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I back them. I just don't enjoy reading how well someone has done when the team is 2-6. I've spoken to Matt Henry 2 times in the past 6 months. Both were about his accomplishments. Attitudes like that are NOT conducive to winning.

And it most definately starts at the top. Bedford has won much more in the past with a whole lot less than what they have this year. It's coaching. It's philosophy. It's attitude. All of which are lacking this year, and have been in the previous 4 years of Swaim's tenure.

Coaching:

He could get by when he was coaching the likes of John Aaron Marshall, Mike Young, Trevin Kensinger, Derrick Harris, Jesse Feaster and a kid who goes by the name of Troy Harris. Maybe you've heard of him. Then Kyler Ford moved in to play QB after Troy was gone. Not a bad replacement. In the 4 losses between those two years, he was horribly out-coached each and every game. When the athletes he had on the field weren't good enough to do it on their own, he had zero answers in crunch time. i.e. Central Cambria in the playoffs and the worst one of all, Bishop McCort 2 years ago.

Philosophy:

Make the kids run the system, not find a system, or a variation of the system, that best fits the kids. He still has in the back of his mind somewhere that this is a collegiate program. It is anything but that. You can't run the same offense that depends on an explosive QB like he had in Troy and Kyler when you have Grubb and Short. I'm not taking anything away from either Harrison or Mike, but they are no where near the same athletes that Troy or Kyler were. If you'd ask them, they'd probably even tell you that.

Attitude:

Bedford's coaches this week, after being down 14 or so at the half, were out of the locker-room and standing and talking amongst themselves as if they were up 28 and needed no changes to slow down the Huskies attack. They went on to give up 48 points to a team that had put up 55 ALL YEAR prior to week 8. If it's not working on the field, the coaches feel it's the kids effort that is behind the failure, not the failure of a faulty system.

Those three things add up to an unsuccessful program. Swaim took a very competitive, very proud, and winning program in 5 years, and has it at the level it's at right now. And there really is no end in sight with him at the helm. How does John Franco keep winning year in and year out? They don't clone kids like people think they do (hell, I still half believe they have some way of putting out kids that look and play the same each and every year). They have excellent coaches who do what it takes to win. Be it whether or not take a system to the kids that will work with the group. They win. Consistantly. Every year. Bailey even has his team in the playoffs as of right now. The team up in Sidman is no where near the typical FH team, but they find ways to win games.

Swaim does not. He finds ways to lose.

The only interaction i've had with swaim was during the Lantzy week/game. Even tho he didn't coach my position he seemed like a real good coach. He knew his stuff as far as offensive strategies and I remember him coaching up some safeties on some pretty good techniques. Now I know that's just an all-star game so you don't get the same effect as him coaching his team but that's the only interaction I've had with him so that's all I can go by.
Ham, why doesn't he have the right attitude for the bisons?

Don't know Swaim personally and I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I have noticed some of the things Ham has seen.

If I’m not mistaken, when he first started coaching the kids complained that they were being pushed to hard in practice. Rather than telling them to deal with it, he took it easy on them. Now, I don’t know what his practices were like, but under previous coaches there it definitely wasn’t a walk in the park. We took pride in being the best conditioned team on the field. Games are won and lost in the 4th quarter and many times that can come down to conditioning. We used to have to run over to the sideline to huddle around the coaches during a timeout, etc. That doesn’t happen either anymore. It’s more of a lazy jog/walk if they go over at all. I see lots of fumbles, penalties. Overall what I see lacking is discipline. Things that can be corrected by coaching, but continue to happen game after game, season after season. In one of his first games as the coach, a Bedford kid got a personal foul for a late hit or hit out of bounds. It was late in the game and would have forced the other team to punt if not for the penalty. Instead of the coach letting the kid know what kind of mistake he just made, he starts clapping his hands together as the kid walks off the field and tells him “good job, that’s just good, aggressive playing”. I knew then that things had definitely changed in Bedford.

Talent in previous seasons was under utilized. What could Bailey/Franco/Shoemaker have accomplished with the kind of talent Bedford has had over the last 4 years? Hard to say, but something tells me the results would have been different. Like Ham, the McCort playoff loss was a hard one to take. They played what looked like a cover 2 on defense with an 18 point lead and left the middle of the field wide open. How the coaches didn’t see that time and again is beyond me. Especially when you have kids who can cover on defense.

Couldn’t agree with Ham more regarding making the kids play the system. Bedford is an option team. Run it. But all of that started even when Shoemaker was there and they started trying to find a way for Chad to be qb even though he wasn’t one. I didn’t agree with it then either, and still don’t.

I could post countless things as to why Swaim's attitude is not very productive toward the Bedford program. The first thing he does at the begining of each year is tell his team how the previous years seniors, one way or another, were no good. My brother came home after practice the first day of last years camp and was so irritated by what he said about the previous years team, that he questioned why he was even doing it. Swaim's motives have always been questionable.

One good thing he does do is prepare well during the week. He's a great techinque coach and PRACTICE strategy coach. But, when the 2nd half comes around, we see the same things from Bedford as we did in the first half. He literally has made hardly any in game adjustments in his tenure. Even when the kids try to tell him what they think is open. There are no better eyes than what you have on the field, and he disreguards them. Just look at the CR game film from last year. And look how wide open the TE pop pass would have been. Or a fly down the sidelines. Feaster, in Swaims oppinion, was the only option on offense. They had a DE and 2 LB's responsible for Feaster EACH PLAY. I don't claim to know a whole lot, but IMO, there has to be someone else open, right?

Just watch a game on Friday. Watch what happens in the first half compared to the 2nd half with our play calling on both sides of the ball. Watch when the other team blitzes up the middle on our snap count that never varies all night long. Tell me that can't be corrected.

All things considered, we all should have seen this coming. I said in the spring that we would find out how good of a coach Swaim really is now that all the stars of the past are gone. I think his record is directly indicative of just how good he is.

although you might be right, the injuries have sure hurt this team as well. Some of the players are playing and arent at 100% and others cant play. The depth on this team is not very good and I think that is a huge contributor.

Look at one simple thing, the coaching staff. No one wants to stay around and coach with Swaim. Look at who has left...Mike Marshall, had a falling out with Swaim and apparently they still don't like each other (i heard that he left due to something possibly about Bill Creps as well, but that's an entire different story of someone who needs to get out). Ron Walters, who is one of the best motivators I have ever been around and one of the best coaches...where is he? Gone. Jesse Topper?? he saw the writing on the wall. As a former player who was around when these men coached at Bedford, they made you want to play the game. They made all of the hardwork worthwhile and enjoyable. The teams of '04 and '05 had great athletes yes, but these 3 guys coaching made all the difference as well. If you made a great play on 3rd down, you did not want Swaim's praise, you wanted to hear it from guys like Topper or Walters. Not from Swaim, because no matter what you did, it was never a good play. I will always remember the forest hills game from the '05 season, it was a shut out performance by the defense (they returned a punt back on the JV's) and the offense played well...during film that following Monday, I would have sworn we lost the game. There's a difference between being a tough coach that demands a constant desire to always get better, and a coach that never has anything good to say. I would imagine that John Franco can be one of the toughest S.O.B's around, but when you deserve it, he probably praises you as well, and I know 100% that his players want to play for him. Its easily seen in the way they play. It was like that at Bedford once...I remember being a part of it. Is it there now? It looks very gone to me, and that's evident in how the players approach the game. Swaim is a great technical coach, but as a motivator he fails miserably...you just don't want to play for him.

It is not looking good for the program either...just look at the bottom as it goes up.

The varsity program has it's obvious problems...

Jr. High is coached by the head track and wrestling coach, how much effort can he REALLY be putting into football??

from hearing a little bit about the 7th grade program, it is a complete JOKE, they have not even taught the boys how to properly tackle..AND THE YEAR'S ALMOST OVER!! 7th grade is just as important as jr. high, the basics must be learned or that catching up has to be made in jr. high and then they're not ready for varsity. Each has an impact on the other.

The youth program in Bedford is a complete joke, I do not have one problem with flag football, what-so-ever, flag football is great, I played when i was a kid and had no problem adjusting..and i played with Mike Young, who happens to be Bedford's all time tackles leader, so flag football does just fine in preparing youngsters. The problem at that level is the coaches/parents (usually one in the same). The time is not being taken to learn simple things like getting in a good stance, running routes, making blocks, the bare essentials of the game. I heard that the one team had a single practice before its first game, ONE!! that is not doing the game of football any justice for these kids.

As a brother of a 5 year old, I am terrified for the football future of Bedford for his sake. If Bedford stays along this path, we will soon be the perenial easy win for every other team in the conference.

The only thing that can right the ship is new leadership. It starts at the top and filters its way down. There must be a change at the top and then people need to fill in at every other level below that.

And for those who think things will get better next year...... Losing 4 linemen and Henry and Bridges from the backfield doesn't bode well for that idea

they arent losing 4 linemen, they have a whole offensive line coming back thats full of
juniors i think that they have the potential to become the best line next year
center:josh krupa
tackles: tyler nicodemus and cody shippey
guard: cody butterbaugh

they are only losing one offensive linemen, but then they need to find people to replace henry

Kanye and Jeezy would say you are just.... dreeeeeeeeeammmmiiiinnnn