Coach Finley Out

[Bearkat]

Just heard from a friend that Coach Finley of Cleburne, formerly of Cuero, has stepped down as head coach. Does anyone have any information on this?

[kaorder1999]

i've heard this for the last week or so...is it true...i have no idea

[big daddy russ]

Go check out the Old Coach network. They're always the first to know about that kind of stuff. Wish I could help you out with the addy, but it's been a while since I've been over there.

[JustAFan]

Here is a url for an article on November 2nd from the Cleburne paper. Not sure how to make it "clickable"
http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/local_news/news01.txt

Here is a cut and paste job from the Dallas Morning News the same date:

Cleburne coach says he won't return to school
Coach Mickey Finley said Wednesday that he will not return as Cleburne's athletic director and football coach next season. He said he is interested in continuing his coaching career.

Cleburne is 3-26 in three seasons under Finley. He led Arlington to the Class 5A Division II Region I championship in 2002. Finley's first Arlington team finished 1-9 in 1999, but the next three were 28-8.

Matt Wixon

[Johnny Utah]

Cleburne must be WAY down if Finley can not get them going!!!

[Gobbla2001]

Does he still think he is coaching at the University of Nebraska?

Lemme guess, Cleburne ran an option-style offense with 6 plays:

28 Option
27 Option
17 Counter Trap
16 Counter Trap
(get ready for them passing plays)
Boot at 9
Waggle at 8

what was his defense? 4-3?

Wonder if he was still running this stuff there, wonder if he ran it at Arlington High, sure as hell ran it into the ground here...

Hope he does well wherever he ends up... But here in Cuero we have two words for him: Mark Reeve...

[KingRob]

His boy clint was one heck of an athlete.

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by KingRob
His boy clint was one heck of an athlete.

Oh hell yes, his youngest boy as well, scored the only touchdown against UT this year for OU...

Let's just say the guy left a horrible taste in our mouths at Cuero, the ones who were underclassmen anyway...

Was a good coach though, no doubt, had a heart somewhere in there as well...

[VWG]

Cleburne used to have some pretty salty teams a few years back... but man have they struggled recently.
Especially under Finley.
I don't know what kind of offense they ran but in a district with Joshua, FW Brewer, Mineral Wells, Aledo, and Stephenville you can't end up in the cellar every year.
Joshua and FW Brewer are terrible football schools. Mineral Wells had a good year this year, but they aren't known for their "rich football history".
To also add to this is that Cleburne is growing tremendously in population. They are talking about expanding HWY 121 out of FW to Cleburne for better access. Check out their enrollment figures. With Aledo, Mineral Wells, and Stephenville being the three schools to make the playoffs in a 4A district...... that's 3 teams that are small 4A schools. I think Aledo and MW both have around 1,000 kids and Stephenville doesn't have over 1,150 or so. Cleburne probably ran in enrollment of about 1,350 to 1,500.
So if the numbers weren't there for the football program you've got to look at the Coach and ask "what happened"?

[crabman]

There is a local guy up there who did not get the head coaching job who is constantly undermining everything Finley does. Tampering with kids and parents. Showing up at Booster Club and trying to embarrass Finley in front of large groups. Very bad deal.
The school board vote was split when they hired Finley. The other guys wanted this ex-player, coach wannabe.

[Astrosdawg07]

Originally posted by crabman
There is a local guy up there who did not get the head coaching job who is constantly undermining everything Finley does. Tampering with kids and parents. Showing up at Booster Club and trying to embarrass Finley in front of large groups. Very bad deal.
The school board vote was split when they hired Finley. The other guys wanted this ex-player, coach wannabe.

So who is the predicted front runner for the job?