By LARRY VAUGHT
larry@amnews.com
Mercer County football fans may notice a familiar look in some things that new coach Will Weaver tries to incorporate into his program.
"I modeled what we did at Madisonville(-North Hopkins) after what Chuck (Smith) did at Boyle County. After I got that job, I talked to him a long time about how he did things," said Weaver, who accepted the vacant Mercer job Monday. "He told me about overall program organization and things like that. I admire what he did and felt that was a great plan to use to model my program after.
"Your talent still has to dictate what you do on the field, but I have been a spread (offense) guy who likes throwing the football around."
Weaver was head coach at Madisonville for two years and went 5-5 and 7-4, the school's first consecutive non-losing seasons in 24 years.
"He is a real good guy. I am sorry to hear that he is leaving. He is a tough guy, but it seems like he gets the kids very organized," said Nick Brockman of The Messenger, Madisonville's daily newspaper.
"He is very popular here. He turned around the program. He was doing his job and had the talent to keep it going. I don't know anything about the program at Mercer, but he was doing well here."
Madisonville lost 19-0 to Henderson County last year after beating Henderson 38-21 in 2007. Henderson coach Clay Clevenger, a Danville native who also interviewed at Mercer, respects the job Weaver has done.
"He will do a good job because he did a good job at Madisonville. He's a good guy. He really had good skill kids coming back this year, too," Clevenger said.
That includes cornerback J.C. Wade, who already has several Division I scholarship offers.
Weaver's name was mentioned prominently with several other jobs this spring, including one at Harrison County.
"I heard his name tossed around with a few jobs this summer that he was applying for. I don't know how serious he was or how many he applied for. When I first heard today about Mercer, I thought it was just another rumor," Brockman said.
However, that rumor became reality late Monday afternoon when Weaver took the job and others who were interviewed were notified that Mercer had its successor to Marty Jaggers. They included Clevenger, Rowan County coach Shadon Brown, Mercer assistant coach Bill Mason, Scott County assistant coach Dave Thomas and former Harrodsburg all-state player Dennis Johnson.
Weaver won't have much time to meet his new players because the Kentucky High School Athletic Association-mandated dead period begins Thursday. That means he won't be able to have any contact with his players for two weeks.
"That's not ideal, but there is still time to get ready," Weaver said. "I am not going to come in and make excuses. If that means working 24-7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week), then that's what we will do to get things going."
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