[Wildcat18]

Good points. However, I go back to my original comment about it being about the kids, not the coaches. I know I don't do it for the money. I leave my job early everyday for practice/games where I have to work most nights until the 10-11 PM range just to meet deadlines for projects at work. I do it to see the looks on our guys face when the clock hits 0.0 in Lexington and they realize that their hard work they've put in all season and pre-season has paid off. There's no better feeling for them at that age in my opinion. I've heard a few try to say that some people take middle school football too seriously. I personally think it builds that continuity at a very early age and it builds their confidence going into high school if they can have very successful seasons at the middle school level. We coach both basketball and football as well. We don't start basketball season until football is over and vice-versa. Coaches who say both can't be done are selfish in my opinion. I know it can be done if you can make the commitment to put in the time. We've put rings on our football guys twice and came an ineligible player from Pikeville (they were disqualified while playing in the title game after beating us in the final four -- we were not given the opportunity to play the eventual champion, which we would have beat) away from giving them a basketball state title as well. Talk about a coach being pissed off. It'll haunt me for awhile, LOL. Point being that it is possible to do both successfully if you're willing to commit.