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Post by coachweav88 on Jul 10, 2012 16:34:34 GMT -6
Coaches,
Just lost 2 more kids today. Down to 15. Ohio does not have 8 man football. What are our options?
1. 3 of those kids are seniors. if they could play, could we play a jv schedule?
2. Cancel all hs. Football. Work with Jr high (their numbers are fine). Try jv next year.
3. Try to start a club team independent from the school.
Best option? other options?
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Post by coachvann on Jul 11, 2012 4:14:06 GMT -6
I am at a small school myself...we have right about 40 boys from 9-12. The past couple of years we had descent numbers-we had about 19-24 kids out. This year we have had the great exodus! I'm down to 14 kids right now. Enrollment took a hit and my starting QB thinks baseball is his ticket now, my TE can't pass gas much less math/english/and science, three of my other starters transferred out because they saw the QB and TE leave. Just yesterday I had one of my starting lineman quit because he said there was too much work in the off season.
I do wonder if numbers are going to make at times. But you still have some time. You might get a move in, you might get a couple more if you recruit your hallways or have your other players do some heavy recruiting of their friends. Also you say JH football numbers are fine-can you pull a couple of 8th graders up?
Hang in there...when kids see you battling through tough times like this it sometimes sparks something in them. It could end up being one of your most memorable seasons.
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Post by jsk002 on Jul 11, 2012 7:08:24 GMT -6
Coach - I am assuming that big picture you want to build the HS program. So to me options 2 & 3 would be off the table. It sounds like playing a JV schedule might be your best option. How do your numbers compare to the other schools in your conference? If you are going to play a varsity schedule and you can't physically compete because you are playing Freshmen and Sophomores, then that doesn't do anybody any good. We had a similar situation a few years back. I had about 20 10-12th graders out. We were playing versus schools that had about 40 11th - 12th graders. Needless to say it didn't end well. About week 3, we cancelled the varsity games and played a JV schedule. It wasn't easy but it was best for the program. We handled our business as it was a varsity season, kids all lettered and we won some games and had some success. The following year we went 3-6, then 5-5, then 6-4 and last year we were 8-3. So if you have good kids in the lower levels, success can follow a cancelled varsity season.
On a side note, I am curious as to what is causing the low numbers.
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Post by coachcastleman on Jul 11, 2012 9:57:37 GMT -6
We are dealing with low numbers as well. We have about 21 kids 9-12. We are a very small school so even a slight change in enrollment really has an impact. We only have an enrollment of 150 students. I still think we should be able to get at least 30 kids each year. Just a few years ago we had about 175 enrollment and we had 38 kids playing. Hopefully the enrollment and number playing this year is a low point. We have some larger classes that will be coming in over the next couple years with good participation. I think the key is to continue to do things right and hold kids accountable and work hard.
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Post by coachbleu on Jul 11, 2012 10:12:42 GMT -6
You can play football with 15. Don't cancel your season and stay positive. Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail. Take your lumps like a man and build for the future.
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boug
Junior Member
Posts: 363
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Post by boug on Jul 11, 2012 10:42:52 GMT -6
Not sure if you can do this or if it is to late but can you do a member to member or co-op with another school? We are a real small school and we basically have 24 kids 9-12. I have 4 Sr's this year 6 jr's and 2 sophmores and the rest are freshman. We contact any school, public and private that may have kids that want to play football. We currently have 3 kids from a private school on our team, 27 is better then 24.
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Post by dbcoach19 on Jul 11, 2012 13:17:06 GMT -6
We ended last year around 17 guys, including 3 that should never step on the field. We still competed in a few games. The weeks we played teams much better I talked with the coach before the game and he brought up enough JV guys to play once it got out of hand. We lost a few 40-6 type games, but it never was terrible to the point of wanting to cancel the season or go to a jv schedule. It's true Iron Man football. Use your time outs wisely.
Good luck with the numbers
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Post by John Knight on Jul 11, 2012 13:24:50 GMT -6
I am pretty sure I would get the school directory and call every boy, you gotta talk some of them into playing.
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Post by irishdog on Jul 12, 2012 15:48:01 GMT -6
It may be too late to co-op with other small schools near you that are either in the same boat you are, or who don't offer football, if having to play a varsity schedule. But it would be worth a try. Otherwise, cancel the varsity season and play a JV schedule until your numbers improve. I too coached at a small school in Ohio, and when we played JV games I contacted the opposing coaches to let them know I had a couple of seniors (who played like freshmen) and they were cool with letting them play JV. Most coaches would rather have a JV game than no game at all. It's really too bad that the OHSAA doesn't choose to play 9 man, or even 6 man football. I know that Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota play nine man football, and Texas plays 6 man football (now that's a wild and crazy game!), but at least the kids get a chance to play the game of football in some way, shape, or form.
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Post by bucksweepdotcom on Jul 12, 2012 16:01:26 GMT -6
Coach I have been in your spot. I coached at small school, we had a pretty good team coming back. Two all-county kids cut school robbed some houses and were arrested and kicked out of school (private.) That set the flood gates to open, including the two players, lost 13 players from my preseason seeding meeting leaving me with 13 Varsity players, (3 seniors). Called the entire JV up for games and had about 30 or so players but in reality only 13 stepped on the field during the game. Before the exodus we were seeded in the upper middle which gave us a pretty tough schedule. We were really bad in the beginning of the season but fought hard and battled to a 2 and 7 season. It was a tough year but fun working with the kids. On a side note I left after that year went back to the district I taught in and the team had a really nice year the following year with all the playing time the young kids got. My advice...tough it out and look to the future! Like others have said, most teams will know your situation and do the right thing.
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Post by coachbleu on Jul 12, 2012 20:54:59 GMT -6
Does anyone else here think that it's wrong to CANCEL their season?
If you coach at a small school, you are going to go through droughts. It's the nature of the beast. If a coach cancelled on me, I'd make sure they were NEVER on my schedule again.
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Post by Chris Clement on Jul 12, 2012 21:11:55 GMT -6
Well, it sucks, but what can you do? Around here you need at least 18 dressed to play. Often small teams will have to dress injured players or whatever kid they could scrape up for the afternoon.
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Post by fballcoachg on Jul 12, 2012 21:42:19 GMT -6
I would do everything in my power to not cancel your varsity schedule and try and lure as many kids out as possible. If there is any way you can field a team, which you can with 15, then field a team. Why varsity over JV? For basically the same reason bleu alluded to earlier, those other teams are counting on you as well. So get on the phone, get your players to get on the phone, get players girlfriends friends to get on the phone, tell everyone that you can that you are welcoming new players and try to play your full varsity season.
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Post by 1coachhansen on Jul 12, 2012 23:28:31 GMT -6
I think that alot of it is just kids today. Who wants to go out and run and sweat and put effort into it when you can play xbox and playstation in the AC and still win championships? Yes I know it's not the same to us, but for some kids, it is enough. We are in the same boat with only 3 seniors and 6 juniors out for football. Only about 3 of the juniors will start and we'll have several sophs starting. Many of these same sophs started as freshmen and we were competitive. I think this will pay dividends when they are juniors and seniors. Just have to try to keep things in perspective and positive so they go out when they are older.
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Post by greyhounds on Jul 13, 2012 8:21:07 GMT -6
Coach,
I too coach in Ohio and I had a 9-12 team with 15 players (5 had never played football) last season. Due to injuries we finished week 10 with 12 healthy players. Unless you experience this first hand it is impossible to understand the challenges and the rewards. In short, the kids who are back this season learned that they can compete under the most difficult circumstances and they are better players and people because of last season.
We graduated 4 seniors which left us with 11 returning players. Those eleven and I recruited the halls and we now have 28 players (14 freshmen). We are by no means challenging for a state championship but these kids believe and all but one will return next season-yes, we only have one senior this year but I look at that as a positive for the future of the program. Best wishes and feel free to contact me.
Whatever you do, don't shut down the program-many young people truly need the great game of football.
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Post by irishdog on Jul 13, 2012 8:46:39 GMT -6
Let me clarify something. I would only "cancel" my varsity season if I was in a district (conference/league) where our opponents overwhelmingly outnumbered us (more than double the amount of players) which would place my 15 kids in serious jeopardy from injuries that would likely end the season anyway, and get them completely demoralized. And... which would be suicide for trying to build the program for the future. Otherwise, if the schools in your district/conference/league are in the very same boat you're in I say play on! If it's the latter, and the schools in your district/conference/league are aware of your situation I would like to believe they would cut you some slack this year if you told them you had to cancel the varsity season this year, and instead, play a JV schedule for this year only. In the meantime it would be incumbent upon you to work extra hard at recruiting more kids to be able to prepare them to play a varsity schedule next year. Or... you can be Mr. Tough Guy and play a varsity schedule this year and hope and pray that your 15 doesn't dwindle down to less than 11 because of injuries, kids quitting because they either get thoroughly discouraged, or tired of getting their asses handed to them every week, and not seeing any light at the end of that long, dark, tunnel your ego put them in which will end up forcing you to cancel the season anyway. Face it my friend, we're dealing with a different breed of cat these days! You either adapt, or die.
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Post by coachweav88 on Jul 16, 2012 8:47:26 GMT -6
School board met today and we will be playing a jv schedule this year. Thank you for all your input.
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Post by powerdog on Jul 16, 2012 19:20:34 GMT -6
was in same situation first year as HC. had 4 seniors and none played as juniors and I had 4 Jrs. I whsh i would have layed JV and then at end of season played our district games ( last 3)
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Post by tigercoach11 on Jul 17, 2012 10:27:09 GMT -6
I was in same situation last year (bout 20 when healthy but battled a lot of injuries) and I wont have a lot this year maybe 25....I suggest just playing til you can't anymore and coach em up...recruit the hallways all year and try and get your numbers up for next year...We had games where we had 15 healthy and we took our lumps but those kids are battle tested this year and we are a strong favorite (by the polls in our state/ i still feel like there is lots of work to do) to make a deep run at it in the playoffs. Its just the problems of small school football. I make sure our players are in condition to play iron man football and tell them they dont get a break so they better be pushing themselves. I firmly believe if you drop a varsity schedule it will knock your program back even more than if you just take your lumps and try and build it from scratch...just my opinion
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Post by Chris Clement on Jul 17, 2012 12:38:47 GMT -6
I disagree. I've seen a lot of teams get caught in a cycle of scraping together kids who really weren't up to snuff and making them play both ways, so they get creamed all year, a lot of those kids got picked on every game, they don't come back the next year, so you have to scrape up more underaged, undersized, underskilled kids just to have a season knowing the discouragement will cost you a lot of your borderline players. Meanwhile, the team stinks and you have a hard time getting talented players to come out and get killed.
Sometimes you have to bite the bullet. Just approach it as though you were a new school and you don't have a senior class.
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Post by Chris Clement on Jul 17, 2012 12:39:08 GMT -6
double post, sorry. Stupid work internet.
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