New Grayson HC Christian Hunnicutt

[ECHS05]

Im curious how much any of my Georgia brethren know about Graysons new HC Christian Hunnicutt ... other than the obvious which is where hes coached. 

He is a relative unknown as far as HCing goes. Graysons had Mickey Conn as their HC since they opened til 2015.... who was a very good HC. Then they hired Jeff Herron... who is a legend, IMO, in GA. Herrons won 5 State Championships with 3 different schools. 

And now they hire Christian Hunnicutt, whos only been a HC for 1 season before at East Jackson, a team that isnt very good at all. I guess they showed some decent improvement in his 1 season but they still sucked.

Graysons potential is unreal... was it a wise move to hire someone so inexperienced to take over such a talented team. It feels like they shouldve either went after a proven HC or an obvious up and comer (like when Carrollton hired Sean Calhoun).  Neither of which are Hunnicutt (he was a good OC and OL coach).

Georgia guys, what say you... was this a mistake on Graysons part? Or do you believe Hunnicut is going to be a good HC.

 

Just for kicks and giggles... in the season before Hunnicutt took over at East Jackson... EJ was 1-9 and ranked #419 of 480 teams in GA at CP. While CP sucks, Im ok with the the state rankings even though they arent great either. But, in Hunnicutts 1st season (2016) East Jackson went 4-6 and was ranked #388 of 480 teams.

Not a great improvement in rank, but a decent improvement in record.

[Rufus69]

28 minutes ago, ECHS05 said:

Im curious how much any of my Georgia brethren know about Graysons new HC Christian Hunnicutt ... other than the obvious which is where hes coached. 

He is a relative unknown as far as HCing goes. Graysons had Mickey Conn as their HC since they opened til 2015.... who was a very good HC. Then they hired Jeff Herron... who is a legend, IMO, in GA. Herrons won 5 State Championships with 3 different schools. 

And now they hire Christian Hunnicutt, whos only been a HC for 1 season before at East Jackson, a team that isnt very good at all. I guess they showed some decent improvement in his 1 season but they still sucked.

Graysons potential is unreal... was it a wise move to hire someone so inexperienced to take over such a talented team. It feels like they shouldve either went after a proven HC or an obvious up and comer (like when Carrollton hired Sean Calhoun).  Neither of which are Hunnicutt (he was a good OC and OL coach).

Georgia guys, what say you... was this a mistake on Graysons part? Or do you believe Hunnicut is going to be a good HC.

 

Just for kicks and giggles... in the season before Hunnicutt took over at East Jackson... EJ was 1-9 and ranked #419 of 480 teams in GA at CP. While CP sucks, Im ok with the the state rankings even though they arent great either. But, in Hunnicutts 1st season (2016) East Jackson went 4-6 and was ranked #388 of 480 teams.

Not a great improvement in rank, but a decent improvement in record.

I think a lot of us were surprised with the Hunnicutt hire.  There's probably some intangibles that most of us aren't privy to.  But in the words of that Great Sports Philosopher...ORabidOne....as much talent as Grayson has accumulated...a trained chimp could coach them.  It's all in the inflection...(Smile).

Oh...and one last point.  Stop using Sean Calhoun's name.  He's coming back to Colquitt......................when Rush retires.

(Big Smile)

 

 

Rufus>>

[ATLien12x]

3 hours ago, GardenStateBaller said:

The Grayson AD, Brian DeBerry, is a good guy. Outside the box thinker for a Georgian. 

That's pretty shitty. 

[Fred]

I was supposed to have lunch with him this week and couldn't.  I probably will next week.  What do you want me to ask him? 

There was some strong competition for the job. 

[Fred]

9 hours ago, GardenStateBaller said:

The Grayson AD, Brian DeBerry, is a good guy. Outside the box thinker for a Georgian

 

I like Brian.  He has been straight up with me during the time he has been here.

[ECHS05]

48 minutes ago, Fred said:

I was supposed to have lunch with him this week and couldn't.  I probably will next week.  What do you want me to ask him? 

There was some strong competition for the job. 

 

If hes going to make any changes with the offense? Will he continue with the spread or will it be more like the offense he ran at Buford? A strong ground game with some Play Action passes to the TE, with some WR screens thrown in here and there.

Any changes to the D? 

Does he like playing OOS games? 

And...

Whats his favorite board game? And food...

[FootballGuy]

2 hours ago, Fred said:

I was supposed to have lunch with him this week and couldn't.  I probably will next week.  What do you want me to ask him? 

There was some strong competition for the job. 

Can you ask him about the Hoover game and why it wasn't picked up by ESPN when it was originally supposed to be?

And ask him about how he plans on dealing with the conditions (weather) when they travel to Shreveport for the John Curtis game....please?

[TheXFactor]

Do they have an ESPN game?

[Fred]

Okay, we didn't cover everything you all asked but we did cover some of it.  Sticking with the spread.  Some concerns because we lost so many starters but recognizes the talent we have.  Zero concerns about the defense.  OOS games are money pits!  Seriously, the first words that popped out when I asked were "money pit."  Moving the team and accommodations for the whole team is not cheap.  Likes the competition but now that he's in charge of the program he can see the big picture including finances.  The problem with Grayson and many other Gwinnett schools is we don't tend to keep our fans after their kids graduate, at least not like our South Georgia brethren for example.  Too much entertainment competition on Friday nights.  There really is not a lot of multi-generational support and we don't have the really deep pocket support that some schools do.  The reasons are many but mostly because of the explosive growth of Gwinnett and the many new schools and subsequent redistricting of students.  Here is an extreme example.  There are houses not far from Grayson that were a part of the original Grayson HS that closed in the mid 50s and was consolidated into South Gwinnett.  They came back to Grayson when the new school opened in 2000 and wound up going to Archer when it opened in 2009.  That one cluster of properties has been in 4 high school districts since the mid 50s and three since 1999.  It is very hard to build support when you have that stuff going on and it isn't just with our part of the county.  We talked about ways to increase the support.  We didn't get a chance to talk about the ESPN question nor the weather issues for the BOB game in Shreveport.  Maybe next week.

[HawgGoneIt]

38 minutes ago, Fred said:

Okay, we didn't cover everything you all asked but we did cover some of it.  Sticking with the spread.  Some concerns because we lost so many starters but recognizes the talent we have.  Zero concerns about the defense.  OOS games are money pits!  Seriously, the first words that popped out when I asked were "money pit."  Moving the team and accommodations for the whole team is not cheap.  Likes the competition but now that he's in charge of the program he can see the big picture including finances.  The problem with Grayson and many other Gwinnett schools is we don't tend to keep our fans after their kids graduate, at least not like our South Georgia brethren for example.  Too much entertainment competition on Friday nights.  There really is not a lot of multi-generational support and we don't have the really deep pocket support that some schools do.  The reasons are many but mostly because of the explosive growth of Gwinnett and the many new schools and subsequent redistricting of students.  Here is an extreme example.  There are houses not far from Grayson that were a part of the original Grayson HS that closed in the mid 50s and was consolidated into South Gwinnett.  They came back to Grayson when the new school opened in 2000 and wound up going to Archer when it opened in 2009.  That one cluster of properties has been in 4 high school districts since the mid 50s and three since 1999.  It is very hard to build support when you have that stuff going on and it isn't just with our part of the county.  We talked about ways to increase the support.  We didn't get a chance to talk about the ESPN question nor the weather issues for the BOB game in Shreveport.  Maybe next week.

 

Good stuff. 

I'm gonna pick at it a bit though. I know, it's the favorite go to for schools that have waning support, to claim the entertainment defense as it pertains to the metro schools lack of support versus the southern schools, but I respectfully disagree for the most part on that. There is just a difference in culture between the two areas. There's no real need to defend lack of continual support/interest by denigrating the areas that do have continual support. 

What is there within an hour or two (including traffic) of Grayson's football stadium that the majority of adults choose to go to over supporting their youth week in and week out? I'd imagine counting commute time, folks in the region 1 area have pretty comparable stuff to do week in and out as far as that goes. It's easy to pick out Moultrie for instance and say they don't have this or that, but within an hour we can be in Tallahassee, Albany, Valdosta, without being in bumper to bumper traffic. Within two hours we can be in Macon or on the beach (freshwater or salt). The fact is, we stay and support our youth rather than sit in traffic for an hour or two to go to some attraction, week in and week out. 

I imagine it takes an hour or more for Grayson folks to get to six flags or Phillips Arena on concert nights etc., and that's crediting those venues with being such an attraction week in and out that folks prefer to make the Friday night commute to them than support their neighborhood youth for instance.  

 

 

[HawgGoneIt]

1 minute ago, Sportsnut said:

Every word he said about it is true. You have no idea what it is like. 

There were 46, 102 in Colquitt county in 14', the latest numbers. 

There were 877, 922 in Gwinnett in 14'. 

 

What does that have to do with supporting the local youth?  Seems to me, there is a lot more of a support pool to pull from in 878k than 46k, yet they all find something "better" to do with their time. 

[Rufus69]

2 minutes ago, Sportsnut said:

Every word he said about it is true. You have no idea what it is like. 

There was 46, 102 people  in Colquitt county in 14', the latest numbers. 

There were 877, 922 people in Gwinnett in 14'. 

 

There were only 46,100 people in Colquitt County in 2014.

Two had left for Amelia Island.

Now they still own property and pay taxes and drive 225 miles (one way) to support the Hawgs...but they don't reside up in God's Country.

Just for accuracy......

 

 

Rufus>>

[Rufus69]

6 minutes ago, Sportsnut said:

There is a reason for the recognizable difference between Rural and Urban. Two distinct ways of living. 

My last kid graduated from Lovejoy in 05' but I have not missed 10 games since. I came to Colquitt both times. 

For some, it is love of the game. 

Hoss....good post.

 

 

Rufus>>

[HawgGoneIt]

16 minutes ago, Sportsnut said:

There is a reason for the recognizable difference between Rural and Urban. Two distinct ways of living. 

My last kid graduated from Lovejoy in 05' but I have not missed 10 games since. I came to Colquitt both times. 

For some, it is love of the game. 

So in other words, to simply say that there is more to do in your area than mine is the reason for lack of continual support is somewhat misleading then... No?

[Fred]

5 hours ago, HawgGoneIt said:

 

Good stuff. 

I'm gonna pick at it a bit though. I know, it's the favorite go to for schools that have waning support, to claim the entertainment defense as it pertains to the metro schools lack of support versus the southern schools, but I respectfully disagree for the most part on that. There is just a difference in culture between the two areas. There's no real need to defend lack of continual support/interest by denigrating the areas that do have continual support. 

What is there within an hour or two (including traffic) of Grayson's football stadium that the majority of adults choose to go to over supporting their youth week in and week out? I'd imagine counting commute time, folks in the region 1 area have pretty comparable stuff to do week in and out as far as that goes. It's easy to pick out Moultrie for instance and say they don't have this or that, but within an hour we can be in Tallahassee, Albany, Valdosta, without being in bumper to bumper traffic. Within two hours we can be in Macon or on the beach (freshwater or salt). The fact is, we stay and support our youth rather than sit in traffic for an hour or two to go to some attraction, week in and week out. 

I imagine it takes an hour or more for Grayson folks to get to six flags or Phillips Arena on concert nights etc., and that's crediting those venues with being such an attraction week in and out that folks prefer to make the Friday night commute to them than support their neighborhood youth for instance.  

 

 

Hawg you totally misinterpreted my meaning.  I'll try it a different way.  Instead of denigrating your support, I am envious of it.  I remember growing up in Avondale where the traffic lights would go on blink and the stores would close and while a lot drove many walked to the game.  Everything stopped for the game.  Metro Atlanta at the time to be sure but definitely more small town than urban area.  Because we in Gwinnett don't have the strong ties and multi-generational support that many of the small towns do due to the explosive growth and the multitude of schools and the changing attendance boundaries, it makes it very easy to choose to do something else other than go to the local football game *especially* given that it can very easily be a mad rush to get home from work in Friday afternoon traffic, get changed and head to the game.  If you are new to the area as many if not most are and don't have a child or relative directly involved in the game in some manner, you choose other options of which there are exponentially more in the metro area than in the geographical area you describe.  It is neither better or worse, it just is.

Similar to Sportsnut, my child graduated from Grayson in 2012.  I've been attending games since 2008 and I probably haven't missed more than 5 or 6 in that time no matter where they were.  I still am involved to some degree with the team, like going to the games and contribute where I can.  I am trying to work with Coach and the AD to come up with a way to keep people connected not just with football but with the school as a whole.  I'm one who believes that parental involvement in the school makes it better and in turn that makes the community better.

[HawgGoneIt]

5 hours ago, Fred said:

Hawg you totally misinterpreted my meaning.  I'll try it a different way.  Instead of denigrating your support, I am envious of it.  I remember growing up in Avondale where the traffic lights would go on blink and the stores would close and while a lot drove many walked to the game.  Everything stopped for the game.  Metro Atlanta at the time to be sure but definitely more small town than urban area.  Because we in Gwinnett don't have the strong ties and multi-generational support that many of the small towns do due to the explosive growth and the multitude of schools and the changing attendance boundaries, it makes it very easy to choose to do something else other than go to the local football game *especially* given that it can very easily be a mad rush to get home from work in Friday afternoon traffic, get changed and head to the game.  If you are new to the area as many if not most are and don't have a child or relative directly involved in the game in some manner, you choose other options of which there are exponentially more in the metro area than in the geographical area you describe.  It is neither better or worse, it just is.

Similar to Sportsnut, my child graduated from Grayson in 2012.  I've been attending games since 2008 and I probably haven't missed more than 5 or 6 in that time no matter where they were.  I still am involved to some degree with the team, like going to the games and contribute where I can.  I am trying to work with Coach and the AD to come up with a way to keep people connected not just with football but with the school as a whole.  I'm one who believes that parental involvement in the school makes it better and in turn that makes the community better.

 

Good post. I know you weren't trying to take a shot at the rural areas intentionally. It does seem like that is the favorite go to argument though. Same argument comes from people in Carmel By The sea, Jersey and wherever else that there is good football with lighter support. 

I agree, it is what it is. You and Sportsnut both hit on the same thing, and I don't disagree at all. I'm just glad that there are still people like you guys in those areas that do support those kids even after yours have left the nest. It's important to do that, because it does take a village, probably now more-so than ever before. When kids today are doing positive stuff, we have to support that and give them the positive experience they deserve for doing positive stuff. There is too many negative things that will step in and substitute that good feeling if we don't give it to them where they deserve it. Really it should go deeper than just sports, but sports is a great starting point for positive reinforcement because we get something from it too. 

Again... good stuff. 

[Fred]

13 minutes ago, HawgGoneIt said:

 

Good post. I know you weren't trying to take a shot at the rural areas intentionally. It does seem like that is the favorite go to argument though. Same argument comes from people in Carmel By The sea, Jersey and wherever else that there is good football with lighter support. 

I agree, it is what it is. You and Sportsnut both hit on the same thing, and I don't disagree at all. I'm just glad that there are still people like you guys in those areas that do support those kids even after yours have left the nest. It's important to do that, because it does take a village, probably now more-so than ever before. When kids today are doing positive stuff, we have to support that and give them the positive experience they deserve for doing positive stuff. There is too many negative things that will step in and substitute that good feeling if we don't give it to them where they deserve it. Really it should go deeper than just sports, but sports is a great starting point for positive reinforcement because we get something from it too. 

Again... good stuff. 

I think where we might be a little different from the other areas you mentioned only because our growth has been so recent.  I don't know enough about the others areas and don't plan on researching it but here are the growth numbers for Gwinnett -

2017 2010	907,135 805,321
2000	588,448
1990	352,910
1980	166,903
1970	72,349

With those kind of growth numbers it is pretty easy to understand why so many people have no allegiance to a school, at least not long term.

What excited me the most was at the banquet last year we had 20 football players that were scholar athletes with at least a 3.5.  There were multiple 4.0 and even one that was above a 4.0.  That probably had to do with the way his AP classes were scored.  Now *that's* good stuff!  Kids that recognize the importance of academics while playing a sport that is as time consuming as football.  Many of these kids were also involved in other leadership areas in the school.  Sure we had our share of the "get by with as little as they could" kids but our program has always stressed the academic side as well.