Mike Fell is the new football coach at Lima Senior. He has a huge task in front of him.

I'm not sure any coach can resurrect this moribund program. It has been a laughingstock for a while and the fact that Fell has agreed to return to his alma mater is, to me, shocking.

Let's just say this program is among the worst in Ohio, regardless of division. I'm not going to bore you with the numbers, just take my word for it.

Lima Senior football is embarrasingly inept. And that's not only against "top-tier" teams but against mediocre teams.

A case in point is last year's game with Piqua. The Indians are a good program but were only 5-5 last year. Despite that, they clearly outclassed the Spartans in every phase of the game in posting a 35-7 win.

This district and program will have to collectively admit how bad it is in order to get better.

We can't pretend that "getting more kids to come out" will solve the problems. It won't.

The kids in the high school have no idea how to play football when it comes to fundamentals. They can't block, they can't tackle, they commit dumb penalties, they're weak and out of condition.

Until ALL of that changes it's not going to improve.

Coach Fell must take control of as many aspects of football in the system and the city as he can. I mean middle schools and even midgets.

It's obvious that the younger kids in Lima are not being properly coached to get better for the future because the kids are clueless when they come to the high school.

Mike Fell is nobody's fool. I'm sure he knows what he's getting into. He also has the requisite self confidence to overcome the inevitable naysayers. He'll be willing to make unpopular decisions. And there will be unpopular decisions.

I'm pretty confident that Mike Fell is ready and able to get Lima Senior football back to respecibility, if everyone "buys in".

To me, the real question is whether the school board, the administration, the teachers, the parents and the students in the city are ready to do the things, collectively, that will be necessary to turn it around.

I hope they are, but I fear they're not.

Buckle up, because either way, it's going to be a bumpy ride.