Week 4: Logan @ Jonathan Alder

[moonshine]

The question that begs an answer is this one..."How important is the football program to the students, the school and the community? If a program that is competitive, that wins and enhances pride in the school and for the young men who play the game, then it is appropriate to question the current state of the LHS football program. A cursory review of LHS football results since the 1930's shows a program with several back-to-back seasons resembling that of last year's results and the three losses this year but there was always a return to winning football for Logan. What precipitated that return was a solid program below the varsity level. If that is the case now at Logan, then calling for a coaching change might be premature. However, if this discontent permeates at all levels then the buck stops with the head coach.

This is the third year of problems with the program. I understand what you are saying but if you get a chance attend and watch some games and at the lower levels the little school down the road Nelsonville-York kick the crap out of us at all levels! Just like in industry if you fail to achive profits for three years your fired!

[Loganchiefsnation]

IN my own personal opinion, a "fair weather fan" is someone who thumps their chest when we win and does nothing but complains when we lose. And to add to that, anyone who does not attend a game at all thru the season and just reads the local paper and makes judgements based on that. We have A LOT of those types of fans or "experts" on here. They talked mad trash to the Ironton people when were we winning like they couldnt have butter melt in their mouth on a silver spoon, but now the talent level drops off and its all the coaching staff's fault. Logan is not as talented as they were in recent years. Period. Do they have talent? Heck yes, is it dominating talent? Nope.
I dont care if Newark went 0-1100; you dont play games on paper. It was at their place, they were hungry for a win, Logan committed two costly turnovers early and had a freshman kicking. Logan outscored Newark what 33-14 after the 1st quarter I saw?? Newark did what they had to do to win. Its over, but Logan WAS in the game by halftime after the worst start you could have had. They amassed over 400 yds on the ground I read, but nobody says one positive things about the things that are getting better.
Ask yourself this: Fire the coaches; then what? Fire teachers to open up positions for the 100's of people that you all think will line up for the spots?? Bc youll have to to replace all the coaches on the staff that are current teachers and there arent too many VOLUNTEER coaches that will be available. Here's a great message to send to a possible candidate; "Forget that We fired 15 guys that dedicated over 15 years to our program because we hit some rough times; but come here and coach because we need to win NOW."
Amyx went 17-13 in a three year stretch in the early 2000's and people thought he should be fired only to have a great cycle of kids come thru and go what three yrs in a row 10-0??? I think people need to relax and actually support the team and the staff instead of the constant bashing, considering most dont leave the computer area anyway to REALLY know what is really going on.

[fbfever9]

I agree with the majority of what you are getting at. The fans should support the team and show up at the games. It is kind of the chicken and egg paradox though. Are people not supporting the team, thus the players/coaches/BOE feel that the community doesn't care about the state of the program? OR, is the team not performing at an even mediocre level, therefore the fans aren't going to waste time/money/gas to support an inferior product? Me personally, I'm not one to call for someone's job, no matter their field. However, the difference in output seems to be a stark contrast to years past. It just seems like after 3 years of struggles, there may be better options available. Let him finish out his coaching contract, but make him aware that if there is no forward progress; other options will be pursued.

My only questions/retorts to your statements would be:
1) Just b/c a coach also teaches and is fired from his/her coaching position, can they not still teach? If they have a desire to continue coaching and leave their teaching position; that's their personal decision
2) Is talent the real issue? In 34+ years (somewhere around there) at Ironton, I've heard the Lutz only had 2 seasons without a winning record. Is that b/c Ironton had significantly better talent than the opposition all those years and games, or was it coaching?

[moonshine]

I agree with the majority of what you are getting at. The fans should support the team and show up at the games. It is kind of the chicken and egg paradox though. Are people not supporting the team, thus the players/coaches/BOE feel that the community doesn't care about the state of the program? OR, is the team not performing at an even mediocre level, therefore the fans aren't going to waste time/money/gas to support an inferior product? Me personally, I'm not one to call for someone's job, no matter their field. However, the difference in output seems to be a stark contrast to years past. It just seems like after 3 years of struggles, there may be better options available. Let him finish out his coaching contract, but make him aware that if there is no forward progress; other options will be pursued.

My only questions/retorts to your statements would be:
1) Just b/c a coach also teaches and is fired from his/her coaching position, can they not still teach? STILL CAN TEACH If they have a desire to continue coaching and leave their teaching position; that's their personal decision
2) Is talent the real issue? In 34+ years (somewhere around there) at Ironton, I've heard the Lutz only had 2 seasons without a winning record. Is that b/c Ironton had significantly better talent than the opposition all those years and games, or was it coaching?

Coach Lutz had a system of discipline and he developed talent. Coach Rockwell at New Lex had it also!

[Loganchiefsnation]

I agree with the majority of what you are getting at. The fans should support the team and show up at the games. It is kind of the chicken and egg paradox though. Are people not supporting the team, thus the players/coaches/BOE feel that the community doesn't care about the state of the program? OR, is the team not performing at an even mediocre level, therefore the fans aren't going to waste time/money/gas to support an inferior product? Me personally, I'm not one to call for someone's job, no matter their field. However, the difference in output seems to be a stark contrast to years past. It just seems like after 3 years of struggles, there may be better options available. Let him finish out his coaching contract, but make him aware that if there is no forward progress; other options will be pursued.

My only questions/retorts to your statements would be:
1) Just b/c a coach also teaches and is fired from his/her coaching position, can they not still teach? If they have a desire to continue coaching and leave their teaching position; that's their personal decision
2) Is talent the real issue? In 34+ years (somewhere around there) at Ironton, I've heard the Lutz only had 2 seasons without a winning record. Is that b/c Ironton had significantly better talent than the opposition all those years and games, or was it coaching?

My comments and point re: teaching positions, is that youre not going to find a vast majority of VOLUNTEERS to be a part of a new staff bc the 90% of the current staff are teachers so you would have to fire several teachers to make room for new coaches bc generally most coaches are teachers first or educators. And again I would say yes compared to years past, Logan is down talent wise. Just my opinion. No Angle, No Mays, No Bobby Russell, No Joey or Johnny Conrad, No Wayne Bateman, No Derek Harden. McCarty is a great RB but he was hurting last week. You could see it. Logan has 6 seniors. SIX!! When is the last time Logan had a senior class that small or ever?? This Junior class played minimal minutes last year and this year they are learning by fire. I like this group to make noise next year and this season is no way over. Logan needs to circle the wagons, battle hard and the wins will come.

[noreply66]

I really don't think Logan's football program will ever get into a system that looks like a military Monday thur Friday.
Watching the underclassmen the last few years I see two big worries---very small numbers and with small numbers that brings less talent. So with that somehow we need to find out why these numbers are down then turn it around. The way the talent is down along with the numbers being down doesn't have a thing to do with Kelly. When he wasn't head coach you could already see the number going down along with the talent. Sure it upsets me the way Logan is playing but it helps to step back and look where the problems are and work on them and let Kelly coach and make a winner out of what he has given to him. You might say --well why do these teams with less players beat us. It just might be that the 30 boys they have are the best 30 in the school and Logan doesn't get the best 50 boys in school. I might be at a game and something happens that makes me hold my head down or shake it but with watching Logan for 50 plus years I know me will be back. Every low spell doesn't always last the same amount of years.

Go Chiefs

[Loganchiefsnation]

That could be the best statement ive seen in a few weeks. Well said

[C-Bolt]

I don't think Logan has ever fired a football coach that I remember,they usually end up resigning on their own,now whether it's a forced resign who knows, but a couple of them continued to teach or admin at Logan so I don't think Wolfe has much to worry about,nobody in the school cares or even knows what we say on here they probably just laugh and it makes for good entertainment for people to read on here,my guess is if it continues he'll get tired of losing himself and just resign.

[C-Bolt]

Nice :122245

[javagt]

Look at the Logan roster. Hardly any seniors. A lot of good 11 & 10th graders. Plus a freshman class that have been doing great. I would be more concerned about the players that quit or never went out that were potential starters. Is that the fault of the coach? That's what I would be more concerned about.

[LHS 72]

I am around the system everyday and talk to most all of our young people,some comment I hear are" they play only a few select kids" "Olny the upper class (meaning well to do families or well connected) kids get to play" " The coaches has there favors" Remind all you poster these are some very talented young people that are commenting. I can not even begin to tell the whole story, BUT THERE ARE MAJOR PROLEMS WITH ALL OF OUR SPORTS PROGRAMS!

[noreply66]

Logan Frosh win 53-20 tonight over JA.

10/03/12 will be a game to see

[noreply66]

I am around the system everyday and talk to most all of our young people,some comment I hear are" they play only a few select kids" "Olny the upper class (meaning well to do families or well connected) kids get to play" " The coaches has there favors" Remind all you poster these are some very talented young people that are commenting. I can not even begin to tell the whole story, BUT THERE ARE MAJOR PROLEMS WITH ALL OF OUR SPORTS PROGRAMS!

This is the same thing thing I heard in the 60s. If you think you are better than someone playing prove it out there in practice. If you are in to every practice you will know what to do when you are sent in to give a starter a break or when the game is out of hand it will show the coach and the fans.--People will notice. Kids can't say too much about the upper class playing this year.

[moonshine]

Updated perdiction after reading the local rag!

Jonathan Alder 34
Logan 12

[C-Bolt]

I can remember back in the Amyx days there was a kid people were talking about who should be playing and wasn't,people were saying this kid was way too talented to be sitting the bench,supposedly the kid was not a good practice kid,well the kid in front of him got hurt and he got his chance and turns out the people were right he was a star player.I would imagine this kind of stuff has gone on all through the years at LHS.

[1987chieftains]

Logan Frosh win 53-20 tonight over JA.

is there any word on the alder player that was injuried?

[loganlocos]

Logan Vs Jonathan Alder All-Time Series History (Since 1912)

Total Games: 1
First Game: 2011
Logan Wins: 0
Alder Wins: 1
Total Score: Alder 42 (42 per game), Logan 0 (0 per game)
Last Logan Win: n/a
Last Alder Win: 2011, 42-00
Current Streak: Alder won last season.

Year By Year Results:
Year ---- Location -------- Winning Team ---- Score
2011 ---- Logan ----------- Jonathan Alder --- 00-42
2012 ---- Jonathan Alder -

[Paladin]

I don't like to lose. I don't like what has happened to the Logan program. But I can tell you without a doubt as a former player and coach at Logan --- coaches ( good or bad) play only the players who have beat out the other players in practice and offer the best chance to win, no matter who they are or who their parents are. Thats alway one of the dumbest excuses offered. Closer to the truth is that some coaches OFTEN mistake their talent level and insist on playing certain Offensive or Defensive systems which do NOT allow for best use of player talent. Based only on the level of teams played so far, my guess is they may be using the wrong D after having given up 36 pts a game on average. I played on winning teams at Logan, but my senior year we were one of the smallest teams size wise in Logan's history but only lost 3 games ( 2 pts loss to Columbus team, 6pts to league team and lost 24-0 to Top 10 state ranked team). Forty boys on the team and fewer the year before ( also a winning season). Kids from all walks of life played. Some went on to play in college. Most didn't. Many , many kids in LOgan are very similar to each other ability wise. What separates them is effort in practice or scrimmages. No great talent diffence is there. Just effort. The real stars are always well known , but they are very few. Its the team appraoch that allows Logan to feild good teams of average players for the most part that put out an effort that beats another team. Its not rocket science. I helped coach a team that lost only 1 game at Logan ( league championship game) but that game depended on our best efforts. On the road and with several future college players starting for LOgan, they lost a very close game they would win 7 or 8 times out of 10. But lose they did. Players knew who lost that game.

Whats going on now in Logan has extended over now a third season. While things need to be looked at in perspective, I seriously doubt the lame " the better players aren't played " excuse. Closer to the truth is are we using the best O and D systems to get maximum use of talent on hand?

[moonshine]

I am around the system everyday and talk to most all of our young people,some comment I hear are" they play only a few select kids" "Olny the upper class (meaning well to do families or well connected) kids get to play" " The coaches has there favors" Remind all you poster these are some very talented young people that are commenting. I can not even begin to tell the whole story, BUT THERE ARE MAJOR PROLEMS WITH ALL OF OUR SPORTS PROGRAMS!

What kind of young people where you talking too? Most kids at that age are just begining to form there own opinions, But if all the statements are true what is happening in our school system and what kind of direction are they getting at home.

Good Luck Tonight!