OldTimer

Liberty - 30 Splendora - 28 2:37 Left

14 - Splendora 9 - Liberty 3rd Qtr

I am in the column that normally does not support the move for athletic reasons.  The reason is that it fails much more often then it works.  Bua and Fitzwater are 2 examples for Liberty players that it appears to have worked for.  I saw Fitzwater play several games and truthfully was only mildly impressed - and never would have given him the D1 moniker.  But it appears that I was wrong as he is doing very well in LA.  Could be he has a much better supporting cast to work with as well.  As always I wish all these young men the best.

Bottom Line is that this is a must win for the Panthers.  8) If they lose to Splendora then stick a fork in them as they will be done for the year.  Hope Hookem is right and whatever changes these coaches have made pays off - but I think it will be too little too late as the coaches have now been there long enough to know their players and that changes in the 5th game of the season are too late in most cases. Will stand by my prediction - Liberty beats Splendora and Tarkington. This week: Liberty 22 Splendora 20

In Liberty - WHO KNOWS - they keep some coaches when they should not and they fire coaches that they should keep. Let be be clear - I do not think and have ever thought that any 1A - 2A - 3A and possibly any 4A coach should ever be fired for a bad Win-Loss record.  But they should be graded on how the program is run and how well they teach and mature the young men they have in their program and are they getting the most out of their students and providing the most to their students.  In this case I feel that Liberty is not doing this at this time.

I do agree that Liberty needs a change at the top as in a new head coach.  This is my opinion – Recent Liberty teams have two problems: (1) Over Estimation of the talent level that they have on a consistent basis (this has been going on for years in Liberty); and (2) Teams that have several players that appear to execute their assigned duties poorly or even without totally understanding what their responsibilities  are.  From what I can tell the players are giving everything they have on the field just with limited results – that’s a coaching issue.  And while Liberty does have several quality athletes – and always has – they are not deep in the talent pool and that leaves gaps that other teams notice and exploit in their offensive and defensive game plans.  Liberty coaching needs to identify the weaknesses and develop a game plan to disguise and protect these weaknesses and at this time it does not appear that they are doing this.

Looks like a long year for the Panthers - but I do believe they will beat Splendora and Tarkington to have a 2 win season.

Ok - whose back was the hatchet buried in???????  ;D Liberty - 16 Buna - 23 Hope I am wrong and Liberty pulls the win out.

Hookem – If what you stated is correct and “the team fell apart” after his injury to the tune of 113 points over 2 games with little or no offense on the other side – then my opinion is that Deel should be fired immediately.  If he has set his team to SOOOOOOOOO depend on one player – no matter how talented that player is – then he should not be coaching a team sport.  I personally do not know Deel and have heard good and bad things about him but I will restate if this is how he has this team set up then they would do better with a coach that teaches team first. I hope that Liberty turns things around and makes the playoffs but at this time I am doubtful.  And 2nd in District??? Hope you are right we will just have to wait and see.

First I have never stated that Jones is not an exceptional athlete.  But in my opinion - and it is only my opinion - Liberty has several weaknesses that Jones will not be able to correct by himself.  And those weaknesses were shown to be a problem in both of the games played so far this year.  And I am sorry but Hookem made fun of Kirbyville in one of his posts - I think Liberty should be humbled by our recent losses instead of making fun of other teams.  I hope he is right and Liberty gets its act together for the District games and we do well in District.  Regardless I will root for Liberty no matter what the record but I still feel its going to be a long year.

Sorry - but Hookem - as a Liberty fan please don't talk trash until we win a game or at least compete in one.  So far this year 113 - 26 is nothing to brag about.  Also, Jones is a quality athlete but would not have changed the total scores of either of the previous games by more than 7 points either way.  Fact is Liberty has a way to go and many holes that need filing before they are a quality team this year.  Hate to say it but looks like a long year for the Panthers.

I wil state up front that I am a Panther fan and have been for 20+ years.  That being said I agree that Liberty does not like change but more importantly does not like the parent problems with running a district that demands and provides structure.  I have always stated and thought that 1A, 2A and 3A coaches should never be fired just becasue of their W-L records.  I think for smaller schols that the sports programs "environment" is the most important factor.  If a coach is doing a good job on the field while also providing guidence and structure as well as demanding them to perform in the classroom to the young me and women of their school then I think that they shoul always be kept if possible.  Liberty parents (Iknow other schools have the same problem) like to have "input" into the decisions that are made by the coaching staff and this always causes problems.  Coach Deel may well be the one that provides this - I really do not know.

First - NEVER GONNA HAPPEN - as Hardin and HD have too much pride.  From a pure financial position HD really does need to merge with either Hardin or Liberty as their tax base has just about disappeared.  TexasMinuteman - hope you were joking as neiter HD or Hardin has been a "dominate" program lately - Hardin had 2 or so years in football but lately will the record speak for itself.

OK Huffman fans - Huffman at this time and for the last few years has been better than Liberty - but just like you stated about Liberty why don't you get past the 2nd round of the playoffs before you start pounding you chest about how good you are.  Huffman benefits from the same issues that Liberty does - they play in a weak district  and therefore make the playoffs every year and are guaranteed 4 - 5 wins by the benefit of being in 22AAA.  Other than Coldsprings really the next level of this district is not that strong and fairly equal over the years and gloating about being the 2nd or 3rd best team in 22AAA is not stating much.  I personally like Huffman and always have as I think that their program is generally run with class and does the best with the talent that they have - but to make such comments about any other program that your program is not that much better than (over the long run) is kinda childish.  I do agree also that enrollment while a factor is not always an issue and as the Huffman fans stated Coldsprings is the smallest enrollment in the district and has been always been one of  the better teams in the distrtict and area for that matter. 

3 and Out - Not a problem as I sometimes get defensive  :-\ and should not.  And I do agree that at least adding soccer was a great decision.

3 and Out – I will start by saying that personally I do not know anything about Deel other than his record as a coach.  He may be a great guy but he has chosen a profession that he will be judged by his wins and losses – whether that is right or wrong is another argument.  And I can say the same about Stewart as my son played while he was the head coach and I believe he was a straight shooter and treated all his players well – was he perfect No but who is. But to say that Liberty was in the Toilet and Deel turned it around is a HUGE stretch.  First his overall record during his first 4 years is not any better than Stewarts was his last 4 years.  And as I stated earlier: “The only reason that Liberty is improving in the W-L rankings is that Deel schedules NOBODY.  In the 4 years that Deel has been in Liberty in the preseason games Liberty has I believe scheduled 1 team that even had a winning record – and that was in 2011 in Beaumont Kelly – every other game that Liberty played was against teams with losing records.  The last 4 years Stewart was the coach they played 8 preseason games against teams that had 8 or more wins – not just winning records but at least 8 wins.  The W-L of the preseason teams was 58% while Stewart had the job and 36% under Deel. “ When you have a district that you have (lately) 3 guaranteed wins in Tarkington, Shepherd and Splendora (last 3 years or so) making the playoffs is not a tough task and Liberty should be there every year.  Liberty under Deel has struggled against every team with a winning record and generally performs poorly against with winning records. You can talk trash about the previous coach all you want and his last 3 years were definitely down from his previous years.  But in Deel’s case he has yet – in my opinion – to have a year that would be considered quality.  And I believe he will not have that until he starts playing against quality opponents.  And yes I will include last years 7 – 3 record as unimpressive as the only quality team they beat was Beaumont Kelly – all the other 6 wins were against teams with losing records.

liltex - you are right Liberty would have to bring in temporay stands just to handle the Dayton fans  ;D Huffman fans better watch getting too cocky as it was not too many years ago the same thing could be said of Huffman vs Liberty - as they had a long history of losing agianst Liberty.  8)

I agree 4A and 3A teams play every year and some of the games are the best games to go watch.  At this point Dayton has the superior program but with a little work from the community, administration and good coaches I see Liberty being able to handle the game in the future - how far in the future we will have to see.

LP6, Sorry man gotta disagree with you almost totally.  The only reason that Liberty is improving in the W-L rankings is that Deel schedules NOBODY.  In the 4 years that Deel has been in Liberty in the preseason games Liberty has I believe scheduled 1 team that even had a winning record – and that was in 2011 in Beaumont Kelly – every other game that Liberty played was against teams with losing records.  The last 4 years Stewart was the coach they played 8 preseason games against teams that had 8 or more wins – not just winning records but at least 8 wins.  The W-L of the preseason teams was 58% while Stewart had the job and 36% under Deel. I will back off my concerns as it does appear that Deel has scheduled a tough lineup for him 2012 preseason.  If Liberty does well through that schedule they have a good chance to have a great season – but this is the only year that Deel has taken the tough road during preseason.  As far as talent over the last 8 years or so – I will stick with my opinion that the talent level in Liberty has not been as deep as the fans think it is.  Liberty has always has several good and talented players – just not as many as the teams that they line up against – and that shows up mainly when they line up against the better teams.  As far as scheduling Dayton – man would I love to see that year in and year out.  But reality kicks in and at the moment Dayton would rock Liberty’s world.  I think that maybe not so distant in the future that Liberty will be able to hang with Dayton just not right now.

If I am reading right the Panthers may have their toughest preseason schedule since Deel arrived.  Jasper, Newton and Buna all have been pretty good through the years.

40 Hell - I wish I was still forty - its been so long ago I already for what that felt like  :o

And I agree with TERMINATOR - I just briefly looked at the W-L records for the reams Liberty faced while under Stewart and then under Deel so far and it has not even been close - Liberty in preseason faced several teams that had 9 and 10 wins - Like Kirbyville, Silsbee and Bridge City - during Stewarts tenure.  Under Deel they have have not faced near the preseason schedule that Stewart's teams played.

liltex - the true sad statement is that the Football field while old with just a little maintenance and upgrades thru the years would still be one of the better (but smaller) stadiums in the area.  But the school has done almost zero improvements for at least 20 years.  The lighting is bad and even the new speaker system is sub par.  Hell the last time the stadium was painted was in 2006 and that was done by the athletic booster club members or it would still be concrete grey (no paint).  The only reason that it finally got a new press box is that the hurricane toppled the last one.  A little money and elbow grease would go a long way to again make War Memorial Stadium one of the best in the area.

Sorry - need to get my facts straight - forgot Coach Stewart coached the year after my son graduated and that year - 2007 - Liberty also did not make the playoffs. Sorry - just needed to make sure I am as accurate as possible. So he did make the playoffs 3 out of his last 5 years with 2 District Championships in that time.

Sorry WOSGRAD – I need to inform you so that you get the facts straight.  Coach Stewarts last 4 years: 2003 – 10-0 District Champs – Lost to Orangefield in the 1st round 2004 – District Champs – 2 or 3 deep in the playoffs & lost to eventual State runner-up 2005 – Tied for 3rd in District but did not make the playoffs due to head to head 2006 – Playoffs and got owned by WOS in the first round So 2 of this last 4 years he won the District - and that is while Barbers Hill was still in the District. In 2005 that was the first time that Stewart failed to at least make the playoffs in like a 10 year period – maybe longer.  I have to state that my son played all 4 of these years and I hated to see Coach Stewart let go.  As I have always stated that Liberty almost never had the best athletes under Coach Stewart but always was prepared to play.  And before I get trashed – I am not saying that Liberty did not and does not have quality athletes – they just never had as many as the better teams that they faced.  I have always pointed to the fact that in 2006 they had 2 defensive tackles that played their heart out but one weighed less than 200 Lbs and the other was right at 200 Lbs – out sized on the offensive and defensive front in almost every game. I am neither pro or con for Coach Deel – just that his teams do appear to under perform in what is normally a weak District - after the top team Coldsprings – from top to bottom.