Problems at East Central

[HornetHypeEC]

I keep hearing lots of rumblings coming out of Hurley about Eric Collins. Parents and players very upset with the way he has handled the program since Smith left. Any other EC fans out there that might shed some light?

[TK_on_the_Coast]

From what I've gathered and been told, the next Head Coach at EC is already on staff as an asst 

[HammerDown74]

Hope it’s the one they should’ve hired when Seth Smith left. 

[TK_on_the_Coast]

I would be willing to bet a large sum of cash that former MGCCC head coach, USA asst coach and current ECHS asst coach Chad Huff is the next head man at East Central. 

[HornetHypeEC]

From what I have heard, I think you may have the last name right, but his brother is next in line.

[coastguy]

Any updates on this?  

[coastfootballfanman]

Collins isn’t going anywhere. They have no leg to stand on in order to fire him. He’s made the playoffs both years and fielded competitive teams. 

[VancleaveDogs]

Fant could also be a name in that hat if it opened......I'm sure he is wanting to get out of Vancleave.

[Gulfcoastmatt]

On 1/14/2022 at 5:51 PM, coastfootballfanman said:

Collins isn’t going anywhere. They have no leg to stand on in order to fire him. He’s made the playoffs both years and fielded competitive teams. 

He has burned some bridges.  However, I’m not sure they can fire him.  They could ask him to resign and he may would. 

[HornetHypeEC]

From what I understand about the situation, there is no way Collins will resign. He seems to be dug-in. I really hate it for the kids here. There was such a great foundation that was left after Smith that seems to be eroding away.

If it were to open, I don't think Fant would even get an interview. People around here were kind of shocked when he got that job. Fant was the defensive line coach, and had never called a game on either side of the ball to the best of my knowledge. 

[OneCoast228]

Fant was the OC at Pascagoula before going to EC.

 

[HornetHypeEC]

Just saying that what he did here, and what he has done so far in Vancleave, would not garner a whole lot of excitement. 

[coastfootballfanman]

40 minutes ago, HornetHypeEC said:

From what I understand about the situation, there is no way Collins will resign. He seems to be dug-in. I really hate it for the kids here. There was such a great foundation that was left after Smith that seems to be eroding away.

If it were to open, I don't think Fant would even get an interview. People around here were kind of shocked when he got that job. Fant was the defensive line coach, and had never called a game on either side of the ball to the best of my knowledge. 

Couple of things are contributing to the decline in East Central. One, Collins is a very brash and abrasive guy. Other than PRC, he has not been well liked at many of his coaching stops. He very much is a "my way is the only way" type and that rubs a lot of people wrong. The second thing is the fact that the talent pool is just lessening right now I believe. Smith had a great little 3-year window of great success, but it was also the most talent that area has seen come through it ever. Prior to that run in 4A, they struggled and have competed well since moving back to 5A. Talent pool drying up some, coupled with a coach who is not well regarded, so in turn numbers are going down. I hate to say it, but East Central fans should hope for some bad years in football for him to go. Right now, he's 2 for 2 on the playoffs and have fielded competitive groups. They cannot fire him right now no matter how the parents in the community feel. 

[Big Poppa]

6 hours ago, coastfootballfanman said:

Couple of things are contributing to the decline in East Central. One, Collins is a very brash and abrasive guy. Other than PRC, he has not been well liked at many of his coaching stops. He very much is a "my way is the only way" type and that rubs a lot of people wrong. The second thing is the fact that the talent pool is just lessening right now I believe. Smith had a great little 3-year window of great success, but it was also the most talent that area has seen come through it ever. Prior to that run in 4A, they struggled and have competed well since moving back to 5A. Talent pool drying up some, coupled with a coach who is not well regarded, so in turn numbers are going down. I hate to say it, but East Central fans should hope for some bad years in football for him to go. Right now, he's 2 for 2 on the playoffs and have fielded competitive groups. They cannot fire him right now no matter how the parents in the community feel. 

First of all I do think Collins is a good high school coach but he has a problem getting along with the fanbase .I can assure you,  he was not well liked at PRC but he had some very talented kids move in from Louisiana where he is from. They had a good little run and if you know PRC fanbase they will really support their team when they are competitive. they have a rabid crowd when doing good. You can see of late that Collins only last about 3 years each at the last 3 jobs so I think that speaks volumes.

[positiveyard33]

1 hour ago, Big Poppa said:

First of all I do think Collins is a good high school coach but he has a problem getting along with the fanbase .I can assure you,  he was not well liked at PRC but he had some very talented kids move in from Louisiana where he is from. They had a good little run and if you know PRC fanbase they will really support their team when they are competitive. they have a rabid crowd when doing good. You can see of late that Collins only last about 3 years each at the last 3 jobs so I think that speaks volumes.

You’re claim about Collins at PRC is just not true.

[Big Poppa]

1 hour ago, positiveyard33 said:

You’re claim about Collins at PRC is just not true.

Which one I made a couple?

 

[positiveyard33]

14 minutes ago, Big Poppa said:

Which one I made a couple?

 

Not being well liked and the very talented Louisiana move ins

[Big Poppa]

1 hour ago, positiveyard33 said:

You’re claim about Collins at PRC is just not true.

Which one I made a couple?

Well that's the beauty of this web page is we can agree to disagree. You are fooling yourself if you don't think the Louisiana kids he brought in didn't help them. Some big lineman and some good defensive players and his nephew being one of them. I know plenty parents and ex-players who didn't care for him I'm just telling you what I was told by people close to program. If you really want to be honest those kids responded more to Seth Smith and John Feaster. When they left for  head coaching jobs Collins wasn't far behind.' Look at the state of the program now. Hey Larry Dolan one of the best high school coaches around these parts struggled up there. Collins didn't handle the political side of it very well and if you don't believe there is a political side to high school sports then we can agree to disagree.

[positiveyard33]

2 minutes ago, Big Poppa said:

Which one I made a couple?

Well that's the beauty of this web page is we can agree to disagree. You are fooling yourself if you don't think the Louisiana kids he brought in didn't help them. Some big lineman and some good defensive players and his nephew being one of them. I know plenty parents and ex-players who didn't care for him I'm just telling you what I was told by people close to program. If you really want to be honest those kids responded more to Seth Smith and John Feaster. When they left for  head coaching jobs Collins wasn't far behind.' Look at the state of the program now. Hey Larry Dolan one of the best high school coaches around these parts struggled up there. Collins didn't handle the political side of it very well and if you don't believe there is a political side to high school sports then we can agree to disagree.

We can disagree. I’m not gonna argue, I just know what I’m talking about. He didn’t bring in big linemen or a load of defensive players. His nephew did play but that’s one kid. As for his assistants, half his tenure was without smith and feaster took his head job the same offseason Collins left for Diberville 

[Big Poppa]

11 minutes ago, positiveyard33 said:

We can disagree. I’m not gonna argue, I just know what I’m talking about. He didn’t bring in big linemen or a load of defensive players. His nephew did play but that’s one kid. As for his assistants, half his tenure was without smith and feaster took his head job the same offseason Collins left for Diberville 

We can disagree about the kids moving in from Chalmette. That's not a life or death matter. 

 

 

[positiveyard33]

11 minutes ago, Big Poppa said:

We can disagree about the kids moving in from Chalmette. That's not a life or death matter. 

 

 

Only kids there from chalmette (other than the nephew) had been there since Katrina 

[Mack]

14 hours ago, Big Poppa said:

Which one I made a couple?

Well that's the beauty of this web page is we can agree to disagree. You are fooling yourself if you don't think the Louisiana kids he brought in didn't help them. Some big lineman and some good defensive players and his nephew being one of them. I know plenty parents and ex-players who didn't care for him I'm just telling you what I was told by people close to program. If you really want to be honest those kids responded more to Seth Smith and John Feaster. When they left for  head coaching jobs Collins wasn't far behind.' Look at the state of the program now. Hey Larry Dolan one of the best high school coaches around these parts struggled up there. Collins didn't handle the political side of it very well and if you don't believe there is a political side to high school sports then we can agree to disagree.

His nephew was the only player from Louisiana to move in and the fans liked him a great deal.  They had a run of good talent for a few years, and he had a great staff, this is true.  But he didn't leave because of anything political, he left because he saw what was coming.  You are going to find parents and ex-players who don't like any coach (mainly because of playing time), but it doesn't make it a majority.

[coachfball87]

47 minutes ago, Mack said:

You are going to find parents and ex-players who don't like any coach (mainly because of playing time), but it doesn't make it a majority.

This is very true! If you go to Louisville and ask some old timers about Mike Justice or Bobby Hall, or Amory and ask about Bobby Hall, or Batesville and ask about Ed Stanley, you will get one of 2 types of answers, either greatest coach of all time, love him, etc. Or, he was a real piece of crap, awful human, terrible coach. Usually, you can tell if that person was a parent of a player or a player that played a good bit, or one who rode pine. Depends on their individual experience. 

[msaisbandkid]

1 hour ago, coachfball87 said:

This is very true! If you go to Louisville and ask some old timers about Mike Justice or Bobby Hall, or Amory and ask about Bobby Hall, or Batesville and ask about Ed Stanley, you will get one of 2 types of answers, either greatest coach of all time, love him, etc. Or, he was a real piece of crap, awful human, terrible coach. Usually, you can tell if that person was a parent of a player or a player that played a good bit, or one who rode pine. Depends on their individual experience. 

I know all of this happened 15+ years ago but it's still funny that Louisville and Madison Central had the same two coaches over spans of 20+ years.

[PMT95]

On 1/21/2022 at 10:09 AM, Mack said:

His nephew was the only player from Louisiana to move in and the fans liked him a great deal.  They had a run of good talent for a few years, and he had a great staff, this is true.  But he didn't leave because of anything political, he left because he saw what was coming.  You are going to find parents and ex-players who don't like any coach (mainly because of playing time), but it doesn't make it a majority.

He left after selling his BS about how he was going to retire there to the PRC admin and fans. I can also assure you there are a lot of ex-players with very low opinions of him. Most of those were starters in their best seasons under him.