Latest / WDYM What Do You Mean? / Having the Blues with Hamilton Football!
Transcript
- 0:25SPEAKER_00: Listening to the WDYM.
- 0:29SPEAKER_00: The What Do You Mean Podcast?
- 0:31SPEAKER_00: Hamilton number one podcast.
- 0:34SPEAKER_00: Now slip black.
- 0:35SPEAKER_00: Number black.
- 0:37SPEAKER_00: Here is Hamilton Zumble, Michael Gillespie.
- 0:41SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the WDYM.
- 0:44SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Michael Billespie.
- 0:46SPEAKER_01: Hope everybody's doing good.
- 0:47SPEAKER_01: Hope everybody's doing well.
- 0:50SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 0:52SPEAKER_01: Today's topic is Friday night lights again.
- 0:58SPEAKER_01: As if you follow me for anything, I am a big Friday nights type guy.
- 1:03SPEAKER_01: High school football.
- 1:04SPEAKER_01: I still believe to this day that Hamilton at Ohio has the best high school football.
- 1:12SPEAKER_01: Now I've been to New Mexico, which we clearly beat, and then I've been to Georgia, which is very top-heavy in my opinion.
- 1:21SPEAKER_01: But nothing beats Ohio football.
- 1:25SPEAKER_01: Nothing beats Ohio football.
- 1:27SPEAKER_01: And as I tend to lean toward the teams that are in my local area.
- 1:35SPEAKER_01: The Monroe Hornets, the Ross Rams, the Talawana Braves, the Middletown Midis, the Fairfield Indians, you name it, that's where my loyalty's at.
- 1:47SPEAKER_01: But above all else, there's only one team.
- 1:56SPEAKER_01: Actually, there's two, but majority one is, of course, the home of the big blue, Hamilton, Ohio, which has the best fight song in Bulla County.
- 2:11SPEAKER_01: Now, you would hear this when we score.
- 2:17SPEAKER_01: When you score testing for Hamilton, this is what you hear.
- 2:20SPEAKER_01: Strikes up, Hamilton's on the board, seven-nothing, whatever.
- 2:24SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this year we haven't heard much of this.
- 2:27SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 2:29SPEAKER_01: We just came off of playing the Mason Comments and GMC game.
- 2:35SPEAKER_01: And lit needless to say, it didn't turn well at all.
- 2:40SPEAKER_01: It didn't turn well at all because we got skunked 40 to 3.
- 2:45SPEAKER_01: This is what I felt like on the inside.
- 2:47unknown: No.
- 2:48SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 2:49SPEAKER_01: 40 to 3 is not a good feeling.
- 2:53SPEAKER_01: But this whole year hasn't been a good feeling, right?
- 2:56SPEAKER_01: Needless to say, that since that game, Hamilton has been outscored 214 to 68.
- 3:07SPEAKER_01: 214 to 68.
- 3:12SPEAKER_01: Wow.
- 3:12SPEAKER_01: It's been one of those years, and following the Mason defeat, Facebook community was in an uproar.
- 3:22SPEAKER_01: They were upset at the fact that Hamilton got beat that bad.
- 3:28SPEAKER_01: And while, yes, I agree that 43 doesn't look good on paper, didn't look good on the screen, didn't look good on the gridiron.
- 3:42SPEAKER_01: That's kind of par for Hamilton.
- 3:46SPEAKER_01: And I will get into that later and everything.
- 3:49SPEAKER_01: But it's been a rough year this year, right?
- 3:51SPEAKER_01: One and five, non-competitive, except maybe what?
- 3:56SPEAKER_01: Two games?
- 3:57SPEAKER_01: Two games which have been competitive, the one we actually won.
- 4:00SPEAKER_01: So let's just go down, let's go down the list of why we're one and five.
- 4:04SPEAKER_01: We started the season at Baton, and Baton put the whooping on us 33-7.
- 4:10SPEAKER_01: And that's going to be the last time I say that.
- 4:13SPEAKER_01: Then Corain beat us 41-7.
- 4:17SPEAKER_01: We got our first win against Sycamore, 31-21.
- 4:21SPEAKER_01: And then Lakota West, which is one of the top teams in the GMC, slacked us 42-7.
- 4:27SPEAKER_01: East, then we had East at home, 37-13 in favor of East, and then of course Mason 40-3 at Mason.
- 4:35SPEAKER_01: And you know when they schedule you for their homecoming game, that they're expected to win.
- 4:41SPEAKER_01: They schedule you for that reason.
- 4:42SPEAKER_01: We're going to schedule Hamilton because we're going to win for homecoming and this, that, and the other.
- 4:48SPEAKER_01: So other than the Lakota East game, it's been very non-competitive.
- 4:53SPEAKER_01: And even the Lakota East game got away from us.
- 4:57SPEAKER_01: But it was competitive.
- 4:59SPEAKER_01: Right?
- 4:59SPEAKER_01: It's just that we don't have the answers yet.
- 5:05SPEAKER_01: And we're almost we're over halfway done with the football season.
- 5:10SPEAKER_01: So I guess we could say for the record that Hamilton has a very small chance to get in the playoffs this year.
- 5:22SPEAKER_01: And the community is upset, is very upset.
- 5:26SPEAKER_01: So what I'm here to do, I'm here to give a little history knowledge, a little, hey, let's pump our brakes a little bit before we bring out the torches and all that stuff, and want to burn the whole thing down.
- 5:43SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna get into the history of it, but I'm gonna start at the lowest level possible.
- 5:50SPEAKER_01: And when I say by that, or what I mean by that, is that I want to say that competition back then was a little more fierce than what it is now.
- 6:04SPEAKER_01: And you may ask yourself, what do you mean by that?
- 6:07SPEAKER_01: Back in the day, we had three middle schools.
- 6:10SPEAKER_01: We had three middle schools, which consisted of Garfield, Wilson, and George Washington, or GW for short.
- 6:19SPEAKER_01: And that triangle was paramount, but something that we needed back then.
- 6:28SPEAKER_01: We had Garfield that wanted to beat Wilson that wanted to beat Garfield, and GW just wanted to beat somebody.
- 6:35SPEAKER_01: We always had that competition, and then all that built something that went up to the high school, and we were more competitive now.
- 6:46SPEAKER_01: Now, since then, GW has gone away, and now we just predominantly have Wilson and Garfield.
- 6:56SPEAKER_01: So that could be a contributing factor.
- 6:59SPEAKER_01: Don't know.
- 6:59SPEAKER_01: I'm on the outside looking in.
- 7:03SPEAKER_01: Another thing that could be the problem, could be, is that what is the backbone of Hamilton?
- 7:14SPEAKER_01: If again, me as a historian, I always say Hamilton has always run the ball.
- 7:19SPEAKER_01: We've always run the ball since the great days of Ed Minory.
- 7:23SPEAKER_01: Run the ball.
- 7:24SPEAKER_01: We've had great running backs come from Hamilton and be somewhat successful.
- 7:31SPEAKER_01: And I don't think we run the ball as much.
- 7:33SPEAKER_01: Let alone take a snap under center.
- 7:37SPEAKER_01: I don't think we've done that this year.
- 7:40SPEAKER_01: This day and age is past first heavy and everything.
- 7:44SPEAKER_01: And I don't think that is the meat and potatoes of Hamilton football.
- 7:52SPEAKER_01: And one of the other things that I want to mention is that we arguably play in the toughest football conference in all of Ohio.
- 8:03SPEAKER_01: The GMC, the Great Miami Conference.
- 8:08SPEAKER_01: The GMC is competition all the way down to at least I would roughly say maybe six, seven teams, maybe eight, on a good year.
- 8:22SPEAKER_01: Where it's competitive.
- 8:25SPEAKER_01: And when you got the likes of Princeton, two Lakotas, East and West.
- 8:31SPEAKER_01: Back then, you gotta give Col Rain some credit.
- 8:34SPEAKER_01: Colerain was a monster for a while.
- 8:36SPEAKER_01: Middletown.
- 8:39SPEAKER_01: It's just a constant battle.
- 8:41SPEAKER_01: And I guarantee you that the GMC gets at least five teams in the playoffs every year.
- 8:51SPEAKER_01: And we're knocking each other out before we get any further.
- 8:54SPEAKER_01: So all these contributing factors are reasons why Hamilton is not successful this year.
- 9:02SPEAKER_01: But I will say this.
- 9:05SPEAKER_01: Hamilton as a program is just slightly, and I mean that significantly, slightly above 500.
- 9:15SPEAKER_01: And people, I think people don't understand that Hamilton is just a 56% winning program.
- 9:25SPEAKER_01: We're not Ohio State.
- 9:27SPEAKER_01: We're not UC.
- 9:28SPEAKER_01: We are more like Toledo.
- 9:32SPEAKER_01: Maybe.
- 9:34SPEAKER_01: And Toledo's not a bad program, a college program.
- 9:37SPEAKER_01: That goes to say a lot about Hamilton as a program.
- 9:41SPEAKER_01: And never, and then never forget, we play Baton for the past, what, three or four years now?
- 9:47SPEAKER_01: And Baton's one of their top elite programs in Ohio.
- 9:53SPEAKER_01: They just they've just been dominant, winning, going to playoffs every year, always in the talks of winning a state title in their respective division.
- 10:05SPEAKER_01: So needless to say.
- 10:08SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people always come back and say, hey, they're poaching our talent.
- 10:12SPEAKER_01: Kids are leaving and transferring and everything.
- 10:14SPEAKER_01: That happens all the time.
- 10:17SPEAKER_01: I don't know why it's such a big deal now when it's happened all the time.
- 10:20SPEAKER_01: Look at the molars, the Saint X's, the elders.
- 10:23SPEAKER_01: They are always taking an opportunity to take from another program.
- 10:28SPEAKER_01: So that's what happens.
- 10:29SPEAKER_01: And one of the last things I want to say about this is that if you use as an excuse, right, look at the the program right next to us, Fairfield.
- 10:39SPEAKER_01: Fairfield is also one in four, one in five in the GMC, and they've won one game.
- 10:49SPEAKER_01: We both beat Sycamore.
- 10:50SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
- 10:52SPEAKER_01: So what excuse is it?
- 10:53SPEAKER_01: It's just that Fairfield seems competitive when Hamilton doesn't.
- 10:59SPEAKER_01: So using the GMC only, Fairfield has allowed their opponents 101 points to their 90, as for Hamilton to do 181 over 61.
- 11:13SPEAKER_01: So there's a problem.
- 11:14SPEAKER_01: There is a problem.
- 11:16SPEAKER_01: But I think at the same time, us as a community have to give grace to coach.
- 11:22SPEAKER_01: Because again, Hamilton as a program is has won 56% of their games.
- 11:30SPEAKER_01: Again, Toledo, not Ohio State.
- 11:33SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 11:34SPEAKER_01: And Coach Crouch, the head coach of Hamilton, is close or parallel to that 50, that 56%.
- 11:45SPEAKER_01: As he's won, as of now, he's 25 and 27.
- 11:50SPEAKER_01: He's roughly at 48%.
- 11:53SPEAKER_01: And I'm asking myself, because that Saturday, everybody on the Facebook group was just blowing it up, saying we need to get out everybody.
- 12:01SPEAKER_01: And I want to read some of the comments too.
- 12:03SPEAKER_01: As in what are people really saying and my reaction to that?
- 12:07SPEAKER_01: But I think there needs to be some context to everything.
- 12:11SPEAKER_01: Again, Hamilton's not the best program, but we're above 500.
- 12:16SPEAKER_01: So let's go, let's get into it.
- 12:19SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the coach success that we that Hamilton has had or lack thereof.
- 12:26SPEAKER_01: Starting back to the Ed Minory days.
- 12:29SPEAKER_01: Ed Minory, coach of Hamilton, coached for 14 years and had a winning record of 77 and 66.
- 12:36SPEAKER_01: Won two GMC championships and made the playoffs three times.
- 12:40SPEAKER_01: Following him, we had Coach Eric Gillespie.
- 12:44SPEAKER_01: No relation.
- 12:45SPEAKER_01: I don't know this guy.
- 12:46SPEAKER_01: I don't know this guy.
- 12:47SPEAKER_01: Same last name, but I don't know this guy.
- 12:49SPEAKER_01: He went 0-10.
- 12:51SPEAKER_01: What does that say?
- 12:52SPEAKER_01: One year, 0-10.
- 12:54SPEAKER_01: Then we had Coach Mark Kaluger, who came in and did 7-23.
- 13:00SPEAKER_01: Following him, Jim Place, 16-24.
- 13:04SPEAKER_01: Bob Jacoby, one playoff appearance, 14 and 17.
- 13:09SPEAKER_01: And then here's a kicker.
- 13:10SPEAKER_01: Chad Murray.
- 13:12SPEAKER_01: Chad Murray is the current coach of Wenton Woods, who has won a state title at Winton Woods.
- 13:18SPEAKER_01: He was here at Hamilton for six years.
- 13:21SPEAKER_01: 14 and 46 in six years.
- 13:25SPEAKER_01: Nate Mahan, homegrown man from Hamilton.
- 13:29SPEAKER_01: Three years.
- 13:30SPEAKER_01: 13 and 17.
- 13:32SPEAKER_01: Three playoff appearances.
- 13:33SPEAKER_01: And now we have Coach Crouch, who is his fifth year, his fifth year made the playoffs four times.
- 13:42SPEAKER_01: 25 and 27.
- 13:44SPEAKER_01: So what are we talking about?
- 13:46SPEAKER_01: I honestly think.
- 13:47SPEAKER_01: And people are right.
- 13:48SPEAKER_01: People rightfulness can be upset.
- 13:50SPEAKER_01: Because again, I'm just going on what the pieces of paper say, what the stats say.
- 13:55SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going on the inside, but people are upset what's going on the inside, according to the Facebook group page and everything.
- 14:03SPEAKER_01: And I'm not there for that.
- 14:04SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying what I see on the field is not the expectation that people have.
- 14:12SPEAKER_01: But coach is doing a good job.
- 14:15SPEAKER_01: Is he not allowed to have a down year?
- 14:17SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure he everybody could have a down year when they coach and everything.
- 14:21SPEAKER_01: And five years here, four times in the playoffs, and he has an outside chance of making the playoffs this year, depending on if he can get it together.
- 14:30SPEAKER_01: That's the thing.
- 14:32SPEAKER_01: That's the question that we're asking ourselves.
- 14:36SPEAKER_01: But there is a share of criticism that he warrants.
- 14:40SPEAKER_01: The thing that I see, and this is all online and everything, is that during the summer, spring, whatever, we're taking trips to college towns, getting that experience and everything, going to South Carolina, going to Florida.
- 14:58SPEAKER_01: Learning something, I hope.
- 15:00SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't translate.
- 15:04SPEAKER_01: That's one thing.
- 15:05SPEAKER_01: The ability to change, again, that's one thing that I noticed that is a lack of.
- 15:28SPEAKER_01: I don't think I've seen one snap under center this year.
- 15:31SPEAKER_01: And if we're one in five, the talent, there has to be some talent, something somewhere else.
- 15:36SPEAKER_01: Move people to different positions.
- 15:38SPEAKER_01: I think I honestly think if the running back had a lead blocker, he would be something.
- 15:45SPEAKER_01: He gets there, he gets to the line, but then it doesn't translate.
- 15:50SPEAKER_01: But again, I'm on the outside.
- 15:52SPEAKER_01: I'm not on the inside.
- 15:53SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going on.
- 15:54SPEAKER_01: And I'm hoping that we can get a change for the last what four games we got.
- 16:01SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't, it's not easy.
- 16:03SPEAKER_01: It's not easy in a GMC.
- 16:06SPEAKER_01: We have in no particular order, we got Oakills.
- 16:12SPEAKER_01: We got the Princeton Vikings, who is probably the number one team in Cincinnati, arguably the best team in Ohio.
- 16:23SPEAKER_01: We'll see how they run in the playoffs.
- 16:25SPEAKER_01: Then we have Fairfield, rivalry game, Middletown, rivalry game.
- 16:30SPEAKER_01: So it's not impossible to say if Hamilton could win three three out of four of those games that playoffs can happen.
- 16:43SPEAKER_01: But there has to be a change.
- 16:44SPEAKER_01: There has to be some kind of personnel change or something where Hamilton can be competitive.
- 16:57SPEAKER_01: The 214 to 68 is not competitive.
- 17:02SPEAKER_01: So it's gonna be rough.
- 17:05SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be absolutely rough for this year.
- 17:07SPEAKER_01: And hopefully that after this year, some changes be made for the positive.
- 17:14SPEAKER_01: And in the grand scheme of things, I think that he's able, Coach Croucher's able to change and adjust.
- 17:25SPEAKER_01: And he's a good coach.
- 17:26SPEAKER_01: Bottom line, he's a good coach.
- 17:27SPEAKER_01: He's been with he was ham with Hamilton before as an assistant, and he's gone off and done things at, I believe, at Mount Healthy.
- 17:35SPEAKER_01: And he's come back home and he's done successful things here for Hamilton.
- 17:40SPEAKER_01: Got our first playoff win in years.
- 17:44SPEAKER_01: Years.
- 17:45SPEAKER_01: And he's a he's he he deserves that credit.
- 17:48SPEAKER_01: And also at the same time, he deserves that grace from the community.
- 17:55SPEAKER_01: That's just my take.
- 17:56SPEAKER_01: Again, give him some time.
- 18:00SPEAKER_01: I say give him some time, and let's see what happens next year.
- 18:05SPEAKER_01: Because or the or you know what?
- 18:07SPEAKER_01: Let's see what happens remaining this year and see what happens next year.
- 18:11SPEAKER_01: But he deserves a little grace for having one bad season compared to the four seasons where we made the playoffs every year since then.
- 18:20SPEAKER_01: People forget that, which is funny to me.
- 18:24SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to read some of the things that were said online and get a reaction to it.
- 18:31SPEAKER_01: I think some people are a little overly aggressive with this, but that's what fans are, as opposed to historians.
- 18:41SPEAKER_01: I understand this game and I know the history about it and everything.
- 18:46SPEAKER_01: People that don't know, and it's their kids that are in the program.
- 18:50SPEAKER_01: They're the ones that are quick to bring out the pitchforks and everything.
- 18:53SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
- 18:54SPEAKER_01: So let's just read some of the posts that has been that's been said.
- 18:59SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna read a couple of them.
- 19:01SPEAKER_01: And now, mind you, that a lot of people are, or I shouldn't say a lot, some people are writing in anonymously, and that creates your coward type comments and everything.
- 19:18SPEAKER_01: But you gotta think in a long in the grand scheme of things, if a parent of a kid that plays on a team says something, then it could be retaliation, which is not right.
- 19:29SPEAKER_01: Okay, so one comment is every other coach that's been there in the past 20 plus years came from other high schools with winning programs, and Hamilton strained them.
- 19:50SPEAKER_01: Again, Coach Mahan came from Little Miami, successful there, not so successful here.
- 19:57SPEAKER_01: And you got Coach Murray, who is successful somewhere else, not successful here.
- 20:04SPEAKER_01: And to my rebuttal to that is that they're not playing in the GMC.
- 20:09SPEAKER_01: Again, the GMC is arguably one of the toughest conferences in Ohio.
- 20:16SPEAKER_01: So let's remember that.
- 20:18SPEAKER_01: And here's another one.
- 20:19SPEAKER_01: Before blowing up the coach, I have to ask how many of you have been in this position?
- 20:24SPEAKER_01: How many of you volunteered to coach youth sports, have umpire games at umpire baseball games?
- 20:31SPEAKER_01: Remember how much fun that was.
- 20:33SPEAKER_01: Someone always there to criticize.
- 20:34SPEAKER_01: I've coached at the high school.
- 20:36SPEAKER_01: Parents are relentless because the vast majority believe their kid is the next phenomena.
- 20:40SPEAKER_01: Sorry to break it to you, they're not.
- 20:42SPEAKER_01: You and your kid needs to realize this.
- 20:44SPEAKER_01: There are kids with miss miss activities, but for what reason?
- 20:49SPEAKER_01: Were they working to support family, taking care of college courses, family vacation, recovering from injury?
- 20:55SPEAKER_01: Maybe they just didn't want to go.
- 20:57SPEAKER_01: If they just didn't show, then they shouldn't start at least two or three weeks and then earn the spot.
- 21:04SPEAKER_01: Now, to the high school coaches, these kids, these guys are pros.
- 21:10SPEAKER_01: They these kids are pros.
- 21:12SPEAKER_01: They have limitations.
- 21:12SPEAKER_01: I promise you this.
- 21:14SPEAKER_01: They are there to win.
- 21:16SPEAKER_01: These guys put in long hours, not a normal work week, and not a normal work day, and on weekends.
- 21:23SPEAKER_01: So if you feel you could do better, I applaud you.
- 21:25SPEAKER_01: Apply for the position and submit your resume, or shut the hell up and let these coaches coach and mentor boys to men.
- 21:32SPEAKER_01: Very fair point.
- 21:33SPEAKER_01: Nothing to say bad about that.
- 21:38SPEAKER_01: One last one.
- 21:39SPEAKER_01: You guys want to burn the coaches to the ground, but my son plays, and in an offseason, half the team don't show up for weights, don't show up for their team.
- 21:49SPEAKER_01: They can't be great if they don't put in the work.
- 21:51SPEAKER_01: And that's true.
- 21:52SPEAKER_01: And that is a cultural thing that Hamilton has.
- 21:58SPEAKER_01: There's no quick fix to this, it has to be work and dedication.
- 22:04SPEAKER_01: And I believe that Coach Crouch is giving all that.
- 22:08SPEAKER_01: And the community is up and roar, but again, all I say is give grace.
- 22:14SPEAKER_01: You can have one bad season, you can have maybe two bad seasons if he's been successful, which Coach Crouch has.
- 22:20SPEAKER_01: That's what I say to the people and everything.
- 22:23SPEAKER_01: Relax.
- 22:25SPEAKER_01: Relax.
- 22:26SPEAKER_01: It's just one, it's just one bad year.
- 22:28SPEAKER_01: We can't have one bad year.
- 22:32SPEAKER_01: All I wanted them to lose is beat baiting.
- 22:36SPEAKER_01: Be baiting.
- 22:37SPEAKER_01: We can go one and one and nine after that.
- 22:39SPEAKER_01: Be baiting.
- 22:40SPEAKER_01: That's all I want.
- 22:42SPEAKER_01: But that's it.
- 22:43SPEAKER_01: That's the show.
- 22:45SPEAKER_01: I watched nothing but Hamilton's success.
- 22:48SPEAKER_01: And you should too.
- 22:50SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 22:51SPEAKER_01: I'm the host of the W D Y M.
- 22:54SPEAKER_01: I'm Michael Gillespie.
- 22:55SPEAKER_01: Go Big Blue.
- 22:57SPEAKER_01: And have a good day, guys.
- 22:58SPEAKER_01: I'm out.
- 22:59SPEAKER_01: Girl Scout, Boy Scout.
- 23:02SPEAKER_01: Peace.