[Gocolts13]

It is official. Henry County has named former Southwestern HS (Pulaski Co.) assistant coach Jason Spencer as their new head coach.

[GetChili]

Good hire.

[Old Henry Man]

Good luck to Jason Spencer. I will be a big fan.

[goscots56]

Why do we start a thred after we already have 2 open?

[PantherTradition]

Is Henry a football or basketball school?

[bigboy26]

With a 5000 plus seat gym, they WANT to be a basketball school...but recent success points to them being more of a football school. However, with the upper admin. they really aren't a school that wants success in any sport. They say they do, but we will see by how they hire assistants...will they change their current policy? I hope so, kids deserve a fair shot.

[goscots56]

They won't change their current policy. They have been told that NO coaches are to be hired as teachers. What bothers me about this policy is that they are assuming that b/c you can coach that you can't teach. When the truth is that if you look at your best coaches usually turn out to be pretty good teachers.

If you can correctly teach the concept of the "game" then you should be able to teach the concept of the "subject."

[BeReal]

The athletic director will tell you HC is a basketball school. But the basketball teams have had no where near as much success in recent years as football.

[Young Henry Man]

They won't change their current policy. They have been told that NO coaches are to be hired as teachers. What bothers me about this policy is that they are assuming that b/c you can coach that you can't teach. When the truth is that if you look at your best coaches usually turn out to be pretty good teachers.

If you can correctly teach the concept of the "game" then you should be able to teach the concept of the "subject."

They have one football coach in the district, Coach Eades. I have heard nothing but great things about him, both as a teacher and coach. But he was coaching there before he was teaching there. How did that happen with the current policy? Hopefully Coach Spencer can get some other coaches in the building as well.

[whistle-blower]

Well what folks should do at Henry is just call up a few people and let them know about this "policy" its discrimination and should be dealt with. If they are really running around saying this type of stuff to people then it needs to have an end put to it.

[bigboy26]

When Eades came on board the policy did not exist. I don't believe anyone worried about the success that was coming, nor predicted it. I believe the policy by Ms. McClure was adopted after Coach E's resignation. With 4-5 coaches in the district and countless non-coaches leading the classroom, I guess it's safe to say that the 4-5 coaches are killing the test scores??? Perhaps what is killing the test scores is upper leadership. Jealousy is a nasty side of human behavior, and she clearly has mastered it.

[goscots56]

I was told (by an administrator) that it did not used to be their policy. But what happened was they had assistant coaches on as teachers and they KILLED their test scores. They finally have their test scores coming back up and they won't let that happen again.

[CAN'T GET RIGHT]

Good hire. Passionate and all about the kids. I guess at some point he took captain backdoor's lunch money so he is the only one that has negative to say about the man.

[BeReal]

I find it hard to believe that the coaches were killing test scores when I'm pretty sure that all the coaches that were also teachers taught special education classes. I don't see how the special ed class could have affected test scores.

[BellyJump]

I find it hard to believe that the coaches were killing test scores when I'm pretty sure that all the coaches that were also teachers taught special education classes. I don't see how the special ed class could have affected test scores.

If you know anything about test scores, the special population is the main focus in closing the gap. Henry County's scores isn't the best in the state. But is the few coaches in the building doing the damage? I doubt that as well.

[bigboy26]

To my knowledge there was 1 assistant in the building and he was there less than 1 year before the policy came into effect. Which means he didn't have any impact. However, the year after he was there (which is the year he affected test scores), the ECE scores improved. Point being, the assistant in the building helped increase the scores. Just an FYI.

Test scores at HC have fallen quickly over the last 10 years, not a coach issue. Perhaps they need a new Asst. Super? After all, she is in charge of curriculum!!!!

[whats-it-2u]

Funny how these coaches taught a bunch of farm boys, special ed. Kids, one parent family kids, and about every minority child the district has..... to play football at a high level, on offense, defense, and special teams. With what is a pretty complicated system of plays, and scheme. But the school has low test scores. A friend of mine that coached there said they players were very teachable!!!
:Thumbs::blabbermo:eyeroll:

[DDP5]

Unfortunately this is become more of a common trend across the state. I am catching wind of a lot of kids coming out of colleges with aspirations to couch a sport getting the shaft because administrators are afriad they will become "coaches" first. Let this be a lesson to future coaches out there if you are going into an interview don't mention anything about wanting to coach. It's a shame that teaching has come down to how well students perform on one test out of the whole year instead of teaching kids about life skills (because they aren't assessed on the test) or teaching the whole student. These score dictate every move that gets made...

[bigboy26]

Its sad, I can remember a day when schools wanted ALL teachers to coach. Funny, education was better back then. Wonder why? Perhaps teachers being involved in their students lives beyond the classroom probably had a HUGE impact. Next time you watch a high school event, see how many non-coaching teachers show up. It's sad!

[Harry Doyle]

Its sad, I can remember a day when schools wanted ALL teachers to coach. Funny, education was better back then. Wonder why? Perhaps teachers being involved in their students lives beyond the classroom probably had a HUGE impact. Next time you watch a high school event, see how many non-coaching teachers show up. It's sad!

Very few, that's for sure. Sad indeed.

What I love is some of these administrators that prefer not to have teachers coach, because they think 1) They don't want to teach, but worry only about their sport.. That's funny, because I never heard this from an administrator:

"I chose to be an administrator because I just loved being in the classroom so much!"

Hasn't happened. Doesn't happen. Won't happen.

Now, with saying that, there are some very good administrators out there.

[whistle-blower]

Well its been a little while, lets hear about the new coach and what is going on with him???

WHo is on new staff?
What are the kids saying??
What are they running on O and D?
Are they headed to a track and field state title??hh:

Kidding:thatsfunn

[HCAlum92]

Well its been a little while, lets hear about the new coach and what is going on with him???

WHo is on new staff?
What are the kids saying??
What are they running on O and D?
Are they headed to a track and field state title??hh:

Kidding:thatsfunn

Well from what i have heard Coach Isaacs and Coach Eades are staying on staff and he will be interviewing some other assistants soon. As far as the kids go they Love the guy so far they meet him last week and liked what he had to say about his expectations and goals. As far as O and D not for sure on that one. And as for the last statement not for sure what you mean. He is know the Head Coach of a football team not a track team....

[whats-it-2u]

Glad to see Eades and Isaacs staying around, If given a chance I think Eades will do a good job with the offense. Hopefully the new coach can find some staff to add along with these two. I know two years ago they had a great staff, and last year was pretty good to. Hopefully the admin will maybe let him sneak one in the building.........:please:

[Foxtrot]

Jason will do fine. He is a worker and that is what counts. :biggrin:

[whistle-blower]

WHERE IS HCDADDY?????:Cheerlead
He has not been around in a while with all this HC stuff going down, seems now that some of the other coaches and Johnson are gone he has been quiet?????hh:

[Gocolts13]

any news or updates from Henry Football insiders on Spencer's staff of assistants yet? the problem expressed by many posters on here that Henry Co administration has Coach Spencer's hands tied with hiring assistants could be a MAJOR issue which could be a contributing factor to the future success of the program.. unless it is a short 30 minute or less to commute, I cannot see any para's wanting to assist with Spencer at Henry, which is sad for the program and kids involved. Seems like Henry administration is doing a major injustice to the well-being of the football program there.

[Young Henry Man]

I heard that Coach Isaacs and Coach Eades are the eyes and ears of the program until summer gets here. Haven't heard on any one else yet.

[Captain Backdoor]

Here is a look at the great play calling while your newly head coach was the Special Teams Coach at Southwestern...ENJOY!!

[Dungy]

Congrats to Coach Spencer. Best of luck to him and HC

[zebra'seyes]

That doesn't look like bad coaching, just bad decisions by players!