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Clinton High School is once again looking for a new head coach for the football program. Over the last several years the schools football program has suffered a long losing streak. The last time Clinton won a varsity football game was October 6th of 2018 against Central High School in Springfield Missouri under head Coach Bill Lowe. Central finish their season 0-10 that year. CHS’s only other win that year was against 0-9 Saint Michael the Archangel. A team that was in their first year of football. Since 2004 Clinton has had five head coaches. Mike Long 2004-2009 with a 24-35 Record. 2010-2014 Chris Smoot 18-33 Record. Bill Lowe 2015-2017 14-18 Record. 2018-2019 Paul Carney 0-20 Record. 2020-2021 Kevin LaFavor 0-10. Current head coach Kevin LaFavor has excepted a Principal position at Chilhowee R-IV School District. The last five coaches that Clinton has had none of them have had a winning record. In 2020 Clinton entered the Missouri River Valley Conference West. The MRVC West is one of the toughest conferences in football. Consisting of Center, Excelsior Springs, Harrisonville, Oak Grove, Odessa, Pleasant Hill and Warrensburg oh very good football programs with numerous District and State titles. In the 2021 season Clinton had less than 50 players on the roster. Most of which was made up by freshman and sophomore and only one senior. Next year the MRVC West assuming that they’re juniors will play football next year Harrisonville will have 11 seniors, Oak Grove 11 seniors, Warrensburg 14 seniors, Center 22 Seniors and Pleasant Hill 26 seniors. Most of the teams in the the MRVC West have rosters of 50-70 players. The last time Clinton had over 50 players on the roster was 2013 under Chris Smoot. Clinton went 2 and 8 that season. In 2018 Paul Carney first year as head coach Paul had only 25 players on the roster. Sense 2014 Clinton has averaged 35.5 players per year. The MRVC West is averaging over 50 players each year. Due to lack of qualified students Clinton canceled the 2021 varsity football Games and only played junior varsity. A decision that was widely supported by the community. In 2021 Clinton only had one senior on the football roster a student who was also playing soccer and his primary role would be a place kicker. Head coach Kevin LaFavor and administration at the high school made this decision for safety reasons. The majority of the roster was made up of freshman and sophomore players and a few juniors. The next Head Coach for CHS has a big hill to climb. A Massive Ridiculous Vertical Climb. MRVC West is a vary competitive conference. When Clinton entered the MRVC West in 2020 they were the smallest school in the conference coming off their second season without a win. Clintons first year in the MRVC West they allowed 58.4 points per game and only scoring 9.2 most of the points came in the forth quarter after the games were already decided. The 2019 was not any better allowing 53.7 per game and only scoring 6.7

Over the last couple years we have seen availability of teachers and coaches dwindle. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued a teacher shortage report in December showing that of the 71,705 full-time teaching positions in the 2020-21 year, 5 percent were either vacant or filled by individuals who were not fully qualified. Majority of coaching positions are also teachers. Considering all the issues the Clinton school district is facing in the football program attracting a qualified head coach will be made even more difficult.