Coaches Office with guest Coach Hunter Cantwell

The coaches welcome CAL Head Coach Hunter Cantwell

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Coach David Buchanan coach Chuck Smith, two legendary high school
football coaches. This is the Coach's Office, a behind the

(00:33):
scenes look at Kentucky high school football. It's coaches Office
trivia to him, only three football coaches that have won
over three hundred games in Kentucky did.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
It at one school and you name them?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Behind the scenes with Chuck Smith and David Buchanan. This
is season four, Episode fourteen.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm Chuck Smith.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm joined by co hosts David Buchannan and podcast editor
Mike Yoacom. The YouTube version of this podcast is at
tea cop If you would hit like and subscribe, if
you choose to listen to it on YouTube, then we
would appreciate it. We got another great show for you tonight.
Our guest coach tonight is Hunter Cantwell. He's the head

(01:28):
football coach at Tower High School, Christian Academy of Louisville. Hunter,
he's an outstanding young coach. He's got his team on
track to win the fourth straight state championship.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Four p man.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
That is that is that's really really hard to do.
He's a class ic.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
He's a really likable young man.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
We're gonna bring him on in a minute, and you
guys will get to know him a little bit better.
Our top popping for tonight is again from Bluegrass Preps.
It's from Bee Charger, and it's the question is sixty
five players or one hundred and five players nine to twelve?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Which is better?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
That's a pretty good question that I've never had anywhere
close to one hundred and five. But I can give
you an answer for that question that we'll talk about
here after we finished with Hunter. The games of the
week are going to pick the regional champs. We're not
going to pick all of them. We're only going to
pick a few of them. But David, you want David,

(02:34):
trust me, you want David to pick your team to win,
because man, he is really he'd been hot all year
long when.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Picking these games.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
A little bit about Hunter before we bring you on.
As I said, he's the head football coach of Christian
Academy of Louisville. He has been the head football coach
at Christian Academy since twenty nineteen. Before that, he was
the head football coach of Carroll County. Up there, you know,

(03:03):
off of when is that sixty seventy one off seventy
one up in toward north of Kentucky. But anyway, he's
the head football coach there from twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen.
Prior to that, he was the quarterback coach at Campbellsville University,
and then prior to getting into coaching, I think Hunter

(03:25):
was well known across the state and made his name as.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
A football player.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
He was a really really good high school quarterback at
Paduca Tilman High School before I first recognized him, and
I actually coached against him in the game. He was
really really good. He said, all their passing records at
the time. I don't know if he still holds them all,
but at the time, I think he had all their

(03:50):
passing records. He played college football at the University of Louisville,
had a really nice successful career there. He had brief
stints in the NFL with the Caroline of Panthers and
the Baltimore Ravens. And he is currently, as I said,
got his cow team, Christian Academy of Little Boy. He's
got on track to win their fourth straight state championship. David,

(04:16):
you want to bring Hunter on, Hey?

Speaker 4 (04:18):
I do.

Speaker 5 (04:18):
I'm excited to have him, you know, Hey, When I
was at Mercer County and I got the news we're
in a district with Calendar Sales, I was like, you've
got to be Kidney.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
But I tell you what was cool. I got to
meet through that.

Speaker 5 (04:34):
I got to meet Harold Davison the Sales, and then
Hunter campwell at CAL, and I really like those guys.
I was stationed for that friendship. Now with Hunter, I
mean we played six times, he he won four, He
won all three in November. Okay, I mean an excellent
football coach. But Hunter my one little victory and the

(04:54):
whole thing. You may not even remember it when we
went into overtime in twenty twenty and we came out
there and we met.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
You look at me and you shook.

Speaker 5 (05:03):
Your head and you just said, we have got to
get out of this district with you. And I was like, man,
they could have they could have given me a state change.
I was just so happy that. It's like, man, I'm
glad CAL has to deal with us, you know, so,
But anyway, hey, Hunter.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
Won four of them.

Speaker 5 (05:19):
He won the big ones in November, and he is
an excellent football coach. And one last little thing I
want to add, man, when triform played his last ballgame.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
Man, that was tough.

Speaker 6 (05:33):
Boy.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
That was a hard thing for us to go through.
But I tell you what.

Speaker 5 (05:36):
A few days later, he gets a handwritten note from
Hunter Campwell and Hunter that made a big impression on
our entire team, and uh, you know, I know we're coaches,
but really we're dads first. And as a dad man
that that meant the world to me. So, hey, we're
excited to have you. I can go on and on.

(05:57):
I'm gonna shut up, but I'm a huge Hunter Campwell fan.
So Hunter, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Speaker 7 (06:02):
I appreciate you guys having me on. You go, you
all going back through all that history, it reminds me, uh,
you know, when I'm around you guys and footballs and
things don't go my way. Year, Chuck knocks me, you know,
knocks my state championship hopes, you know, out lose to
Bull County. We were undefeated till then then Chuck decides

(06:24):
to follow follow me to college football and my senior
at Louisville, his linebackers are getting after me and we
lucky my senior year and that was tough.

Speaker 6 (06:35):
You know.

Speaker 7 (06:35):
My first year coach McAll we go down and play
Boyle and Chuck puts a running clock on on Christian
Academy Louisville, and you know, a day a week later,
David's Mercer County team rolls into Cal. It's homecoming, you know,
beats me at home. You know, I got half the
stands calling for my job. It turns around and does
it again the next year. So I'm nervous. I'm nervous

(06:58):
about being being around. Uh yeah, I'll have to take
it easy on me tonight.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Right, You going for your fourth Street state championship?

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Absolutely? Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Hey, n I'll start us off a year.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
You guys are looking like strong favorites for the four
Peak this year. How have you been able to maintain
such a high level of success year after year? I mean,
did you guys talk about, you know, going for four.
Do you guys use that for motivation?

Speaker 6 (07:31):
You know?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
How have you been able to do that?

Speaker 6 (07:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (07:34):
Well, I think the standard at CAL is to compete
for a state championship, and that doesn't come from me.
Coach Steff on the four as my predecessor, he built
call into what it is and we were able to
just kind of take that handoff and and stay running
with it. You know, I think one thing we've been
really blessed with is is really talented football players.

Speaker 6 (07:53):
And we've got got a really talented football team this year.

Speaker 7 (07:57):
People forget that Cal is K through twelve and we
start football at Cal in the first grade. And so
you know, this year's group of seniors, they were in
the middle school state championship as eighth graders. Our sophomore
class was in the middle school state championship is eighth graders,
and a lot of those guys have been running, you know,
our schemes, offense, defense, and special teams. You know since

(08:20):
since Peewee's our quarterback, Jackson Burke. He's a great example
of that. He's a sophomore. He's completing eighty one percent
of his passes right now. If there be ended today,
he would be number one all time single season completion percentage.
Any class he would he would have that record. He's

(08:41):
got forty two touchdowns, he's only throwing one interception.

Speaker 6 (08:44):
He's been running.

Speaker 7 (08:45):
He's been running our system since since the fourth grade.
He's a longtime cow kid. So you know, each year
we've given him a little bit more. So you know
what he ran in fourth grade wasn't what he ran
in fifth grade, and so on and so forth. And
so when you're blessed with, you know, an incredible feeder
program and you've got total control from the top down,

(09:08):
and you're able to kind of have those kids run
your system all the way through elementary school, all the
way through middle school, and then.

Speaker 6 (09:15):
They get to high school.

Speaker 7 (09:16):
And on top of that, there's some kids that have
are talented, and then you know, I think that lends
itself towards success. And I think the other thing, too,
is is we've really worked our tails off and trying
to develop our guys. You know, we only have fifty
players on our roster, you know, give or take, you know,
year and year out, and so we we you know,
we really can't afford injuries. We really can't afford you know,

(09:39):
losing guys things like that, and so everybody's got to
be developed. Everybody's got to you know, reach their full potential.
And you know, we work really hard year round on
doing that. And the end of the day, you know,
you set those standards and you trust the process and
you hope that you know.

Speaker 6 (09:54):
The ball bounces your way in the end.

Speaker 5 (09:57):
You know, Uh, I thought it was interesting. So your
offensive schemes are you are you building off of what
coach La Floors did or is it totally different from
or was there a total change when you became head coach?

Speaker 4 (10:11):
What happened there?

Speaker 7 (10:13):
Yeah, I then that was an easy sell to to
Cal administration. You know, all stems from Bobby Petrino's offer.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
I got you.

Speaker 7 (10:21):
So, Okay, Stefan was a senior at Louisville when I
was a freshman and got to know Steffan and develop
a relationship that carried on, you know, past our playing days,
and so even when I was coaching you know, NI
football and he was coaching high school, you know, we
were always communicating and we kind of spoke the same
language and came from the same you know coaching tree,

(10:44):
if you will. And so was able to step right in,
you know, day one and know what Cal had been running.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
Uh, that's really I didn't realize that. That's really cool.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
So yeah, So tell us a little bit that about
your offense that I mean, we've had to prepare for it.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
Man, it's it's a bear. I mean, you do a
great job.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
What are the foundations and the concepts of your offense
that you think are the best pieces to stress a defense.

Speaker 6 (11:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (11:13):
So yeah, like I said, it stems from coach Petrino.
I think we've kind of we've kind of followed the
Jeff Brahm tree of the of the Patrino offense. And
you know that's a that's a annual trip for for
my for me and our staff is you know, when
Jeff was in that Purdue and then then now at Louisville,

(11:35):
just to continue to go and clinic with with him
and his staff and all the new wrinkles that they
that they've put in, uh, you know just kind of
gels with what we're doing because it's it's coming from
the same place. And so you know that's been been
a tremendous hell to have, you know, offensive minds like
those guys you know kind of really just build out

(11:57):
the offense for you and kind of know, you know,
the strengths and weaknesses of it. I'd say, you know
who we are traditionally. I mean, we want to probably
eleven personnel, that's probably what we want to want to
be in the most. We want to play with a
tight end. We're gaping zone, uh schemes in the run game.
And then offensively, you know, in the passing game. We

(12:18):
really try to have an answer for everything. I remember
when I was in you know, playing youth youth league baseball.
You get the free concession stand drink after the game,
and you know, some guys would get the graveyard and
that was just.

Speaker 6 (12:29):
You know, you get it.

Speaker 7 (12:30):
You get the pepsi and you get the sprite and
then you know they put everything in the cup and
they give it to you and you were cool if
you got the graveyard, you know, And that's kind of
like how our offense is. You know, it's kind of
the graveyard offense. We've we've evolved it over the years.
We've we've got wing tea concepts, we've got air raid concepts,
we've got pro style. You know, we try to do
a little bit of everything to leverage our kids. Our

(12:53):
kids are pretty smart and they can they can handle
a lot and then some some ways that's helped us
beat you know, bigger fast for stronger teams is just
being able to do a lot. And so I wouldn't
know if there's any like one thing we'll hang our
hat on and say, you know, this is what we're
going to do. But we try to just be good
at a little bit of everything. And you know we

(13:14):
can't you know, run the ball, and you know we're
going to find ways to screen you to death and
throw the ball and get our guys in space. And
you know, if we're going to struggle in the passing game,
we don't have any problems going you know, twenty one
personnel or twelve personnel and pounding the rock at you.
And so really just try to be multiple, really try
to do a little bit of everything. And because of that,

(13:36):
you know, we really start in January and still on
our offense so we can be ready for whatever defenses
want to throw at us.

Speaker 5 (13:44):
I know when we played you, what I thought gave
us the most problems is I thought your play action
stuff was really good.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
You we ran the ball well, your.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
Play action off of it was good, and your quarterback
fakes were really good. Uh, he did a really good
job of making that look alike. And that that just
one comment. Hey, Chuck, I'll shut up. Let you get
to the next one.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
There go with, Yeah, it's a really good offense.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
You know, I've over the years with Coach Petrino and
the Broms in on all that and then and then
you guys at Cow have done a great job with
that hunter. As you get deeper and deeper to the playoffs,
you know what separates the teams that have a legitimate
shot at winning winning it and winning the whole thing.

(14:30):
Is it the offense, the defense, the specialty teams or
is it something else?

Speaker 7 (14:35):
Yeah, I think you need to be good in all
three phases. I tell our team all the time. You know,
in twenty two, we were playing Paduca Tillman in the
Region championship and Tillman had beat us the year before
in the region championship. When we felt like we had
we had a chance to win it. In twenty one,
we were down in the first half and the momentum

(14:57):
was kind of you know, on Tillman's side, and we
blocked a punt kind of deep in their territory and
really just kind of swung the momentum of that ball
game and really kind of you know what I tell
our guys, I think change changed the course of cal football,
like one one play and the playoffs, And I think
someone was really really talented that year that was you know,

(15:19):
probably a state championship type game. One guy making a
play on special teams and you know, here we are,
you know, four years later, you know, still still still
in it, still competing for for hopefully a four state championship.
So I think, yeah, I think you got to be
great in all three phases. I think, you know, you've
got to be great and special teams. I think within
those three phases you got to be adaptable. And I

(15:41):
think it kind of goes back to what I was
talking about earlier, where there's really not one thing offensively
we'll hang our hat on, We'll try to be good
at a lot of different things because we're going to
see a lot of different types of defenses. We're going
to see a lot of different types of offenses, We're
going to see different different looks on special teams. And
in my experience, and that maybe this isn't everybody's experience,
but in my experience, if you know, we're just say

(16:03):
this is what we do, and this is who we are,
and and we're we're going to ride this, well, you
might find somebody that can stop that. And if you
don't have an answer, if you're not able to adapt,
and then you're going to be in trouble. And we've
seen that, like you know, we played Bell County in
the state championship, and coach Hilton does a phenomenal job,
and you know, we were able to after a tough

(16:25):
first quarter where you know, they were able to hold
the ball the entire first quarter and score, we were
able to, you know, kind of get into a six
man bear front. And that wasn't something that we had
done on the fly, and that wasn't the first time
that year that we had done that. And we were
that year basically out, you know, playing a three front,
but we had were able to get into a forefront.

Speaker 6 (16:45):
We're able to get into a three front, We're able
to get into a bear. We're able to play.

Speaker 7 (16:48):
A lot of different coverages and do a lot of
things with with our linebackers. So when those situations do arise,
you know, hopefully, you know, those those things don't always
necessarily you end up working out, but at least you've
got an answer and you're giving yourself a chance. And
I think same thing offensively. You know, it looks like
Friday is going to be a mone soon. And you know,

(17:09):
I love to throw the ball, but if that's all
we're good at is throwing the football, and you play
a team that's got better skill in the secondary, and
you know, the elements don't always go your way, and
you know, playoffs and deep in the playoffs and you're
going home if that's all you can do. And so
I think you got to be great in all three phases.
And then within those three phases, I think you've got

(17:30):
to be adaptable. You got to have answers for everything,
and you need to practice those answers, you know, throughout
the year. So when you do play a bell counting,
when you do play a Paduka Tillman, when you do
play a Louisville Central, you know, and you can give
give your guys the best chance to have success.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, great answer. That is we talked about last week.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
You had to be really smart, you know, you know,
as you get deeper deeper to the playoffs, you know,
the smart teams are the ones who are able to.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Adapt and do other things. And it's a good answer.
I liked it.

Speaker 5 (18:07):
Yeah, that reminds me Roger would talk a lot about
that Grenizen from his time at Trinity, which he was
a U of L guy a long time ago. But
you know, Roger did a lot. We'd run split back
veer run it from the eye and do power and
sprint and stuff. And he said the same thing you said.
He said, you can't just be one dimensional if they
stop at the game's over. He said, you've got to

(18:29):
have you got to have answers. And I appreciate you
sharing that. Hey, under my next one day and it's
it's going in a little different direction here. You're faith
in Jesus Christ, it's number one in your life. In
leading a high school football program, How did that look
different in a public school like Carroll County as compared

(18:50):
to a private Christian school like cal.

Speaker 6 (18:53):
Yeah, that's a great question. You know.

Speaker 7 (18:55):
I think at Christian Academy we've got freedom to you
that's aked into everything that we do. And I think
there's there's really a lot of correlation between you know,
God's word and and and the game of football.

Speaker 6 (19:09):
There is absolute truth on Friday night, right, there is
if you do this, if you think you know what's best.

Speaker 7 (19:17):
And and you know you're gonna do that regardless, Like
we're gonna get beat. I tell our guys all the time.
Like football is a game of humility. So you either
humble yourself now in the preseason and you submit to
these things, but are are going to help you have success.

(19:37):
You know, do it, do it now or or you're
gonna get humbled later, but you don't. Football is a
game of humility, and and the Bible echoes that in life,
right like we want to we want to humble ourselves
at the cross and submit to to what Price did
on the cross for us. And if we don't, there's
a humbling that that's going to come later. You know,

(19:59):
I believe that, and so just have an incredible freedom
to share that with our guys at CAL at Carroll County.
That was something that was still really important to us.
But you know, obviously we want to want to do
right by this, you know, our superiors and our administration
and not caused them any headaches. And so you know
I kind of got with R. D and got with

(20:19):
our principal, who oddly enough is teaching now at CAL,
and said, you know, hey, what what can we do?
What do you all feel comfortable with? And so we
had a Bible study that was was player led. It
was after practice. You know, obviously there's no onus on
you know, from me or any of our coaching staff
that anybody had to attend. But you know, I was there,

(20:41):
and so we we just kind of collaborated with with
the administration said, you know, we think this is important.
We think this is a piece that that maybe some
of our guys in the public study and are are
looking for, and you know, kind of found some middle
ground and then still had that as as a part
of our program. So they've been blessed enough to work
with a lot of a lot of great people.

Speaker 6 (21:03):
And you know, Caryl County was no different.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
It's a good answer.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
And I like what you said too, because I think
sometimes we might think we get a pass in a
public school to do things maybe that we shouldn't do.
And uh, And I think I think, like you said,
I think Christians have got Old Bay the laws. So
I think I appreciate that you shared that.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
That's good. Hey, Chuck, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
I bet you can see why Hunter is having so
much success. He's really a class act. The humble guy too.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Very humble. Yes, anyway, I've got one more question for you.
It's a question.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
It's a question that we get a lot, especially this
time of year, a lot of text, a lot of input,
and it's about the private.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
And public things.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
So people feel that the private or some people feel
that the private schools should have their own division and
be separate from the the public schools in football.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
What's your fault on that?

Speaker 7 (22:02):
Well, I you know, I love I love this podcast
and so you know, it's routine for me on Friday mornings,
that's kind of my game day routine on the way
into work is to listen to the Tea cop And
I thought Coach Clark at the nail on the head
with this with this question last week, and so I
would encourage you know, the listeners to, you know, if
you haven't heard last week's podcast, to go back and

(22:26):
listen to that. And I thought Coach Clark just had
a perfect, perfect answer and probably can speak a little
bit better into this as he's been in the public
world a little bit longer. I will say the one
thing that I think doesn't get talked about with this
question is that you know, the mommies and the daddy's
and the little Jimmy's like they don't really care anymore

(22:50):
about public and private. And I'm I'm speaking, you know,
from my own experience, but the transfer portal has come
to high school football, and you know, I'm in the
Louisville world. I mean it's it's nuts and I don't
think that you know, when when kids are looking to transfer,
public or private really plays into it. And maybe people

(23:13):
will push back on that.

Speaker 6 (23:14):
But I kind of.

Speaker 7 (23:16):
Learned that the hard way when I got to Christian
Academy and I'm you know, I'm driving up campus on
first day of you know, work, and Andy, we got
a beautiful campus and we you know, Stefan did such
a great job, two state championships in the last three years.

Speaker 6 (23:29):
Like, who wouldn't want to be at COL?

Speaker 7 (23:31):
Well, apparently a lot of my varsity football team didn't
want to be at COL anymore, and most of my
eighth graders, and you know, they went to where they
felt like was the best place for them that would
help them achieve their goals. And for some of those
guys that was other private schools, and for some of
those guys it was it was other public schools. It
really the public or private for them. For for those

(23:54):
families didn't really play into it. It was more of
you know, what gives our kid the best chance to
to have success and what gives them the best chance
to play in college? And you know this year is
no different, you know, we I mean We had four
kids transfer in this offseason. Three of those four were private,
private school kids, one was public school. We lost six kids,

(24:16):
all really talented. Five of those kids would would be
starting for us, All six of them would be heavy contributors.
Five of those six are all playing at public schools
right now, you know.

Speaker 6 (24:29):
And that's year in and year out. You know, my my.

Speaker 7 (24:33):
Phone every off season rings thirty to forty times with
families that are potentially interested. We're not recruiting those kids.
That's just you know, like I said, mommies and daddies
want what's best for their kids.

Speaker 6 (24:44):
Now, most of those kids can't get into cow and
and won't make it.

Speaker 7 (24:48):
But yeah, and you know, David, I like your idea
on the select and non select, But I think in Louisville,
I think if you're doing a good job and everything's board,
I think there's a chance kids are just gonna want
to come play for you. And so then, you know,
how do you navigate that? Like we're you know, maybe
we're at a public school. We're not we're not recruiting.

(25:10):
We're doing good things. We're winning some games we shouldn't
be winning. You know, kids are are loving it. They're
having a great experience. Well, kids are going to come
to that school. Whether you're recruiting or not, kids are
going to come to that school. Paulin Daniels is a
great example. He's a mister football candidate at north Oldham
right now, and he was at Christian Academy his freshman
and sophomore season. And you know, coach Roberts at north

(25:32):
oldham's doing it, doing a phenomenal job. And you know,
his family, for whatever reason, you know, when they decided
to leave Cal wasn't wasn't the best option. And I
don't think Brock's recruiting at all. I think he's doing
a great job, and kids naturally want to want to join,
you know, programs that are doing a good job. So
I think that's another piece that just doesn't get talked

(25:53):
about it. I can't speak for the rest of the state,
but yeah, I know there's a lot of coaches that
are are doing things the right way. But I think, really,
you know, families are always going to look to leave,
and you know, we I've got to fight every year
to keep our kids and to make sure that I'm
doing everything I can to help them achieve their goals.
And if I don't, I'm not going to have a

(26:13):
football team much longer. Within that culture and that mindset
that you know, kind of pervades high school sports. Like
how what what the fix is there? I don't know,
but I do agree with coach Clark that I think
that the public and private, at least in our parents' minds,
is becoming less and less of a thing. And what's

(26:34):
becoming more and more of a thing is you know,
what what can you do for my son? I think
how how that plays out and in the playoffs and
who should play who? I don't know if I've got
a great answer, but I think if if you're if
you're winning ball games, you're doing things the right way,
You're giving your kids opportunities. You know, kids are naturally
going to want to be a part of your program,

(26:56):
whether you're recruiting or not, whether you're a select school
or non select. So just the craziness that we all
kind of find ourselves in. And but I do think
I think coach Clark really nailed it, you know, I
guess I would say that I do think that that
you know, at least at our level at Christian Academy
at three A there's there's there's teams that I'm I'm
worried about. There's there's teams out there in the state

(27:18):
that are our public school or private school, you know,
like say Catholic, Murray Lloyd, Memorial Bell that could easily
beat us, and you know, I hate to lose those
those opportunities for us to compete against them and for
them to compete against us.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
It's a good answer, answer, very good answer, and a
fair answer. It's a fair answer, and I appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
And I think whatever the final answer is, I think
it's getting consistent among our guests that it's not a
public private thing anymore.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
I mean, we may not be able.

Speaker 5 (27:52):
To know what the answer is, but we know the
answer is not separate public and private.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
That's that ship is sale, you know. So I appreciate
what you said. That was good.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
Appreciate you being on, and we wish you all the
luck in the world and go get that four.

Speaker 6 (28:09):
P Yeah, we'll do our best. Thanks so much for
having me on.

Speaker 7 (28:12):
Like I said, I love this podcast and appreciate all
you guys do for high school football.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
Hey, we appreciate you, and Hey, thank you so much.
Good good luck to you. Keep going.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
Appreciate you, guys, Appreciate you, David.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
But I'm such a class act, didn't he He's so humble,
he really is. He wins all.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Those games, going on, four state championships in row, and
you thought.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
That he hadn't won one yet.

Speaker 5 (28:43):
You know, you know something else too about playing him,
And part of this I attribute to his faith. But
I could tell when I met him the first time
we played and we'd interacted, I could tell you could
tell right there too, you are not going to rattle Hunter.
You know, you just you're not gonna get under his skin.
You're not gonna get him shook. You know, he like

(29:04):
I said that one time in overtime. He got a
little frustrated. But man, you just can't rattle the guy.
And he's very even killed. And I mean he makes
great decisions on Friday nights and running this program.

Speaker 4 (29:16):
And I thought that sort of came out in his
interview tonight. I thought he did a good job.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
I did tell it. Hey, let's go to the next segment.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
The next segment is our Tough Copy, and it's from
Bluegrass Preps to be e Charger. Sixty five players or
one hundred and five players nine.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
To twelve, which is better? Okay, I'll go first.

Speaker 5 (29:38):
I think if you got enough facilities in staffing, I
would take one O five. And you know, you and
I talked about this, and I know my dad wanted,
you know what, Boyle, he wanted to have a freshman
sophomore program and a junior senior program, and only the
sophomores that would start would be with the older guys.
So if you got the facility in staffing, I would

(29:59):
be good with one O five. But everywhere else I've coached,
I would say sixty five. And I've sort of learned
this at Anderson County. My number is seventy five. Now,
I'm not going to kick number seventy six off. And
when we got up I think I think we got
up to seventy seven or seventy eight this year, and
that's good. That's a good sign when we're trying to build.

(30:20):
But at the end of the day, you can only
twenty eleven, and uh, I just think that. I just
think navigating with the facilities and staffing that I've got. Now,
if I had to pick, I think I'm going I
think we will do a better job with sixty five
and uh, in my current situation. So if they give

(30:43):
you all the facilities and stavving you want, let's have
one hundred and five, but most places don't operate like that.
You sort of you got what you got and you
got to make it work. Yeah, I mean my answer
is really close to yours. That you know, more the more,
the better for me. You know, if if you have
the staff to handle it, and that's the key is

(31:05):
having the staff to be able to handle it and
the facilities. But if you have kids standing around not
doing anything, and then you know, that's not good. You know,
they're not being developed, they're not They're going to get
bored and they're not going to be motivated to continue
to play. If you don't have the staff to be
able to handle that many kids. You know, I think

(31:28):
you know, when you get into those bigger programs, I
think you know, and you're handling that many kids and
you're you've got forty five fifty freshmen, forty five fifty sophomores,
then they'll start thinning themselves out once they get once
they get past that sophomore year, you almost have to
have a freshman team and then a uh, you know,

(31:49):
a JV team, you know.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
With your sophomores and smaller juniors, and then and then
of course you know have you know, your varsity team
after that. But yeah, I think that the more you
can I never ran anybody off either, and the more
you have the better if you have the staff.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
To handle them.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
And I think that comes back to the school of
the school's got to recognize that and say, you know, well,
if you got this many kids that want to play,
then it's our job, you know, to get you the
staff to be able to handle that and do as
you said. It doesn't always happen like that, but it
certainly should because you know, football is such a great

(32:32):
sport and I think it's really important for kids to
that want to play have the opportunity to play.

Speaker 5 (32:40):
Yeah, I agree, And again, we're not going to run
anybody off, you know. Right now, I don't know. We
may hit eighty next year. I don't know. I don't
know if we will or not. I know, right now,
there's a lot of kids talking like they want to
come out and we're going to do the best we
can with them.

Speaker 4 (32:56):
We will, but I don't know what you think.

Speaker 5 (32:58):
And I know it's like it is South who Warren
it's getting comfort to have a staff for.

Speaker 4 (33:03):
Sixty five kids.

Speaker 5 (33:05):
I mean, finding really good coaches that will want to
grind and want to do all the stuff that goes
with it. I mean because I think sometimes from the
outside looking in, I think sometimes people see the coaches
wearing the coaching shirt and the hat, and they see
them on the sideline and like, oh, man, that looks cool.

(33:26):
I think I want to do that. And then they
get in there and you know, you got to be
at practice it of you know, five forty five am,
and it's like, wait a second, I didn't see this.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
But I always get a kick out of this.

Speaker 5 (33:40):
Stephanie would tell me she'd be at the she'd be
at Crowger on a Sunday and people see her and say, well,
I guess David's at home watching football, and she's like,
David's working, Like what do you what.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Do you all think happens?

Speaker 5 (33:54):
So what I'm getting that is we're trying to staff
one hundred and five. Man, I'm trying to staff. I'm
trying to staff sixty five and it's hard. It is
really hard.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
It is for me anyway, Brent Brandon, I have to
keep always bragging on Brandy, but he does do a
good job. He has over one hundred kids, and uh,
he has it all structured. It's really detailed. It's really organized,
and uh, you know, every kid is getting developed, every
kids getting work.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
He doesn't really, I'm really impressed with it. He does
a really good job with that.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
Well, hey, I don't doubt that at all. And man,
I enjoy this. I'll text Brandon about every other day
or get to talk to him about something. So uh, man,
I'm proud of him, and he does a super job.

Speaker 4 (34:41):
Absolutely, David.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
Let's get into the next and last segment of the program,
and that is picking our regional champs.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
This time, there's.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Only eight teams left in each classification, so what that's
and that's probably that's forty eight teams right that are yeah,
across the state of Kentucky, and that's going to cut
in half after this week.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Listen, last week, David, you were eleven out of twelve,
even eleven out of twelve. I mean the only one
you missed was the one you picked with your heart,
and that one's Bracken County because you lived up fair
Boum one time.

Speaker 5 (35:28):
Yeah, I seven out of twelve seven out of twelve.
Well that's a you're still over fifty percent. But hey,
if you ever if you had ever been to a
basketball game, do you know what the igloo is?

Speaker 4 (35:41):
No, the igloo.

Speaker 5 (35:42):
The Igloo is where the Polar Bears played basketball at
Bracking County High School. And if you had ever been
to the Igloo for a basketball game, you would have
to pick the Bracking County Polar Bears. I think you
have to at least say this, is that the coolest
mascot in Kentucky. The Polar Bears a really cool mascot.

(36:04):
I think they're the only Polar Bears in the United
States of America. But I love to pay my quarterback.
His dad was a Polar Bear. Henry Cooper's my quarterback.
His dad, Clark, played at Bracking County. So when I
tell all those Chris Lofton stories and Dustin Grew, said
Harry Lewis, his dad knows who all.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
Those people are. That's pretty cool. We have a good
we have a good time with that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
All right, well let's get into our picks for this week, okay.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
And I took a few from each class, all right,
and came up with a few of the games.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
I forgot how many. It was eight or nine or
something like that.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
But here here's the games, all right, in single A,
Newport Central and Campbellsville.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
Well, you are making them tough.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
You're good. I picked good games. I picked a realod.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
Hey, I'm gonna go.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
I'm gonna go this bringing back memories of Bob Schnyder
and Perry Thomas. I feel like it's nineteen ninety three
right now, which those were great days.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go with the.

Speaker 5 (37:11):
In memory of the Purple Hayes defense. You remember the
Purple Hayes defense. Perry's all right, I'm gonna go, uh,
in memory of Purple Hayes. I'm gonna go with Campbellsville
in this one.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
And that's who I'm going with as well. I coached
there for four years.

Speaker 6 (37:31):
I knew you.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
I knew you'd have to pick them, all right.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
Paris and Raceland. Paris, listen, Paris beat Sayer last week?

Speaker 5 (37:41):
Yes they did, Yes, it did.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
It did surprise me.

Speaker 5 (37:48):
And now I'm gonna punch you in the mouth because
I am gonna pick Raceland. I don't like picking against
the Greyhounds, but I'm very, very proud of them. Dame
Dammern was our guest here and man can grasp to Paris.
That was a huge win. And I tell you what
a if the ghost of Blanton Collier and Bill Arnsparder

(38:09):
can get on that bus and go to Raceland, you
never know. I used to think the ghosts would come
out sometimes and we win a game, and you never know,
it may happen again. I'm sort of joking. I don't
really believe in ghosts, but I will tell you this though.
When I was coaching at Paris, there were nights that
I felt like crazy stuff happened and we would win.

(38:30):
I remember the fog coming over in nineteen ninety two eight.
We ran your play. We ran your play, and I
gave you credit for it. With my dad on the headset,
we ran countertrade, but with the slot back with Corey Dumford.
Remember Corey Dunford, great player, and we scored in the fog.
In the fog, Corey Dunford went eighty yards for the

(38:53):
touchdown first play of the fourth quarter. And I told
my dad, I said, that's junxmissplay. Best coach in Kentucky.
A that's back in ninety two, and nobody.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
Knew you were great. I knew you were great in
nineteen ninety two.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Go ahead, well listen, I'm picking Paris. How about that?

Speaker 4 (39:11):
I think they go home.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
They beat They beat Sayer and that really impressed me.
That was a big win. They might have got a
turning point. That's who I'm going with.

Speaker 5 (39:20):
Themhow I'm ashamed of myself. I'm ashamed of myself, but
I'm going with Racelin. Go ahead.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
Who two A?

Speaker 3 (39:25):
This is every year, the same game, Mayfield at LCA,
It's at LCA.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
I'm gonna go l c A.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Let's seeho I'm gonna go with too. I like I
think that. I think they're done a great job up here.
Three A. I'm gonna go. How about Russell and Lloyd Memorial?

Speaker 4 (39:47):
Oh man, we know about bringing back to memories. That
was our district.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
We had to go to Lloyd or Russell and A
ninety seven we beat them both. We had never beat
Russell Lloyd Newport and we got all three in ninety seven.
How about that? Hey, this time, I'm gonna go with uh.
I'm gonna go with the Juggernauts. The Juggernauts, But I
tell you what hey playing in the Lloyd Yeah, I

(40:13):
guess I bet they're on turf.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Now.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
Bet it's not like the old days.

Speaker 5 (40:17):
You would have loved it back in two thousand and one.
In two thousand and two, we went up to Lloyd.
It was raining, it was muddy, the timbers about thirty
eight A. What turned the game around? Gezi locked and
sprinted his butt down there and he covered a quick kick.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
Man, I gotta stop every game.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
Memories, uh memory, Hey, let's go to four A. Listen
to these games. I had to pick four out of
four A or three out of four A because there
were so many good games. Yea, Covy Catholic and Boil.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
Well, all right.

Speaker 5 (40:54):
Part of me thinks Covecat might be the best team
in four eight.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
But here's the thing. I don't think that Couve cath.

Speaker 5 (41:03):
Can play four quarters of just bloody football against Johnson
Central and then go to Boyl County and beat them. Yeah,
I just And here's the thing. Even if they do
it and I think they're great, I don't know how
the world they're gonna win after eight quarters of Johnson
Central and Boil. But I think cub Cash got a
great program and a great team. I love their quarterback,

(41:26):
but I think this week is Boyl County.

Speaker 6 (41:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:28):
They went to Boil and beat Boyle last year and
really was a big upset because Boyle was.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
A heavy, huge upset. I don't think they could do
that twice in row. So I'm picking Boil.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
That's a good point.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
That's a good point, or twice in you know, two sites.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
I know what you mean. Yeah, I know what you
mean about this one.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Corbyn and Hilland's at Hilands.

Speaker 5 (41:50):
Hey two blue but blood programs. I'm gonna go with
the Bluebirds though in this one. I think Highlands will
win this football game. And well I'll talk about that later,
but yeah, I'm gonna go with the Bluebirds.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
I think Heyland is who I think will win as well.
I don't think Corbin has had that great of the year.
They've been kind of up and down. They haven't been
as consistent as I don't as I think they want
to be.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
All right, what about this one?

Speaker 3 (42:15):
This this one's already been played once, but they're playing again.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Logan and Paduka Tillman. Paduka Tilman won last time, but
it was a close game. It wasn't a blowout.

Speaker 5 (42:28):
Yeah, uh I think Logan County is really good.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
I do.

Speaker 5 (42:34):
I just I think I'm gonna stick with Tilman on this.
I just just hard for me, hard for me to
bet against Tillman right now. I was really impressed. They
bounced back against Franklin Simpson much better after the Taylor
County Taylor County game than I thought they would.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
So I'll go with Tilman.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
I'm going with Logan County.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
I think Logan County gets I think they play a
good schedule. I think they play a good schedule at
the end, and I think it gets them ready for
these moments. And I think I'm going with Logan. I
think they've improved quite a bit since the last time
they played. They do a great job over there. I'm
going with Logan. Hey, the fighting Dick Webs.

Speaker 4 (43:15):
It's hard. It's hard to run against the fighting Dick Webs.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Five A listen to these games good ones. Are you
familiar with a couple of Bowling Green versus Atherton?

Speaker 2 (43:25):
To start with?

Speaker 4 (43:27):
Uh, I'm gonna go with Bowling.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Green and and Atherton was on our podcast.

Speaker 5 (43:33):
Uh, yes, well, and coach pater Has they both have
been on there.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
And I'm gonna I'm gonna go with Bowling Green as well.
I think I think Bowling Green. This is their time
of year. I think they'll be Uh, they'll be. It
is at Afton, but I think Bowling Green would be
hard to beat. How about uh, Scott County and Woodford
and you're pretty familiar this game has already been played.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Uh Woodford won the first time.

Speaker 5 (43:59):
Yeah, they did win the first one. They both well coached,
big football teams. Yes, Uh, I think Scott County though,
I think this time is going to be Scott County.

Speaker 4 (44:10):
Go with Scott.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Well, I'll be darn I'll go with Woodford again.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
I seem to be luck for U Jim because last
time last week and he won, And.

Speaker 5 (44:25):
If you picked him, he might have jumped in the
car and drove the bowl and gree to punch in
the mouth.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
So I don't I don't know that you had a
lot of choice there.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Yeah, I'm gonna how about six as six am.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
We got mail in Saint x.

Speaker 6 (44:40):
X X.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
I gotta get credit did a great job being manual.
That was a huge win, that made a great win.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
That made me second thought of to think about my
choice here.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
But because they did they beat a good manual football team,
but you know, say next beating them pretty soundly the
first time. How about and then the last six a game?
How about Ryle and Frederick Douglass.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Wow, Yeah, I think that's a tough one to pick. Uh.
I think I'm gonna go with Ryle in this one. Really.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Yeah, that's a good choice, it is. That's a good choice.

Speaker 4 (45:22):
And well, there's not a bad choice. They're both very good.
They're both very good.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
They're both very good. Yeah, I think I'll go ahead
and go with Frederick Douglas.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
But I was actually going to go with the team
that you getn't picked, And so I could have went
either way on this.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Because I think both. I think this is a toss up.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
I really do. Yeah, I think it is too Yeah, yeah,
I think I think I agree.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
I agree, Well, David, another uh, another good episode. I
really was impressed with Hunter Campwell, I thought he did
a great job. And how about next week? What do
you got for us next week?

Speaker 5 (46:02):
Well, hey, the next week it's going to be our
Thanksgiving episode.

Speaker 4 (46:06):
I'm really looking forward to it.

Speaker 5 (46:07):
And man, we'll have a great guy, tremendous football coach
that's been around a lot of people are going to him.
Brian Weinrich has been who's a d C at Highlands
for Dale. He's head coach at Newport than Campbell County.
He's just I don't know if he's resigned or retired.
I'm not exactly sure what the correct term is. But

(46:28):
Brian will not be back at Campbell County. And so
I'm really excited to talk to Brian. He's been a
good friend and a great resource here these last I
don't know, twenty years, and I tried to hire him
at Mason County. I couldn't get him. He ended up
going with Dale. But excited to have Brian on. And
then our tough topic is from Dave Burnworth, and it's

(46:51):
going to be how can you increase numbers in a
high school football program. I'm going to stop right there.
I'm not going to start answering the question like I
do every other week. I'm really I'm really gonna stop.
I'm really gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah, Hey, that gonna be good. Roan don't do a
good job. I liked Roan a lot. He was the
head coaches. He followed Dale at highand.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
He's a really good guy, really class act and knows
a lot of football, especially.

Speaker 4 (47:20):
When he does football. But yeah, still right.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
David, another good episode. Appreciate the listeners tuning in, and
we'll see you next week.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Tonight's Coaches Office Trivia. Only three coaches that have won
over three hundred games in Kentucky did it at one school.
Bob Schneider at Newport Central Catholic, Ivan mcgloone at Russell,
and Mike Glazer at Saint Xavier