PN-G bamatex

While we’re discussing rumors in prior threads, La Vernia named its new HC/AD today. It’s not Faircloth.

I suggest both of you read the SETXSports site rules. Rule 18 expressly prohibits bashing coaches.

That thread contained several such rumors, many of which were flatly debunked by Ashly Elam. That's why it was locked in the end by another SETXSports staffer; spreading unsubstantiated rumors on the messageboard is a violation of site rules.

With Crosby and Barbers Hill moving up next year per the UIL cutoff numbers released earlier today, I feel it necessary to reemphasize how important it is that we keep Coach Faircloth, especially given the amount of talent we have returning next year. We have a rare opportunity and a narrow window to be a state power, and I would not let it go to waste in this modern, suburban-centric climate.

The fact that this hasn’t blown up in the neighborhood watch groups on Facebook is one of the reasons I’m still skeptical.

You’re saying Coach Faircloth was put on a development plan and assigned a mentor? When, why, by whom, and how did you find this out?

Fifteen years ago, Crosby and Barbers Hill were in different districts that were much less competitive than the modern day 22-5ADII. And as I recall, both schools were getting thumped by PN-G in both predistrict play and the playoffs. I recall Crosby losing 37-7 one year and 38-7 the next, and Barbers Hill losing to PN-G five consecutive times over four seasons. Fast forward to today, when both schools have 300+ students more than PN-G, a ton more upscale subdivisions in town and at least in Barbers Hill's case, lots of nice, new facilities and cash to spend on coaches from Allen, and it's a different story. If there was a program that we can legitimately say was punching above its weight class back then, it was Dayton. Look at them now.

Nick Saban's not for sale. Texas learned that lesson the hard way. These rumors of Coach Fairlcoth's possible departure are disturbing. The kind of disturbing that lures a long-dormant messageboard user out of hibernation the same night his college alma mater wins a conference title over the #1 team in the country. I know very little regarding Coach Faircloth's future at PN-G from firsthand knowledge. Generally, I avoid spreading rumors when I don't know the information to be accurate from firsthand knowledge, and on the occasions when I think it's necessary to discuss those rumors, I always make certain to note that I can't speak to their actual veracity. This is one of those occasions. Simply put, I have no idea whether it's true that Coach Faircloth's position at PN-G is in jeopardy. Here's what I do know. I first heard word that Coach Faircloth's tenure at PN-G may be at risk six weeks ago. I've heard several different iterations of that rumor in the weeks since. I trust, and deeply respect, many of the sources that have brought these rumors to my attention, but in each case, those sources have only been able to provide me with information on a secondhand basis. What little direct evidence I've been able to glean for myself has, if anything, contradicted rumors of Faircloth's impending departure, or at least rumors that the school board has chosen not to renew his contract. For these reasons, and in light of a highly successful 2021 football season that saw the Indians exceed all expectation, I've been highly skeptical of these rumors, and have deliberately chosen only to discuss them when someone else brings them up. I remain skeptical of these rumors now, though I'll admit to some concern in the face of their apparent durability and, now, their growing prevalence among PN-G fans. Brandon Faircloth has been the best head football coach and athletic director PN-G has had in at least 40 years. That is not a statement I make lightly; the evidence is overwhelming. PN-G's all-time win ratio on the football field is .610. Coach Faircloth's win ratio at PN-G is .667, the best of any PN-G coach since Danny Malone. The Indians currently have an active playoff streak stretching back nine consecutive appearances, an all-time school record. The Indians have gone three rounds deep in the playoffs four of the last six seasons, the most consistent streak of deep playoff runs PN-G has had since Doug Ethridge's tenure at PN-G in the 1970s. Coach Faircloth has both more wins and more playoff appearances to his name than any football coach in PN-G history. Statistically speaking, the indisputable best quarterback in PN-G history, several runners-up at the quarterback position, the indisputable best receiver in PN-G history, several runners-up at that position, two of the best runningbacks in PN-G history, and perhaps the best kicker in PN-G history have all been coached by Brandon Faircloth. The best offenses to ever play for PN-G have been coached by Brandon Faircloth, and one of the best defenses in school history was coached by him as well. Coach Faircloth has fielded one of the only four PN-G players in school history to earn All-American honors. He's coached a school record 39 players to achieve All-State honors - fifteen more than Coach Ethridge. Dozens of PN-G players have simultaneously earned academic honors. Coach Faircloth has sent more football players on to play college ball than any coach in PN-G history. Roschon Johnson, Blake Bost, Adam Morse, Tate Sandell - the list goes on. You can verify all of these statistics and all of these facts on our outstanding fan-made website, www.pngindians.com. The lone accomplishment claimed by other PN-G coaches that has eluded Coach Faircloth as a head coach is a state championship appearance. No Golden Triangle team in the same classification as PN-G (4A prior to 2014, 5A since then) has made a state championship appearance since West Orange-Stark in 2000. Take this from a die-hard PN-G native turned reluctant Austin-area resident: the amount of wealth, funding, resources and talent concentrated in suburban Texas football programs far and away exceeds anything small town schools like PN-G are able to amass, and even exceeds what PN-G was able to pull together in the days before Robin Hood. Given the amount of money he threw into Highland Park's program, there's an argument to be made that Jerry Jones effectively bought his grandson a state championship. Schools like Westlake, Lake Travis, Cedar Park, Austin Vandegrift, Euless Trinity, Southlake Carroll, Aledo and Katy Cinco Ranch have backing from dozens of multi-millionaires, professional players, coaches and trainers alike, and in some cases, literal billionaires. This was not the case in the 1950s, the 1970s or the 1990s. The reason that you see programs like Crosby and Barbers Hill on the rise is because they're rapidly becoming suburban programs with that kind of cash on hand. The days of the upper level classifications in Texas high school football (i.e., the 6A and 5A divisions) being dominated by rural schools like PN-G, Odessa Permian, Tyler Lee, Waco Midway and the like are, at least for the moment, gone. The fact that Coach Faircloth has managed to keep PN-G competitive despite our area's relative disadvantage is a testament to his coaching prowess in and of itself. Moreover, Coach Faircloth's accomplishments are not limited to his coaching on the football field. As athletic director, it was Brandon Faircloth who made the brilliant decision to hire Coach Carter as head baseball coach. Coach Carter brought PN-G its first state title in baseball just four years ago. If I'm not mistaken, that also constituted PN-G's first state title in any sport since Coach Comeaux's last state championship run with the Rock-a-Noos in 1989. In the Faircloth era, both the boys' and girls' soccer teams have repeatedly made deep playoff runs, ending several seasons on the cusp of the state tournament. Our basketball teams, consistently PN-G's least successful athletic programs, have found their way to the playoffs. Our success in track and field has improved tremendously. To put it succinctly, the last time PN-G experienced the level of athletic success across the board that it has had with Brandon Faircloth in the fieldhouse, I wasn't born yet. I know and respect several members of the PN-GISD administration and school board; in truth, my skepticism of these rumors is partly based on my faith in their ability to exercise good judgment. I went to school with Jake Lefort's son and Dallon James's younger sisters. I've shared lunch with Lana Parker. Scott Ryan was my assistant principal in middle school. I went to church with Jon Deckert and his family for several years. Julie Gauthier has been a workhorse for both PN-GISD and the City of Port Neches, and the fruits of her labors are demonstrable. I have been very pleased with their leadership the last several years. The PN-G community is two years or less away from all new elementary schools in the district, only ten years after replacing both middle schools and the stadium, and completely renovating the high school. In my opinion, PN-GISD made the best decisions of any school district in the state with respect to its COVID response, and navigated all the controversies of 2020 as best as anyone could expect. From cybersecurity breaches to explosions to hurricanes to freezes, the district's leadership has repeatedly shown its ability to maintain a high quality of education despite substantially greater adversity than anything the rest of the state has had to contend with. The district is in good fiscal shape, and has shown sustained success in non-athletic extracurricular pursuits, including the band, which is obviously of particular significance to me. The district also secured excellent ratings in all the state's academic metrics prior to COVID, and has consistently been rated one of the best school districts in the state in independent studies conducted by third party entities. Personally, I take immense pride in the fact that PN-GISD actually outscored Austin's best local school district by a point in the state's scoring system in 2019. There's no doubt in my mind PN-G continues to offer the best public education you can find anywhere in this state east of IH-45. Speaking from personal experience, Austin's policy circles are familiar with the district's strong reputation. But if my skepticism of these rumors is misplaced, and if it is in fact the case that in spite of Coach Faircloth's clear, undeniable accolades and accomplishments, either PN-GISD will decline to renew Coach Faircloth's contract, or Coach Faircloth will voluntarily leave PN-GISD under pressure from the school board or administration, it will be the first time in several years that I've had good reason to reconsider the faith I have in the party or parties responsible for his departure. Forcing Coach Faircloth's ouster, whether directly or through indirect means, would reflect a severe error in judgment which would have consequences for PN-G students for generations to come - a mistake even worse than running off Danny Malone, which will likely result in similar or worse consequences, and the same lingering shame and regret. To say nothing of losing Coach Faircloth's demonstrated ability to develop successful PN-G athletes and programming, it would also clearly signal to any potential replacement that a three round playoff run capping off thirteen years of unquestionably and consistently successful leadership is not enough to satisfy the powers that be at PN-G, or worse yet, to overcome local political grudges. Ending Coach Faircloth's tenure prematurely would be a grave disservice to the PN-G community and, more importantly, its kids. I have no doubt whatsoever that I am not the only member of the PN-G community who feels this way. For PN-G's sake, here's hoping these rumors are nothing more than idle gossip. Scalp 'em, Indians.

Fair enough. Only time will tell.

Ironically, the man with the most right to be offended over this situation was Louis Sockalexis, one of the first American Indians to play major league baseball, who played for Cleveland. The team first dawned the American Indian mascot in honor of him. Wonder what he'd have to say about this situation.

The top five are the top five and the bottom three are the bottom three. Any one team in either of those groups could jumble around within its group. Some major question marks hang over all five teams in playoff contention. I know my Indians. I like our odds.

For Crosby, maybe.

I don't think Alabama's recruiting will skip a beat. LSU might see some issues, but I'm skeptical. I think A&M and Arkansas have the most to lose. That said, the burden is on UT to prove itself in this situation, and I think the recruits that take this game seriously (i.e., the ones most concerned about draft stock and national championship potential) see it that way as well. UT has a new coach, and has basically only had one season of national relevance in the last ten years. Whatever damage LSU and A&M suffer in the recruiting game can be easily rectified by beating UT, and my money's on both of them to do that. If Arkansas beats UT - which is very much possible, if unlikely - I don't think anybody suffers any recruitment loss at the hands of UT. Austin's fun for college kids and all, but it can only carry UT's recruiting game so far. There's an argument to be had that OU's a bigger threat to recruiting in the SEC than UT is. The Sooners are more likely to perform well in the near future. There's one more variable we all have to account for, though, and that's the name/image/likeness value. I don't think anybody's sure how that affects recruiting. All bets are off on that one.

I take your point, but I think he is. I've dealt with John Sharp at the Capitol a few times. He's not the type who would take this lying down if he was blindsided by it.

I never meant to say UT came to the SEC with hat in hand. It's hard to have anything else in your hands when they're holding the Longhorn Network out as the first concession. Money and prestige are definitely the drivers for the decision, no doubt about it. And that's the exact reason at least twelve of the fourteen SEC presidents are going to vote to accept Texas and OU when the Southernly democratic process takes place. And to be clear, A&M was included in the discussion. Ross Bjork wasn't. [Hidden Content]

You need to take a look at some SEC history. Vanderbilt has literally run the SEC before. When the SEC wanted to become the first conference in the country to institute a championship game, Gene Stallings was against it and Steve Spurrier's people had mixed feelings about it. Roy Kramer convinced the rest of the conference to go for it and did it anyway. In doing so, he very nearly cost Alabama a national championship. Every single time playoff expansion has been discussed, Nick Saban has verbally and adamantly objected and his boosters have followed suit, but the SEC staff have gone for it without exception because it would guarantee multiple SEC teams competing for a national championship every season. Yet Alabama has never once floated the idea of bolting from the conference. Alabama's still a proud member of the SEC, and most of the fanbase would literally riot at the prospect of Alabama leaving the SEC. I get what you're saying. You've perfectly described how the Big XII is run - and coincidentally, why it's falling apart. The SEC's been around several times as long as the Big XII, and it's because the SEC is designed from the ground up to ensure consensus or near consensus among the conference members before any major decision gets made. I'm not naive enough to tell you that's because of some altruistic commitment to compromise. Rather, it's because the individual SEC members find security in a conference that's built around keeping their collective buy-in, and that's what keeps schools around for a literal century. The SEC was learning the hard lessons of realignment, and reforming itself to account for those lessons, thirty years before the Big XII even existed. Those adaptations are why the SEC is such a durable conference. Culture is very important to Southerners. The SEC has become synonymous with Southern regional identity, and Southern states sticking together is a cornerstone of that identity. The whole, as they say, is greater than the sum of its parts, and that's almost implicitly understood in the South. For its part, Texas A&M understands that, which is why A&M will accept Texas's entry into the SEC when the votes are taken and the required two thirds or more of the conference agrees to it. If Texas really wants to be part of the SEC, it's going to have to make that adjustment. This is not going to be the burnt orange show.

A&M chiefly has concerns about recruiting. There's some consternation over UT joining the SEC's ranks after spending so many decades dragging the SEC and A&M through the mud (remember 'the SEC's academic standards are too low for UT'?), but it's roughly offset by the delicious irony of UT coming to the SEC on its knees now, at least among the A&M fans I run with. On the other hand, being the only Texas school in the SEC has been a big piece of their recruiting pitch over the last few seasons, and that pitch has paid dividends for them. I personally don't think taking that away dooms their recruiting prospects by any means, but it makes it a harder sale, and that's a much more pressing concern in an era when A&M fell just an inch short of a playoff it really should have been in last season. Which brings me to this: Yes, Alabama wants it. No, that's not the end of the story. You know I like and respect you, but this is exactly the kind of thing that leaves me (and other SEC alums with a lot more say in these kinds of things than I have, for that matter) with reservations about adding UT. The SEC is not like the Big XII or the Big 10. It might be dominated by one or a handful of blue chip programs on the football field, but SEC politics is very balanced between the schools. Vanderbilt has as much say in the inner workings of the conference as Alabama does. Don't believe me? Ask Roy Kramer. UT fans have gotten very accustomed to their school being the favored son of their conference. There are no favored sons in the SEC. I can think of several specific instances where Alabama wanted something out of the conference they didn't get because other member schools objected. I don't think UT's ever been told no by their conference leadership regardless of what their fellow members have wanted, or at least not in my lifetime. If UT fans think they're going to come into the SEC and dominate either their division or the conference altogether in a manner even remotely as preferential as what they've experienced in the Big XII, or even if they think there's a pecking order where they only fall behind the likes of Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Florida, they should either disabuse themselves of that notion now, or get ready for a rude awakening. If UT really wants to be a part of this conference, they need to get comfortable with the idea of having equal say in conference conversations as the likes of Kentucky, Tennessee and, yes, even the dreaded Aggies. Mal Moore, God rest his soul, would tell you the same thing. Welcome to the confederacy of college football. I look forward to the first Alabama pep rally at the Texas State Capitol.

As a die-hard Alabama fan and Saban-era alumnus, I earnestly wish Sarkisian the best of luck. I mean that. He is my second favorite all-time Saban assistant behind only Kirby Smart, and he will leave Tuscaloosa with the same well wishes from me that Kirby had. That said, as a UT graduate who has spent the last six seasons watching Texas wallow around in mediocrity firsthand - and as a proud PN-G Indian who’s had to watch the greatest talent ever to come out of his storied hometown program settle for that for two seasons - I also see this for what it is: the worst decision Steve Sarkisian can possibly make. Texas is functionally the new Tennessee. The Big XII is a joke, and A&M has clearly come into its own as the state’s flagship football program. Steve Sarkisian is the Longhorns’ best option, and I’ll give UT’s new leadership full credit for finally securing a quality coaching candidate - an area where past leadership has repeatedly failed. But the problems in the Texas program run much deeper than the coaching staff, and they take a lot more than money and branding to fix. While a former Saban righthand man may be the only coach on the planet capable of finally correcting the chronic, cultural issues that plague the UT campus and constantly inhibit gridiron success, even in my most Crimson-tinted glasses, I wouldn’t bet a plug nickel on it.

Thanks for being real Southeast Texans, Raider and Soulja! I owe y'all one.

I hesitate to do this because this is a PN-G thing, but the team we're up against, Sanderson, has said some very nasty things about Southeast Texas in general ("West Texas class against East Texas trash," as one Sanderson fan put it in the comments), and we need y'all's help. A few weeks ago, Dave Campbell's Texas Football put together a 64 stadium bracket and a six round voting competition to determine the best high school football stadium in Texas. PN-G's Indian Stadium was the only stadium DCTF picked to represent our area. We've pulled off several upset wins over several stadiums DCTF favored over us, and now we're in the championship round against another stadium DCTF picked against us. Folks, some of the things Sanderson has done to win this competition have been absurd. They've posted nasty things about our area in every Facebook group you can imagine in places like Odessa, Del Rio, and Fort Stockton, and it's working - how else could a town of 800 amass 5,800 votes? I know we're #SETXStrong, and I know Southeast Texas sticks together. We'd really appreciate it if y'all could toss in a vote for PN-G and teach West Texas what it means to be from here. I've linked to the poll below, and you'll need to be signed into Facebook to vote. All you have to do is click on "Indian Stadium." Thanks in advance!

I was sitting 19 rows up and only keyed in on Faircloth halfway through, as I was paying attention to what was happening on the field when it started. And if it’s true that it was a fan berating a player at the sidelines, kudos to Coach Faircloth for putting him in his place. Folks, at some point, we - as in, the PN-G fans - need to have a serious conversation - perhaps more appropriate for another site - about our conduct in the stands. As a lifelong PN-G fan who’s watched games in Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Atlanta and Austin over the last seven years, and has had to deal with the likes of Tennessee, LSU and Ohio State, I’m unnerved at things I’m seeing from our fans right now, especially as it relates to our own team. Some of us are acting like spoiled brats, berating teenagers on our own side of the field like we’re not up 42-0 in a playoff game, and getting upset every time a high school defense gives up a play like it didn’t just score as much as its opposing offense in a playoff game. It’s also clear that we’re not really sure when we should make noise and when we shouldn’t. I was in the middle of the stands when we started the rumble while we were on offense at least three times against Nederland last week. Frankly, as much as it kills me to say this, Nederland’s crowd put us to shame several times. And just as importantly, we have hundreds of fans pouring out of the stands in the third quarter if we’re up by a large margin. My inner Nick Saban is particularly perturbed by that. Ten years ago, when I was in band, we took all kinds of crap for not playing when the other team was on offense, not playing Cherokee loud enough, not paying enough attention to the game during the third quarter, not giving entertaining halftime shows and generally not contributing enough to the games’ atmospheres. I started commenting on these sites specifically to respond to a lot of those criticisms, and I specifically remember how much it affected other kids in the band. But we listened, and Wells has fixed all of that and then some. Our drumline is doing more to get the crowd involved before and during the game than most college drumlines these days. I also remember how critical people were of our student section back then. Our student section is now the most rabid (in a good way) in the area. It’s time for all these fans that I’ve watched complain in the stands and on these websites for the last decade to take a hard, hard look in the mirror and work on their own in-game conduct. Let the coach worry about what’s going on down on the field; he’s doing a fine job of that right now. We need to figure out what we need to do in the stands to help the kids on the field out, not to make their lives more complicated.

Trust me. Those band kids don’t want any of them.

From what I've seen, Herman is paying particular attention to Roschon's pass completion percentage and his rushing yards. That's not the kind of stuff you look for in a DB.

Roschon is a once in a generation talent. It would, frankly, be stupid of any coach not to recognize and utilize that to its fullest potential. Likewise, Roschon can’t win the game alone, and he hasn’t been. Roschon can throw the ball. But it’s Proenza who catches it for the game winning touchdown against Crosby, and Weunschel who catches it and goes for 15-20 yards after catch against the vaunted Nederland defense. Yes, Roschon has run the ball a lot. He’s also been forced to run the ball a lot the last few weeks as we’ve had more penetration into the offensive backfield with two of our starting offensive linemen out. And when he’s done so, he’s taken what would be sacks for any other quarterback and turned them into gains of 2-5 yards at a time, or he’s found a hole in a defense that’s dropped back into coverage and gone 46 yards for a touchdown after a much needed interception by a much improved PN-G defense. That doesn’t take away the opportunities that Dae Dae and Jalen Williams have exploited for big plays when they’ve been there. It just means that we’ve exploited the opportunities opposing defenses have given us, and there are certain opportunities we’ve only had because we have the kind of dual threat quarterback that Roschon is. Football is a team sport, and this PN-G team is the best we’ve had in a long time. Like any other team, this team does what it takes to win, and sometimes that means that certain players have to make sacrifices so that other players can execute what the team needs executed to put points on the board. That’s life, and it’s a good lesson to learn in high school. Roschon can only do as well as the team around him allows him to, and that’s why they get to lay claim to a team win every bit as much as Roschon does when the clock on the scoreboard hits 00:00. Having this kind of debate doesn’t do anything but create and expand division on that team and in the fan base. We have a playoff game to win, and for the first time in a long time, we might realistically have a state title in the mix. This is not the time to have this kind of division. Y’all keep that in mind. Scalp ‘em, Indians.

Yes, I am. Vince Young wouldn’t have won a national championship in this era. If RJ has the right tools around him, I think he can.