Well this isn’t a post bashing any coach, player or anything like that. So if that’s what you’re here for, sorry you were click baited lol. This is mostly geared to those in the community that want to constantly run down every coach we have, no matter the circumstances, because Jimmy and joe doesn’t play every play.
so Lets begin here..
let’s talk Mooresville. Mooresville has talent. Mooresville has resources. Mooresville has strong community support. For many programs, if you have that you’re going to be wildly successful. So why doesn’t it always translate here? By in large, in my opinion, Mooresville has been their own worst enemy. Especially in recent years. And even more specifically ever since Capps retired. They have chewed up and spit out head coaches like it’s chewing gum. I think we’ve have something like 4 head coaches in 6 years? Idc if you’re an established power or Mooresville….. your program won’t be able to handle all of that CONSTANT change. Imagine being a player, being taught to do something one way, then another, then another. And then by the time you’re a senior having to do it all over again. You can’t win like that. So to those that are coaching from the bleachers, wanting another change at HC for this that or the other reason… stop. You are what is hindering this program. Buy in or get out. Or if you’re THAT certain your ideas will help create program growth… APPLY to be a coach!
now that that mini rant is out of the way, let’s get into some other factors why I feel we are where we are. And a lot of it isn’t directly in our own control.
-Geography and Population
Geographically speaking, Mooresville is in a weird spot. We are in an area where we have out grown our historical competition. We’ve out grown the statesvilles, west iredells, west rowans, etc etc! Our new geographical competition is the Lake Normans, Houghs, Hopewell, North Mecks, AL Brown, etc etc! But because of the population growth we are in a weird spot.. where we are too large for 3A, which is probably naturally where we fit as a program right now, but on the small end of 4A and having to compete against schools that sometimes have double the amount of students that we have. Which generally means deeper talent pools. Unless the NCHSAA ever expands to a 5 or 6 class system, we will ALWAYS have to work twice as hard just to have the opportunity to be on a level footing as the big boys. And that’s a mindset that needs to change here, which leads me to the next one
-mentality
As I said before, we now are the small fish in a giant pond. We will ALWAYS have to work harder, compete harder, to give ourselves a shot. Gone are the days where we can just out athlete our opponents, or wear them down because we have more depth. But I think a lot of our fans expectations are based on what we’ve done 20 years ago. And that’s just not where we are today. I don’t think the program has gotten worse. If you take the teams we have now and go back in time and put them in our 3A era teams…. We are a top 10-15 team. The talent we have today is as good as we’ve had. I can already hear the next part now in my head “So why aren’t you winning if the talent is better?”…. answer, simply put, the competition is also 10x better today than what we faced back then. And I don’t think our mindset as a Program, a school and a community has quite grasped that yet. The big boys we face today, football is a 24/7/365 sport. For a lot of people here, football is a June to November sport. And THAT is what sets schools like Hough Chambers, Myers Park, Providence, etc apart from us. And that will always set them apart until we adapt. Look at Lake Norman as an example. Those guys have started to buy into that and you’re already seeing the successes that they are having.
I genuinely believe Mooresville is one of those programs where when we put it all together, we have everything in place to really make some noise. I firmly believe that. But it takes everyone to buy into what that takes to reach that level, not just players and coaches. It also takes the community, the school board, etc etc.
so Lets begin here..
let’s talk Mooresville. Mooresville has talent. Mooresville has resources. Mooresville has strong community support. For many programs, if you have that you’re going to be wildly successful. So why doesn’t it always translate here? By in large, in my opinion, Mooresville has been their own worst enemy. Especially in recent years. And even more specifically ever since Capps retired. They have chewed up and spit out head coaches like it’s chewing gum. I think we’ve have something like 4 head coaches in 6 years? Idc if you’re an established power or Mooresville….. your program won’t be able to handle all of that CONSTANT change. Imagine being a player, being taught to do something one way, then another, then another. And then by the time you’re a senior having to do it all over again. You can’t win like that. So to those that are coaching from the bleachers, wanting another change at HC for this that or the other reason… stop. You are what is hindering this program. Buy in or get out. Or if you’re THAT certain your ideas will help create program growth… APPLY to be a coach!
now that that mini rant is out of the way, let’s get into some other factors why I feel we are where we are. And a lot of it isn’t directly in our own control.
-Geography and Population
Geographically speaking, Mooresville is in a weird spot. We are in an area where we have out grown our historical competition. We’ve out grown the statesvilles, west iredells, west rowans, etc etc! Our new geographical competition is the Lake Normans, Houghs, Hopewell, North Mecks, AL Brown, etc etc! But because of the population growth we are in a weird spot.. where we are too large for 3A, which is probably naturally where we fit as a program right now, but on the small end of 4A and having to compete against schools that sometimes have double the amount of students that we have. Which generally means deeper talent pools. Unless the NCHSAA ever expands to a 5 or 6 class system, we will ALWAYS have to work twice as hard just to have the opportunity to be on a level footing as the big boys. And that’s a mindset that needs to change here, which leads me to the next one
-mentality
As I said before, we now are the small fish in a giant pond. We will ALWAYS have to work harder, compete harder, to give ourselves a shot. Gone are the days where we can just out athlete our opponents, or wear them down because we have more depth. But I think a lot of our fans expectations are based on what we’ve done 20 years ago. And that’s just not where we are today. I don’t think the program has gotten worse. If you take the teams we have now and go back in time and put them in our 3A era teams…. We are a top 10-15 team. The talent we have today is as good as we’ve had. I can already hear the next part now in my head “So why aren’t you winning if the talent is better?”…. answer, simply put, the competition is also 10x better today than what we faced back then. And I don’t think our mindset as a Program, a school and a community has quite grasped that yet. The big boys we face today, football is a 24/7/365 sport. For a lot of people here, football is a June to November sport. And THAT is what sets schools like Hough Chambers, Myers Park, Providence, etc apart from us. And that will always set them apart until we adapt. Look at Lake Norman as an example. Those guys have started to buy into that and you’re already seeing the successes that they are having.
I genuinely believe Mooresville is one of those programs where when we put it all together, we have everything in place to really make some noise. I firmly believe that. But it takes everyone to buy into what that takes to reach that level, not just players and coaches. It also takes the community, the school board, etc etc.
