Bluegrassrivals

At 3:15 today, Raceland principal Mickey Dixon officially announced Michael Salmons, former OC at Raceland, will be the new head coach. Congrats to coach Salmons and to the Raceland school district on a great hire. Go Rams!!

I can't say as if this surprises me, hopefully the wheels continue to roll smoothly. How will the rest of the staff shake out? Who's gonna be the new DC? Will Salmons continue to call the plays on offense or will he relinquish those duties to Grizzle? Did Jerry Lucas really apply?

As I said in the other thread Good Luck to Coach Salmons and Raceland.

Ramcat77 Wrote:I can't say as if this surprises me, hopefully the wheels continue to roll smoothly. How will the rest of the staff shake out? Who's gonna be the new DC? Will Salmons continue to call the plays on offense or will he relinquish those duties to Grizzle? Did Jerry Lucas really apply?

I doubt it.

No Jerry Lucas did not apply. I know that for a fact.

I wasn't sure what to believe about the Lucas rumors.

It'd be nice to actually know who applied for the job. Salmons wouldn't be my first choice personally, but congrats to him on his new appointment.

Salmons will do an outstanding job. As I've said before, Raceland couldn't ask for a better leader for their student athletes. Raceland football is on the rise!!

Lucas applied for the Russell job and voiced interest in the Raceland job. When he was turned down, over TJ, for the Russell job, i believe it was a sign to him. Which why in the world would he leave Collins for EITHER, school? He has a great thing going at Collins. Mike will do a good job. The assistants on the staff do more than many will ever know. Imo, thogh, they will do all they can to keep Grizzle around. I think they will groom him into a HC. And he willbe a dandy someday. Wherever it is.

Congrats to Coach Salmons and the Raceland Rams. I can see Fannin or Lewis going to DC, Grizzle likely move to OC and Salmons will run the show. All my contacts in Raceland say Salmons is highly football smart, organized, and will put a lot lf effort into his role. I think it be a solid hire.

Outside of a Jerry Lucas, Chuck Smith, Leon Hart, or another big school hire, I think they made the right choice. I know that Salmons, Lewis, Francis, Vanderhoof and i believe Fannin all submitted applications. Along with Ray Graham, Aaron Stepp, and a guy from a mid sized school in GA. Word I got was this:

Graham: Too old, not enough wins, fired from last 2 jobs.
Stepp: Never been a HC coupled with never really had a phenominal season as OC at SV.
GA Guy: No HC or CO experience, been fired from previous job.

As far as the in house stuff goes, I would say Lewis didnt truly want to be HC, but felt he should atleast apply, I would say age had to do with him not getting the knod. Fannin, I just cant see him running the show, he is a phenominal Defensive guy and a good WR coach, just cant see him at the helm, administratio probably felt the same way. With Francis, they probably didnt want to lose what he was doing with the feder system. The. Comes vanderhoof.

I love Randy like family, he was my coach, my teacher, and I am proud to call him a friend. With that being said, it would have been a step backwards in hiring him. He had his success but the game is a little different now and the way things are done are a little different now within the program. Add on his lack of success with the girls basketball team and u probably have the reason he was not hired.

Happy for Mike. He is very intelligant and has a very high football aptittude. With the staff still intact, Raceland with roll on.

I was really disappointed by this bunch last season. I was fully expecting to see them at BG. I thought they might even give us a good game. I see the size and they had a little speed as well. I think the new coach has to fix a few things.
1) mentality- they got to quit hoping to win big games and start expecting to win them
2) blocking- that was the most glaring weakness that I saw in this bunch last season
3) fire- they have got to get the boys playing with a fire in their bellies on each and every down. I saw a lot of sleep walking at times by this bunch. they seemed to hang their heads at times.

^^^agreed and no one was more disapoited than me. The only game last year's squad played with any fore was in the Fairview game. That game was never in doubt and 3 td call backs made it alot closer than it really was. Had we matched that intensity at Wburg, its a dofferent ball game. But, that was the glaring issue with that senior class from day 1. Lots of walking and lots of heads hanging shen things went wrong. The underclassmen play sith heads on a swivel, run out of the huddles, and have a passion for the game that this sr class just didnt have. Lots of tallent and size, just didnt have that kill or be killed mentality outside of Risner. I think Mike has enough "bad guy" in him to get these kids playing with a chip on their shoulder.

Scotty_Bronson Wrote:Outside of a Jerry Lucas, Chuck Smith, Leon Hart, or another big school hire, I think they made the right choice. I know that Salmons, Lewis, Francis, Vanderhoof and i believe Fannin all submitted applications. Along with Ray Graham, Aaron Stepp, and a guy from a mid sized school in GA. Word I got was this:

Graham: Too old, not enough wins, fired from last 2 jobs.
Stepp: Never been a HC coupled with never really had a phenominal season as OC at SV.
GA Guy: No HC or CO experience, been fired from previous job.

As far as the in house stuff goes, I would say Lewis didnt truly want to be HC, but felt he should atleast apply, I would say age had to do with him not getting the knod. Fannin, I just cant see him running the show, he is a phenominal Defensive guy and a good WR coach, just cant see him at the helm, administratio probably felt the same way. With Francis, they probably didnt want to lose what he was doing with the feder system. The. Comes vanderhoof.

I love Randy like family, he was my coach, my teacher, and I am proud to call him a friend. With that being said, it would have been a step backwards in hiring him. He had his success but the game is a little different now and the way things are done are a little different now within the program. Add on his lack of success with the girls basketball team and u probably have the reason he was not hired.

Happy for Mike. He is very intelligant and has a very high football aptittude. With the staff still intact, Raceland with roll on.

I'm glad you are happy with Salmons but there is no need to cut down other people with false info to make yourself feel better. Ray Graham was fired from his last job not his last 2. He retired from Harrison and left to double dip at LCA. Aaaron Stepp has HC experience. Matter of fact Shelby Valley is his 2nd head coaching job. The game has not passed Randy Vanderhoof by. Randy installed the Franklin offense at Raceland which was so far ahead of its time that you may be confused. That offense is still cutting edge in HS football.

Scotty_Bronson Wrote:Outside of a Jerry Lucas, Chuck Smith, Leon Hart, or another big school hire, I think they made the right choice. I know that Salmons, Lewis, Francis, Vanderhoof and i believe Fannin all submitted applications. Along with Ray Graham, Aaron Stepp, and a guy from a mid sized school in GA. Word I got was this:

Graham: Too old, not enough wins, fired from last 2 jobs.
Stepp: Never been a HC coupled with never really had a phenominal season as OC at SV.
GA Guy: No HC or CO experience, been fired from previous job.

As far as the in house stuff goes, I would say Lewis didnt truly want to be HC, but felt he should atleast apply, I would say age had to do with him not getting the knod. Fannin, I just cant see him running the show, he is a phenominal Defensive guy and a good WR coach, just cant see him at the helm, administratio probably felt the same way. With Francis, they probably didnt want to lose what he was doing with the feder system. The. Comes vanderhoof.

I love Randy like family, he was my coach, my teacher, and I am proud to call him a friend. With that being said, it would have been a step backwards in hiring him. He had his success but the game is a little different now and the way things are done are a little different now within the program. Add on his lack of success with the girls basketball team and u probably have the reason he was not hired.

Happy for Mike. He is very intelligant and has a very high football aptittude. With the staff still intact, Raceland with roll on.

If age was a determining factor in making the decision, I wouldnt want to defend them. Ever heard of "protected class"?

Cutting anyone down was never my intent. That was the information I was given by the people i know within the program. I have nothing but respect for all of the applicants, simply it is my alma matre and anyone being interested in the job is a testiment to what type of program Raceland has built. Its hard to garner much reapect as a program without winning anything more than district championships, yet, Raceland has managed to achieve that. My intent was never to cut anyone down by my comments. Wanted that to be known. If m words read that way I appologize.

Ramcat77 Wrote:I can't say as if this surprises me, hopefully the wheels continue to roll smoothly. How will the rest of the staff shake out? Who's gonna be the new DC? Will Salmons continue to call the plays on offense or will he relinquish those duties to Grizzle? Did Jerry Lucas really apply?

No, Jerry Lucas did not apply. He just won a 4A State Championship and is building his own program at a brand new (and very nice) school in an area that has a ton of athletes to work with and great fan support. His son will be a Freshman next year and most likely the starting QB for the 3 years after that and will have plenty of talent around him. Jerry loves it at Collins and I don't see him leaving for a long time.

Did Raceland have any real intentions of hiring someone from outside of the program?

IMO it was all a dog and pony show. The powers that be at Raceland never intended on hiring anyone BUT Mike Salmons. I mean do you think they would consider hiring someone from the outside whenever they have to offer that person a teaching position on top of being the head coach? Salmons was the perfect guy from a monetary standpoint plus keeping his staff in tact. Hopefully I'm proved wrong and will eat crow, but you get what you pay for. Again congrats to Mike on his new job.

Salmons was not their first choice. Simply because the school just spent several thousand dollars trainig him to be the finance director. Now he can not do that. But of all that applied he was the most sensable hire.

Scotty_Bronson Wrote:Cutting anyone down was never my intent. That was the information I was given by the people i know within the program. I have nothing but respect for all of the applicants, simply it is my alma matre and anyone being interested in the job is a testiment to what type of program Raceland has built. Its hard to garner much reapect as a program without winning anything more than district championships, yet, Raceland has managed to achieve that. My intent was never to cut anyone down by my comments. Wanted that to be known. If m words read that way I appologize.

Didnt say you cut anybody down. I said that to not hire someone because of age is against federal law.

I think the senior class lived up to what they wanted ... Since day one they were preached "regional championship regional championship." They won the big games this year that they needed to.

I guess this is a good sign. I mean, a team goes 11-3 and there is a lot of disappointment in the fan base. Some may read this and get aggravated. I read it and love it. I want 11-3 teams that are expected to do even better. To me, that's a sign of greater expectations and a thought process that keeps successful programs accountable and trying to always get better.

washed up Wrote:Didnt say you cut anybody down. I said that to not hire someone because of age is against federal law.

I think it had to do more with the fact of retirement being a big possibility in the next few years. Not aptittude bc of age. He is still as able as anyone mentally and physically. Which, imo, retirement doest matter bc i think they are grooming Grizzle anyway.

How do you groom Grizzle for this job? I think Salmons could be a 20+ year guy at Raceland, provided the circumstances are right and the planets align properly and I would expect Grizzle to move on long before then. I would like to see Salmons forgo his offensive responsibilities and turn that over to Grizzle. I'm one of these guys that prefers a head coach to more or less manage the operations of the team, just my opinion.

I agree ^^^^^

I agree 100%. Tbh, Salmons will probably be a long term guy, simply bc he and his family have always been in Raceland. U are right tht Scott will probably be gone before another HC job opens up at Raceland. I do know, however, that as long as the teaching part pans out, that Scott will be around for a long time to. They are one or two position guys away from having, imo, a top 10 program including all classes, FROM A COACHING STAND POINT. Not saying Raceland would ever compete with the bigger classes top teams, just saying they have all the potential to have a coaching staff thats as good as any schools. They really need a good special teams and LB coach IMO. Lewis is a great DL coach and Francis is a good OL coach. There is talk of Robbie Logan having spurned interest in being on the staff. Raceland is in good hands. I am proud of what the administratio has done with the program. Though I do feel other sports have taken a major backseat to the Football program, but that may never change. Probable that it never will. I think Raceland is a dark horse c of all the question marks on the line, but come playoff time, I think they will suprise some people.

I wonder if Salmons would be interested in custom mouth guards for the team?

^^^huh?

I like how people get on here and down young men for underachieving when most of this Senior Class worked their butts off and went where NO RAM TEAM has gone before. They won a REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP and played in the State Semi-Championship Game where they played their best but got beat by a better team. Remember, each game ends with 1 winner and 1 loser, they gave their all and that is all anyone can ask of them. As a parent of one of the linemen on this team, I find it very sad that after working their butts off , not only this year, but their 3 previous years, you can get in here and say they were underachievers. Many other teams and fans were at home, just wishing they could play or watch their team in that game. Those young men deserve nothing but praise from the RAM FANS, they are not and do not need to be referred to as underachievers!!