Marietta football - What's the deal ?

[beg003]

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.

Yes, they still do.

[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.

Yes, they still do.

Thank you. I remember watching Jackson/Marietta there quite a few years ago.

[Skyrocket]

I Remember Bellaire playing Marietta, It's been a long time since they played. Marietta played good football back then.

[Ff3233]

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.

Yes, they still do.

They pay the college way too much money to play there.

[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.

Yes, they still do.

They pay the college way too much money to play there.

Maybe a dumb question? Do they have their own football field at their high school?

[Wildcatone]

Yes, they still do.

They pay the college way too much money to play there.

Maybe a dumb question? Do they have their own football field at their high school?

Yes. There is a field behind the high school gym.

[beg003]

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.

Yes, they still do.

They pay the college way too much money to play there.

At one time, I heard it was $10k per game. I could be totally wrong about that number but either way, I assume it's a lot.

[beg003]

Yes, they still do.

They pay the college way too much money to play there.

Maybe a dumb question? Do they have their own football field at their high school?

They use the one at the school as a practice field. Not sure if there's room for bleachers, but I doubt it. Parking would be a nightmare too.

[Wildcatone]

There is not a big enough parcel of flat land not in a flood zone currently available in Marietta to even build their own stadium that I'm aware of. Even the high school was built in a ravine.

[blackshooky]

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.

BINGO!! We have a winner!!!

[VetteMan]

They pay the college way too much money to play there.

Maybe a dumb question? Do they have their own football field at their high school?

Yes. There is a field behind the high school gym.

Thanks! I'm sure there must be a good reason as to why they don't use their own field.

[bigblue52]

Another thing that hurt Marietta football was leaving the SEOAL and joining the ECOL. They very rarely won in that league and was a main contributor as to why they would go 4-6 to 5-5 year in year out for many years.

[VetteMan]

Another thing that hurt Marietta football was leaving the SEOAL and joining the ECOL. They very rarely won in that league and was a main contributor as to why they would go 4-6 to 5-5 year in year out for many years.

I have no idea as to what schools were in the ECOL? Was there a particular reason as to why they left the SEOL? At that time, could travel distance have been one of the reasons for changing leagues?

[enigmaax]

Another thing that hurt Marietta football was leaving the SEOAL and joining the ECOL. They very rarely won in that league and was a main contributor as to why they would go 4-6 to 5-5 year in year out for many years.

Marietta was in the SEOAL from 1985-2010.

Prior to that they played in the COL for about 50 years. They actually had several winning seasons in the 60s & 70s while playing in that league, but there were typically only 4-6 teams in the league.

They definitely didn’t have much success in the ECOL, but that league also just had a handful of teams and was only really the last decade (the program was down way before that).

[enigmaax]

Another thing that hurt Marietta football was leaving the SEOAL and joining the ECOL. They very rarely won in that league and was a main contributor as to why they would go 4-6 to 5-5 year in year out for many years.

I have no idea as to what schools were in the ECOL? Was there a particular reason as to why they left the SEOL? At that time, could travel distance have been one of the reasons for changing leagues?

The old COL (which they left to join the SEOAL in 1985) was Zanesville, Newark, & Lancaster at the end. Upper Arlington left a few years before it folded. Grove City was in it for 5 or 6 years in the late 70s/into like 1981. Chillicothe was maybe there into the 70s and all other schools were way before that.

The ECOL when Marietta joined was Dover, New Philly, Cambridge, Meadowbrook, Coshocton, River View, & Claymont (I think). I want to say Rosecrans was there for a bit but that also seems odd. Anyway, the last half of that list pretty much left at the same time and Warren kind of joined in 2020 (COVID and all that) but last year was it for that conference.

[VetteMan]

Another thing that hurt Marietta football was leaving the SEOAL and joining the ECOL. They very rarely won in that league and was a main contributor as to why they would go 4-6 to 5-5 year in year out for many years.

I have no idea as to what schools were in the ECOL? Was there a particular reason as to why they left the SEOL? At that time, could travel distance have been one of the reasons for changing leagues?

The old COL (which they left to join the SEOAL in 1985) was Zanesville, Newark, & Lancaster at the end. Upper Arlington left a few years before it folded. Grove City was in it for 5 or 6 years in the late 70s/into like 1981. Chillicothe was maybe there into the 70s and all other schools were way before that.

The ECOL when Marietta joined was Dover, New Philly, Cambridge, Meadowbrook, Coshocton, River View, & Claymont (I think). I want to say Rosecrans was there for a bit but that also seems odd. Anyway, the last half of that list pretty much left at the same time and Warren kind of joined in 2020 (COVID and all that) but last year was it for that conference.

Thank you. Appreciate all the Information.

[MttaFan]

Marietta left for the ECOL when the SEOAL expanded. The travel was brutal, and the gates were much smaller as well. Initially the gates were bigger with the ECOL, but in the long run there’s just not a good conference fit, that will take Marietta, in the region.

When Marietta owned Don Drumm it was a dump, on the verge of being condemned. They deeded it to Marietta College on the condition that MC make millions in improvements (which they did) and give MHS free use for 10 years.

MHS needs their own facility, but in the meantime Don Drumm is a great place to play. They pay a fee to use it (I don’t know what it is now) but have no costs for maintenance or improvements.

[VetteMan]

Marietta left for the ECOL when the SEOAL expanded. The travel was brutal, and the gates were much smaller as well. Initially the gates were bigger with the ECOL, but in the long run there’s just not a good conference fit, that will take Marietta, in the region.

When Marietta owned Don Drumm it was a dump, on the verge of being condemned. They deeded it to Marietta College on the condition that MC make millions in improvements (which they did) and give MHS free use for 10 years.

MHS needs their own facility, but in the meantime Don Drumm is a great place to play. They pay a fee to use it (I don’t know what it is now) but have no costs for maintenance or improvements.

Thank you! I had no idea as to why they left the SEOL. Really great Info. from someone in the know.

[boss8]

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.

Warren has beaten Marietta twice in recent years. Once when they had their best class of kids in forever (2020) and this year, when Marietta had 10-12 contributors out. There have been some major blowouts by Marietta in recent games between the two. So not sure what you mean by “has to start beating Warren”.

[boss8]

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.

I’m pretty sure that the current head coach is not “satisfied with 2 to 4 wins a year”. Just because they don’t win a lot doesn’t mean they are lacking effort or desire.