[baseball1974]

Imagine how good Simpkins could have made them had he been allowed to teach during the off season. The jealousy of him being a WINNER along with the love and support from the kids was over the top. The funny part is the jealousy hasn't ended even with his departure. :biglmao:

One thing you will see at every school is that kids are drawn to winning. When Prestonsburg was tearing it up on the football field I'm sure their numbers were very high, and baseball numbers were down. As soon as that flipped, it seems a though it was "nipped in the bud" very quickly in order to maintain numbers in football. I'm not sure if the new school played a role in that or not or what the case was, but everyone saw how it was handled. It's no secret, football coaches want their entire team out for spring practice, and over a few decades I have seen coaches threaten playing time, and have seen some stoop as low as to threaten college opportunities if these kids didn't show up. It's a very passive aggressive way of doing things. Little comments like "you don't have to show up, but I can't promise you colleges will see that as a good thing." That was an actual quote from a football coach to one of my baseball players 20 years ago, and it's only gotten worse with year around practicing. In reality, 95% of college coaches prefer multiple sport athletes, but young kids do not know that. I can't stand the manipulation that goes on. I will admit playing basketball as a second sport can create problems for players early on, but even then they eventually catch up by mid April. There is absolutely no reason why kids can't play both football and baseball.