If you don't know it by now, Lake Highlands coach Scott Smith is probably my favorite area high school football coach.

I'm still stunned that he didn't receive more respect from the Plano school district when he didn't even make it to the final round of interviews.

But anyway, the good thing for Smith is he can concentrate on Lake Highlands now, and the administrators over there don't have to worry about him leaving for Plano in the next five or 10 years. So Smith can focus on rebuilding a powerhouse in the Boneyard.

The deck is set in his favor the next two years with Plano, Plano East, Plano West and Allen -- four of the state's top 10 largest schools -- off the schedule, replaced by Carrollton Creekview, Molina, Sunset and W.T. White. To put this is in proper persective, this is like taking Ohio State, Michigan, USC and Oklahoma of the schedule and replacing them with Rice, SMU, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech.

This of course means the players and rabid LH fans already assume a playoff spot and a view playoff wins this year. Smith is quick to reign that talk in, even though he is confident the Wildcats are on the road back after a two-year absence from the playoffs. A coach has to control the expectations with his players while wanting them to believe this is their year.

"We've got to address that with the kids," Smith said of the playoff expectations. "Bottom line, we're a 2-8 football team. Our kids better be ready to play every week or we're going to get beat. I don't care if it's Skyline or Plano."