The basketball question..... Bulldogs, Royals, Hogs, Dogs & Titans

My good friend Jeff Reese called me in January of 2016. He said.... "If I were a superintendent and wanted to fix my basketball program, I would hire you as my football coach!"  At the time he called me, both our Mercer girls and boys basketball were ranked number one or near the top. I had just completed my first football season with the Titans.  A few weeks later, both our boys and girls won the region and went to the state tournament.

Since that time, the Mercer County girls basketball team has won two state championships, the first basketball state titles in school history. During my time at Mason County, the boys won two state basketball championships, both were the first in school history, even though Mason County has traditionally been strong in basketball.

2018 State Champion Mercer County Lady Titans

So, how does this happen? Does hiring me as football coach make a basketball program better? The answer is simple.... NO.

In fact, everyone has it BACKWARDS. The same characteristics that make me think a football program has potential are many of the same reasons they have success in basketball.

1. Great kids.
When I was a teacher and assistant football coach at Paris HS, our basketball team had great games with Maysville HS & Mason County HS. I was always really impressed with the kids from those schools. They were tough kids that played very hard. When the Mason County job opened up and I knew I could coach kids from both of those HS schools due to merger, I knew I would enjoy coaching them.  They did not disappoint me. They had to learn to play football, but we had great kids who would work hard and some pretty good athletes as well.

I know what kind of athletes played football and basketball at Harrodsburg & Mercer County HS when I was growing up. I knew I would enjoy coaching the Mercer kids when the football position opened up.  The current athletes at Mercer, I knew a bunch of their Dads and even Moms and how they competed. Watching the Mercer boys in the region championship and our girls in the state championship this past week, definitely reminded me of how hard those old Maysville Bulldogs and Mason County Royals would compete back in the late 80's.  This past football season, we stunk in September and October. But, we had really good kids who would not quit. They hung in there and in November we played some very good football.

Emma, JCB & Trosper supporting the Royals at the 2006 State Tournament

2. Administration / Adults: Love kids and committed to winning and success across the board.
 I had some great bosses at Mason County and I have some great ones here at Mercer.  Quality people who want to win and love kids. I like working for people like that.

3. A community that loves kids and loves athletics.

The above reasons played a big role in why I wanted to be the head football coach at both schools.

One other factor though is that unlike other football coaches, good basketball doesn't scare me. Alot of football coaches are scared to take a job at a school that loves basketball. And, to be fair, alot of basketball coaches are scared to take a job at a school that loves football. That doesn't bother me. I think winning is winning. I hope my guys are use to winning in everything they do. Life is alot more fun when we are FOR each other and we can be happy for the success of other programs, people, and ALL of our kids.

Now, I did tell one of my football coach friends yesterday that if he sees his girls and boys coach together in a meeting, they are probably getting ready to fire him and bring me in has the new head football coach. Maybe if he shows them this blog post, they will let him hang around one more year. 😀