[LaFlamaBlanca]

Per sources, Highlands has hired former Lex Cath HC Bob Sphire as their new HC.

Thoughts?

[Iam4thecats]

Big hire. His skills were probably exactly what Highlands has been missing the last few years.

[sstack]

Sounds like last coach leaving after a day worked out in Highlands favor. Sounds like this hire was a home run hire.

[LaFlamaBlanca]

I am very pleased with the hire. I think he will bring a level of experience that not many other coaches could. Sounds like he is a no-nonsense type of coach and I think Highlands needs that right now if they want to get back to where they were. I'm not sure what his 10 year plan is, and how his age figures into his coaching plans, but for the immediate future i think this was a rock solid hire -if not the best possible hire.

There is excitement in Birdland again!!!!!

[Jack Lambert]

Great hire for Highlands and will make football better in Ky, Sphire is a a great coach and a great individual.

[Big Daddy Bull]

Per sources, Highlands has hired former Lex Cath HC Bob Sphire as their new HC.

Thoughts?

Great hire, but have to have the players to get it done. Almost sure there AD Wes Caldwell played for him at Lex. Cath.

[TheOracle]

Great hire, but have to have the players to get it done. Almost sure there AD Wes Caldwell played for him at Lex. Cath.

Yes. Sphire left LexCath after Caldwell's junior year.

---

Great hire, but have to have the players to get it done. Almost sure there AD Wes Caldwell played for him at Lex. Cath.

Also saw on another site where CovCath's coach Eviston played for Sphire with the Lexington Horsemen.

[ItSortOfDepends]

Per sources, Highlands has hired former Lex Cath HC Bob Sphire as their new HC.

Thoughts?

Great hire, but have to have the players to get it done. Almost sure there AD Wes Caldwell played for him at Lex. Cath.

Time will tell, but I'm very confident that the players are there. Always have been. it's not like the gene pool or commitment of the players just evaporated when Weinrich became the head coach. Never bought into the whole "lack of talent" excuse used by the prior staff. Mueller was continually successful because he developed players exceptionally well. 

Sphire has a well earned reputation of developing players exceptionally well. I expect him to very successful at Highlands. Great hire. Kind of funny how things work out. But for James changing his mind, this would have never happened. And for the record, I was very excited to see James be hired. Young, passionate, smart, emotional coach. I was worried that the job might be a little too big for him initially until he got seasoned (Highlands is not the easiest place to coach). I'm not worried about that at all with Sphire. Not one darn bit.

[TD Hounds]

As good a person as he is a coach, congrats Bluebirds you definitely found a quality coach.

[sstack]

Curious if he has a history of playing freshmen. I always thought it was a dumb policy that Highlands would not play freshmen. If you have a freshmen who is good enough to play varsity, he should play.

[Woodsman]

Hahaha. Mueller teams were loaded with out of district talent. Game changing talent. Championship talent. Quit denying that. Those players have not been there for years and the results speak for themselves. Coach Sphire will definitely improve the situation...assuming he dismisses the ridiculous cabal of parents and community fools that have plagued the program, but the ship will take time and talent to right itself. Hopefully coach sphire’s tenure will be long enough to see it through 

Per sources, Highlands has hired former Lex Cath HC Bob Sphire as their new HC.

Thoughts?

Great hire, but have to have the players to get it done. Almost sure there AD Wes Caldwell played for him at Lex. Cath.

Time will tell, but I'm very confident that the players are there. Always have been. it's not like the gene pool or commitment of the players just evaporated when Weinrich became the head coach. Never bought into the whole "lack of talent" excuse used by the prior staff. Mueller was continually successful because he developed players exceptionally well. 

Sphire has a well earned reputation of developing players exceptionally well. I expect him to very successful at Highlands. Great hire. Kind of funny how things work out. But for James changing his mind, this would have never happened. And for the record, I was very excited to see James be hired. Young, passionate, smart, emotional coach. I was worried that the job might be a little too big for him initially until he got seasoned (Highlands is not the easiest place to coach). I'm not worried about that at all with Sphire. Not one darn bit.

[ItSortOfDepends]

Hahaha. Mueller teams were loaded with out of district talent. Game changing talent. Championship talent. Quit denying that. Those players have not been there for years and the results speak for themselves. Coach Sphire will definitely improve the situation...assuming he dismisses the ridiculous cabal of parents and community fools that have plagued the program, but the ship will take time and talent to right itself. Hopefully coach sphire’s tenure will be long enough to see it through 

Per sources, Highlands has hired former Lex Cath HC Bob Sphire as their new HC.

Thoughts?

Great hire, but have to have the players to get it done. Almost sure there AD Wes Caldwell played for him at Lex. Cath.

Time will tell, but I'm very confident that the players are there. Always have been. it's not like the gene pool or commitment of the players just evaporated when Weinrich became the head coach. Never bought into the whole "lack of talent" excuse used by the prior staff. Mueller was continually successful because he developed players exceptionally well. 

Sphire has a well earned reputation of developing players exceptionally well. I expect him to very successful at Highlands. Great hire. Kind of funny how things work out. But for James changing his mind, this would have never happened. And for the record, I was very excited to see James be hired. Young, passionate, smart, emotional coach. I was worried that the job might be a little too big for him initially until he got seasoned (Highlands is not the easiest place to coach). I'm not worried about that at all with Sphire. Not one darn bit.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Sphire is a very good coach, but the talent at Highlands is not even close to what it was in Mueller’s heyday. Anybody that thinks it is, is fooling themselves. CCH has better talent, and just as good of a coach, so it’s not like Highlands is going to just flip the switch and overtake CCH. It will take some time to even things up, and Sphire is 64 years old, how much longer is he going to coach?

[BBN2021]

Great hire for Highlands.

[LaFlamaBlanca]

Sphire is a very good coach, but the talent at Highlands is not even close to what it was in Mueller’s heyday. Anybody that thinks it is, is fooling themselves. CCH has better talent, and just as good of a coach, so it’s not like Highlands is going to just flip the switch and overtake CCH. It will take some time to even things up, and Sphire is 64 years old, how much longer is he going to coach?

Very rarely has Highlands ever had more "pure talent" than the other area schools. They were able to win so much because the coaches got more out of their players than the other schools. Will be interesting to see if Sphire is able to do that, similar to how Mueller did.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

I think Highlands had more than enough “pure talent” under Dale’s tenure!!! This is just a list of the guys off the top of my head that played for Dale. I’d argue that Highlands had more high level D1 players than the rest of NKY combined over that time frame. I’m sure I missed a few, and they also had quite a few guys play in the lower college levels. This narrative that Dale got more out of his talent than anyone else, is crazy. Did Dale turn some average players into good players, sure he did. However, Highlands was loaded with high level talent that surrounded those guys.
Lorenzen-UK-NFL
Smith-UK-NFL
Guidugli-UC
Hamblen-UK
Scott-UK
Grover-Purdue
Sester-Purdue-NFL
Mitchell-Ohio-NFL
Nevels-UK
Rob Smith-UT-NFL
Reinstatler-UC
Collinsworth-ND
Towles-UK
Hoge-BYU

[FCSPY]

How many of those folks lived in Ft. Thomas ?

[LaFlamaBlanca]

I think Highlands had more than enough “pure talent” under Dale’s tenure!!! This is just a list of the guys off the top of my head that played for Dale. I’d argue that Highlands had more high level D1 players than the rest of NKY combined over that time frame. I’m sure I missed a few, and they also had quite a few guys play in the lower college levels. This narrative that Dale got more out of his talent than anyone else, is crazy. Did Dale turn some average players into good players, sure he did. However, Highlands was loaded with high level talent that surrounded those guys.
Lorenzen-UK-NFL
Smith-UK-NFL
Guidugli-UC
Hamblen-UK
Scott-UK
Grover-Purdue
Sester-Purdue-NFL
Mitchell-Ohio-NFL
Nevels-UK
Rob Smith-UT-NFL
Reinstatler-UC
Collinsworth-ND
Towles-UK
Hoge-BYU

11 of those players played across a span of about 5 years, which I agree was an exceptional amount of talent to have. Heck, I think 7 of those players were on the same team together.However, in general, Highlands doesn't typically have that caliber of talent. 

As far as the, "how many lived in Fort Thomas" question (which is I think suggesting that Highlands recruits talent from outside-a laughable suggestion) I believe all but one lived in Fort Thomas when they played at Highlands. The only one I think that didn't was Lorenzen, who lived in Silver Grove.

[KentuckyHillBilly5321]

Sphire is a very good coach, but the talent at Highlands is not even close to what it was in Mueller’s heyday. Anybody that thinks it is, is fooling themselves. CCH has better talent, and just as good of a coach, so it’s not like Highlands is going to just flip the switch and overtake CCH. It will take some time to even things up, and Sphire is 64 years old, how much longer is he going to coach?

Very rarely has Highlands ever had more "pure talent" than the other area schools. They were able to win so much because the coaches got more out of their players than the other schools. Will be interesting to see if Sphire is able to do that, similar to how Mueller did.

I think Highlands had more than enough “pure talent” under Dale’s tenure!!! This is just a list of the guys off the top of my head that played for Dale. I’d argue that Highlands had more high level D1 players than the rest of NKY combined over that time frame. I’m sure I missed a few, and they also had quite a few guys play in the lower college levels. This narrative that Dale got more out of his talent than anyone else, is crazy. Did Dale turn some average players into good players, sure he did. However, Highlands was loaded with high level talent that surrounded those guys.
Lorenzen-UK-NFL
Smith-UK-NFL
Guidugli-UC
Hamblen-UK
Scott-UK
Grover-Purdue
Sester-Purdue-NFL
Mitchell-Ohio-NFL
Nevels-UK
Rob Smith-UT-NFL
Reinstatler-UC
Collinsworth-ND
Towles-UK
Hoge-BYU

11 of those players played across a span of about 5 years, which I agree was an exceptional amount of talent to have. Heck, I think 7 of those players were on the same team together.However, in general, Highlands doesn't typically have that caliber of talent. 

As far as the, "how many lived in Fort Thomas" question (which is I think suggesting that Highlands recruits talent from outside-a laughable suggestion) I believe all but one lived in Fort Thomas when they played at Highlands. The only one I think that didn't was Lorenzen, who lived in Silver Grove.

Derek Smith was Silver Grove
Lorenzen was from Scott’s District 
Nevels transferred from SK
Mitchell transferred from CCH
Hamblen I believe was from Bellevue, not completely sure about him.
I could honestly care less where they were from, but they were not from Ft Thomas. They went to play for a winning program, I have no issues with it.