Marietta football - What's the deal ?

[Wildcatone]

I used to play for Marietta back in the early 80's and we were a good solid program that played much better competition. I know the Marietta population has dropped about 2000 since then. The last few years they cannot even compete with the much smaller schools they now play. I mean fellow Washington County team Fort Frye would obliterate the Tigers now. Why can't this city produce a winning football team ? I have heard that in the past they have a hard time keeping promising coaches. What is going on with this program ?

[noreply66]

Seems like when Marietta started going downhill after the SEAOL broke up. Maybe they should have gone independent for a few years. I had a good friend that lived in Marietta and when me and another guy would go down to see him, we would go to that one bar on the river and would sit with his Marietta friends and they would always say, the boys and girls just don't do sports like the old days. They didn't like that new league they had joined.

Maybe the new Twin State League can get bigger, and their kids could start coming back.

[Wildcatone]

Back in the day, Marietta was part of the old COL and played teams like Upper Arlington, Lancaster, Newark and Grove City. I think Marietta took pride in playing those schools and I think you are right that for whatever reason, the kids do not participate much like they used to. I also think they need to bring a coach to do things his way and leave him alone. Build a culture and increase participation. I have heard that they had 2 coaches there back about 15 years or so ago that lasted 1 year. I'm thinking maybe they could not deal with what I was told was constant interference from parents and the board. Basically a bad environment. I guess they must be satisfied with 2 or 3 wins a year. Too bad.

[Fletchlives]

They’ve had the same couch for the last 8-9 years. His wife is an administrator in the board office. Is never gone over .500 in all his time I believe.

[beg003]

Marietta is a weird sports community. I have good friends that went there and the community support just isn’t there on the scale of a Waterford, Warren, or Fort Frye. Their crowds aren’t the best at games either. From the outside looking in, it looks very political and has a “I’m gonna get mine” feel.

[Ironman92]

Soccer snd XC gets a better focus of needed athletes

[pioneer19]

Good posts so far. I think everyone is correct in their assessments as there isn't just one reason MHS football continues to lose.
A couple things I will add:

- Marietta has about half the enrollment it had in the COL days. As much as I'd love to see Marietta compete with the big boys, the schedule we have now is fine. I wasn't a fan of it at first, but the truth is we need to build a foundation before we load up the schedule. I think the new TSL that starts next season is a good thing.

- Soccer definitely plays a role. Take a drive down River Road in Devola. Pretty much every evening/weekend half the town is down at the soccer complex. It starts at a young age. The "sports minded" families tend to choose soccer over football. If the football program could find a way to get that energy and participation into its youth league, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

- Marietta will still support a winner. Marietta College basketball has tremendous community support. If MHS football won some games, the fans would show up imo. It's hard to support a team that hasn't had a winning season in 20 years.

Long story short, culture is the issue, but I do think it can be changed. There is athletic talent walking the halls at MHS.

[beg003]

Good posts so far. I think everyone is correct in their assessments as there isn't just one reason MHS football continues to lose.
A couple things I will add:

- Marietta has about half the enrollment it had in the COL days. As much as I'd love to see Marietta compete with the big boys, the schedule we have now is fine. I wasn't a fan of it at first, but the truth is we need to build a foundation before we load up the schedule. I think the new TSL that starts next season is a good thing.

- Soccer definitely plays a role. Take a drive down River Road in Devola. Pretty much every evening/weekend half the town is down at the soccer complex. It starts at a young age. The "sports minded" families tend to choose soccer over football. If the football program could find a way to get that energy and participation into its youth league, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

- Marietta will still support a winner. Marietta College basketball has tremendous community support. If MHS football won some games, the fans would show up imo. It's hard to support a team that hasn't had a winning season in 20 years.

Long story short, culture is the issue, but I do think it can be changed. There is athletic talent walking the halls at MHS.

Good post. Soccer kills football at small to medium size schools way more often than not.

[Wildcatone]

Good posts so far. I think everyone is correct in their assessments as there isn't just one reason MHS football continues to lose.
A couple things I will add:

- Marietta has about half the enrollment it had in the COL days. As much as I'd love to see Marietta compete with the big boys, the schedule we have now is fine. I wasn't a fan of it at first, but the truth is we need to build a foundation before we load up the schedule. I think the new TSL that starts next season is a good thing.

- Soccer definitely plays a role. Take a drive down River Road in Devola. Pretty much every evening/weekend half the town is down at the soccer complex. It starts at a young age. The "sports minded" families tend to choose soccer over football. If the football program could find a way to get that energy and participation into its youth league, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

- Marietta will still support a winner. Marietta College basketball has tremendous community support. If MHS football won some games, the fans would show up imo. It's hard to support a team that hasn't had a winning season in 20 years.

Long story short, culture is the issue, but I do think it can be changed. There is athletic talent walking the halls at MHS.

Great post. The question is this. Will the Administration at Marietta dare to be great and hand the reigns over to a dynamic culture changing head coach or stick with the hometown types that will be satisfied with 2 to 4 wins a year ? I have my doubts.

[BobcatQB]

Marietta only had 1 winning season in the 80's and 2 in the 90's, so it's been over 40 years since they were an 'average' program (after the 70's) and the schedules have gotten easier over those years..last game against Upper Arlington was 1980. Going to take alot to get it turned around. Soccer is absolutely a big part of it but the trend had been established way before that.

[The Ultimate Lancer]

You guys need to bring back Jerry Springer. That guy won at Federal Hocking and look at what has happened since he left. Marietta should hire him and keep him.

[Wildcatone]

Marietta only had 1 winning season in the 80's and 2 in the 90's, so it's been over 40 years since they were an 'average' program (after the 70's) and the schedules have gotten easier over those years..last game against Upper Arlington was 1980. Going to take alot to get it turned around. Soccer is absolutely a big part of it but the trend had been established way before that.

I was on one of those winning teams. 1983 record 6-3-1

[noreply66]

They’ve had the same couch for the last 8-9 years. His wife is an administrator in the board office. Is never gone over .500 in all his time I believe.

Don't know if the administrator and coach are the same ones that had, but when we would get together, they would be mentioned they came from one of the schools of the league they have been in and had a lot to do with them joining the league they are in now and a lot of people didn't like it.

[BobcatQB]

Marietta only had 1 winning season in the 80's and 2 in the 90's, so it's been over 40 years since they were an 'average' program (after the 70's) and the schedules have gotten easier over those years..last game against Upper Arlington was 1980. Going to take alot to get it turned around. Soccer is absolutely a big part of it but the trend had been established way before that.

I was on one of those winning teams. 1983 record 6-3-1

1983 9/2 Meigs - won 9-3
1983 9/9 River - won 15-14
1983 9/16 Parkersburg - lost 0-7
1983 9/24 Bellaire - Tied 7-7
1983 9/30 Wheeling Park - won 13-8
1983 10/7 Athens - won 13-9
1983 10/14 Pburg South - won 20-13
1983 10/21 Zanesville - lost 19-21
1983 10/28 Lancaster - lost 0-31
1983 11/4 Newark - won 14-13

[noreply66]

They’ve had the same couch for the last 8-9 years. His wife is an administrator in the board office. Is never gone over .500 in all his time I believe.

Don't know if the administrator and coach are the same ones they had, but when we would get together, they would be mentioned they came from one of the schools of the league they have been in and had a lot to do with them joining the league they are in now and a lot of people didn't like it.

[Wildcatone]

Marietta only had 1 winning season in the 80's and 2 in the 90's, so it's been over 40 years since they were an 'average' program (after the 70's) and the schedules have gotten easier over those years..last game against Upper Arlington was 1980. Going to take alot to get it turned around. Soccer is absolutely a big part of it but the trend had been established way before that.

I was on one of those winning teams. 1983 record 6-3-1

1983 9/2 Meigs - won 9-3
1983 9/9 River - won 15-14
1983 9/16 Parkersburg - lost 0-7
1983 9/24 Bellaire - Tied 7-7
1983 9/30 Wheeling Park - won 13-8
1983 10/7 Athens - won 13-9
1983 10/14 Pburg South - won 20-13
1983 10/21 Zanesville - lost 19-21
1983 10/28 Lancaster - lost 0-31
1983 11/4 Newark - won 14-13

Thank you. We had a very good defense that year but offensively we struggled.

[Raider6309]

No town support

[MttaFan]

Really great posts on here, I'll add and reiterate.....

The Coach is a really nice and good guy, and yes his wife is in admin. Very few schools will keep a coach this long who has never won. Every year we are seemingly young and rebuilding. A few years back we scheduled "down" to smaller schools. They beat us just as bad as the big schools do. It's time for a change.

Soccer has become bigger, more popular, and much more successful at Marietta. It's the popular program with a winning reputation.

Youth football has virtually disappeared in Marietta, replaced by youth soccer. A new football coach needs to build the program from the 10 year olds and up. Also, the HS Head Coach needs to have leadership over the middle school program. That's not always the case at Marietta.

Overall needs new energy and direction. Fans will support it, and Don Drumm, while it's not owned by MCS, is a really nice facility to play in on Friday nights.

Marietta has to start beating Warren and Williamstown to win the community back. They will then take notice. FF is smaller, beats schools that Marietta doesn't. So does Waterford. We can learn from them and their systems if we'll swallow our pride and focus on building a winning program.

[Wildcatone]

Really great posts on here, I'll add and reiterate.....

The Coach is a really nice and good guy, and yes his wife is in admin. Very few schools will keep a coach this long who has never won. Every year we are seemingly young and rebuilding. A few years back we scheduled "down" to smaller schools. They beat us just as bad as the big schools do. It's time for a change.

Soccer has become bigger, more popular, and much more successful at Marietta. It's the popular program with a winning reputation.

Youth football has virtually disappeared in Marietta, replaced by youth soccer. A new football coach needs to build the program from the 10 year olds and up. Also, the HS Head Coach needs to have leadership over the middle school program. That's not always the case at Marietta.

Overall needs new energy and direction. Fans will support it, and Don Drumm, while it's not owned by MCS, is a really nice facility to play in on Friday nights.

Marietta has to start beating Warren and Williamstown to win the community back. They will then take notice. FF is smaller, beats schools that Marietta doesn't. So does Waterford. We can learn from them and their systems if we'll swallow our pride and focus on building a winning program.

Totally agree especially with the new coach having leadership over the middle school program. The middle school needs to run the same system as the high school. Win and they will come. However do you think the administration will even pull trigger on a new coach ? What was the story on I think the 2 coaches that were there for a very short period before the current coach and his father before him ? Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that they like to keep it in house at Marietta and that has not worked out at all. No outsiders allowed so to speak ? Just wondering. I moved from Marietta in 99 and am in Central Ohio now. It's going to be a tough job and take a special person to turn around that program for sure. There are some good ex coaches up here available like a Brian White type who lead Hilliard Davidson to 2 state titles running a system that gave teams fits. I just want to see Marietta turn it around but they really need to find a coach outside of Southeast Ohio IMO to kill off the losing culture and build it up. Then the administration needs to let him do his thing and not interfere. Does the Marietta administration have the will to do this though ?

[VetteMan]

I may be completely out of the loop on this, but does Marietta still play their home games at Marietta College? I thought that back in the SEOL days that they did.