hat on. If you are going to exist in a world of 2x2 sets on offense then defensive guys are going to force your hand very quick on the offensive side.

[bossman313]

Games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. Hopefully they hit the weights and learn some techniques to keep the ball and chains moving. I agree there was not much happening at times and seemed to lack any type of offensive identity. But our QB did go out early which limited our play calling ability for several games. Every coach has in their mind what they like to run and how it's suppose to look. Maybe year two we can see that area improved. But I was more concerned on the defensive end. We don't tackle well. Too much grabbing and not near enough popping. And my gosh getting off of blocks has been the biggest issue we have had for the past several years. We have to get better or we will not be a better team no matter who plays or who we play.

[cchsfan4life]

Maybe like a lot of other schools these basketball and baseball kids need to figure out that a football won't burn their hands when they pick it up.

As far as I know the basketball team starts 2 football players.......so I don't think Marcum tries to talk the boys out of football....now baseball players may be another story because I know they talk them into not playing basketball so I'm sure they do football as well.

[DarthVader]

If any coach tries to talk a kid out of playing any sport then that is shameful. Athletes should be in as many competitive situations as they can possibly be year round.

[panther nation]

IMO if a kid wants to play any sport that should be up to them and their parents. Not coaches or anyone else.

[bossman313]

I agree. If our coaches are making kids choose between sports we need coaching changes. I understand that all coaches want their guys as much as possible but flat out giving them ultimatums is uncalled for. The fact is I don't know if any do or not. I have heard rumblings but not anything that I've heard has been confirmed. These are teenagers. Let them play all the ball they want. Some will choose not to play a sport just because they don't want to. Our QB could be the best baseball player we have but he chooses not to play. I guess he realized it would be too much on his plate. But we have others who can be two sport stars. I hope they play if they want to without feeling like they are being pulled by a coach to make a decision.