[CoachJ]

The word on the street is his own coach screwed him out of the award and gave it to #2.

Alright jetp, I know you're not exactly a fan of mine on this board -- I've never challenged any of your critical comments on here about my coaching...but this one is over the line.

1. "Word on the street"??? Where could you have possibly gotten any kind of information that I would have somehow tried to HURT Daniel Harmon's chances for ANY award? He's actually one of the few players I promoted to other coaches at an area meeting as deserving of 1st team ALL-STATE recognition!

2. The voting for District Player and Coach of the year was done by EMAIL by coaches in the district sent to Mark Dixon of Hazard. There was no chance for "lobbying" by coaches for ANY player to have received it (though if I would have been able, I think I'd have been smart enough to lobby for my own player that would be the REPEAT WINNER and rushed for OVER 2,000 YARDS this year).

3. Your "word on the street" is more than likely YOU coming up with something to try and disparage me as you have something to gain by my not being here next year. It is EASY and COWARDLY to hide ANONYMOUSLY behind a made-up screen name and damage a coach's reputation by professing to have "heard" something he'd done with ZERO proof of it.

Thank GOD Daniel is one of the highest-charactered and BEST ALL AROUND kids I've ever coached, or I'd be worried your comment might have damaged me in his eyes.

I'm available at the school after 2:00pm to discuss this with you, face to face, man-to-man, using real names. As civil as you want it to be. But if you have the GUTS to back up your "word on the street" (which I realize makes it easy for you to back out of it saying YOU didn't say it yourself, and you're just 'repeating someone else') to me without hiding anonymously behind a screen name, I'll be waiting.

[Capt. DH]

I always enjoy your posts Coach J because they have so much depth and emotion to them. Don't let jetpilot get to you, he always runs his mouth about Pikeville one post then sucks up like wild on the next. He is just confused and immature. I know that a guy as stand up as you would never do anything to hurt one of your players. Do we even know who is district player of the year?

[PantherPro]

The way this is worded kind of confuses me. Are you trying to say that he will win the award for the second straight year. Or are you trying to say that it is no surprise that he will win this award.

No, I'm saying I heard what jetpilot said. That he WOULDN'T be getting it, that #2 would. But unlike jp, I recognize it's only hearsay. Though if it IS true, I think the transfer would have happened, pre talking to his family and findinig out there was NO chance of him leaving Pikeille his senior year, rather he gets the award or not, (though he would be dissappointed, of course!) He has too much going for him, he still has baseball. He also has friends, a girlfriend, and other love ones at pikeville. So in essence, I now KNOW he wont leave.
:confused: Understand?

[jetpilot]

Alright jetp, I know you're not exactly a fan of mine on this board -- I've never challenged any of your critical comments on here about my coaching...but this one is over the line.

1. "Word on the street"??? Where could you have possibly gotten any kind of information that I would have somehow tried to HURT Daniel Harmon's chances for ANY award? He's actually one of the few players I promoted to other coaches at an area meeting as deserving of 1st team ALL-STATE recognition!

2. The voting for District Player and Coach of the year was done by EMAIL by coaches in the district sent to Mark Dixon of Hazard. There was no chance for "lobbying" by coaches for ANY player to have received it (though if I would have been able, I think I'd have been smart enough to lobby for my own player that would be the REPEAT WINNER and rushed for OVER 2,000 YARDS this year).

3. Your "word on the street" is more than likely YOU coming up with something to try and disparage me as you have something to gain by my not being here next year. It is EASY and COWARDLY to hide ANONYMOUSLY behind a made-up screen name and damage a coach's reputation by professing to have "heard" something he'd done with ZERO proof of it.

Thank GOD Daniel is one of the highest-charactered and BEST ALL AROUND kids I've ever coached, or I'd be worried your comment might have damaged me in his eyes.

I'm available at the school after 2:00pm to discuss this with you, face to face, man-to-man, using real names. As civil as you want it to be. But if you have the GUTS to back up your "word on the street" (which I realize makes it easy for you to back out of it saying YOU didn't say it yourself, and you're just 'repeating someone else') to me without hiding anonymously behind a screen name, I'll be waiting.

I simply told you what people are saying. I'm actually doing you a favor by letting you know. If you choose not to believe it, just ask around. Your post here is kind of creepy to be honest, and couldn't be more off base.

[jetpilot]

BTW, I heard about this from OTHER COACHES IN THE DISTRICT. And another poster on here has already said he heard the same thing, and I can guarantee he didn't hear it from me. I didn't even say it was true, just that it was being said. And it is. But the truth will come out. Surely there isn't even one coach in the district who could think the player of the year could be anyone other than Daniel Harmon, right???

[CoachJ]

I always enjoy your posts Coach J because they have so much depth and emotion to them. Don't let jetpilot get to you, he always runs his mouth about Pikeville one post then sucks up like wild on the next. He is just confused and immature. I know that a guy as stand up as you would never do anything to hurt one of your players. Do we even know who is district player of the year?

I appreciate the thoughts, DH. You'll notice by my few number of posts (12 now) that -- despite many erroneous statements about me or the way I run the program -- I refrain from posting on this or any other 'fan-based' message board (though I do troll through the sewage occasionally in case there's something that might be damaging to one of our coaches' or players' reputations).

It's been pretty hard not to respond to some of the negativity spewed toward our program in light of a tough loss (one that prompted one to request there be a new offensive coordinator -- even though the offense gained over FOUR-HUNDRED YARDS of total offense in the game), but one hopes people that read on here can actually sift through such pieces of garbage I've read lately like:
1) "Coach J doesn't let his players play SUMMER baseball" (TRUTH: I actually postponed all our usual JUNE passing work the last two years and moved it to July JUST so the kids that play summer basketball and summer baseball wouldn't be over-extended).
The issue on this came up when one of our Freshman players became a VARSITY STARTER due to an injury to an older player...then he went to play in a "summer league" (granted, it was September) baseball tournament the next day against our wishes.
We have NO PROBLEM with our younger kids (7th, 8th, 9th graders) playing summer league baseball games -- even though we know there's a chance of injury that could hurt their Jr High or JV team; but once they become VARSITY contributors, we draw the line.
To this point, I was told by the summer league baseball coordinator that if I didn't "give in" on my "hard-line stance" that I should brace myself for losing many "key" kids when they choose not to play football in high school if they couldn't also play in weekend baseball tournaments from June through September. I told that man that if those kids were capable of becoming VARSITY football players but were unwilling to COMMIT to their HIGH SCHOOL sport in-season enough not to play in baseball games continuously from February through September, then I would hope the SUMMER BASEBALL coach would realize that's "overkill" and let the kids go to play for their HIGH SCHOOL VARSITY sport. We basically agreed to disagree at that point.
2) "they practice 4 and 5 hours a day" (TRUTH: practices lasted from 3:25 to 6:10 at the latest; the last four weeks of the season, we were getting done between 5:30 and 5:40 daily)
3) they lift until 6:30 four days a week in the off-season (TRUTH: I got the administration to agree to in-school weightlifting last year just so kids could get the bulk of their work done during the school day...which then left only about an hours worth of work after school -- so we got done usually at 4:30...unless we had some kind of "competition" after weights they could do to earn rewards).

As to "Pikeville football is dead," as I've seen written on here by some 'fans' of the program...it seems many on here (and quite a few of the kids in the school) think you'll have the best chance to win if you get AS MANY PLAYERS OUT AS POSSIBLE due to making little or no requirement on work in the off-season to get faster, stronger, quicker, etc. and no accountability for those that don't. My approach has always been to work hard those that really WANT to IMPROVE THEMSELVES in the off-season (meaning my staff and I take our own personal and family time to develop and run detailed, sport-specific speed, strength, and plyometric workouts daily that kids in Huntington, Lexington, etc. pay other professional trainers up to $300 per month) but not exclude ANYONE that wants to come out on day one of the season, regardless of how little they've worked to get better in the off-season.

I will agree that one thing is and will be DRASTICALLY different about Pikeville football--gone are the days of getting the best football players in the county to come to Pikeville. Until there's an individual or class-action suit won using No Child Left Behind laws against them, the Pike Co. BOE's cancellation of the reciprocal agreement has ended the days of Pikeville having 50% or more of its starters coming from outside the city limits. The only way NOW to "compete with the big boys" is going to be to DEVELOP the "city kids" we're going to get as well as we can by continuing some things we've already started (direct involvement by HS program in Little League football, reorganization of Jr High and Frosh football to have younger PHS kids play against OLDER kids at other schools -- like what's helped build Belfry and Johnson Central into what they are -- and yes, making them as big and strong and fast and explosive as possible in the OFF-season but still ENCOURAGING kids to play sports other than football).

I'd venture to say it's true that you can get more players to be "on the team" if there's little required of them to prepare or if kids that are starters in football games on Friday night are allowed to slide into bases in "summer league" baseball games the very next day. Maybe that's a better approach than holding kids accountable for improving in the off-season and then requiring a full commitment to their SCHOOL sport (rather than having them share allegience with their "summer-league" or "AAU" sport) while in-season.

If that's the case, I'm not the one that needs to be leading it but I wish the VERY BEST to the one that takes it over. My main goal for the program is for it to go in the best direction possible to allow the best chance to once again compete for a state championship -- if I think that would happen better with someone else leading it, I'll put my resignation in as soon as possible.

[Capt. DH]

No, I'm saying I heard what jetpilot said. That he WOULDN'T be getting it, that #2 would. But unlike jp, I recognize it's only hearsay. Though if it IS true, I think the transfer would have happened, pre talking to his family and findinig out there was NO chance of him leaving Pikeille his senior year, rather he gets the award or not, (though he would be dissappointed, of course!) He has too much going for him, he still has baseball. He also has friends, a girlfriend, and other love ones at pikeville. So in essence, I now KNOW he wont leave.
:confused: Understand?

If #2 from Pikeville gets this award then all of the coaches that voted on this are crazy!

[CoachJ]

I simply told you what people are saying. I'm actually doing you a favor by letting you know. If you choose not to believe it, just ask around. Your post here is kind of creepy to be honest, and couldn't be more off base.

No, what's obvious to anyone that reads what you've written in this thread (I encourage all interested to do so), is that you're were trying to DISPARAGE me by stating PUBLICLY that I "lobbied" for one of my players over another. It appears that in doing so, you're attempting to ENCOURAGE one of our underclassmen to WANT to transfer...hmmmmmm.)

If your REAL intent was just to "let me know," you could have done that by calling the school and leaving me a message.

I know it's probably against the rules here to do so, but I have to point out publicly (since you publicly accused me of something hideous) that you are LYING in this case and attempting to back-pedal from your original statement.

Your ORIGINAL post about this said "HIS COACH LOBBIED" for a specific other player to get it...not just that someone else got it.

If you really "heard this from other coaches in the district" as you say, go ahead and name names. There is NO coach in this district that can truthfully say I ever said ONE word to them about ANY one of our players that should be voted for "District Player of the Year" over another. Several of them PRESSED me at a regional coaches meeting to choose which I thought should get it and I respectfully declined to choose between one or the other (and, by the way, the player you referenced I supposedly "lobbied for" was not even MENTIONED in the discussion)...I remember them arguing about whether one or another of our players was most deserving, and I SPECIFICALLY remember saying that BOTH are completely deserving of any honor they'd get but that I get NO SAY in THEIR vote.

Besides, whatever they wrote down at that meeting was NOT the vote that determines KFCA District Player of the Year -- that vote was done through EMAIL to Mark Dixon of Hazard (our KFCA Regional Rep).

[jetpilot]

No, what's obvious to anyone that reads what you've written in this thread (I encourage all interested to do so), is that you're were trying to DISPARAGE me by stating PUBLICLY that I "lobbied" for one of my players over another. It appears that in doing so, you're attempting to ENCOURAGE one of our underclassmen to WANT to transfer...hmmmmmm.)

If your REAL intent was just to "let me know," you could have done that by calling the school and leaving me a message.

I know it's probably against the rules here to do so, but I have to point out publicly (since you publicly accused me of something hideous) that you are LYING in this case and attempting to back-pedal from your original statement.

Your ORIGINAL post about this said "HIS COACH LOBBIED" for a specific other player to get it...not just that someone else got it.

If you really "heard this from other coaches in the district" as you say, go ahead and name names. There is NO coach in this district that can truthfully say I ever said ONE word to them about ANY one of our players that should be voted for "District Player of the Year" over another. Several of them PRESSED me at a regional coaches meeting to choose which I thought should get it and I respectfully declined to choose between one or the other (and, by the way, the player you referenced I supposedly "lobbied for" was not even MENTIONED in the discussion)...I remember them arguing about whether one or another of our players was most deserving, and I SPECIFICALLY remember saying that BOTH are completely deserving of any honor they'd get but that I get NO SAY in THEIR vote.

Besides, whatever they wrote down at that meeting was NOT the vote that determines KFCA District Player of the Year -- that vote was done through EMAIL to Mark Dixon of Hazard (our KFCA Regional Rep).

Again, you're creeping me out...I'm not LYING or BACK-PEDALING...AGAIN...IT IS BEING SAID...AND BY OTHER COACHES IN THE DISTRICT...and I don't want DH to transfer (again you're way off base).

So now you are saying the coaches were arguing about which player was more deserving??? That's interesting, as it's not even close - no one in their right mind could ever even think about voting for anyone other that the one player who was head and shoulders above everyone else in the district.

[CoachJ]

Again, you're creeping me out...I'm not LYING or BACK-PEDALING...AGAIN...IT IS BEING SAID...AND BY OTHER COACHES IN THE DISTRICT...and I don't want DH to transfer (again you're way off base).

So now you are saying the coaches were arguing about which player was more deserving??? That's interesting, as it's not even close - no one in their right mind could ever even think about voting for anyone other that the one player who was head and shoulders above everyone else in the district.

Alright, I've had my chance to publicly state the FACTS on this matter, and you've had an opportunity to publicly state your OPINIONS.

At this point, we need to go to PM's...maybe then you'll be more willing to come clean about who you are and your REAL intent here (though I doubt it).

(And yes, the coaches there WERE debating about which of TWO of our players were most deserving for THEIR "All-District" Player of the Year -- again NOT the "KFCA P.O.Y." I was THERE -- it's obvious you were NOT...even though you thought it fine to post erroneous HEARSAY information about who I supposedly "lobbied" for).

Check your inbox.

[jetpilot]

Alright, I've had my chance to publicly state the FACTS on this matter, and you've had an opportunity to publicly state your OPINIONS.

At this point, we need to go to PM's...maybe then you'll be more willing to come clean about who you are and your REAL intent here (though I doubt it).

(And yes, the coaches there WERE debating about which of TWO of our players were most deserving for THEIR "All-District" Player of the Year -- again NOT the "KFCA P.O.Y." I was THERE -- it's obvious you were NOT...even though you thought it fine to post erroneous HEARSAY information about who I supposedly "lobbied" for).

Check your inbox.

I DON'T HAVE A DANG OPINION. I was just pointing out what was said. And for the fifth time, it is being said, whether you choose to believe it or not. Other people on here have posted that they have heard the same thing. I don't know how much clearer I can make myself. Checked my PMs, nothing. I would like to know who the coaches were that thought someone other than DH should be player of the year. I could use some of what they are smoking.

[Dazed&Confused]

I know this is between Jetpilot and CoachJ but i can't help but say that Jetpilot has finally been confronted about his open criticism to someway put down the Pikeville Football program and make it seem that everything he says is right....Hopefully now everyone else will realize half the stuff he has posted is untrue and very biased and they wont pay it any attention

Sorry Jetpilot, but you have met your match...and i think you have lost...i fully expect you to continue hiding behind your name and harassing Pikeville Football like a coward

Very good posts Coach J!

[jetpilot]

I know this is between Jetpilot and CoachJ but i can't help but say that Jetpilot has finally been confronted about his open criticism to someway put down the Pikeville Football program and make it seem that everything he says is right....Hopefully now everyone else will realize half the stuff he has posted is untrue and very biased and they wont pay it any attention

Sorry Jetpilot, but you have met your match...and i think you have lost...i fully expect you to continue hiding behind your name and harassing Pikeville Football like a coward

Very good posts Coach J!

My last post in this thread. I'm not hiding anything, or harrassing anybody. Pikeville football is just fine, I wouldn't change a thing.

[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

My last post in this thread. I'm not hiding anything, or harrassing anybody. Pikeville football is just fine, I wouldn't change a thing.

I thought you said before that Pikevile Football was dead so which one is it?

[Capt. DH]

That being said I love how you were called out. You never had anything real to say except for backpedaling statements and lies. All you do is try to put Pikeville football down ten when confronted you say "everything is fine with Pikeville football." I am glad that a classy guy like Jackson is man enough to get on here and let you all know who is is and tell the truth. Not what someone said that they heard from someone that may have been there but probably wasn't there, then told some people that he wasn't there but a guy I know saifd that he may have heard it from someone that was there. That is complete crap. BTW, any plane piloted by jetpilot will surely be struck down by the Pikeville football gods that have come and passed. Oh and good luck getting anybody on here to believe anything that you say from now on. Long live Pikeville Football! Anybody that would like to know who I am may feel free to PM me for the answer.

[Elwayfan]

The word on the street is his own coach screwed him out of the award and gave it to #2.

The word on the street and $1.09 will get you a bottle of water!

[SpyDa]

I appreciate the thoughts, DH. You'll notice by my few number of posts (12 now) that -- despite many erroneous statements about me or the way I run the program -- I refrain from posting on this or any other 'fan-based' message board (though I do troll through the sewage occasionally in case there's something that might be damaging to one of our coaches' or players' reputations).

It's been pretty hard not to respond to some of the negativity spewed toward our program in light of a tough loss (one that prompted one to request there be a new offensive coordinator -- even though the offense gained over FOUR-HUNDRED YARDS of total offense in the game), but one hopes people that read on here can actually sift through such pieces of garbage I've read lately like:
1) "Coach J doesn't let his players play SUMMER baseball" (TRUTH: I actually postponed all our usual JUNE passing work the last two years and moved it to July JUST so the kids that play summer basketball and summer baseball wouldn't be over-extended).
The issue on this came up when one of our Freshman players became a VARSITY STARTER due to an injury to an older player...then he went to play in a "summer league" (granted, it was September) baseball tournament the next day against our wishes.
We have NO PROBLEM with our younger kids (7th, 8th, 9th graders) playing summer league baseball games -- even though we know there's a chance of injury that could hurt their Jr High or JV team; but once they become VARSITY contributors, we draw the line.
To this point, I was told by the summer league baseball coordinator that if I didn't "give in" on my "hard-line stance" that I should brace myself for losing many "key" kids when they choose not to play football in high school if they couldn't also play in weekend baseball tournaments from June through September. I told that man that if those kids were capable of becoming VARSITY football players but were unwilling to COMMIT to their HIGH SCHOOL sport in-season enough not to play in baseball games continuously from February through September, then I would hope the SUMMER BASEBALL coach would realize that's "overkill" and let the kids go to play for their HIGH SCHOOL VARSITY sport. We basically agreed to disagree at that point.
2) "they practice 4 and 5 hours a day" (TRUTH: practices lasted from 3:25 to 6:10 at the latest; the last four weeks of the season, we were getting done between 5:30 and 5:40 daily)
3) they lift until 6:30 four days a week in the off-season (TRUTH: I got the administration to agree to in-school weightlifting last year just so kids could get the bulk of their work done during the school day...which then left only about an hours worth of work after school -- so we got done usually at 4:30...unless we had some kind of "competition" after weights they could do to earn rewards).

As to "Pikeville football is dead," as I've seen written on here by some 'fans' of the program...it seems many on here (and quite a few of the kids in the school) think you'll have the best chance to win if you get AS MANY PLAYERS OUT AS POSSIBLE due to making little or no requirement on work in the off-season to get faster, stronger, quicker, etc. and no accountability for those that don't. My approach has always been to work hard those that really WANT to IMPROVE THEMSELVES in the off-season (meaning my staff and I take our own personal and family time to develop and run detailed, sport-specific speed, strength, and plyometric workouts daily that kids in Huntington, Lexington, etc. pay other professional trainers up to $300 per month) but not exclude ANYONE that wants to come out on day one of the season, regardless of how little they've worked to get better in the off-season.

I will agree that one thing is and will be DRASTICALLY different about Pikeville football--gone are the days of getting the best football players in the county to come to Pikeville. Until there's an individual or class-action suit won using No Child Left Behind laws against them, the Pike Co. BOE's cancellation of the reciprocal agreement has ended the days of Pikeville having 50% or more of its starters coming from outside the city limits. The only way NOW to "compete with the big boys" is going to be to DEVELOP the "city kids" we're going to get as well as we can by continuing some things we've already started (direct involvement by HS program in Little League football, reorganization of Jr High and Frosh football to have younger PHS kids play against OLDER kids at other schools -- like what's helped build Belfry and Johnson Central into what they are -- and yes, making them as big and strong and fast and explosive as possible in the OFF-season but still ENCOURAGING kids to play sports other than football).

I'd venture to say it's true that you can get more players to be "on the team" if there's little required of them to prepare or if kids that are starters in football games on Friday night are allowed to slide into bases in "summer league" baseball games the very next day. Maybe that's a better approach than holding kids accountable for improving in the off-season and then requiring a full commitment to their SCHOOL sport (rather than having them share allegience with their "summer-league" or "AAU" sport) while in-season.

If that's the case, I'm not the one that needs to be leading it but I wish the VERY BEST to the one that takes it over. My main goal for the program is for it to go in the best direction possible to allow the best chance to once again compete for a state championship -- if I think that would happen better with someone else leading it, I'll put my resignation in as soon as possible.

I'm curious about the "in-school" weightlifting. Is it legal to weightlift during school hours? Is this a class that is offered for all students or just a class for the football team to get their lifting done?

[Capt. DH]

I'm curious about the "in-school" weightlifting. Is it legal to weightlift during school hours? Is this a class that is offered for all students or just a class for the football team to get their lifting done?

It is a weightlifting class that is offered to all students not just athletes. It is legal to have a weightlifting class the last time that I checked.

[jetpilot]

That being said I love how you were called out. You never had anything real to say except for backpedaling statements and lies. All you do is try to put Pikeville football down ten when confronted you say "everything is fine with Pikeville football." I am glad that a classy guy like Jackson is man enough to get on here and let you all know who is is and tell the truth. Not what someone said that they heard from someone that may have been there but probably wasn't there, then told some people that he wasn't there but a guy I know saifd that he may have heard it from someone that was there. That is complete crap. BTW, any plane piloted by jetpilot will surely be struck down by the Pikeville football gods that have come and passed. Oh and good luck getting anybody on here to believe anything that you say from now on. Long live Pikeville Football! Anybody that would like to know who I am may feel free to PM me for the answer.

[Mr.Kimball]

And just think, Bill Clinton probably paid James Cargill millions of dollars to be his personal "spindoctor" in his bid to win two elections. Little did he know that there is someone in Pikeville twice as good, that probably would have worked for half the price.

[Capt. DH]

And just think, Bill Clinton probably paid James Cargill millions of dollars to be his personal "spindoctor" in his bid to win two elections. Little did he know that there is someone in Pikeville twice as good, that probably would have worked for half the price.

I think you mean James Carville "the Ragin' Cajun."

[Codeman]

I think next year will be tough for Pikeville....i see them making it to the second round of the playoffs at best. Sry guys...give it a season or two youll be good again.

i agree. i think they will do descent but not dominators

[Mr.Kimball]

I think you mean James Carville "the Ragin' Cajun."

Yeah..........., typo!!!

[Dazed&Confused]

My last post in this thread. I'm not hiding anything, or harrassing anybody. Pikeville football is just fine, I wouldn't change a thing.

:lmao: I love how your mind suddenly changes...Classic

[If...Then]

I think if Harmon would play a sport in college it would be baseball, not football. But with that being said he is a straight A student who excells in academics as well and his cousin and good friend J.P. Newsome is the whole reson Harmon is there and I don't think J.p. is going anywhere, so Harmon will stay.

Why?

[PantherPro]

Alright, I've had my chance to publicly state the FACTS on this matter, and you've had an opportunity to publicly state your OPINIONS.

At this point, we need to go to PM's...maybe then you'll be more willing to come clean about who you are and your REAL intent here (though I doubt it).

(And yes, the coaches there WERE debating about which of TWO of our players were most deserving for THEIR "All-District" Player of the Year -- again NOT the "KFCA P.O.Y." I was THERE -- it's obvious you were NOT...even though you thought it fine to post erroneous HEARSAY information about who I supposedly "lobbied" for).

Check your inbox.

Coach J, I wasn't a big fan of yours, until reading these posts; you've gained my vote and respect.

I hearby revoke everything negative I said about Coach J's coaching abilities.

Jetpilot, arguing with Mike Jackson has been your worst mistake ever, and will be your last.

good job coach, hes knocked back down to his level!:flame: :flame::Clap:

[PantherPro]

I thought you said before that Pikevile Football was dead so which one is it?

Yeah, I remember that, too!

[NEXT]

I appreciate the thoughts, DH. You'll notice by my few number of posts (12 now) that -- despite many erroneous statements about me or the way I run the program -- I refrain from posting on this or any other 'fan-based' message board (though I do troll through the sewage occasionally in case there's something that might be damaging to one of our coaches' or players' reputations).

It's been pretty hard not to respond to some of the negativity spewed toward our program in light of a tough loss (one that prompted one to request there be a new offensive coordinator -- even though the offense gained over FOUR-HUNDRED YARDS of total offense in the game), but one hopes people that read on here can actually sift through such pieces of garbage I've read lately like:
1) "Coach J doesn't let his players play SUMMER baseball" (TRUTH: I actually postponed all our usual JUNE passing work the last two years and moved it to July JUST so the kids that play summer basketball and summer baseball wouldn't be over-extended).
The issue on this came up when one of our Freshman players became a VARSITY STARTER due to an injury to an older player...then he went to play in a "summer league" (granted, it was September) baseball tournament the next day against our wishes.
We have NO PROBLEM with our younger kids (7th, 8th, 9th graders) playing summer league baseball games -- even though we know there's a chance of injury that could hurt their Jr High or JV team; but once they become VARSITY contributors, we draw the line.
To this point, I was told by the summer league baseball coordinator that if I didn't "give in" on my "hard-line stance" that I should brace myself for losing many "key" kids when they choose not to play football in high school if they couldn't also play in weekend baseball tournaments from June through September. I told that man that if those kids were capable of becoming VARSITY football players but were unwilling to COMMIT to their HIGH SCHOOL sport in-season enough not to play in baseball games continuously from February through September, then I would hope the SUMMER BASEBALL coach would realize that's "overkill" and let the kids go to play for their HIGH SCHOOL VARSITY sport. We basically agreed to disagree at that point.
2) "they practice 4 and 5 hours a day" (TRUTH: practices lasted from 3:25 to 6:10 at the latest; the last four weeks of the season, we were getting done between 5:30 and 5:40 daily)
3) they lift until 6:30 four days a week in the off-season (TRUTH: I got the administration to agree to in-school weightlifting last year just so kids could get the bulk of their work done during the school day...which then left only about an hours worth of work after school -- so we got done usually at 4:30...unless we had some kind of "competition" after weights they could do to earn rewards).

As to "Pikeville football is dead," as I've seen written on here by some 'fans' of the program...it seems many on here (and quite a few of the kids in the school) think you'll have the best chance to win if you get AS MANY PLAYERS OUT AS POSSIBLE due to making little or no requirement on work in the off-season to get faster, stronger, quicker, etc. and no accountability for those that don't. My approach has always been to work hard those that really WANT to IMPROVE THEMSELVES in the off-season (meaning my staff and I take our own personal and family time to develop and run detailed, sport-specific speed, strength, and plyometric workouts daily that kids in Huntington, Lexington, etc. pay other professional trainers up to $300 per month) but not exclude ANYONE that wants to come out on day one of the season, regardless of how little they've worked to get better in the off-season.

I will agree that one thing is and will be DRASTICALLY different about Pikeville football--gone are the days of getting the best football players in the county to come to Pikeville. Until there's an individual or class-action suit won using No Child Left Behind laws against them, the Pike Co. BOE's cancellation of the reciprocal agreement has ended the days of Pikeville having 50% or more of its starters coming from outside the city limits. The only way NOW to "compete with the big boys" is going to be to DEVELOP the "city kids" we're going to get as well as we can by continuing some things we've already started (direct involvement by HS program in Little League football, reorganization of Jr High and Frosh football to have younger PHS kids play against OLDER kids at other schools -- like what's helped build Belfry and Johnson Central into what they are -- and yes, making them as big and strong and fast and explosive as possible in the OFF-season but still ENCOURAGING kids to play sports other than football).

I'd venture to say it's true that you can get more players to be "on the team" if there's little required of them to prepare or if kids that are starters in football games on Friday night are allowed to slide into bases in "summer league" baseball games the very next day. Maybe that's a better approach than holding kids accountable for improving in the off-season and then requiring a full commitment to their SCHOOL sport (rather than having them share allegience with their "summer-league" or "AAU" sport) while in-season.

If that's the case, I'm not the one that needs to be leading it but I wish the VERY BEST to the one that takes it over. My main goal for the program is for it to go in the best direction possible to allow the best chance to once again compete for a state championship -- if I think that would happen better with someone else leading it, I'll put my resignation in as soon as possible.

You still have a reciprocal agreement, just limited to about 300 kids total in your system and I'll be honest, if your BOE and the Pike BOE does not change their stance on hold backs you and Belfry are going to have problems after this Sophomore class is through the schools. You probably understand, but the average parent and board member does not have a clue on how much different the body of a 18-19 year old is compared to a 16-17 year old, and thats what your dealing with at LCA, Johnson Central, Breathitt, Shledon Clark, Beechwood, etc.......

[ComfortEagle]

This thread has gotten out of hand with the personal attacks on one another.

No more bashing one another, and get the thread back on topic.

[Mr.Kimball]

You still have a reciprocal agreement, just limited to about 300 kids total in your system and I'll be honest, if your BOE and the Pike BOE does not change their stance on hold backs you and Belfry are going to have problems after this Sophomore class is through the schools. You probably understand, but the average parent and board member does not have a clue on how much different the body of a 18-19 year old is compared to a 16-17 year old, and thats what your dealing with at LCA, Johnson Central, Breathitt, Shledon Clark, Beechwood, etc.......

Older kids at other schools? Are you talking about playing kids that are the same age as to what Daniel Harmon and Chase Huffman are/were as examples? Last I heard, age eligibility is the same for every kid at every high school in the state of Kentucky. Perhaps I am not understanding what is being implied here.