Cougar14.2

I've been buying DC's for a while and not that I've actually checked to see every time but I honestly can't remember the last time they didn't pick PNG to go to the playoffs from their district. On the other hand, they did lose to the team that's picked in front of them last year. Another notable thing is that they have FB Marshall over Huntsville in the D2 regional final.

Offensive MVP - Kyndon Fuselier (Nederland - WR) Defensive MVP - McCoy Casey (Crosby - DL) 1. Crosby (1,818) 2. Nederland (1,451) 3. Barbers Hill (1,768) 4. Texas City (1,821) 5. Port Neches-Groves (1,505) 6. Kingwood Park (1,887) 7. Dayton (1,516) 8. Santa Fe (1,313) Crosby brings back the fewest starters (3/3) Nederland brings back the most starters (6/9)

I have been, seen and watched us win in Bulldog Stadium and on the Reservation. The environment for our old Crosby vs Dayton games was more intense than those. The difference is the familiarity with Dayton being right down the road just like Ned and PNG are very familiar to y'all, yet they're tougher for Crosby to adjust to. It's going to be our home opener coming off our first finals appearance since the 60's. IDK how much the new streaming rules will affect it but the environment is probably going to be pretty similar to the Manvel game which was also our home opener in '18.

Heights was 6-0 in district last year and actually beat the Lamar team they're picked behind this year. Heights has a good coach(who probably won't be there much longer) and some very good players scattered through their roster including their qb Jalen Morrision who I think is one of the most slept on kids in Houston. Game is probably a true toss-up but I would still favor Heights on the strength that they had a better record in a higher classification and lost in the same second round BH did. District needs to win games like these to keep garnering respect though.

Yep, and said the other way if BH starts 4-1 they will definitely be judging and projecting what they'll be under him. Crosby had a similar start in Prieto's first year. The district isn't that tough that bad starts affect you that much. You start 1-4 at BH though and those kids are probably checked out and at the deer lease mentally. TW was at Allen for 12 years and won 4 titles. In those 12 years he had right at 40 playoff wins against 17 total losses. In 5 years at BH he had 3 playoff wins against 17 total losses. That's after Gage showed up with two titles and only won one or two playoff games. If no other experiment shows you that should let you know most great coaching records have a lot to do with where those guys are coaching. Abseck was at Cedar Park for like 16 years, only has been a head coach for six. Took over a machine of a team after the '14 season and went 16-0 his first year as a head coach. The next 4 years he didn't make it past the third round losing to Manvel twice, Shadow Creek and their district mate at the time Manor. This year with what all the CP people were calling their best team ever he finally got past Manvel before losing by 45 to DR in the title game. He took over a ready made program instead of having to build one like he'll have to do in BH and he had more talent relative to the class than he will at BH. If TW couldn't do it in five years I don't think there's any reason to believe a guy with less credentials could in that period. What would I be rattled about? As far as I'm concerned Prieto is a better 5A-D2 coach than Abseck until he proves otherwise just like Riordan proved he was better than TW at our level. Believe it or not, at the end of the day I want BH to be good. It makes the games more preparatory and helps the district in general.

They may end up being alright but they have a tough first half of the schedule. Only game I think they would be favored in is Kingwood Park to open district play.

Riordan went 10-2 his second season in Crosby, were a couple of missed 4th quarter plays away from knocking off Summer Creek and going undefeated in the regular season. '14-17 under Riordan Crosby either won or tied for the district championship including getting to the semis in year three. Prior to that at Sulphur Springs he headed up one of the most potent offenses in the state, dropped 69 on Dayton in the title game. Credentials were legit and the SS offense wasn't as good after he left meaning he was the big reason for their success. Coach P had a stop as the OC at one of the Cypress schools and wasn't very successful. My theory was that the numbers he put up at CC Vets were in large part due to the fact that Vets was the new school and carved a bunch of talent from the CCISD attendance zone. Similar to what Shadow Creek did to Manvel in AISD's attendance zone. I was wrong in the fact that our search committee didn't recommend the right guy for the job but right in the sense that Vets was set up to be a Coastal Bend powerhouse anyway. Vets went 13-1 this year averaging over 49ppg per game and losing in the semis to Cedar Park. In Crosby we really try and even expect to win, not just make splash hires with guys who may not fit. We'll see how y'all feel about BH's new hire when y'all start the season 1-4.

I would say 25-28. I would classify elite as your perennial top 4-5 teams in each classification. I would classify your perennial top 4-5 teams as the group of teams that no matter what, come into each season with a chance to compete for a state championship. I would have six teams in 6A though. North Shore, Katy, Westlake, Lake Travis, Allen and SLC. I think 1A would have the fewest elite teams with Richland Springs, Borden County and maybe Strawn. I think 2A-5A are in that 4-5 range even though it's hard to foresee someone beating Carthage and Aledo to start any season.

Write-up from when they hired him says so. Love to see guys get opportunities at solid programs. My younger cousin, who's also a UT grad, just got bumped up to co-offensive coordinator at Odessa Permian and one of my college teammates just got the head coaching job at Bishop Lynch. Another former Crosby assistant, DJ Mann, was named HFC at Lubbock Coronado who went 12-1 last year. Very pleased to see some administrations branching out from what are probably their normal hiring pools.

We? You mean part of the "we" that voted for the school board members who approved the coaching hire? Part of the "we" that voted for 10's of millions on bonds which led to the financial situation that got Prieto here in the first place? Part of the "we" who pays several thousand a year in school taxes that covers those new hire salaries, not to mention my family being hit especially hard due to the volume of property we own? You may not be in the same situation and therefore feel excluded from the "we". Think about what you just said though? Crosby has 4 coaches with coordinator experience on the staff, yet three are assistants. Why aren't they DCs elsewhere? There are 20+ DC jobs in Katy, Cy-Fair and Conroe ISD alone that would pay more than they're making as position coaches in Crosby. The only guy that really doesn't apply to is the DC from Channelview who was actually a DC when we hired him. That being said, they're at Crosby now and obviously helped contribute this past season. "Most" good staffs at the high school level don't have that many guys with coordinator experience, most good staffs are ones who stay together for a long time and therefore don't have much turnover and most good coordinators keep their coordinator jobs. The structural changes I mentioned regarding co-DCs mostly came from an article I was reading when doing research on who we were hiring so don't listen to me, you can take it straight from the horses mouth: *Courtesy of The Marshall News Messenger On the field during one of the team's football practice, he points to linebackers coach Aaron Babino, then defensive line coach Anthony Randle, and any other defensive coaches in site and says, "He's a defensive coordinator." "We've got great coaching," Poth said. "We're all defensive coordinators. No one person is better than the other one. It's all important."

There's obviously something coach knows or has seen to make him feel like they're the right fit? Years past maybe you would've questioned a hire like this in Crosby but I think coach gets the benefit of the doubt after getting us to the finals in only his second year. I'm with you though. If I had to guess I would say it's because the talent relative to the classification will be better at Crosby versus where they came from.

Other than Highland Park and Longview that DR offense was basically unstoppable against 5A-D1 competition. I thought the defense would take a step back when they lost Drew Sanders last year but it seems like Jatavion Sanders just stepped it up and did even more, making the Raider defense even better this season. With more 5-star kids on the defense like Anthony Hill to step in they might not fall off as much on that side of the ball but I don't think they can replicate what they did on offense losing their qb, Bowman and Sanders. I think my pre-season favorite would be Longview. They always seem to be just a player short but I really like Lone Star this year too, I think they have the best coach in the DFW that doesn't really get talked about.

We hired two defensive coordinators from different schools. Yes, coach Poth will have the official DC title which is what I think you're saying but I feel like there will be some structural changes to how we're going to operate on that side of the ball that need to be accounted for which is why I listed it like that. Without going into a bunch of detail I'll just say I don't think Coach P is the type guy who will fully turn over the reigns of his state finals defense to someone who's been giving up 35-40ppg. I think that's why he made the two specific hires he did being that you can't really point to either guy and say they were in charge of good defenses any time in the recent past.

It would look pretty much the same. Crosby would still have the better coach because it’s a better job than any of the GCCISD schools. If we didn’t have some of the players that transferred then the staff would adjust and utilize other advantages we had. For example, GCM transfer Donta Allen got hurt against CE King in the regular season. Carlos Grace stepped in as a sophomore and carried most of the heavy rushing load during a run to the semifinals, Craig Williams did the rest as a freshman. GCCISD would still have mediocre coaches for the area because they’re the lowest paid. Their schools would still be plagued by low participation rates and sub-par facilities. Go take a look at Baytown Lee. The players started coming after we were already good. Crosby has only missed the playoffs twice in the last 18 years, we’ve only started getting transfers the last 5 or 6. And as far as kids that are actual difference makers we’re talking about MAYBE one kid every other year? Before that we would lose kids to Dayton and the Baytown schools. Talent acquisition is the name of the game in today’s THSF landscape and Crosby is starting to be able to compete with some of our area schools in terms of landing destinations. It’s just part of trying to get the program on a level to annually compete with the elite teams in the state.

The UIL is just like the NCAA in terms of consistency. Article lays it out perfectly. At the district level you’re left with rival coaches, who may be swayed by how good or bad the team receiving the transfer is, deciding eligibility of a player. At the state level you’re left with the UIL making a judgement decision on why a player may have moved from one parent’s house to another. In what other instance would you allow someone who knows nothing about the situation to tell you why YOUR child came to live with you? As long as the parents don’t implicitly state the child moved for athletic purposes then whatever reason they give should suffice and therefore grant the kid immediate eligibility. The schools that have it figured out have it so figured out that the policing of other schools creates even more of an advantage for them.

If Crosby is healthy I think that will be PAM's first L. We lost some studs but I don't think you're going to see much dropoff overall from the skill positions though. Myles might end up being our best overall qb since Aston Walter? Defense looked solid during the Spring but they were playing against our offense. I expect our new co-DCs to have Crosby's defense in very good shape after having to prepare for Carthage and Manvel. PAM should have the better athletes but I think Crosby has the better staff on the sideline and the score will indicate that.

What was the name of the tackle that went to UH? We've only had two tackles sign with UH that I can remember recently and that's Keenan Murphy who's from Crosby and Chayse Todd who would've gone to North Shore. Forgot about Doucette, I believe he did score a couple times his senior year. Caleb Clay would've gone to GCM too but I'm not sure he ever went to school in Baytown? Our top three receivers coming into the season have all been here since at least their freshman year. Who is going to be our best receiver next year? I think the only way those kids "would have been at GCM as well" is if Crosby wasn't there. You also have to take into consideration the reason those kids ended up being as good as they were is due to the fact that they didn't have to go to GCM. Allen was playing fullback at GCM blocking linebackers hardly being used. He came to Crosby and got to play RB behind a line that had 3 D1 kids on it and ended up with nearly a 1,000 yards before he got hurt against King. Branch was getting beat down at GCM because he was all they had. He was averaging 3.6ypc and had thrown for 9tds and 8 ints on the season. I was excited when he transferred after seeing his athleticism on film and posted about it. GCM fans were telling me, "He's fast but he's turnover prone, just wait and see". What I saw was no o-line and receivers who couldn't make plays on the balls he was throwing. In 16 starts at QB for Crosby he threw for 2,532/25/7 and ran for 2,566 in 23 overall games averaging over 8ypc. The Baytown kids just benefit/reach full potential more in Crosby due to better coaching, better players around them, better facilities and a lot more community support. That stuff can't be overlooked when trying to project what a player would do at a certain school. That being said, we do greatly appreciate the athletes y'all provide for us from our farm system in GCCISD.

Well, I felt they were a lot more deserving of their #10 ranking than Rouse is at #9. They won 10 games and bring a nice nucleus back, plus they're only one of three teams with Cooper and Rider than can actually win the region.

As far as 5A-D1, it's hard to think Manvel won't take a step back after losing their stud qb that transferred in from Louisiana last season. Their backup qb was also a senior last year, meaning whoever wins the job will be seeing his first varsity action under center. Good luck in that murders row of a district I expect to be even better than last year. In 5A-D2 I think we are right where we should be. I would question 3-5 and #9 though. Lovejoy lost their primary offensive weapons. Liberty Hill graduated about 5,600 of their approximately 6,300 rushing yards and can't really defend teams with plus athletes. Huntsville has won most of their games recently with suffocating defense. They weren't ranked near as high as some of the other DTs in the state but those Bobino brothers carried that defense and are gone now. If you can win individual matchups on the outside you can carve that Hornet defense up like Crosby did in '19. They do bring back their qb who I really like and their leading rusher but they're still not going to threaten good teams with offensive explosions. I don't get Rouse at #9 at all? Yes, they bring back pretty much all of their offensive weapons but what did they do that makes DCTF think they're one of the best teams in the state? They lost by 27 to third place A&M Con. and barely beat a 4-6 Leander Glenn team by one point. *You know it's getting close to football season when fans start to concern themselves with ranking that mean absolutely nothing.

[Hidden Content]

5A-D1 1. Denton Ryan 2. Manvel 3. College Station 4. Highland Park 5. Longview 6. Cedar Park 7. CC Veterans Memorial 8. Colleyville Heritage 9. Frisco Lone Star 10. Mansfield Summit 5A-D2 1. Aledo 2. FB Marshall 3. Lucas Lovejoy 4. Liberty Hill 5. Huntsville 6. Lubbock Cooper 7. Ennis 8. Mansfield Timberview 9. Leander Rouse 10. Grapevine

There’s a lot of truth there Traden. We do usually go one or two rounds, only been past the second twice in 7 years. We went 4-1 against five of the top seven teams in the state who were 47-1 at the time we played them, head is slightly inflated. I disagree with you on your last point though? I’m telling you how superior Crosby was to every 5A-D2 team in the state except one when it counted, not just the viewing area. It took a freak ACL accident in a year Crosby had already beaten WOS and Manvel, and a bankruptcy which was just a tough year in general around town for BH to beat Crosby. I know 2011 was but I don’t remember any of our other games even really being that close recently, and that’s with two coaches coming off multiple state championships at their previous stops. Abseck was the OC when Cedar Park rolled Crosby in the semifinals in 2014. Our ‘14 squad was one of the bigger ones we’ve had recently, especially in the trenches. We looked like jv kids against Cedar Park size wise and they we’re just as fast as us. Until that happens at BH I won’t be worried no matter who the coach is. Crosby and BH are both growing fast. We’re getting more Crosby level athletes and transfers, y’all are getting more BH level kids. All that being said, Crosby could start 0-3, get hit with injuries and struggle to make the playoffs this year. That’s the way it works for a program on our level.

Dude, they just had freaking Tom Westerberg. Like THE Tom Westerberg. In terms of talent this is like Gary Joseph going from Katy to Clear Lake, I think we’ll be fine. Coach P and his predecessor already proved they have no issues taking out state championship coaches at BH.

That’s fair. I like it better saying those were the two biggest wins of the TW era. The one in ‘18 broke Crosby’s 13 consecutive year playoff streak(even though it was the Santa Fe loss), and the one in ‘19 caused Crosby to have its only .500 season in a decade. Those are pretty decent bragging rights against one of your rivals.

Branch is, transferred from GCM his sophomore year. Donta Allen transferred from GCM in 2014 and was our bellow running back until he got hurt the last game of the season against CE King. GCM currently has a good TE I wish would come over. Seem to have a pretty high hit rate on the GCCISD kids, makes you wonder how good Baytown could be if they went back to two schools?