Panther Football future

[Pantherhead]

Lets get something going . South has been mediocre for most of this decade, Is a winning season enough for the panthers nowadays ,is wanting more a desire within the panther hierarchy? Lets Talk.

[Dustin T.]

O.K. Mike P.
I was not implying that Marcus can not throw the ball I was only figurativly speeking. However, he did have nearly as many interceptions as TD's. And as far as Blackwell and South's recievers, I never said that they aren't fast. What I did say is that you have to have speed and quickness at all positions. You may need for a guard to pull from time to time and pick up a linebacker. I do believe I said at all positions. Contrary to popular belief, in most situations a running back, quarterback and reciever are only as good as the O line allows them to be. That could play into the 14 inteceptions I suppose. No I don't go to every game and I don't have all the stats that you have, but I do know a little bit about football. In fact, I know enough about football and fundamentals as you were talking about earlier to know that in this day and age, in a competitive conference, stand up D is just plain not going to work.....EVER!!!! I will give him props for having a change at heart, but have to seriously question his decision to run it in the first place. I don't know much about Oklahoma. That would make me an unfair judge of your example. I don't know anything about the areas surrounding Tulsa, what kind of compitition do these two teams face etc. If South played Brown County, Davies County, Orange county, Bedford North Lawrence, Owen Valley, Edgewood, and so on we would post alot of winning seasons and wouldn't have to practice but every other day. OOOOps, I should say the old Edgewood. Listen, I'm not really trying to bash coach Woods, I truely think that he is a good guy and that he really loves what he does. I just think that we should keep our eyes and our ears open for something better. Our children diserve the best. Some coaches get so caught up in standards and morals and believeing that there is only one way to do things, that they completely miss out on an opportunity to learn new things themselves. These kids can teach a coach quite a bit to if he is willing to learn.

[Big Z]

It took me a little time to come around to Mike P. and remarks. However, I respect the fact that he backs up almost all of his remarks with stats and I do believe he has been very closely involved with the program as a whole. I think what he wrote about getting the youth league programs involved and on the same page as the south system is great. I guess I didn't realize that this had fallen to the wayside the last few years. I assumed that the youth system was still set up the same way as it used to be and that included a heavy dose of south coaches knowing the teams and working to build a foundation at a young age. It is too bad that something happened to this foundation and now we have to start all over. I agree though, this is probably the most important aspect to a successful program from top to bottom. I believe it is a major reason that we have seen such a huge improvement in the Center Grove program. They even have their own Center Grove Youth Football Complex!

Now, in the past I have made remarks that Coach Mo did this and that, while Coach Wood is using ridiculous scheme's and whatnot. Mike P. informed me that after the stand up defense was thrown out, South ran the base 50 defense that Coach Mo used to run. I do believe this was a good move, but I don't know that South has the personal to run this defense. Maybe they will have the personal to run this in the future, but I just hope they aren't afraid to adapt their D based on the types of players they have. Also, Mike P. mentioned that they added a new coach that had been a college coach for the past 16 years. Well even Mike P. should know that this doesn't really mean anything. The difference between college football and high school football is HUGE and most people don't realize that this is so, even at a small school Div. III level. Also, I must remind everyone of the last coach that came from the college level to coach at south was Coach McConnell. We all know how that worked out and it is probably the major factor in why Coach Wood's job has been so tough here the last few years.

[Dustin T.]

I think that big Z is backing up what I am saying. In order to be a great coach you have to be able to assess your players properly. Then you have to come up with a plan that will work with what you have. Base 50 is not the right D for South. Maybe soon, but not now.

[Mike P.]

I know the Coach they brought in personally, his son played for my championship youth team. The players responded to him well, and all the players I know felt he was exactly what they needed.

Let me ask you this, with the personnel South has, what defense would you run? Even though I was there with Mo, I am not a huge fan of the Base 50 myself. I actually prefer a 4-3 or 4-4, which works out perfect with the youth league I coach in requiring 4 down linemen on defense.

There is work to be done, and I think Wood can get it done. The only major complaint I have right now is that they do not develop depth as well as they should. I don't feel the JV team is structured very well, as there are players who do not see time on the field as the coaches get caught up in winning the game. I could care less if we win any JV game, develop a rotation to get all the underclassmen on the field and allow them to develop their skills. That is one thing Mo done well, his JV coaches wanted to win, but they understood every dressed player needed field time, and needed more than just 1 series, and it was their job to develop those players during the games to be able to dig 2 or 3 deep on to the bench.

[Pantherhead]

I love the 50 I can still hear coach cooley , Teaching that stingy d that he used to enforce. Of course he left south in th early 90's and someone else took over but by that time it was second nature at south. Again i started this topic b cause id love to see south rise to the level they were at a decade or two ago. We still have a better than average program but i would dare to say we have a top 10 program. I believe that coach wood will be around for awhile and i just couldnt bear to see south lose like that to center grove granted they(CG) are a top 10 program now, but we still own the series standing vs CG and Ben Davis (thanks to the 1960's when we throttled Ben Davis 4 years straght, And also rex grossman who beat BD three years straight in the 90's), and we hold a series lead vs Warren Central thanks to Mr Rex Grossman and company also. But if we had to face these teams on a yearly basis we would be the ones being throttled. I just dont think that Coach Drew Wood instills a sense of Panther P.R.I.D.E. That was a common thing here. Mo never lost by 40 points or more two years in a row. Im just looking for a way to get us back to a top 10 program myself b cause i dont see coach wood going anywhere. He hasnt even had a losing season here there's no way that he is in any danger of losing his job here and he shouldnt be . Maybe its just time to give up on the panthers or accept mediocrity.

[Mike P.]

Pantherhead,

Do you know what ever happened to Coach Cooley? Is he still coaching somewhere?

[Pantherhead]

Mike P. said:

Pantherhead,

Do you know what ever happened to Coach Cooley? Is he still coaching somewhere?

Yes Coach Cooley Coached at Ft Wayne Harding For a few years before taking the Head Coaching job at Jeffersonville. He's been down at Jeff High for 5 or 6 years now.

[Dustin T.]

I believe you are right. Coach wood probably is not going anywhere and so maybe it is time to give up and accept mediocrity. There is one more option. If they won't bring Bland to us, we can go to Bland. Edgewood has an excellent school system. I don't feel like youd be giving up anything educational wise. And if you feel like you have a player he can succeed at the next level you should want him coached by the best coach. Just imagine if we had 4 or 5 of souths top prospects move into Edgewood district. What a dominating force edgewood would be. Winning state title after state title. Imagine the college coaches who would be hearing all the hoopla. Imagine the coaches who would start to scout.

[Mike P.]

Dustin T. said:

I believe you are right. Coach wood probably is not going anywhere and so maybe it is time to give up and accept mediocrity. There is one more option. If they won't bring Bland to us, we can go to Bland. Edgewood has an excellent school system. I don't feel like youd be giving up anything educational wise. And if you feel like you have a player he can succeed at the next level you should want him coached by the best coach. Just imagine if we had 4 or 5 of souths top prospects move into Edgewood district. What a dominating force edgewood would be. Winning state title after state title. Imagine the college coaches who would be hearing all the hoopla. Imagine the coaches who would start to scout.

I really like Coach Bland, but I am not to high on him yet. He had a stacked team that plays in an awful league. Look at what happened against one of the worst HH teams in recent history. Bland still has a way to go before he is a proven commodity, though at Edgewood I like his chances of proving himself.

[Dustin T.]

How do you have a stacked team with a roster of 22? I think that if his team was stacked it was because of his doing. And as far as their conference, yeah they are horrible as a whole, but isn't Edgewood usually somewhere around the middle to bottom of the pack.

[Mike P.]

Dustin T. said:

How do you have a stacked team with a roster of 22? I think that if his team was stacked it was because of his doing. And as far as their conference, yeah they are horrible as a whole, but isn't Edgewood usually somewhere around the middle to bottom of the pack.

I should have said with senior talent. I am waiting to see what Coach Bland can do next year losing his major talent, and FYI, they had more than 22 players on their roster, at least they did in sectionals.

[Brian Smith]

Coach Wood use to flat out disregard the IHSAA rule dictating playing time while at Homestead. Sophomores and Juniors would play 4 quarters on Friday night and then another 4 in the JV game the same week. He would have Freshman play 4 quarters in the Freshman game and another 4 in the JV game. I saw many young players discouraged due to this lack of concern for IHSAA rules. I played Division 1 football, if my high school coach had done the same thing...I probably wouldn't have continued playing. As a freshman in high school, I had not matured physically. But, my coach was developing and coaching each of us. While at Homestead, Coach Wood was handed tremendous talent and he relied upon their talent to achieve his success. If he had worked more with the whole team...rather than what he perceived as the elite few...the Spartans may have been able to beat Snider and get out of the sectional. A real coach knows how to work with the whole team and develop them from the bottom up...until Coach Wood figures this out...Bloomington South will not be much more than mediocre.