[Eagleland]

Rivals.com ranks ky 23rd overall in the country with bordering states OH 6th, Indiana 8th, Tenn 14th and VA 19th
What's changes do you think could be made to move KY into a top 15 state.
Should there be more classes in the state ?
Should there only be 2 or 3 teams in district make playoffs ?
Should state finals be in central KY either EKU or UK field or rotate WKU, EKU, Morehead, Louisville, UK ?
Would changing middle school programs help in HS levels? Not all middle teams in ky play for playoffs.

[Thrillex]

Too many classes, not enough small school consolidation.

[jim rome]

If Jon Gruden would take the McCreary Central job

[AtlPirateFan]

Reduce classes to 4 or 5 and consolidate a lot of the small schools into larger ones. Putting larger talent pools at schools and creating stronger competition by reducing the number of classes. Most consolidation efforts would be focused on 1 - 3A level schools. For example (using Schools I know of):
Phelps -> Belfry
Betsy Lane/ Allen Central merge with Prestonsburg
Shelby Valley - East Ridge
Longshot: Pikeville City schools expand to cover most of Pike Centrals zoning with those closer to Belfry heading that way.



Where the championship games are played doesn't really mean anything.

[Gitback Coach]

If Jon Gruden would take the McCreary Central job

That would be the greatest reality show ever"

[region]

Reduce classes to 4 or 5 and consolidate a lot of the small schools into larger ones. Putting larger talent pools at schools and creating stronger competition by reducing the number of classes. Most consolidation efforts would be focused on 1 - 3A level schools. For example (using Schools I know of):
Phelps -> Belfry
Betsy Lane/ Allen Central merge with Prestonsburg
Shelby Valley - East Ridge
Longshot: Pikeville City schools expand to cover most of Pike Centrals zoning with those closer to Belfry heading that way.



Where the championship games are played doesn't really mean anything.

There should be schools in Pike County -

East Ridge, Pike Central and Belfry then Pikeville Independent


Current location of the schools should have been different and someone should have had a vision in the Pike County School system.

[mysonis55]

I think we have really elevated in the past decade in Ky. I think we are headed in the right direction. I would like to see some games set up in the future where say the defending state champs in Ky match up against a defending state champ of the same general size from another state. For instance, we are only 30 miles from Union City. Both of us are defending 1a state champs. We can't get them to play us. Don't you think people would love to see that matchup?

[eagles2011]

Jobs jobs jobs

[mysonis55]

Ultimately you are correct. The better the economy in this area, the more people coming in to live and bringing their children.

[tomcatfan722000]

4 classes top 2 in each district make the playoffs same districts and format for middle school. And a central location for title game.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Reducing classes isn't going to make the teams any better.

The only thing that is going to do that is athletes.
Athletes aren't going to come until the state becomes more diverse.

[Tight End]

Yeah, Kentucky has had to rely on what it had in the way of kids playing sports. Economy being what it has been in the state over the years, not a lot of people move in to the state because they get here and there are no jobs & that is what the draw would be. Maybe someday the economy will get better in state, but it sure hasn't so far. Even the miners are leaving the state, nothing going on in the coal mines. :HitWall:

[hop24]

4 Classes with an 8 team "Open" class for best team in the state bragging rights. Maybe make it mandatory for the the 4 largest male enrollments and choose the rest by a rating system.

[RoShamBo]

Jobs jobs jobs

This. The larger the population the larger the talent pool.

[pjdoug]

That would be the greatest reality show ever"

nicker:

[pjdoug]

Reducing classes isn't going to make the teams any better.

The only thing that is going to do that is athletes.
Athletes aren't going to come until the state becomes more diverse.

I'm pretty sure Kentucky highschool football was weak with a 4 class system

[topnotch]

Consoladition Would futher weaken football in Ky. EXAMPLE Harlan County, before Consol, Friday night in Harlan Co, Cumberland, Lynch, Bennam. Evarts, Wallins, Halls, Black Star, Loyal, Harlan Independent, if that is all the teams they had, I am not sure anyway, Harlan had 99 starters linning up every Friday night. That is just 11 players per team, I wonder how many they had per team. Now you have 22 starters. You used to drive through Harlan and you seldome passed A level place you didn't see A pick up BB game. How many pick up games do you see now? Basketball was hit harder than football, I remember when Whitley Co. Had Henderson settlement, Plesantview, Poplar Creek, Woodbine, Corbin, Rockhold, Williamsburg. That means We had 35 boyes starting every Tuesday night, Now we have 15 Consolidation hurt athletics. IMO it has led to A steady deterioZation of our academics, and communities

[Gitback Coach]

Too many classes, not enough small school consolidation.

Fewer classes, yes . . . and I might add . . . fewer teams in the playoffs.

However, in lieu of "small school consolidation," might I suggest "open school enrollment?"

Free market, baby! Quality wins.

"Consolidation" does nothing but homogenize life and eliminate opportunities for individuals. Smaller is better . . . for the individual.

[mysonis55]

I agree. Consolidation cuts so many kids out of sports and other things. It's just not good for the kids. I like the small school scene where an athlete can play 3 sports if he is good enough and chooses to do so. Most big schools want you to pick one and work at it all year.

[jw4914]

Better Youth programs,,,, Get rid of Daddy Ball,,,

[mysonis55]

So we limit the classes and then further limit the amount of teams making the playoffs. So now just limiting the classes to 4 cuts out 64 teams from making the playoffs. Then you go from 4 teams per district to 2 making the playoffs. So, tats another 128 teams out of the playoffs. Now, that's supposed to make football here better? Brilliant!!! By having less teams get playoff experience and fewer games in general we will get better.

That s the equivalent of the politicians saying legalize all the illegal people in our country. That too makes sense. Allow them to start drawing food stamps, unemployment and social security. These two ideas are equally insane.

[FarristownFlyer]

Having the State finals at UK or back to UofL would be better. WKU does a good job, but I think having it at a power conference school just makes it more exciting I think.

[mysonis55]

I think we spend too much time each year with this discussion about where the big games are played. I'm so tired of hearing it that I wish we would do like Texas and the team with the higher seed picks where they want to play it. Then we wouldn't have all the games in one place and all this discussion year after year could just go away.

[honestjchsfan]

Too many HS teams in Kentucky are running "Spread" type systems! I know HSS has dominate running a "Spread" type of Offense but the kids at HHS were taught fundamental football first! It takes a good coach to teach the "Spread"! Back in the old days coaches ran the "wishbone" and "veer" and protected there team better from mistakes. How many games a week now do we see a bad shotgun snap?? It happens every weekend in the NFL now, heck it even happened in the Super Bowl!

[Scotty_Bronson]

I agree consolidation is not the answer. And really, imo, its more economical than anything. But I do think dropping to a 5 class format and make the playoffs mean something. Win ur district or get back to the house. Extend the season a bit. (Still the same calender length of the season) just 2 more reg season games before the playoffs.

The job market in ky wont allow for less consolidation though. Mining is down, so its hurt the small schools like phelps, allen central, etc. People go where jobs are. Imo, thats why the western teams produce more numbers and more often than not, better teams. They just have more work out there or near there. Ive spent alot of time in the western part of the state this year and from Bowling Green and west of their it seems the economy and population are both up.

[mysonis55]

Man if we have more jobs than east does, then this state must be bankrupt.

[irishcard16]

Man if we have more jobs than east does, then this state must be bankrupt.

Welcome to economic hell.

[irishcard16]

Would someone please for the life of me explain how changing the location of a championship game or changing our class system helps to grow the game of football in our state? Beat the dead horse in another thread that's not what this thread is about. I believe the problem is 2 fold. On one hand the economy cannot be ignored for those who don't know I am from Belfry where when the coal business was good we annually dressed 75-80 kids during the 80's and 90's but those numbers have declined directly in conjunction with the decline in our economy in Pike Co. to where we now dress roughly 60 kids. Secondly it's generationally different now for kids those same numbers I previously mentioned may have dropped if kids had iPads and Facebook and every gadget underneath the sun. The mentality of some kids now may be "why go to football practice in 90 degree weather when I can stay home and play on the xbox or ps4 in air conditioning" for a kid in this area with not much of a social life to speak of around here your options were simply limited either go home and sit with your family all evening or play football with your friends, simply put it's just not that way anymore. Rant over lol

[topnotch]

too many hs teams in kentucky are running "spread" type systems! I know hss has dominate running a "spread" type of offense but the kids at hhs were taught fundamental football first! It takes a good coach to teach the "spread"! Back in the old days coaches ran the "wishbone" and "veer" and protected there team better from mistakes. How many games a week now do we see a bad shotgun snap?? It happens every weekend in the nfl now, heck it even happened in the super bowl!

you got to be kidding.

[pjdoug]

Better Youth programs,,,, Get rid of Daddy Ball,,,

you hit the nail on the head.THAT is how Kentucky football will get better. get the politics out of it.