Bluegrassrivals

It's now official. Thoughts?

http://www.wkyt.com/sports/headlines/Pau...38019.html

Home run!!!!!

Mercer will be in good hands.

I agree.

The very 1st game the Titans played as a new high school was against LCA and Paul Rains in 2006. It seems like just yesterday. Oh yeah the Titans won 63-0.

Great hire, a very good coach

Good luck to them. The big question is how long will he stay?

It depends on if he wants to have a chance to win another State title. In that district and class, I'd say it will be almost imposssible. One good thing he doesn't have to work at the high school with the high school principal.It's strange that 2 years ago the principal said the head coach had to be in his building.

Rains has been a winner every where he has been. Good Hire IMO.

Rains will do fine at Mercer, but man, that is a tough district to "rebuild" in.

My initial response upon hearing about this hire, though, was "I wonder how long he'll stay."

Congrats, Titans and best of luck.

Mercer or Bell... It would be real interesting to know if he took this before Bell even made a decision or instead of staying though the Bell selection process? I'm sure only he knows; but I suspect he was smart enough to stay away from the hornets nest of following Hilton.

Going to Mercer where they have 18 losses piled up over 2 the last 2 seasons means having no where to go but up.

Did he even apply at Bell? Following Hilton I do not think would even of bothered him. The thing is I believe he wanted certain things that living in Bell would not of provided.

barrel Wrote:Did he even apply at Bell? Following Hilton I do not think would even of bothered him. The thing is I believe he wanted certain things that living in Bell would not of provided.

I don't know if he applied for the Bell position. I guess I assumed he did but fact is I'm not sure. He is better off at Mercer building a program than dealing with the pressure cooker of Log Mountain in 3A land.

He did contact the administration but would not be considered for the job at Bell.

TopCat Wrote:He did contact the administration but would not be considered for the job at Bell.

Any particular reason why he did not get consideration? Just curious.

I think Paul will stay the course...he's a good man and will have a great impact on the Mercer players.

Football1 Wrote:Any particular reason why he did not get consideration? Just curious.

Assistant Principal from Bell is what I'm hearing. He is all the way for Mills from Knox. Has told that," Mills will be the next coach at Bell".

Paul Rains is a "system guy" and I dont think Log Mountain would sleep to well with that philosophy. It tends to work better in good weather and turf fields.

Still trying to understand the logic of taking this job?? Guess I dont get to that side of I75 enough....

MVP2 Wrote:Rains has been a winner every where he has been. Good Hire IMO.

If he can win in the district with Boyle, Lex-Cath, and Marion, he will be doing great. One of the toughest districts in the state IMO.

Mountain Coach Wrote:Still trying to understand the logic of taking this job?? Guess I dont get to that side of I75 enough....

Why not take it?

Eddy Creek Bay Wrote:Paul Rains is a "system guy" and I dont think Log Mountain would sleep to well with that philosophy. It tends to work better in good weather and turf fields.

Rains has successfully ran "the system" the last few years at LCA including a state championship in 2009, but has also been very successful with the wing T and the run-n-shoot offensive approaches...

Regardless of scheme, his teams are always fundamentally sound and very disciplined...

I know he's been pretty successful but Mercer just finished the last 2 years running the wing t and while he was at LCA running the system he was in a district with Nicholas County and Bath County. I guarantee you that his new district and class will be quite a bitter tougher. I wish them all the luck in the world and will be pulling for them every week except when they play my rebels.

good hire for Mercer, Raines is a dandy. Congrats to Raines and Mercer!

Eddy Creek Bay Wrote:I know he's been pretty successful but Mercer just finished the last 2 years running the wing t and while he was at LCA running the system he was in a district with Nicholas County and Bath County. I guarantee you that his new district and class will be quite a bitter tougher. I wish them all the luck in the world and will be pulling for them every week except when they play my rebels.

It will be much tougher... I couldn't agree with you more... I was only stating that Rains has been successful coaching different offensive systems... I still believe the reasons he's had that success is because he does a great job with fundamentals and discipline... Things that translate to all areas of his football program... Not just offense...

I believe he's a great hire for Mercer and would have been a great hire for Bell...

They got a good one in him for sure!