Ironton Football 2015

[Tigercannon71]

I think you can take the losses in the state game into two categories 1. Crappy officiating 2. The other team was better. It has nothing to do with not having a more diverse offense or passing game. Ironton got there running the ball why change what you do when you get there. We've seen that time and time again teams are winning or get to championship game and goes against what got them there and they get beat. You stick with what got you to the dance.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

that's the great thing about bein American cannon , everybody can have an opinion.

[Piratefan2]

I think you can take the losses in the state game into two categories 1. Crappy officiating 2. The other team was better. It has nothing to do with not having a more diverse offense or passing game. Ironton got there running the ball why change what you do when you get there. We've seen that time and time again teams are winning or get to championship game and goes against what got them there and they get beat. You stick with what got you to the dance.

Thats good to an extent.....but, if you run run run the ball and it gets you from the schools down here in the south and then you go play a championship game against a school from the north, they know what you do ALL the time....so with that being said, you could try and do what you do and see IF the other team can stop the run because they will probably have all 11 defensive players blitzing the inside and outside......but.....if you throw a little pop pass in the defensive back field, guess what.....your going to get great yards if not a TD!

OR just run the ball all the time since thats what got you there in the first place LOL

[bubba_smurf]

Question the most sucessful coach in Ohio history is laughable.

[wobycat]

He's not questioning the coach. He's questioning the style. I believe you try to adapt to what kids you have. Vass will have to open his playbook. The problem seems they have a hard time stopping other teams.

And by the way, lutz hasn't coached for a long time. Time to move on.

[Tigercannon71]

You don't have to open it to win you tweak it. Besides if you are going to open it up and pass more you need to work that 100% in practice. It's like Yoda told Luke: Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try. You can't expect to run a spread or pass offense if you only work it for like 5 mins in practice. Besides Lutz left a blueprint of how to win games. All you gotta do is follow it and add a couple wrinkles of your own in it and you got it.

[fbnut]

Ironton had all that success under lutz because they were who they were. Lutz played that style because he knew that gave him the best chance of winning and he did just that, more than any coach in the state of Ohio I beleive. So to say we should have done something else is questioning him. There are a lot of teams out there that think with the talent they had they should have won more. If there is one team in this area that should have had 1-2 state titles and didn't get it, its Portsmouth. The talent they had in the early 2000's and no state title is a shame.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

ironton was insanely successful under coach lutz, and he is a legend. I'm not questioning that. but like cannon said, if you are going to work in the pass. you have to devote more time to it. ironton for so many years was dominating people not only through great coaching and athletes. but the key was they had a superior weight program, and we had wrestling as well.-----------then everybody started commiting more time to the weight room. and then defense starting putting 11 men in the box daring us to run. which more times than not they did, and they beat you up and wore you down. that's when you have to get some passing involved and not just on obvious downs. that'll loosen up some bowels. I mean look at ohio state's success this year. that was the key. they had amazing coaching, as did ironton. an excellent defense. but a very diverse offense that had you guessing. loading up the box on the buckeyes would be instant trouble. football has evolved and you have to evolve with it.coach lutz had an amazing run. nobody is questioning that. it was brilliant. but football, and it's strategies is ever changing.and you have to evolve and change with it. there is still a solid game plan and model to win, but it has to be more diverse these days.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I love ironton football always have. and I could not be anymore proud of the fighting tigers.it's not wrong to have an opinion.

[cghs82]

Ironton had all that success under lutz because they were who they were. Lutz played that style because he knew that gave him the best chance of winning and he did just that, more than any coach in the state of Ohio I beleive. So to say we should have done something else is questioning him. There are a lot of teams out there that think with the talent they had they should have won more. If there is one team in this area that should have had 1-2 state titles and didn't get it, its Portsmouth. The talent they had in the early 2000's and no state title is a shame.

Did some research, Bob Lutz has the most wins all time in Ohio with 381 wins along with only 95 loss and 5 times in 42 seasons, which I'm sure you guys know that, but he's also currently tied for 25th in all time win nationally, may drop to tied 28th after this season with 3 current coaches within 8 wins of him and a retired coach from Illinois, and when he retired, he was most likely ranked nationally in the top 15 in the United States in all time wins. Here's the link if anyone wants to see the list. http://www.footballfridaynight.com/Reco ... ZkxQmWCOK2

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

you can only get by with that so long. then you run into teams like new Albany, Columbus desales, bishop watterson, mentor lake catholic, akron saint Vincent saint mary,youngstown cardinal mooney. and the like they can load the box up. and never tire because they can platoon so many players. say whatever you will about private schools, they may have the same enrollment, but they ain't the same. that's a different beast. these teams are assembled as they start to excel in junior high. and you go into the inner cities and hand pick a team.yet ironton has stood toe to toe with them for decades.

ironton has had more than their share of victories with teams like this. and unlike any other team around though wheelersburg is coming along. for decades ironton scheduled teams like this as many as they could find during the regular season. and it takes it's toll physically. by the time you limp into the playoffs , all beat up with little depth. more often than not after round 1 or even 2. then you are staring at a Columbus bishop Hartley, or a Columbus desales, and all of a sudden your men that play both ways, and special teams run into teams that don't get gassed. because they are so deep, and can platoon.and with injuries and lack of depth, you have to be creative.

that's why I think the ovc was a good move. hopefully the ovc gets better across the board. you have some solid teams, then you throw in ironton, Portsmouth and next year gallipolis. all of a sudden you have a competitive league, an aggressive out of conference schedule. and just maybe we roll into week 11 a lil more healthy each year, providing we get there and rack up enough points. we shall see. one thing is for sure, everybody decided they wanted some, and now it's here.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

throw it all in a jar, and shake it up n see what happens this fall. I know I'm excited.

[osu 77]

I have to agree with you, I think those Tigers will be very very tough, new qb but he has a lot to go around him, just manage the clock and take care of the ball, the line, backfield, and the db"s should be very strong, more dept than we have had for a while, the season should go as the first 4 games goes, the burg is always tough, russell is usually good, throw in beechwood along with ashland and that is a pretty good schedule, we need to even things with beechwood after the last time we seen them, not sure what they got coming back but they are always good. i think our linebackers will surprise alot of people, won"t be long so let have a great season TIGERS!

I don't see why the linebackers would surprise anyone they had one of the best ones in the whole area playing for them last year. And to add is was a Junior last year.

If they hit the weight room this past winter not this summer. Summer weight lifting should be building up speed, conditioning and improving your core.

[Westfan]

West ran the same offense as Ironton for several years with the same problem. It works great against most teams but you will eventually have to be able to throw or have the threat of throwing the ball from your base formation which is the T. From a double tight end there just isn't enough options to throw the ball to.

Clinton Massie runs basically the same offense, but instead of two tight ends they have one tight and a split end. This moves a corner and a safety out of the box. They don't pass much if ever, but the threat is there.

[The Flying Dutchman]

It's interesting to me that ole bait forgets the losses to Bellaire, Wasueon, New Lexington, St. Clairsville, etc but they are not private schools that load up so it's ok to lose to them :122249 :122249 :122249 :122249

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I ain't forgot anything dutch. just making a point about running into more depth. that was not intentional on my part. I was just going with some perennial powerhouses that came to my mind.all 4 teams you mentioned have awesome teams.i wasn't trying to single out private schools.---------but lets be brutally honest when you think of Bellaire, wasueon,and new lex. dynasties don't come to mind. now st. clairsville. that's a horse of a different color.

[The Flying Dutchman]

Just pointing out that the Tigers have had their hands full of late with public schools too. Some of those Private schools you mentioned do have an advantage with vouchers and such but not all Privates have that advantage. Some privates thrive on tradition like Ironton and Burg has for years to continue to produce winning teams.

[anderson2012]

you can only get by with that so long. then you run into teams like new Albany, Columbus desales, bishop watterson, mentor lake catholic, akron saint Vincent saint mary,youngstown cardinal mooney. and the like they can load the box up. and never tire because they can platoon so many players. say whatever you will about private schools, they may have the same enrollment, but they ain't the same. that's a different beast. these teams are assembled as they start to excel in junior high. and you go into the inner cities and hand pick a team.yet ironton has stood toe to toe with them for decades.

I know for at least the Columbus Catholic high schools, every class coming in has kids that all had to learn to play both sides of the ball for the purposes of fundamental instruction and depth concerns when they were in middle school. Believe it or not, in Columbus there's about 18-20 Catholic grade (k-8) schools and the average class size is ~22 boys, but four or five grade schools feed into each of the four coeducational high schools (DeSales, Hartley, Ready, and Watterson). The fact is, probably 80% of the boys play sports throughout k-8 (even if they don't like the sport, their friends are playing the sport and that makes them want to play the sport too). A school such as Bishop Hartley or Bishop Watterson, in each freshman class will have two or three grade-school quarterbacks, five or six grade-school runningbacks and about ten to twelve linemen coming in. QB's generally learn the secondary, runningbacks learn the linebackers, etc.

Whereas with towns such as Ironton, New Lex, you have one school that feeds into the high school. Larger class size at the 7th/8th grade level? Yes. But the pool size of kids that have experience in those positions is smaller, which leads to less depth.

[wobycat]

The quicker tiger fans can realize lutz isn't here anymore the quicker they will realize how the game has changed. Ironton isn't as big as they were enrollment wise and coach vass just can't always line up and play smash mouth. Some years yes but some no.

[IBTT]

This isn't the kids of the 70s playing. We used to get cuts and bruises and not stop. Play all day only to come in for a bite to eat at lunch and dinner and then when our parents made us come in at bedtime. There was no video games, let alone talking to your girlfriend on your cell phone. Ironton had a couple thousand more people too. Coaches were more respected and teachers were allowed to teach with parents backing them moreso than the kids. It's very much a different world now, but with that being said kids who want to be elite will work for it and learn as much as they can from their coaches and teachers.

Where the problem lies with competition I believe is with a private school. If you don't make the grade, don't listen to your coach or don't listen to your teacher you will be looking for another school. At the public school unless a kid does something that gets them expelled, which would have to be extreme, the school is stuck with the child. Just 3 years ago Youngstown Mooney was Division 3. This year they are Division 5. They can accept as little or as many kids as they want and who they want. It makes for an uneven playing field. However, given the circumstances, we have been there in the past and shocked the world. BTW, from what I'm hearing most people are picking them to win the division this year. Bet they wouldn't like to see our tiger buses rolling into town in the semi-finals again.