Newark football

Tiger Alum

Well-known member
I saw they were down 63 to 0 on Friday at half to an admittedly a good New Albany team and ended up losing 77 to 0. I know they have been down for a long time but 63 to 0 at half ? New Albany probably put in their second and third string in the second half and still beat them 14 to 0. How does a program get this bad ? Is there any other program in the state that is this bad ? You hate to see this.
 
 
How does a school that size not win a game when playing the schedule they play?
Agreed but it's not like they are scheduling a lot of smaller schools..still 7 in their region and old rival Zville. Regardless of talent, a school that size should still be able to compete in a few of those games.
 
Is it a participation issue because they have been down for so long there is no interest from the kids ? Are most of the kids that want to play going to Newark Catholic ? Would a dynamic coach fix this ? Would one even want to try ? Is there even enough interest from the community to even want to hire the right person fix this ? Is it so bad they cannot get a program builder ? With a school that size, you would think it couldn't be as bad as it is.
 
Agreed but it's not like they are scheduling a lot of smaller schools..still 7 in their region and old rival Zville. Regardless of talent, a school that size should still be able to compete in a few of those games.
In the last 4 years(3 plus this season) they have gone 3-31 while playing 19 smaller schools and going 3-16 against them.
 
Is it a participation issue because they have been down for so long there is no interest from the kids ? Are most of the kids that want to play going to Newark Catholic ? Would a dynamic coach fix this ? Would one even want to try ? Is there even enough interest from the community to even want to hire the right person fix this ? Is it so bad they cannot get a program builder ? With a school that size, you would think it couldn't be as bad as it is.
They have almost 1,000 boys walking the halls. You could think they would find 50 good athletes that wanted to play football.
 
They have almost 1,000 boys walking the halls. You could think they would find 50 good athletes that wanted to play football.
It's gotten so bad over the years that it tells me the students don't care and neither does the administration and community. That's sad. Zanesville blew them out this year. The same Zanesville team that lost to Division 6 Fort Frye who is very very good but cannot have even an 8th of of the boys Newark has.
 
Bill Franks is a good leader and a good coach.

I think what gets severely overlooked with Newark when it comes to football is 1) the lack of historical success and 2) the intersections of geography, community-school health*pride, economics and intergenerational 'struggles.' The former factor is tough for a lot of communities, although possibly fixable with the "right" coach. But, when compounded with the latter (and that's a heavy burden) it makes the situation supremely difficult.

Newark has only made the playoffs once in the last 40 years (2005.) That already is a rough indicator on the lack of program tradition and pride. It carries over generations, and it carries across lots of people. Hurts confidence, yes; hurts trust in the continuous climb that is football to get from the cellar of crap to respectability and winning. And that's very tough to buck when you play in the largest size-classification possible against a schedule that is 70% similarly-sized. Look at Westland, look at ye' olde Thomas Worthington. Those programs have similar problems, and although they have had some marginally more "respectable" results of recent... its the same tale. Consider, then, "2)." Newark is a large exurb with a massive school system. A very sizable portion of the student body befits working-class with many at-or-below the poverty borderline. It's not Upper Arlington, or Gahanna, or even Central Crossing. In many ways, its a lot closer to a school like Westland than even the closest-resembling conference foe in their part of the OCC.

Invariably, despite the 'wealth' of having ~1000 boys in grades 9-12, those economics and home situations render a massive chunk of the school as not very usable for football. Now look at Newark vis-a-vis the rest of Licking County, past and present. Newark is playing the entire existence of their schedule against schools that is to some extent "far away" (Columbus suburbs, Lancaster, Mt. Vernon and Zanesville.) No real meaningful connection or common denominator in playing those schools other than "real big"; I suppose you could argue the Newark-Lancaster and Newark-Zanesville rivalries, but, like, those probably don't extend to today's generation of kids like it did in the 90's and points earlier. Contrast that to what immediately surrounds Newark: the Licking County League (LCL), its school-communities, those traditions, the attractiveness of those communities and what the schools have to offer versus Newark (City Schools.) Newark is indented to the west by a high-performing mid-sized school community known for its academics, athletics and general quality-of-life (Granville); it shares a border to its direct south with a smaller school community that has a lot of pride and nice areas to live (Heath); to its east is a school that can be easily pitched as "a small and more attractive alternative to Newark" (Licking Valley.) In the southwest portion of Licking County, you have two districts far closer to Columbus that can pitch a lot of the "big school perks" in the academic and extracurricular offerings to families looking to move. Newark, City of, simply isn't an attractive landing point for a lot of families unless there is some pre-existing ties there. Same goes for the school system. The mobile, middle-class and heavily-invested collection of families exist 'in spades' at all of these schools. Newark has a share of those families, but not nearly enough in proportion to its school size and this is especially true when you factor in what it takes to be consistently competitive in Division I HSFB. So while Newark is Division I by sheer school size, they're really a dramatically low-end outlier in the picture of Division I for a growing, wealthy Central Ohio school-football climate. They're honestly a Central Ohio version of Hamilton, Middletown and possibly Elyria... except Newark may be a half-step markedly worse than even those three when it comes to school-community socioeconomics and the corresponding effect on the football program.

Re: Newark Catholic -- NC doesn't really affect Newark football, at all. Have to remember a lot of those kids probably don't live in Newark's district (instead Granville, Johnstown, Utica, Valley, Lakewood) and ~95% of the parents would never seriously consider sending their kids to Newark City Schools for whatever reason... even if NC didn't have football.
 
Bill Franks is a good leader and a good coach.

I think what gets severely overlooked with Newark when it comes to football is 1) the lack of historical success and 2) the intersections of geography, community-school health*pride, economics and intergenerational 'struggles.' The former factor is tough for a lot of communities, although possibly fixable with the "right" coach. But, when compounded with the latter (and that's a heavy burden) it makes the situation supremely difficult.

Newark has only made the playoffs once in the last 40 years (2005.) That already is a rough indicator on the lack of program tradition and pride. It carries over generations, and it carries across lots of people. Hurts confidence, yes; hurts trust in the continuous climb that is football to get from the cellar of crap to respectability and winning. And that's very tough to buck when you play in the largest size-classification possible against a schedule that is 70% similarly-sized. Look at Westland, look at ye' olde Thomas Worthington. Those programs have similar problems, and although they have had some marginally more "respectable" results of recent... its the same tale. Consider, then, "2)." Newark is a large exurb with a massive school system. A very sizable portion of the student body befits working-class with many at-or-below the poverty borderline. It's not Upper Arlington, or Gahanna, or even Central Crossing. In many ways, its a lot closer to a school like Westland than even the closest-resembling conference foe in their part of the OCC.

Invariably, despite the 'wealth' of having ~1000 boys in grades 9-12, those economics and home situations render a massive chunk of the school as not very usable for football. Now look at Newark vis-a-vis the rest of Licking County, past and present. Newark is playing the entire existence of their schedule against schools that is to some extent "far away" (Columbus suburbs, Lancaster, Mt. Vernon and Zanesville.) No real meaningful connection or common denominator in playing those schools other than "real big"; I suppose you could argue the Newark-Lancaster and Newark-Zanesville rivalries, but, like, those probably don't extend to today's generation of kids like it did in the 90's and points earlier. Contrast that to what immediately surrounds Newark: the Licking County League (LCL), its school-communities, those traditions, the attractiveness of those communities and what the schools have to offer versus Newark (City Schools.) Newark is indented to the west by a high-performing mid-sized school community known for its academics, athletics and general quality-of-life (Granville); it shares a border to its direct south with a smaller school community that has a lot of pride and nice areas to live (Heath); to its east is a school that can be easily pitched as "a small and more attractive alternative to Newark" (Licking Valley.) In the southwest portion of Licking County, you have two districts far closer to Columbus that can pitch a lot of the "big school perks" in the academic and extracurricular offerings to families looking to move. Newark, City of, simply isn't an attractive landing point for a lot of families unless there is some pre-existing ties there. Same goes for the school system. The mobile, middle-class and heavily-invested collection of families exist 'in spades' at all of these schools. Newark has a share of those families, but not nearly enough in proportion to its school size and this is especially true when you factor in what it takes to be consistently competitive in Division I HSFB. So while Newark is Division I by sheer school size, they're really a dramatically low-end outlier in the picture of Division I for a growing, wealthy Central Ohio school-football climate. They're honestly a Central Ohio version of Hamilton, Middletown and possibly Elyria... except Newark may be a half-step markedly worse than even those three when it comes to school-community socioeconomics and the corresponding effect on the football program.

Re: Newark Catholic -- NC doesn't really affect Newark football, at all. Have to remember a lot of those kids probably don't live in Newark's district (instead Granville, Johnstown, Utica, Valley, Lakewood) and ~95% of the parents would never seriously consider sending their kids to Newark City Schools for whatever reason... even if NC didn't have football.
One of their best basketball players is a Granville kid. That illustrates the different level the basketball program holds in that school.
 
Bill Franks is a good leader and a good coach.

I think what gets severely overlooked with Newark when it comes to football is 1) the lack of historical success and 2) the intersections of geography, community-school health*pride, economics and intergenerational 'struggles.' The former factor is tough for a lot of communities, although possibly fixable with the "right" coach. But, when compounded with the latter (and that's a heavy burden) it makes the situation supremely difficult.

Newark has only made the playoffs once in the last 40 years (2005.) That already is a rough indicator on the lack of program tradition and pride. It carries over generations, and it carries across lots of people. Hurts confidence, yes; hurts trust in the continuous climb that is football to get from the cellar of crap to respectability and winning. And that's very tough to buck when you play in the largest size-classification possible against a schedule that is 70% similarly-sized. Look at Westland, look at ye' olde Thomas Worthington. Those programs have similar problems, and although they have had some marginally more "respectable" results of recent... its the same tale. Consider, then, "2)." Newark is a large exurb with a massive school system. A very sizable portion of the student body befits working-class with many at-or-below the poverty borderline. It's not Upper Arlington, or Gahanna, or even Central Crossing. In many ways, its a lot closer to a school like Westland than even the closest-resembling conference foe in their part of the OCC.

Invariably, despite the 'wealth' of having ~1000 boys in grades 9-12, those economics and home situations render a massive chunk of the school as not very usable for football. Now look at Newark vis-a-vis the rest of Licking County, past and present. Newark is playing the entire existence of their schedule against schools that is to some extent "far away" (Columbus suburbs, Lancaster, Mt. Vernon and Zanesville.) No real meaningful connection or common denominator in playing those schools other than "real big"; I suppose you could argue the Newark-Lancaster and Newark-Zanesville rivalries, but, like, those probably don't extend to today's generation of kids like it did in the 90's and points earlier. Contrast that to what immediately surrounds Newark: the Licking County League (LCL), its school-communities, those traditions, the attractiveness of those communities and what the schools have to offer versus Newark (City Schools.) Newark is indented to the west by a high-performing mid-sized school community known for its academics, athletics and general quality-of-life (Granville); it shares a border to its direct south with a smaller school community that has a lot of pride and nice areas to live (Heath); to its east is a school that can be easily pitched as "a small and more attractive alternative to Newark" (Licking Valley.) In the southwest portion of Licking County, you have two districts far closer to Columbus that can pitch a lot of the "big school perks" in the academic and extracurricular offerings to families looking to move. Newark, City of, simply isn't an attractive landing point for a lot of families unless there is some pre-existing ties there. Same goes for the school system. The mobile, middle-class and heavily-invested collection of families exist 'in spades' at all of these schools. Newark has a share of those families, but not nearly enough in proportion to its school size and this is especially true when you factor in what it takes to be consistently competitive in Division I HSFB. So while Newark is Division I by sheer school size, they're really a dramatically low-end outlier in the picture of Division I for a growing, wealthy Central Ohio school-football climate. They're honestly a Central Ohio version of Hamilton, Middletown and possibly Elyria... except Newark may be a half-step markedly worse than even those three when it comes to school-community socioeconomics and the corresponding effect on the football program.

Re: Newark Catholic -- NC doesn't really affect Newark football, at all. Have to remember a lot of those kids probably don't live in Newark's district (instead Granville, Johnstown, Utica, Valley, Lakewood) and ~95% of the parents would never seriously consider sending their kids to Newark City Schools for whatever reason... even if NC didn't have football.
So they are kind of a larger version of Marietta meaning there really is no way out of their situation ??
 
So should PC use their B- rushing attack exclusively or work on their D- passing attack? If I'm Newark, I think it would be more 'merciful' for the Tigers to pass. You have to wonder how much it will hurt PC playing such mediocre to awful competition over the last 5 games?
 
So should PC use their B- rushing attack exclusively or work on their D- passing attack? If I'm Newark, I think it would be more 'merciful' for the Tigers to pass. You have to wonder how much it will hurt PC playing such mediocre to awful competition over the last 5 games?
Well they have an A + defensive front seven and that's good enough to still make them the team to beat in Region 3. UA may give them a good game though. I don't think the gap this year is as large in years past and you are correct, the last 5 games will not prepare them for most likely St Edwards in the state semifinals. Question. How did Bradley score on them the last game ? Looked like a very competitive game for a long time.
 
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Is it a participation issue because they have been down for so long there is no interest from the kids ? Are most of the kids that want to play going to Newark Catholic ? Would a dynamic coach fix this ? Would one even want to try ? Is there even enough interest from the community to even want to hire the right person fix this ? Is it so bad they cannot get a program builder ? With a school that size, you would think it couldn't be as bad as it is.
Kopach is a great coach and has won everywhere, including a good year at Newark. He should have had more time.
 
Kopach is a great coach and has won everywhere, including a good year at Newark. He should have had more time.
Why did they get rid of him. A winning year at Newark should justify a 5 year contract. Good luck Cats.
 
So they are not good in football, but real good in boys basketball and girls sports. Most of the schools mentioned here (not Pic Central) want no part of the 'Cats in those sports.
 
Well they have an A + defensive front seven and that's good enough to still make them the team to beat in Region 3. UA may give them a good game though. I don't think the gap this year is as large in years past and you are correct, the last 5 games will not prepare them for most likely St Edwards in the state semifinals. Question. How did Bradley score on them the last game ? Looked like a very competitive game for a long time.
Bradley played like a team w/ nothing to lose... Two successful on-side kicks, a pick-6, daring PC to throw the ball by playing 8, 9,10 in the box, etc. Bradley was outmanned, but came in with an excellent game plan. Their formula is exactly what the Tigers will see in the first two rounds of the playoffs. I think a pass-oriented team w/ an above-average O-line will give the Tigers fits. The loss to PN was a fluke, but the ultra-conservative nature of PC's offense means they won't blow out any 'good' teams. It would not be a shocker for Marysville, UA, New Albany, Darby or the likes to knock off my Tigers.
 
In the 1950s, Newark was successful if thats any consolation...I am all for Newark participating in the LCL in football, and the OCC for everything else, although I dont think the OCC will allow it. However, their youth football teams play LCL schools, and I've seen LH middle schools schedule their middle schools for football. I think that the only thing that would hold back Newark from going to the LCL is basketball. If, as a D1 program in the LCL, they think that the couldnt get into the playoffs in a 16 team field, then they are doubting theirselves already.
 
Actually I remember when Newark came to Marietta in 1978 ranked in the top 5 in the state only to get upset and Don Drumm Stadium. The old COL days. That was the best Marietta team in history. They had Tom Modie who I think played at Kansas and LB Bernie Brown who was recruited by Woody Hayes but suffered a bad knee injury his freshman season that ended his career.
 
One of their best basketball players is a Granville kid. That illustrates the different level the basketball program holds in that school.
The boys and girls programs do a nice job of recruiting there. Rooting for the Cats, but didn’t realize that some of their players are from surrounding areas. Maybe football can do some of this, but don’t think that’s happening
 
In the 1950s, Newark was successful if thats any consolation...I am all for Newark participating in the LCL in football, and the OCC for everything else, although I dont think the OCC will allow it. However, their youth football teams play LCL schools, and I've seen LH middle schools schedule their middle schools for football. I think that the only thing that would hold back Newark from going to the LCL is basketball. If, as a D1 program in the LCL, they think that the couldnt get into the playoffs in a 16 team field, then they are doubting theirselves already.
Newark and I believe Cambridge are the only 2 teams to win back to back league titles in both football and basketball in the old COL. Can someone verify this. What an incredible league ?
 
What people on Newark won't say aloud is When your basketball coach is also you AD and tell kids if they play any sport other than his they wont make his team you doom all other sports to mediocrity
 
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