Did I forget that I had a mailbag due in September? Yes, I kind of did. Sorry, folks. I got a little busy, but we can rectify that right now.
That said, I will point out one thing I did NOT forget about: elementary Players of the Week for last week. The problem was the changing schedules Thursday. We had one school that didn't play at all last week (Irving College) and six more that didn't play more than one game. With such a limited sample size, I decided to hold off this week and we'll come back with Players of the Week when the regular season resumes after fall break.
We'll still have six more weeks of games after the break, as well as a chance to thank some of the special people guiding those programs along the way.
And I'll sweeten the pot for any business that's still thinking about sponsoring an elementary Player of the Week.
We're going to begin broadcasting a Warren County elementary Game of the Week after fall break, and we'll be funding those broadcasts with sponsorship money brought in from the Player of the Week features. So if you're a business that wants to help support even more coverage of local basketball - while also getting your business in front of the thousands of viewers watching our broadcasts - email me at wcsportsauthority@gmail.com.
OK, I've delayed the September mailbag long enough.
Let's get to your questions.
Q: We're far enough into the season now, so what's your actual verdict on Pioneer football?
The easiest answer: Warren County made the right call to go non-region the last two years. And they absolutely should stay that way for the foreseeable future.
I'll give the administration some credit. They decided to wipe the slate clean before the 2025 season and try to find some momentum with the football program (Something I'd been saying they should do for almost a decade, but I digress).
And when they did, I truly believe there was a pretty detailed plan of action cultivated to bring things back. I'm curious to know where we are on that list.
I feel like Steps 1 and 2 were clear: New coach. New schedule.
Somewhere in the top 3-4 had to be creating a streamlined process where Pioneers are learning the game from the time they start playing until they reach the high school. That's probably not exactly where it needs to be yet, although at least we're not sitting here like we were in 2018 - right before coaching changes would come at WCMS and WCHS the following fall - with fewer than 100 players total from ages 5-18 playing football in this town.
We've stepped that number up considerably.
Could we still strengthen the transition from youth football to WCMS and then WCMS to WCHS? Absolutely.
And I think there's another step that could be added to that growth plan for youth football and the middle school: Get a flag football league together for THE WHOLE COUNTY in grades 6-8. Or do 3-5 and 6-8 if you really want to go all in.
I think it could help two-fold. First, we need to find as many kids as possible who can throw and catch. If we're serious about developing more skill players, give more kids an opportunity to touch the football and find out who has those abilities. Second, maybe we can strengthen our coaching pool at the same time.
And that last point could be every bit as critical as the first.
By no means am I trying to say we don't have good coaches in Warren County right now. What we could use are more avenues to attract MORE coaches - or, you know, keep some people from leaving if we don't have enough positions to go around. The more people we have teaching football, the better chance we have of finding really good football coaches. Seems simple enough.
As for this season's team, I think they're getting a much-needed rest at the perfect time. Actually, two weeks ago was probably the perfect time, but we can't do anything about that now.
Injuries have taken a toll on a team that already had shaky depth, and I think that - along with playing the best two teams we've seen so far in back-to-back weeks - contributed heavily to the outcomes the last two weeks.
By homecoming, it looked less like the Pioneer team we'd watched during the first five weeks and more like a beat-up MASH unit trying to survive long enough to get to the break.
That's why I'm not changing my opinion of this team based solely on those two games. I fully expect Warren County to come out of the break looking much more like the group we saw during the first five weeks than the one we watched limp into homecoming.
And when you zoom out beyond wins and losses, that's probably how we should be judging this whole experiment anyway. Did going non-region give the program a chance to breathe, build some confidence, increase participation and start creating something sustainable?
I think the answer so far is yes, so don't be in a hurry to give it up.
Q: Where does Todd Willmore rank among the best coaches you've personally covered?
When we put out the "Willmore Way" story, which you should go back and read if you haven't already, I had somebody ask me where Todd ranked in my personal coaching rankings. I had to disappoint them and let them know I don't keep a running list handy, but I would think about it.
And I have been for a while now. I have to say, he's got to be right up there near the top, right? He checks about every single box you'd want from a high school coach.
Longevity? He's closing in on two decades with girls soccer now. Winning? He's over 150 victories, though he's not counting. Titles? A few district championships, two sectional berths and, hopefully, either or both of those totals are going up again this month. Producing college players? He's done that too, including Katie Toney, who went on to become a four-year Division I starter.
And perhaps most impressively, he's done all of it without gathering a large group of detractors along the way.
Look, I'm not naive enough to say Todd has a 100 percent approval rating - 16-plus years of covering local sports has made me realize everybody has haters. But I'd say he's probably hovering around 90 percent or better.
And that's pretty dang good.
I think the thing you can say about Todd's coaching - or really any good program - is that the Lady Pioneer soccer teams always have an identity. They're tough. They're organized. And they traditionally punch above their weight class.
Gritty teams have a way of doing that against superior talent, and make no mistake, we've played - and beaten - some teams that could probably say, top to bottom, they had a better 11 on the field. But they didn't have 11 on the field who could come together as one and want to win more than the Lady Pioneers did.
That's a testament to Todd Willmore and his coaching staff.
So where does he rank? I still don't have a number for you. But if we're talking about the best coaches I've personally covered in Warren County, Todd Willmore absolutely belongs near the top of the conversation.
Maybe someday I'll sit down and really rank every single coach I've covered - at least at the high school level - from 1 to 100. Or more.
Honestly, I can't tell you who would be No. 1. I may have a pretty good idea who would be last though.
Q: What's the dumbest thing Warren County has spent way too much time arguing about lately?
Bollards? Bells? Whatever you want to call them, I still can't believe we have to have this discussion basically once a week now. Heck, Chris Terry has practically built a highly successful show off this topic. And he probably touched on it better than anybody during his show last week.
But if you want my Simmons Two Cents on the matter, it's this: Why do we keep expecting people to do something that nobody was doing in the first place?
And here's what I mean. I've seen people failing to understand the new traffic pattern implemented in hopes of curtailing trucks getting stuck on bollards. It didn't work.
And I've seen lots of people - including some leaders in the community - supporting the "can't these people read?" line when it comes to drivers failing to properly follow the new signs and traffic patterns through McMinnville.
Well dang, weren't there signs saying no trucks before this? Aren't there STILL signs that say no trucks?
And yet, here we are.
I came up Chancery Street once last week and sat at the light at Chancery and Colville for three rotations before I could finally get through. And even then, I was the only one to make it to the other side, much to the chagrin of the person behind me who apparently wanted me to just go ahead and block the intersection. I guess that would've helped.
I've also seen multiple cars end up in the middle lane between Colville and Main Street - on the wrong side of a double yellow line - because they're probably so used to the old way that they didn't bother to pay enough attention to the new way.
And yes, that's a problem. But it's really no different than the same people never paying enough attention to not drive a truck through the heart of downtown in the first place, especially if they can’t navigate what I think is a tight turn but several experienced truck drivers seem to think is a piece of cake.
So really, all we've done is create a potential secondary problem - or more - with the flow of traffic and people's inability to follow signage while not really fixing the first problem either.
Bravo. That's impressive.
Q: What are your thoughts on DA Matt Colvard clearing the officers involved in the Dogwood Pointe shooting, and how the entire process played out?
Let's tackle this one layer at a time. First, let's look at the incident itself.
From everything I've seen on video, read from officer reporting on the scene and can generally gather from that day, everybody did their jobs by the book. It felt like an open-and-shut case.
That said, I'm also somebody who grew up with a stepfather who served in local law enforcement for 40 years, so you can probably say "Backing the Blue" comes pretty easy to me. I know that about myself and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
But the video is the video. The information released by McMinnville Police showed Scott Carroll Jr. exiting the residence with a handgun in each hand and raising the firearms toward officers. We later learned from Colvard's review that Carroll had already fired an AR-15 at officers, including a round that struck a ballistic shield.
So I don't think I'm exactly going out on a limb here.
Next comes the legal process.
From Colvard's release, I think he ultimately did what he was supposed to do. Or, more fittingly, the TBI did what that agency is supposed to do by investigating the shooting and providing information to the DA, while Colvard waited for enough information to make the legal determination.
While that was going on, it's pretty apparent the wait-and-see scenario became concerning enough for an officer in question that they had legal representation. Sitting around for three weeks waiting to see if you're going to get the all clear would probably worry me too, even if I knew I'd done nothing wrong. Granted, I'm never involved in these kinds of high-leverage situations, but on the rare occasions when I have to do a story or reporting that I know is going to ruffle some feathers, it makes me feel better when I get the all clear from my boss.
I imagine getting the all clear from the district attorney carries slightly higher stakes.
The officer's attorney eventually started pressing the issue publicly and answers started rolling out less than 96 hours later.
Was that coincidence or just good timing? I don't know.
What I'll say - and I said this Friday on my Facebook page - is I think we ended up with the resolution most, if not all, of the community was expecting and hoping for when it came to the officer's standing.
That's pretty good work all around, I'd say.
Here's where this gets more complicated for me.
Our DA went on Facebook when the NewsChannel 5 story came out and called out the lawyer. Then he went on his preferred choice of local media two days later and called out other media for trying to turn the situation into a click-bait matter.
And, in both instances, the message seemed pretty clear: He wasn't going to make a decision until the TBI investigation was done. Also during that Wednesday radio appearance, Colvard released plenty of information that seemed to indicate there wasn't going to be any need for a grand jury.
So I keep coming back to one question: Does this even become a conversation if, when other news outlets initially asked about the situation, those answers were given then?
I'd like to think it probably stays pretty quiet because everybody seemed to be reaching the same logical conclusion anyway. The video evidence and everything else we'd seen pointed toward the officer being cleared. Then, lo and behold, Friday afternoon arrived and the decision was announced that the officers acted in accordance with the law.
And here's the part I can't completely square with all the messaging beforehand: The TBI investigation was still technically incomplete. Colvard's own release acknowledged that lab reports, toxicology, the autopsy and several technical investigatory tests were still waiting to be completed.
Apparently, there was enough information available to make the decision anyway.
Which is fine. Actually, I think it was the right decision.
The TL;DR version of a nearly three-page release Friday was pretty simple: There wasn't going to be anything going to the grand jury. Which, hey, that's what everybody wanted.
A lot of people just didn't understand why there was a waiting game, and I personally don't understand why the media and a lawyer doing his job for his client needed to catch heat for asking about it.
If anything, the timing certainly makes it look like their insistence on getting this thing over and done with helped get this thing over and done with. Maybe it’s all a coincidence and the preliminary report from the TBI was already requested and on its way and everything that occurred from Monday to Friday was just all perfectly aligned timing.
From a media standpoint, I'll admit the way the whole thing finished caught my attention too.
This is an elected position and I think Warren County has a politician doing the job. Which, that's kinda the point of elections, right?
A 5 p.m. Friday press dump right before Fall Break containing vital information you've been pressed on for a week, addressing the topic beforehand in a cozy setting where follow-up questions are probably going to be few and far between, then letting the press release go to one publication - a paywalled one - before releasing it publicly on your own page exactly an hour later?
That's savvy media training. That's politics.
But beyond the media and political aspect of all this - which obviously caught my attention - I honestly spent a lot more time thinking about something else over the weekend.
You can get on Facebook and find your echo chamber anywhere. If you want to rile people up, you can go on Chatter and beat the drum. Somebody will pick up the beat. You can have the dumbest argument of all time and 90 percent of the people who see it will probably laugh and move on, but there will be people there to support you. And, of course, there will be some there to clown you too.
That's just amplified if you're a local elected official. You can usually count on support eventually coming in behind you, even in a comment section that may have started by tearing you down.
I'm sure that'll happen with this story too. And that's all well, fine and good. It's easy to soak in the praise and ignore the hate.
I do it literally every single day with my work. I love seeing likes, shares and reactions to something I've done and I don't even bother looking to see if anybody is criticizing it. I mean, how could they be criticizing me? My mom told me I was the best and that's really all I need.
Even in this situation, the praise for people on the legal side is probably warranted. Colvard can get praise from the people who believe he was right to wait. The "newly minted lawyer" can get praise from the people who believe pushing for a resolution helped get one.
Both can take their praise and move on.
But here's the one thing that struck me Saturday: There are people involved in this situation - one officer in particular - who can take some solace from Friday's decision and move on too.
But how do you really move on from what this situation presented?
That officer has probably already made peace with the fact that their duty required them to do what they did. The legal questions can be answered. The DA can clear the officer. The possibility of a grand jury can go away.
But no grand jury decision, article on a website or comment section full of praise is ever going to completely resolve the feelings that officer may carry from that day. That's something they'll have to carry forward forever.
And while we play our war of words through traditional media, social media, press releases or even someday in a courtroom, there are real-life consequences for the people involved in these situations that never fully resolve.
Jackie Matheny Sr. spoke about the weight of the job during his appearance on "My Walk of Faith" with Steven Helton, and I've seen firsthand what that weight can look like when an officer comes home from situations I couldn't imagine ever being in. I'm sure sitting in limbo for three weeks had to feel like an eternity.
And maybe that's the part of this entire story that's easiest for the rest of us to overlook: We get to debate it, we get to write about it, we get to post about it and then we eventually move on to something else.
The people who put on the badge don't always get that luxury. Sometimes they just have to move forward, protect and serve.
Q: What's the most dangerous text you can receive during fall sports season?
"Hey, did you hear..." is always one that gets a raised eyebrow when I see it come through. But right now, it's basically any text from Sullens or any text from my mom or dad while I'm live on a show or broadcast.
Sullens? That's just any time of day. If he's messaging me, I'm usually about to drop whatever I'm doing to start a new project. If Mom or Dad are texting while I'm live, then they're seeing or hearing a problem they're going to want me to try to fix.
But hey, text me or send me information whenever you feel like it. One tip though: Maybe don't expect a message back. Just look at our social media feed in the following 20-30 minutes and I'll probably have applied your tip into a story.
Q: Seriously, how much Diet Coke do you drink in a day?
Somewhere between 150-200 ounces a day, I'd say. Yeah, I know. I have a serious Diet Coke drinking problem.
I kind of laugh about it because I was at Autumn Street Fair Saturday and, despite trying to go through incognito, I still got noticed plenty. I guess being as big as a billboard will do that. Maybe they should put the new traffic information on me and let me stand downtown for a week?
And I always get a chuckle out of HOW people recognize me.
The people who actually know me are easy to identify because I'll hear, "There's Simmons." There are still people who will call me Jeff or Jeffery, but mostly I get Simmons from friends.
Then there are the people who know me from covering sports. "I see you at the ball games all the time." Yep. That's me.
But lately, I've developed a small but impressive contingent of people who see me out and immediately make a Diet Coke reference. I got one Saturday. "Hey, where's your Diet Coke?"
Meanwhile, I was standing there scarfing down some Carlee's Confections peanut butter cookies.
Y'all are the best readers, listeners and watchers. Seriously.
