Bluegrassrivals

Any news out of the crater?

It’s been burning ever since they fired frazier

I’d say more since Kenny if I was going to say that. After all Frazier was .500 in 4 years.
The district has improved drastically since. Not sure how they’ll be this year. They came out very favorably in the last district draw but that is the next four years not this year.

.500 is a lot better then what Massengill is!

Truthhurts Wrote:.500 is a lot better then what Massengill is!

True! But Frazier brought that program from sucking to winning 10 plus games a year at the end. Middlesboro keeping Massengill shows they care nothing about football. Just keeping friendships.

Since Coach Roark it has been headed down hill and playing a weak schedule..

Bobcat4years Wrote:Since Coach Roark it has been headed down hill and playing a weak schedule..

haha, now that's funny coming from a Bell fan. Middlesboro plays in one of the toughest conferences in the state. Much harder then yours.

You know that Corbin team that has been thumping you all? Well they get their tales kicked by Boyle County. The interesting thing is that Boyle County got beat by Danville.

You can say a lot about Middlesboro but you certainly can't say they play a weak schedule.

(Bell County, North Laurel, Clay County, Somerset, Danville, Lexington Christian Academy).

First of all it’s called district schedule not conference! SEKC is a average at best conference right now. Let’s look at Middlesboro teams outside of district and our outside of district the past 5 years.. Middlesboro is soft bottom line.. There will be a lot of people that will be eating crow after regular season this year. Mark it DOWN!!!

Jackets will struggle again this season, but if they can improve and squeeze out 3-5 wins, they’ll be set up well for respectability in their new district in 2019.

3-5 win u must be talking to the coach! Put down the Kool-Aid! New Qb rbs and wrs. Been informed lost a 2 year starter at center because he doesn't wanna play for the current coach. Have 3 returning lineman and that's about it!
Bell running clock
Clairborne 40-60 loss (will take a beaten against bell)
North Laurel loss
Pineville 70/30 win
Harlan 60/40 loss at Harlan is why
South Laurel running clock
LCA running clock
Danville Running clock
Sommerset Running clock
Williamsburg 80/20 loss

Just heard Middlesboro hired a new line coach that has a DUI in the last 8 years! How low will they stoop to try to win a ball game!

Tri-State Fan Wrote:haha, now that's funny coming from a Bell fan. Middlesboro plays in one of the toughest conferences in the state. Much harder then yours.

You know that Corbin team that has been thumping you all? Well they get their tales kicked by Boyle County. The interesting thing is that Boyle County got beat by Danville.

You can say a lot about Middlesboro but you certainly can't say they play a weak schedule.

(Bell County, North Laurel, Clay County, Somerset, Danville, Lexington Christian Academy).

Clay County?:biglmao:

Middlesboro has failed to improve as the season went along the last couple of years. May be just their year end schedule has been tough with their beast district. They have ended the season on a whimper for several years.

The boro just aint got it not more in football. I don't know if its coaches, players, school. Poor Middlesboro.

Sounds like the whole district at Middlesboro is falling apart

Truthhurts Wrote:Sounds like the whole district at Middlesboro is falling apart

Take all your rumor and gossip talk on over to Topix. This is a sports forum. You would fit in better on Topix anyhow, that's more your crowd.

The football team has undoubtedly had its fair share of struggles. The school district is doing great. Highest ACT scores in the county. Schools almost completely renovated. A brand new track and cross country Facilitiy. Baseball park renovated last year. Great softball facility.

Talk all you want about being disappointed with football, but the school is going strong.

How many of them programs were .500?

No way we have that many running clock games

I agree 100% sounds like truthhurts is butthurt

Let's see how the story ends by the end of the year.I'd say I'll be a lot closer then you most.

Butthurt over a program that has won 9 games in 4 years?

I've been seeing a disturbing amount of butts and nuts posts on here. lol

Keep the personal attacks out of this please.

It is no lie to say Middlesboro football program has fail apart worse than a herd of cattle going over a water fall. They have done a poor job of maintaining their program. Bell was starting to head that way until we got Dudley back.

Middlesboro can't even beat Claiborne Co. 😂😂😂😂

I see 3 wins at best.

ArJay Wrote:It is no lie to say Middlesboro football program has fail apart worse than a herd of cattle going over a water fall. They have done a poor job of maintaining their program. Bell was starting to head that way until we got Dudley back.

They should go find your English teacher at Bell High and charge her with reckless abandonment of the education of a minor. God Bless you sir.

Tri-State Fan Wrote:They should go find your English teacher at Bell High and charge her with reckless abandonment of the education of a minor. God Bless you sir.

No need for personal attacks young’un, just saying they are a mess. I don’t know if its talent level, programs in place, coaches, admistration, or what the deal is.

My son is a Senior Lineman on the team and he doesn't go into any detail with me.about players, coaches, or anything and I don't ask. I enjoy watching him play, he has some college.offers and hopefully he can play after high school so I am proud of that

The program is a mess, the city is a mess and I don't know what the answer is. Middlesboro was at one time the 8th winningest program in the state so there is tradition and pride but I the last several yrs all the pride has left from fans to players to the town just everything. It's sad considering my time at the school we were beating Beechwood and Mayfield and people cared.

All the jackets experience is upfront this yr. All the skill positions are freshmen and sophos will little to no varsity reps, 1st yr qb,rb etc etc. Its not gonna be pretty at times and if any key kids get injured its lights out.

I can see 4 games they can win if they stay healthy, if not I don't know.

My son will graduate this yr and I hope this yr and the yrs to come this.program can find what it once was again.

Folks, Middlesboro football may never be what it once was. I think we need to accept that. It’s not because these coaches don’t have the knowledge or the ability to lead a football team. Middlesboro has been blessed with tremendous athletes through the years with a few pockets of unreal talent. The year you’re talking about, in 1998, we had the best collection of talent in our school’s history quite possibly. Better than the year before and even better than the year after. It’s simply not fair to compare every Middlesboro football team to the 1998 Middlesboro Yellow Jackets. Hell, very few high schools in eastern Kentucky, regardless of size, could field a team with that kind of talent. Those kids turned around in the spring semester of that same school year and made it to the Final Four in baseball. Of course fan pride and town pride was at an all-time high. It will never be like that again. Middlesboro fans need to deal with that.

Now, can we still get pockets of good talent? Yes, we have and we will. There will be years when we may have big guys up front with an inexperienced backfield. Other years, it may be the opposite. I think its been pretty tough for the coaches to build a winning mentality with such looming district games. That’s the honest truth. Also, as the well paying jobs have left Middlesboro, so have many of the families of good athletes. There isn’t a magical answer to solve all the problems in Middlesboro.

People are working hard to make something that Middlesboro citizens can be proud of. There is new life downtown and a younger generation of officials are running for office. Hopefully, this will usher in some new life and fresh ideas into Middlesboro that can make it an attractive place to work and live. In the mean time, cheer for your kids. Support your coaches. Take your family out to Bradner on Friday nights and have fun watching high school football. I guarentee you that nobody wants to win more than Massengill. He was a big part of that 1998 team you talk about and was born and raised in this town. He is acutely aware of what it used to be like and how much it means to win. I would imagine there are very few people that could say the same. Since he has come they have overhauled the weight room with significant upgrades. They have rejuvenated the facilities to make the kids proud to walk into their locker room and onto that playing field. They have overhauled the youth football program to better mesh with their current scheme and be a better feeder system than it has been in the last 10 years. They have recruited and hired a passionate middle school football staff that is equally devoted to Middlesboro sports.

I’m looking forward to watching the Jackets this year and am hopeful that our experience this year will put us in a good position to be very competitive in our new district next year.