Tom Knotts leaving for Dutch Fork High in Columbia

Good luck Coach. You'll be missed around here.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1164763.html

 

Although Dutch Fork has struggled recently, they have a history of fielding championship type teams. I have no doubt that Knotts will have them back to that form soon.

 

It all depends on how many players "move" into the district.

 

Dutch Fork has never fielded a championship type team......he cant actively recruit down here like he could up there and will fall short year after year to the big boys of High School Football......we play for keeps in SC.....knotts will take the 125K per year until his contract is up and then come tail tucked back to NC

 

Knotts will quickly discover that Columbia is not a fun place to live. As for the football he will recruit just like he did in North Carolina. It happens in all 50 states and that's just the facts. Top prospects often pick where they want to play and it's just about impossible to stop.

 

Columbia sucks but making 100k per year I could live at Lake Murray just fine. he already named Stephen Davis and Todd Ellis kids going to that school in the future. Gator dad, Knotts was under the microscope more than any other coach in Charlotte as far as recruiting, so to call it "actively recruiting" is bs. who is to stop parents if they want to move into a school district for football?? you dont think parents do it all the time for academic reasons?

 

Harding was never a contender until he got there and he had them in the state finals within five years. That year, the school actually qualified for AAA status but elected to play in AAAA. While they went on to lose the game, it was tied at halftime and they had opportunities to take control of the game in the first half. Since he left, they have done nothing but struggle. West Charlotte could never get over the hump, but he was able to get them a state title. Independence was a constant under-achieving program until he got there. We all know what happened.

Talk all you want about recruiting, but CMS spent thousands and thousands of dollars and could find no wrong-doing.

The man is a football coach and motivator. His system works at the high school level and he will have success in South Carolina. I know you don't want to admit it, but the landscape of high school football there is about to change.

 

i dont see him coming back to NC unless its a final destination for him. the reason i say this is because he is up for retirement in this state. and once you begin drawing your NC State retirement, you can only make a limited amount of money each year (if you still want to teach/coach in the public school system). some teachers do return on limited basis after they retire. its called "double dipping". but thats not where the money is. he can draw his NC pension, name his price in SC, and really cash in while he is still able to work. he is only 54 and is in great physical condition. i see him working for quite a while as long as the passion is still there. whether or not he is successful down there is yet to be determined, but i would not write him off as easily as you have.

 

I don't know how much South Carolina Kool Aid you've been drinking but South Carolina Football IS NOT better than North Carolina Football. It's a misnomer developed by the Shrine Bowl results. North Carolina has always been weakened by their moronic selection process for the game. Many years North Carolina would have a page full of Division I recruits not selected for to play. They have changed the process of late and the results are starting to show. I think that North Carolina could take just the players from their 4A classification and field a better team than South Carolina. Look at the athletes that come from the larger schools in Charlotte, Raliegh, Greensboro, etc.... Knotts is about as good as they come at the high school level and that goes for the Sandlapper State as well.

 

I don't know how much South Carolina Kool Aid you've been drinking but South Carolina Football IS NOT better than North Carolina Football.

I wouldn't go that far. HS football(football in general) is a much bigger deal in SC than in NC. NC has changed a lot in the past decade but I bet SC puts more kids in college than NC year after year. I lived in Columbia for a few years and couldnt believe how many college and NFL players have come out of SC. I will say that Byrnes HS is so overhyped its not funny. Im an Independence grad and wish Knotts was staying but it should be interesting what he does with the talent in that area. Columbia has about half the number of the HS that Charlotte has. wonder how that plays into what he does.