Kentucky Football
Monday, May 3, 2010
Q&A: Troy Styer, Campbell County
By Greg Shoemaker | Featured Analyst
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One of the toughest districts in the entire Commonwealth resides in Northern Kentucky’s Class 6A.
For the first time in his five years as coach at Campbell County High School, Troy Styer watched his team finish with a losing record.
Still the program has come a long way in his tenure and is primed for a comeback season.
We caught up with the Camels’ lead to talk football:
Q: You have been head coach at Campbell County for five years, how would you access the progress of your program from the start to now?
A: We are trying to improve the program overall and are making progress. We have started a successful youth league program run by Aaron Caudill and Mike Bates. We believe this will pay huge dividends for the program for many years to come.
We also try to work very closely with the other youth league program that services our area as well. Between these two strong programs we feel good about the players who will be coming to our program. Our staff works very closely with the middle school program to assure consistency throughout.
We struggled this past year as far as record goes, but it was our first sub-500 winning percentage since we took over. We expect to get that part corrected this year and with the talent we have coming back we should do it. It is a slow process to build something great. But we hope to keep taking our baby steps till we establish the kind of tradition we all want.
Q: At the University of Dayton you played for the legendary Mike Kelly and were a teammate of Super Bowl champion head coach Jon Gruden. What have you incorporated into your coaching from that time in your life?
A: University of Dayton offered a chance to be part of a tradition-rich Division III program while I was there. They were a great example of a well-oiled machine I hope our program can become. Mike Kelly was very loyal to the University even though he had numerous opportunities to move to other schools. This is my high school. I graduated from here in 1982. I bleed Purple and will always be loyal to them.
Q: The Campbell County schedule has included Ohio schools Norwood and Roger Bacon the past couple of seasons, what was the reasoning behind that?
A: When we were filling the last schedule we ran out of options for Kentucky schools. We were playing most of the larger schools in our area and most of the smaller schools did not want to play. So we were faced with playing schools from down state or schools from Ohio. We felt the competition and money would be better if we stayed close to home and played the Ohio schools. Last year we went 1-1 against them. We would be interested in keeping them on the schedule in the future, but much of that will be determined by what the state of Kentucky decides to do with classification and schedules next time around.
Q: Class 6A, District 6 is going to be a real dogfight in 2010. If the Camels are to win the conference they will have to?
A: Play better defense. Last year we could move the ball and score some, but we had a hard time stopping people. It is the first year since we took over that we struggled as bad on defense. We are making a few scheme and personnel changes which we hope will help us. We also need to do better in the run game. Last year we threw the ball a lot. While we will still throw the ball, we hope to be more balanced. Last year our 5-yard dump pass was our running game.
Q: Some say the District is just a "whipping boy" for the larger Louisville schools when it comes to the state's final four and in regular season tilts. What are your thoughts on the balance of power in the way the class system is currently set up in Kentucky?
A: To be honest, it has been the rest of the state that has been "whipping boys" for the Big 2, Trinity and X. They have great programs and it is what we all aspire to be. Our District has been much maligned for years as not being able to compete with rest of the state. But we were always paired in the playoffs with one of their districts in the first round.
As soon as the state changed it to a rotating format for the playoffs we had two 6A teams from our district go to the finals in years we were not opposite of one of their districts.
The year Ryle made the finals we lost to them in the playoffs in the fourth quarter of a very hard-fought game.
The year Simon Kenton made it they were a fourth place finisher in our district. In fact we lost the fourth place to them on the next-to-last game of the year by six points.
I don't have a problem with the classification system as is, but I would like for them to keep rotating the district you face in the playoffs or go to a draw like they do with the Sweet 16.
Q: Quarterback Michael Kremer had a fantastic junior season. What makes him such a special player and when did you realize he had a chance to be good one?
A: I thought Michael had a chance to be special all the way back to when I saw him play Pee Wee football in the Red Devil organization. He loves football and loves playing quarterback. He would be a tremendous player no matter what position he played.
His father and I went to school together and he was an excellent lineman.
Michael thinks like a QB and is like an extra coach on the field. He led the state in passing yards a game last year and I believe he can do it again.
Shoe is in his fifth season as a TSF Featured Analyst. The 1988 Xavier University graduate is an avid college basketball fan with a strong allegiance to the Musketeers. Greg is also the Director of Operation's for TriState Football's parent company GetSports Enterprises. If you are interested in covering your team, please CONTACT US.
