[Tica]

A lot of of the incessant hype about McCracken this year resulted from Mayfield fans justifiably pumping up their early season win 1A over 6A. McCracken was solid as a first year and went about as far as they could go. That program is new in name only. Its basically the same Lone Oak program in new colors with a few players from Heath and Reidland. As long as PT continues to defeat them, PT is not in danger of losing kids to McCracken. McCracken may use the coaching change as a tool to lure kids straddling the fence. But the recent trend has been the opposite with McCracken kids coming back to PT starting with ex-Lone Oak Quarterback Tyler Presnell who led Tilghman to a win over his former team in 2011.

The key will be to get a coach who can hit the ground running and who can assemble a staff and engage the kids. Some of the current assistants will probably stay on as teachers and how that fits into the future will be a piece of the puzzle. The big issue is that anyone who comes in is going to have to develop a lot of young and unproven players. PT has a very capable soph QB returning but will be thin elsewhere.