Great City

Some, or all, of this could be true. However, it does not change the current state of the football program. Akers may have been the best candidate. He may have given a great interview. He may have been the logical choice. It just looks painfully obvious that he cannot lead a football program.

"Lord and Savior of Gate City football". hahahahahaha No idea what was going on with Doug Marrs, so I will not comment. I think the amount of time you give a coach is totally dependent on the coach's behavior/progress, and the unique circumstances surrounding the team. IMHO.....although we GC fans want to win a bunch of games, our record is not the biggest issue. I pointed out earlier that with the overall talent of our team, there is not a coach who would win several games with our team this year. Colobro was previously mentioned. I do not think he would have won a game with our team this year. However, I am certain that kids would never have been allowed to cuss him, kids would not have been allowed to skip practice, kids on the sideline would not be playing on their phones or talking to people walking on the track, he would not have alienated the majority of his coaching staff, he would not talk in the field house how his dream coaching job is just up the road, he would not have alienated the players, and he would not have had multiple players quit the team. Colobro was strict and worked the players hard. He was also respected. I am NOT saying I want Colobro to return. Just using him as an example. The players have lost respect for Akers. Unfortunately I believe it is a situation that can't be fixed. Akers is finished as the HC at GC. Is just a matter of time. The "classy" move is to replace him sooner rather than later. If the ship is sinking and can't be fixed, it is classy to take care of the passengers (student athletes) as soon as possible. I do agree that it is going to take several years to get us back to "old" GC football. I could not make it to the Union game, but believe I read that we only had 28 or 32 players dressed for the game. When is the last time a GC team had that few players?

"Classic GC though, it is not the kids its the coach. You all are starting a vicious cycle with that idea" "GC is always on top of their high horse... " ..........and classic GC hatred/envy. Priceless There are many examples of GC fans talking about the overall lack of talent on our team. I'm not sure a lot of people, who are responding on these threads, are understanding what is being said by several GC fans. I will not even pretend to speak for anyone other than myself. The following thoughts/opinions are my own. I'm not sure that Nick Saban would win more than a couple of games with our team this year.......and that is if we had kept everyone healthy. Yeah....we want to win as many games as possible. Hell, as a GC fan, we want to win every game and get to game 11. However.........a lot of the frustrations being directed at the HC have nothing to do with wins/loses. They are about the general direction of the program.

Hmmmm..................guess I assumed all high school teams have reserved seating for season ticket holders. BTW, there are no reserved seats come playoff time. Uh..........actually..........there are a lot of GC season ticket holders who keep the same seats for many, many years.

"I have been to Legion Field several times and I can't remember a time when the home stands weren't packed, Until this year and we all wondered why GC fans were sitting on the visitors side when there were numerous seats on the home side. That spoke volumes." To clarify.........the "home" side at GC is 99% reserved seats for season ticket holders. GC fans have always sat on the "visitors" side. Generally on about half of the visitors side.

UVAO........have you seen GC play? One area where we are OK at is at FB. We have two kids who can "sell the FB dive". Our current version of a FB dive is taking too long to develop. I am not an Akers' fan or hater. Just hate to see the current state of the program. Will be the first to admit that I do not know what the immediate solution should be. Am not saying the T-Formation solves anything for us. Heck, part of me says to put Mack at QB and run some true triple option plays (current QB is not a threat to run the ball). Part of me says to spread everyone out as much as possible, and try to win an individual battle or two.

Many different variations of the "T" and Wishbone. Is much more complicated than simply about how players are set before the snap. Too many of our plays are taking too long to develop. We are having too many negative, rushing plays. When healthy..............we have a couple of big backs, a couple of kids with decent speed, and an O-Line who can make some blocks. Like someone said earlier, football is not that complicated. It is about individual match ups. Could be 11 on 11 matchups, 6 on 6, or 3 on 3. We have got to figure out how to put ourselves in the best position to create some match up advantages for us.

I have pointed this out before..........we just do not have the talent we have had in years past. Do not believe that can be argued. We (To clarify: Meaning the people who will at some point decide Akers' fate) need to decide if Akers is, or is capable of, getting the most out of the talent on the team....... decide if he is capable of recruiting the kids in the hall to come out and play football......and decide how his locker room presence (not sure what else to call it) effects the team. I also agree that you should give a high school coach at least 3 years to see what he can do. Maybe even give him 5 years. We have all heard stories about what might be going on in the locker room. I was told that Akers has boasted about another school fairly close to us being his "dream job". Not sure if that is true, but if so, does not do a lot for morale. No idea how many, if any, of the stories are true.

Kid and Akers have been cussing back and forth all year. Came to head after the last game. Enough blame to spread around. Agree..........this one will not be close.

I was always told that GC "played up". No idea if that is true. Anyone have an idea?

If you change the time period to 1970 - 2016, the rankings for our area teams go to: #4 Powell Valley #5 Gate City #7 Appalachia #10 Giles #15 Clintwood #22 Richlands #27 Graham #28 JI Burton Some things that pop out to me (since I am a GC fan): Only two teams during that time period have more playoff wins than GC (53 wins).......Hampton (77) and Salem (64). Those same two teams have more playoff appearances than GC's 84 appearances......Hampton (106) and Salem (85). GC's 5 state championships are bested by Hampton (12), Salem (8), Powell Valley (8), Phoebus (7), and Appalachia (6). GC leads the state in playoff losses during that time period with 31 loses.

We played hard. Just a matter of being beaten by a better team. I said earlier in this thread that our kick coverage team had to be improved............Abingdon took the opening kick back 90 yards for a score. Will happen several more times this year if we do not make some changes. 5 turnovers last night, and 5 turnovers last week against Richlands. 10 turnovers in 2 weeks. Wonder if we are leading the state in that category?

I think if we GC fans take off our blue tinted glasses, step back, and look at our football program...........our main issue becomes fairly clear. We have not put very talented teams on the field the last few years. Yes..........we have had some talented players. No doubt about that. I am talking about total team talent. That has resulted with too many kids having to play both ways, and the offense and defense wearing down as the game progresses. With a lack of total team talent, the importance of remaining injury free has been magnified. That talent may be walking the halls at GC. If so, we need to get it on the team.

My gut tells me that this game is not added to the list of classic games between these two. I'm thinking Union by 14. Not sure why you Richlands guys are talking about needing to greatly improve your secondary. Against GC I only remember one time where we had a guy get wide open behind the secondary.....we overthrew him. We had a WR make two great catches in the secondary that got us some yardage. Coverage was not bad at all. Heck....you guys had three INTs in the game. Two inside your 10-yard line that may have stopped scores, and one that was returned for a TD. That translates to 30 regular season interceptions with 10 of them being returned for TDs. How many teams would not take that? :)

Hmmm............I have only seen Vermillion play a few minutes in the benefit game with Graham. He threw one INT. Have not seen Mack play at all. Have seen Salle play about 6 quarters (2 in the benefit game), and throw 6 INTs. Guess it depends on what Akers' plans are going forward this year. If we are going to run the ball 95% of the time and just mix in the occasional short pass or screen, might want to go with your best runner. Would give us another threat in the backfield that the D will have to account for. If we are going to run the ball 70% - 80% of the time, we prob need our best passer at QB. Might keep the D from putting everyone in the box and help our line open up some running lanes. If we run the ball less than 70% of the time, does not matter who you have back there. We are already way behind. Seriously........any success we have this year will depend on ball control offense and lack of turnovers. If we are going to try and throw the ball several times a game, we have got to work on some high percentage pass plays. We can't afford to turn the ball over. Can't have 2 INTs inside the opponent's 10 yard line like we did against Richlands. Got to either make the completion, or throw the ball away. Also think our kick coverage team needs some work. I know we try to put a few players on that team who may not get in the game otherwise, but we are going to need to improve the talent on that squad. That unit is going to cost us a game or two.

I agree. Not sure GC has the weapons to come back from more than 10 points down. To win games this year, we are going to have to avoid turnovers, and control the clock. Really expect we will be able to run the ball effectively against most teams on our schedule. Makes perfect sense to me that Union would move the Richlands game to a Thursday/Saturday and play it at UVA Wise. I would be there.

Not sure what to make of what I saw tonight. Through three quarters the GC QBs were a combined 1-7 with four interceptions. Add in a fumble and GC had 5 turnovers through 3 quarters. Saw that someone posted about GC being big, but I did not see it. Now we do have a couple of big RBs, but not much other size to speak of. Graham appeared to have a much larger line on both sides of the ball. Actually.........if you lined up the starters for both teams, Graham had a huge size advantage. Graham has got to work on the shotgun snap. They had problems with it all night. I believe that GC will be able to run the ball on teams not named Richlands or Union. We have got to work on a short passing game. Believe we will see a lot of teams covering our receivers one on one and loading up the box to stop the run. The next couple of weeks will tell both teams where they are at.

Apparently he is not at GC. Doubted it would happen, but sure would have been nice. He is what we are missing. I have seen his state ranking be between 4 - 8. Would have been real handy to have added Virginia's #4-8 ranked player to our current roster.

I see GC going somewhere between 3-7 & 5-5. Will depend on injuries.

......and the Arby's crowds would be crazy.

Excellent news about the Honaker kids. I have my doubts, but hope they are with us. I heard he was already staying with a family, and was told who the family is. However, I'm like Scottie.........I am not sure the behind the scenes stuff can be worked out. Just like you....."I will believe it when I see it." hahahahahaha True. The last couple of years we have said that we need a big man in the middle, this guy would be all that......and more. Just the thought of Mac, Zac, Dean, Compton, George, the Honaker kids, and this big guy being on the same team is scary.

RiverRat............what did Scottie say about the Honaker kids? I was told that the other kid is/was staying with a local family. That came from a very reliable source. I also doubt it will happen, but that kid does want to come to GC and play with Mac. I think saying it would be a "huge pickup" is a major understatement. :)

Just saw the tweet myself. Is kind of hard for me to believe. Would have bet the house he would have waited to see what other offers he would receive.

UVAO.........I can assure you the vast majority of GC fans are not "patently delusional" about the upcoming basketball season. Believe most of us are saying that we COULD win a state championship this season.........a point that you seem to agree with. Looks like we are all on the same delusional page. :) I will agree that there is a lot of closed-mindedness in SWVA. Just like in all parts of the state, and our great nation. Is really just a matter of what that particular region's minds are closed toward. I'm curious. How many times did you see GC play last year?