Just heard Harlan hired wrestling coach as D coordinator. Seems harlan will take a step backwards again. Lose guys like the Hochs to rivals and bring in an older coach that will struggle against the new offenses.
Harlan
- Thread starter oldschoolram1995
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Harlan has had an amazing run, for decades, it seems. But, it is very tough for small towns in Iowa to keep a perpetual dynasty going. The Dowlings and Valleys of the world have a constant influx of talent due to the population increase in urban areas. Don't know what Harlan's population has done over the last 25 years, but doubt if it has increased much. Doesn't mean that that magic can't be rekindled, but once it starts to fizzle, is pretty tough to reignite as other small town sports dynasties have gone through in Iowa over the decades. Harlan still have good footb
"Don't know what Harlan's population has done over the last 25 years, but doubt if it has increased much."
Providing a statistic for him to show it hasn't increased. My deepest, sincerest apologies if I didn't offer an opinion on what his bigger point was. I look forward to your dissertation on his post and what the true meaning was.
thanks all for the great info, most of you guys here have a great more insight on this than i do. i do know the population of harlan allmost stays stagnite, it was 5000 people when i left in the late 60,s, and i presume its very close to that yet. i am not sure about the small communites that bus to the school , i believe there are 4. the small towns in iowa i presume don,t change much in population. \
i have looked at the roster that the cyclones had for last year, they do have some fairly large linemen coming up, i see some sophs that will now be juriors, are big...9 of em, mostly around 6ft 1 or bigger, and the big majority at 6ft4.....so the outlook for the cyclones could have a brighter futher....i am just not sure what kink of talent they have at qb, which can be a predictator of what kind of success a team will have for the season. its not mandatory to have a great gb if other segments of the team are dominate, but it helps
i have looked at the roster that the cyclones had for last year, they do have some fairly large linemen coming up, i see some sophs that will now be juriors, are big...9 of em, mostly around 6ft 1 or bigger, and the big majority at 6ft4.....so the outlook for the cyclones could have a brighter futher....i am just not sure what kink of talent they have at qb, which can be a predictator of what kind of success a team will have for the season. its not mandatory to have a great gb if other segments of the team are dominate, but it helps
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I was at the LC Game Friday as a spectator only and to watch Harlan I will give you my take-away for whatever it's worth.
Harlan is very young and inexperienced and it showed, this team will get better and better as the season goes on, it was a very tough game to open the season with but it is what it is. Harlan needs to work/improve on their run game which will open up some passing opportunities, their passing was non-existent. . Also I know they had the Tarney kid "in and out" on offense yet hardly gave him the ball, you may want to re-consider how they use him on offense. I saw him play at the end of the season last year and he was impressive.
The O-line needs to improve and I'm sure they will! LC was in the backfield most of the night, the LC D-end ( not sure of the name) is a tough match for any team ( 235, fast and strong) so not sure you can read much into that, all the same the line needs to improve game over game.
The Harlan defense had to contend with a 2 Headed Monster, a QB that is really really good ( running and throwing) and a running back that's both fast and shifty, both dealt Harlan fits all night.
In closing I would not jump off any buildings as Harlan is Harlan and will bounce back and be fine. Best to get them early in the season as I predict they will be a completely different team in a few weeks.
. Interested in hearing from others who were at the game?
Harlan is very young and inexperienced and it showed, this team will get better and better as the season goes on, it was a very tough game to open the season with but it is what it is. Harlan needs to work/improve on their run game which will open up some passing opportunities, their passing was non-existent. . Also I know they had the Tarney kid "in and out" on offense yet hardly gave him the ball, you may want to re-consider how they use him on offense. I saw him play at the end of the season last year and he was impressive.
The O-line needs to improve and I'm sure they will! LC was in the backfield most of the night, the LC D-end ( not sure of the name) is a tough match for any team ( 235, fast and strong) so not sure you can read much into that, all the same the line needs to improve game over game.
The Harlan defense had to contend with a 2 Headed Monster, a QB that is really really good ( running and throwing) and a running back that's both fast and shifty, both dealt Harlan fits all night.
In closing I would not jump off any buildings as Harlan is Harlan and will bounce back and be fine. Best to get them early in the season as I predict they will be a completely different team in a few weeks.
. Interested in hearing from others who were at the game?
I am on both sides, wife from Harlan and we are in LC. With regards to Tarney it's hard to say. At LB it looks as though he reads too fast...and by that I mean that he reads so fast that the backside of the defense isn't there to take away the cutback. He was in the hole all night but Duggan just cut back and there was nobody there. For running I would say he runs much harder than the guys they have now but he is 225 so go figure. As for speed I am not buying that he is any slower than what they are using now...it sounds like he has put up 4.7 40 times at all of the camps he has been to and I don't think there are any speedburners on Harlan putting up much better than that
The line does need work. They got no push on either side..Now LC has a good line and with Hoch it's that much better. On the defensive line they also didn't get much push and that also created problems. There were even times where it looked like they didn't block the biggest D Lineman. They are pretty young but don't buy into the size deal with Harlan...some of those big kids just don't seem to move very well.
They will get better and starting off with LC was not the best thing for them...or was it? We'll just have to wait and see...two tough games coming up in Creston and Glenwood....
The line does need work. They got no push on either side..Now LC has a good line and with Hoch it's that much better. On the defensive line they also didn't get much push and that also created problems. There were even times where it looked like they didn't block the biggest D Lineman. They are pretty young but don't buy into the size deal with Harlan...some of those big kids just don't seem to move very well.
They will get better and starting off with LC was not the best thing for them...or was it? We'll just have to wait and see...two tough games coming up in Creston and Glenwood....
Not sure about where 9 returners came from...they lost at least 4 and coaching staff just replaced retired guy.
Maybe, there just not that good this year?
Will I don't think Harlan will have another opponent like LC, Glenwood and Creston will both be good but not on the same level as CBLC., Like I said they (LC) created some very tough match ups for Harlan, I don't think they will see that again. Everyone should take a deep breath, Harlan will be Harlan this year.
ronsss were you at the game? the score and stats are one thing, seeing it live is another thing. Curious what your live impressions were and who impressed you on either side. Harlan or LC for that matter.
I will take Harlan this week, they looked a lot better in week 2. Creston is a good team and it should be a fun game to watch, trust me when I say Creston in no LC, so don't underestimate Harlan based on week 1
It's all about coaching and the football culture in the community or school. Every school has strong kids and big kids and fast kids, but the schools that win have exceptional coaching and tremendous backing from the community and school. That's why the same schools are good most years, and some are almost never good.. Harlan will be fine.
Agree EastIowaHawk, btw I am on the Harlan bandwagon and taking the Cyclones over Creston this week. I may be the only one but I'm a believer.
Great post. Now if we could get some others on board with this line of thinking.
This applies only to schools that are not small private schools in the middle of large metro areas.
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Of course it doesn't . Because while having those same advantages for 15 years they were routinely beat by 50 points and were one vote away from dropping the sport altogether. People seem to forget that. If I listen to the crap people spew about the 'small private school in a metro area' that scenario would be impossible. Oh and Columbus Catholic called, wants to know why that rule doesn't apply to them.
"Oh? Small private schools dominate every sport, you say? Well, how about this one piece of anecdotal evidence? Yeah, I guess not EVERY small school wins championships every year so I defeated your whole argument about the schools that do. I win."
SOME public schools and SOME private schools have the culture to win. I went to a large city "private" school in Dubuque that has never, ever come close to winning a state title in football. The Valleys, Bettendorfs, Dowlings, Cedar Falls, Xaviers, City Highs, and a dozen or so others like Pella and Harlan and Solon and Heelan and several more, have been at or near the top in high school football since most posters on this board's parents were in diapers. And twenty years from now, the same schools will be at the top, if they continue to have good coaching. There has always been a problem with a successful private program near or in a large city, which can draw from a bigger pool of talent, but so do many of the successful public programs which have open enrollment and fuzzy boundaries. "Build it and they will come," was/is the Field of Dreams motto. How can Bettendorf (year after year) be multiple times stronger than the public schools next door (excluding the recently-strong suburban programs like PV?) Parents and kids somehow manage to locate the best opportunity for themselves. I know a family with three gifted athlete-children. Each plays/played for a different high school in the same city. In sports, like war, things are never totally equal.
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Sell that to neverunderstands, he is a little slow and doesn't comprehend well. See the Harlan and Emmetsburg examples in football, never should have been able to even be competitive yet look at their record. The list can go on, but we will be told it's all about location and the recruited all stars. The one article listing a couple of transfer proves it. Matching wits with the unarmed, this is fun, carry on nevercomprehends.
I'll get back on topic. Harlan might be fine this year.... but they won't be in the future if they don't change. The difference years ago was Harlan had athletes and better ones than everyone else. Look at the years they did well. Most of those classes also competed well in basketball, track, baseball and on and on. Now the changing of the guard. They still have athletes, they just aren't as athletic as those like Glenwood, Lewis Central, Carroll, Creston who have figured out that training, lifting, chaning of ht schems and the offseason is where they win. Harlan still does it like they always have, lifting program is non existant, no offseason training, sounds like film study is non existant. It's changing and you can see it. Running plays over and over in practice and not teaching fundamentals has now caught up to them. Nobody stands there in front of you any more...more stunting, more schemes and without film and understanding they won't be as successful in the future.
So you are saying coaching, training, film etc. are big components of success? Who knew, lol.
I have watched Regina beat teams that had better overall talent.
I know when my son went to college his position coach was surprised at how well he broke down film as a true freshman. Raved about the coaching he had received.
oonfoofoo makes some good points, as i stated I went to the Harlan/Lewis Central game and saw first hand the difference in strength. LC had some players, in particular on the defense side of the ball D-end, inside backer that were total mismatches ( talking strength and speed ) for Harlan. I have seen a lot of Harlan games over the years yet don't recall it being so obvious as that game. It will be interesting to see if it was a one off ( those guys were just studs) or the trend the rest of the year.
Very interesting observation oonfoofoo
Very interesting observation oonfoofoo
And since the op was talking about the direction Harlan might be going I stating that they don't do those things.
Goody for your kid being the outstanding film guy.
Goody, I like that, has started for 3 years so can play a little. Has Harlan always lacked in these areas or have others caught and passed them?
In HS football it is 80% talent I could give so many examples of the same coach and system going 2-7 to 9-0
Harlan Defense has given up 119 points the last two weeks against Glenwood (49) and Creston(70) and 1200 plus yards They gave up 659 yards to Creston. Schiltz accounted for 509. They look to be in shambles against top 10 teams on defense this year. You can't give up 60 points a game to the top 10 teams and expect to win. The offense has come around pretty good. Pretty much anyone they stick at running back looks ok. Qb play has improved.
i saw them play against LC, I was scouting for a future match-up so I could watch and enjoy the play of both teams. I would never have guessed they would score the numbers on offense they have scored the last 2 games. I can't remember the total yards for Harlan that night, less then 100 guessing. Have they improved that much since LC ?
sounds like things are falling apart over in red neck town! Claims of racism, players not playing and faking hurt, seniors quitting, community calling out coaches.......Come on Harlan, everyone is just catching up...I mean passed you....get over it
I was passed some stuff from facebook today and it really was comical.
anyway not too sure about all of the accusations but I will say this...if you want to pass and keep the ball for any amount of time you better complete passes. no ball control whatsoever.....
I was passed some stuff from facebook today and it really was comical.
anyway not too sure about all of the accusations but I will say this...if you want to pass and keep the ball for any amount of time you better complete passes. no ball control whatsoever.....
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