Question: Why didn’t Heights win the 6A title last year? Why didn’t East win this year?
Nov. 1, 2007 @ 8:39 p.m. by JoannaPssst. This blog is the place for any questions you might have for Duane or I, or you can send e-mails to duane@varsitykansas.com or joanna@varsitykansas.com.
But here’s one from a reader who went to our Q&A Forum:
“Do you see the city winning a 6 or 5a state football title, if not ,is it due to lack of quality coaching , last years Hieghts team had talent ,this years East team had talent. ”Â
I have a hard time looking at your two examples of Heights and East and saying, “The reason this team didn’t win a state title is because of a lack of quality coaching.”
The fact is, Brian Byers, East’s first-year coach, coached collegiately and East had its best record in more than a decade. Heights coach Rick Wheeler has made a longtime pitiful program into a consistent winner.
Here’s what I believe the problems are with why these two programs did not win the 6A titles the past two years — In Heights’ case, the Falcons ran into Hutchinson, a total buzzsaw. I don’t want to hear any disagreement on this because everyone who has seen this team play in the past few years knows just how good it is.
So let’s move on to East. Why blame Byers for East not going to the playoffs? It’s not as though East is a perennial power. This is a program that had so many years of, not mediocrity, but terrible football. Yet what everyone seemed to think this year was that East, with two of the nation’s top players — two, not 12, not 5, two — would win a state title? I wasn’t buying it, neither was Duane. It’s why we didn’t pick East to win the City League.
Carroll didn’t come out of the blue and win, win, win. Carroll had to build a program, Carroll had to have multiple talented players. Heights didn’t suddenly become a 6A contender, it built to that point. Both had to change the culture of losing.
I truly believe that there exists a culture of losing at schools that struggle for years on end. That has to be eradicated.
Was East a good team? Yes. Without a doubt. But it had injuries, it dealt with major scrutiny from fans, media, national media that no other Wichita team has had to deal with, at least in my 12 seasons. Byers handled that with aplomb. Did he always make right decisions? I can’t imagine that he did. Nor do I think any coach does during the course of a season.
Am I giving East excuses for not making the playoffs? You bet. The expectations put on this team by so many people were ridiculous. So East failed at achieving those expectations? Shocking.
 Now, I’m sure you have plenty to say about this — agreeing or disagreeing — would love to hear it.
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:37 am
I certainly agree with your culture of winning, culture of losing comments up to a point. I thought the East offense would feature at least a respectable passing game, but it didn’t really happen - though there was an occasional big play, the passing game could never be relied on when it was really needed on third and long, or to set up a credible play-action package. The defense was indeed dependent on Arthur Brown. With him in the game, it was strong. Without him, it was mediocre, not able to make the big stop time and again, particularly in the Derby loss.
And the kicking game was, frankly, one of the worst I’ve seen from a team that has pretensions to be good. And this is the one area where I do have questions about Brian Byers’ play calling. When your kicking PAT team is operating at below 50% success, and you have Bryce Brown, why do you keep sending the kicking PAT team out there? I think coaches watch too much NFL and major college action on TV, where the one-point conversion is virtually automatic and usually the right choice, and think they have to use the same strategy, even when they don’t have the personnel for it. East should have gone for two after every score. So, yes, a much improved team, but not well-rounded enough to make waves at the playoff level.
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November 2nd, 2007 at 9:28 am
It takes awhile to build a program! It does start with coaching but it also extends to support from the school , parents and administration. From getting the kids to summer workout all the way to developing a good team concept. The reason east isn’t in the playoffs is that they haven’t quite had enough time to gel as a team. You can have the best running back’s and linebacker’s and still not be successful if you dont develop a good team around them. Byers is a good coach but it takes longer than one year!
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November 2nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
“Byers handled that with aplomb.”
I don’t even know what that means but it sounds painful.
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November 2nd, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Why were the Browns so good? Although they are talented, football is a team sport. On many of the really good football teams: High School, College, or Pro, it is the chemistry of a team as a whole that makes everything complete. Chemmistry comes through team bonding. Disciplane comes from the top. Of course a lot of the coaches in Wichita have done really good jobs througout the years, but lets for one look at the reality of City league football. City league schools beat up on each other and then continually get beat during playoff time. That has happened for about the last 10-15 years. When district play and the playoffs begin, they are simply out coached. Many can and will dispute, but look at the circulation of coaches jumping from school to school. New schools same Coaches. The talent in the city does compare nation wide, but disciplane and teaching techniques make a drastic difference. Not just in football either. Too many of them are not willing to adjust their coaching styles to the type of talent they have. PLAIN AND SIMPLE
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November 2nd, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Ok The reason why East didn’t make the playoffs is They Ran 5 plays this whole season. I mean you have Run left Run Right and Counter. Then you have the occasional Pass play. I watched every single game taped it and broke it down. Yes, those boys did need help with the passing game but they had alot more talent than jus the Brown Brothers. And I tip my Hat off to them boys but they not as good as Wichita and Everybody else make them out to be, they didnt make east by themselves and that was separating the team as a whole because it was never East VS. whoever it was the Browns Vs. Who ever that killed the team chemistry. ok and then The coach byers all around good coach. But had no Control in the Huddle him or his son the QB if Bryce said give me the ball they Gave it to him, you cant win the game with a jus a running game you need it all and they had it all with 2 of the top 10 WR in Wichita in my eyes with Chris Stegman and Jawanza Poland but the only time they threw the ball was when byrce was out or if it was 3rd and long any body could have telegraphed their Offense. I mean Look back in 2003-04 season With North High when they went 8-3. Had a great Defense but Relied on Raymond Mitchell and Elbert Mack on Offense when they had WR that was good as well not the best Qb to throw it but he could get it there to them. You will not win all your games with 97% Running the ball. I think if they would have passed the ball as much as they ran maybe even 60% run 40% pass they would be in the playoffs and could go far cause the other teams would not be Focused on Bryce and that would have opened the game for Bryce alot more to where he could have beat the record by alot more than what he did and thats JUST REAL TALK
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November 2nd, 2007 at 10:38 pm
It seems that all the posts so far are missing the main point - the East team was not a team - they were a bunch of individuals playing on the field at the same time. Lots of comments focus on the Browns - they are truly talented players but 2 players do not make a team. Bryce can run like the wind but even he needs blockers. The passing game is only successful when the O line gives the QB enough time to throw and when the receivers actually run their routes and catch the ball. Those of you who said you watched every game or saw it on film - I encourage you to go back and count how many on-target passes were dropped. The percentage was very high. The East QB throws well and mostly on target but has a weak O-line and receivers who lacked the confidence to catch passes reliably. Regarding the defense - while Arthur Brown is a great linebacker, it takes more than one player. The defense only works well when the team as a whole performs their assignments. When there are hotdog players who are more concerned with their own # of tackles than winning the game, the defensive game breaks down. Regarding Coach Byers - let’s just say that the coaching staff with the leadership of Coach Byers brought about a huge positive turnaround in the discipline of the team and began the long process of building a team. The TEAM won’t gel until some of the hotdog players who are in it just for themselves graduate. It is impossible for a head coach and a coaching staff, no matter how good they are, to turn a bunch of bad-attitude boys into a disciplined and successful TEAM of young men. Under Byers leadership, East will be successful year after year both in their season record and in developing respectful and disciplined young men.
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November 2nd, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Correction - on my previous post I said it was impossible for coaches to turn a bunch of arrogant individuals into a TEAM but forgot to add “in one year’s time.” Sorry…but thought I needed to clarify that one. :)
One additional comment - one of the reasons Hutch is so successful - and other teams outside of Wichita - is that they begin building the teams from a young age through their little league programs. In programs like Hutch or Hesston, the little league teams are coached in the philosophy of the high school program from the 2nd-3rd & 4th grades on. While Wichita has a good little league program - there are as many different coaching philosophies as there are teams. And, the little league teams are formed randomly and don’t feed a single high school as they do programs like Hutch. I also think our city teams like East and Southeast perhaps always have another obstacle to overcome because those schools don’t have a home field.
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November 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 am
Winning programs, winning coaches, winning teams realize that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
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November 3rd, 2007 at 12:28 am
Good blog entry, Joanna, and good replies. I’m looking forward to seeing how the East team performs next year when this year’s seniors are gone, the Browns are gone, and the coaching staff has had another summer of working with some excellent and driven young atheletes. I’m confident we’ll be seeing a team that works as a team in a cohesive unit.
fbmom makes a good point about the little league football teams. The Wichita Cowboys have an excellent organization that works with kids from the 2nd grade through the 8th grade. (Note that the boys going to parochial schools drop out of little league football earlier because they play middle school ball, which may be a factor in how Bishop Carroll and Kapaun end up with good teams.) A large group of the Cowboys players and coaches attended the final East game. I’m guessing that many of those boys will end up playing for East someday.
While the little league teams are “random”, parents have the ability to choose an organization with good, ethical coaching. If the boys end up going to HS together, that’s even better. Parents would do well to choose carefully.
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November 3rd, 2007 at 12:43 am
Yes it is true that they had alot of drops yet if they actually would have trown the ball would bryce not gotten open and not had to worry about 9 men in the box every play no matter how many drops they had if byers would have had a back bone and I’m talkng about the QB and the coach to say no we not giving the ball to bryce every play and throw the ball..I’m willing to believe he could have cut his carries down and had jus as many yard if not more I blame this season on how the coach never put his foot down and used the talent he had they had the talent to play hutch and compete but when the coach runs only 5 plays you will not win regaurdless
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November 3rd, 2007 at 1:04 am
quit being bored and leave these gus alone let life do what it does with the blessing of GOD anything can happen LOVE
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November 3rd, 2007 at 10:54 am
It all starts up front. East lost a lot of its starting lineman from last season. They also lost a few starters this season due to injury. When Byers dropped back to pass, he didnt have the time. He is only an average passer at that. I watched film from them last season and it seemed as though Gabe was a better passer and he also made the running game look lots smoother with the toss and he was a threat to run on the option. Seeing how Byers was just a junior and Gabe was a senior I dont understand why they were so anxious to make the switch. If you dont believe me watch some game film from this season and the previous two and you will notice the difference.
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November 4th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
For the person that commented about the need for a passing game to be a winning team….
Smith Center
Hutchinson
Olathe North
Ulysses
Salina Central
Need I say more?
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November 5th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Dang whoever real talk is you get punked in every room you in lol But I do say they could have passed a lil more not every play or anything but me being a runningback that got the ball alot in high school I think had they passed it a lil more bryce blows his record out keeps the other teams honest but hey its in the past I wish I could watch these guys play some more cause I have a few family members and friends on that sqaud but I guess you’ll have to wait until next year to see what the sqaud will do GOOD LUCK EAST
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November 5th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
The only past plays that ever worked were the ones where they rolled Byers out of the pocket. He got sacked and hit way too many times for the amount of passes that he threw. Last season I also noticed that the screen pass was effective as well as the option. It just seems as though Gabe gave them more options on offense seeing he was actually a threat to run the ball. Kinda similiar to when North has Elbert Mack and even Martinez. When you are a run only team and your QB is not one of those options, why is he even on the field is my question to the coaches?
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November 6th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I thought he was ok but his problem was he didnt have time plus he held the ball sometimes but its cool hopefully they can get an Oline and they get him tme and your right about North while I was there Elbert Mack was the heart and soul of our squad when he dropped back to pass if there was anybody close he would out run them or make them miss. Ive never been to the east practices but I’m sure they had someone else that could play qb that would give a run threat when he had to drop back and pass
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November 8th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
We need to find some coaches that can coach. I see a lot of pro style offenses and no wing-t or veer or basic I. I used to play college football and I come from Wichita. These kids need seven-on-seven, and full contact camps. We need to teach these kids coverages and and basic plays and better fundamentals. How about letting the coaches pick the schedule and lets dismember the whole city league and divide it up. Carrol and kapun are 5A why are the rich boys even invited to the party?
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November 8th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
meet us on the gridiron bitches!
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November 13th, 2007 at 8:38 am
The rich boys? Jemeel, you obviously don’t know jack about Bishop Carroll.
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November 14th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I think your mistaking BC for Wichita Independent. WI has the rich people….
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