Union HC 2026

[jreed97]

Call up Rhodes? Poach Warner? Brad Robbins? In house hire? Who do ya’ll like for it?

[Unchained]

Not sure Rhodes would want to leave what he has right now-esp no seniors.

[Union_Fan]

This will be an attractive job with unreal community support already in place. The team will want for nothing. That is always a concern for any new coach taking over a program. The only thing a new coach will need to do is keep winning.

They will have 5+ great candidates, 10+ good candidates and who knows how many more.

I am not opposed to a completely outside hire, with no direct ties to the current staff/school, as long as they have a proven record as a head coach. I would not take a chance on an assistant from out of state or 5+ hours away.

After WJHL leaked the 3 finalists for the DB job and it looked like Union might need a coach, I heard there was someone already lined up and waiting.

It was an under the radar name, but I would absolutely be ok with that person.

We'll probably start hearing names in the January grapevine. I highly doubt they want to rock the boat even more right with a job posting.

[pvfan]

If Jay Edwards wants the job, Jay Edwards should have the job, period. 
 

 

[Gridiron60]

27 minutes ago, Union_Fan said:

I am not opposed to a completely outside hire, with no direct ties to the current staff/school, as long as they have a proven record as a head coach. I would not take a chance on an assistant from out of state or 5+ hours away.

 

So you’re okay with an assistant coach as long as they’re in-state? 😉

[Gridiron60]

Just now, pvfan said:

If Jay Edwards wants the job, Jay Edwards should have the job, period. 
 

 

I agree with this actually! 

[Unchained]

2 minutes ago, pvfan said:

If Jay Edwards wants the job, Jay Edwards should have the job, period. 
 

 

I would be fine with that. He has paid his dues, and the kids love him

[Fairlawncat]

2 minutes ago, pvfan said:

If Jay Edwards wants the job, Jay Edwards should have the job, period. 
 

 

How on earth can this gentleman not get the job if he wins a state title? I dont think a state title would be needed either. Sounds like Union has its guy.

[Unchained]

1 minute ago, Fairlawncat said:

How on earth can this gentleman not get the job if he wins a state title? I dont think a state title would be needed either. Sounds like Union has its guy.

The way the kids have battled and rallied through insane adversity speaks volumes for him, Kory, and the rest of the staff.

[Union_Fan]

6 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

So you’re okay with an assistant coach as long as they’re in-state? 😉

Yes, and their name is Snake Palmer. Lol

[SWVAgridiron]

I might apply for it. With the talent and size Union has the single wing could flourish. The one winger Bears incoming! 

[Liam McPoyle]

I completely understand the sentiment and support for Jay Edwards.

My unpopular humble opinion: Nothing against Edwards, but this program needs the kind of reset only an outsider can deliver. Too many in-house loyalties and friendships are shaping decisions, and when you’ve got more “coaches” than some D1 staffs, that becomes a real problem.

[sup_rbeast]

10 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said:

I completely understand the sentiment and support for Jay Edwards.

My unpopular humble opinion: Nothing against Edwards, but this program needs the kind of reset only an outsider can deliver. Too many in-house loyalties and friendships are shaping decisions, and when you’ve got more “coaches” than some D1 staffs, that becomes a real problem.

Why would you want to reset a program that has as much consistent success as Union has? IMO they need continuity in this hire, not change. A total reset of the program would go all the way down to the way kids in the 3rd grade are coached and what they are taught. You run the risk of ruining the entire program with something like that. Many of those guys on the sidelines are gone when their kids are gone. Regardless, they would rally behind whoever gets the job. It wouldn’t be split into camps pulling against one another. Once the job is settled, that guy will be the guy everyone gets behind.

[Liam McPoyle]

2 minutes ago, sup_rbeast said:

Why would you want to reset a program that has as much consistent success as Union has? IMO they need continuity in this hire, not change.

I don't disagree with you. The program has been incredibly consistent, though maybe has fallen short of its full potential.   

[UnionGuy2017]

15 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said:

I completely understand the sentiment and support for Jay Edwards.

My unpopular humble opinion: Nothing against Edwards, but this program needs the kind of reset only an outsider can deliver. Too many in-house loyalties and friendships are shaping decisions, and when you’ve got more “coaches” than some D1 staffs, that becomes a real problem.

I see your point but IF IF IF Edward’s wins a state title I don’t see any path where you pivot away from it. 

[Packman]

I think Edwards.  If kids like him and respect him seems like me why would you rock the boat if it’s not sinking.  

[Liam McPoyle]

Just now, UnionGuy2017 said:

I see your point but IF IF IF Edward’s wins a state title I don’t see any path where you pivot away from it. 

Oh, I get it completely. If he wins it all, I fully expect him to get the job — and he’ll have absolutely earned it.

 

[Union_Fan]

2 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said:

I don't disagree with you. The program has been incredibly consistent, though maybe has fallen short of its full potential.   

Definitely fallen short several times. That has been discussed at length on here.

As long as internal folks are willing to think out of the box, invoke clear boundaries and NOT keep doing some of the same dumb things, that's probably the best option.

You absolutely have a point about stagnation. I actually had a conversation with a person in higher education, with not one, but 2 Doctorate degrees, on this topic. They compared stagnation to cancer for an organization.

I'd rather clean house than become stagnant.

[JDHoss]

Brad Robbins? As the UConn QB coach and passing game coordinator in 2024, he made $184K. My guess is that he's making  north of 200K as the OC at Tulsa. I don't see Robbins coaching in the high school ranks anytime in the near future. 

[Liam McPoyle]

23 minutes ago, sup_rbeast said:

A total reset of the program would go all the way down to the way kids in the 3rd grade are coached and what they are taught. You run the risk of ruining the entire program with something like that.

I didn't mean to imply a total reset. There are many personnel and components that are working well, including a dynamic youth program.  You wouldn't consider a person who didn't immediately recognize and maintain all the good things.

[S10SQUAREBODY4LIFE]

Edwards, as for now is the man.  I think there's enough of the right attitude and right people in place to keep pushing forward.  It'll be a group effort to finish out and carry on on in the future.  Careful consideration will be taken to not tear down in a second what took years to establish. Inside or outside hire, it'll be the right fit I'm sure.  Union has been fortunate to not hit the bottom as some have from time to time. They've been very consistent to say the least so I don't think a total reset will, or needs to occur, but at the same time some coaches don't want to be assistants forever.  It may however be a great time to evaluate staff and revamp roles and duties.   Good luck to them. 

[Fairlawncat]

Let me be careful and delicate here with my words and echo on the Why regarding Unions offensive stagnation and falling short of a state title when the talent has been there to where the Bears should have had 1 or 2 titles by now.

Hindsight is often 20/20. Well, in this case, it is.

Union's fans, many of them, critiqued the offense and lack of change for years. It seemed like that fell on deaf ears and no change occurred. In order for change to occur, one has to have a care or concern for critique. One has to have some kind of value on the opinions or emotions of Other Humans. In summary, one must have empathy. The opposite of all the above is possible narcissistic behavior or personality. Well, the current events are what they are. They speak for themselves. This is as delicate and honest as I can put it without being overly offensive, but also being honest.

What Im saying is.....I would bet the house Union will be far more likely to make changes offensively with the new HC even if the new HC is an assistant because......he cares. He has empathy. He's unlikely to display high narcissistic traits and I will leave it that. Im trying to be delicate, but Im giving you the potential WHY. The answer as to Why seemingly little or no offensive changes came for years, even with critique. The lack of changes offensively weren't due to the assistants being "stupid." They were due to how I explained the "Why" above. 

Union is going to be dangerous. The new HC will overwhelmingly, more likely to be fluent, more diverse offensively and its going to make Union have title rings more than once over the next 10 years. You may not believe it now, but Unions xs and os are about to get way better over the next few years and thats scary considering their talent pool.

 

[sup_rbeast]

4 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said:

I didn't mean to imply a total reset. There are many personnel and components that are working well, including a dynamic youth program.  You wouldn't consider a person who didn't immediately recognize and maintain all the good things.

The thing is when you bring someone into a program, they usually want to change things up to fit their knowledge base. I can remember going from Poss Bolling’s playbook to Phil Robbins playbook when he was hired. Kids my age went from 2 years of Wing T/T to I Formation. Even for a 10 year old in the P-Nut program, there are changes. As far as football goes, I believe in the philosophy of fitting players into a program vs altering the program to fit players. The continuity allows for all the coaches from P-Nut through Varsity to coach kids the same way every year, and repetition leads to mastery. There are 9 years of players who have been working on the current offense, and I think it fits the Bears more than most anything else they could do on a yearly basis. I just don’t see any reason to mess with that until the day it stops working. Look at the difference in PV once they went away from the I Formation to the spread. They still had good seasons, but nowhere near the success they had before the change.

[JDHoss]

As someone who has lived out of the area for the last 8 years, can someone give me a little background on Jay Edwards, such as where he's from, coaching experience? I know absolutely nothing about him. 

[goose111874]

30 minutes ago, JDHoss said:

Brad Robbins? As the UConn QB coach and passing game coordinator in 2024, he made $184K. My guess is that he's making  north of 200K as the OC at Tulsa. I don't see Robbins coaching in the high school ranks anytime in the near future. 

Yeah I’d imagine he has bigger ambitions than high school coach