This was on my watch later literally forever, before I decided to jump in.
The first two seasons follow the East Mississippi Community College Lions, a junior college football team in the less than 1,000 person town of Scooba, MS, not far from the Alabama state line.
The team is a veritable powerhouse, with core players recruited from Division 1 programs, after being dismissed, or leaving of their own accord. The players are predominantly black, poor, from places you've not heard of and struggling badly with college life, particularly academics. A fair number are in Scooba because there is literally nothing to do but play Madden, go to Subway, or meet girls, which for most of them, is far less trouble than they knew before. The viewer, if paying attention, will literally want to throttle at least two players an episode.
Besides the players, two people feature prominently in each episode. Buddy Stephens, the head coach, is a "large and in charge" type, who suffers nothing and is all about two interrelated things, winning, and getting players NCAA offers, to ensure new recruits for next season, to keep winning. In the 2nd season, Stephens is somewhat upset with the way he acted during the first and resolves to better himself, although it's not clear how successful he is.
Brittany Wagner, the academic advisor, is probably the most easily liked person on the show, as she basically pushes a boulder uphill in trying to get the players to maintain the GPA they need to be NCAA eligible. It's hard work, players skip classes, don't submit assignments, argue with teachers and so on. It is literally all she can do to get some of them to take a pencil and notebook to class.....in college.....really! By the end of season 2, Wagner clearly is becoming frustrated, but never stops genuinely caring about the players she's paid to help.
The film itself is a well shot documentary, where the crew is able to keep a good handle on the drama within the team week to week. You see a team that wins, making no friends along the way, then that animus boil over, then the team pay for it for the next year and a half. By the end of season two, Wagner is planning to leave EMCC, as are both co-ordinators and a few other coaches, as Stephens' attempts at personal development don't progress very considerably and he begins to openly resent the presence of the film crew. The players mostly get their offers, some don't and one of the main players in Season 2 now stands accused of a murder. I more or less binged 2 seasons(6 and 8 episodes of around an hour each) in a week and a half. Season 3 just wrapped up shooting.....at a JC in Kansas. I'd highly recommend this and eagerly await next season.
Update:
Seasons 3 and 4 feature Independence Community College in Kansas. The production team succeeded in finding a place to pick up right where they left off. The coach has issues, so do some players, some are decent kids who are struggling hard and the whole thing boils over soon enough. I don't have the recency to be any more thorough, but it's on par with seasons 1 and 2.
Season 5 features Laney College in Oakland. The coach is a bit more mellow, the players are are a little less intense than before, but the same issues are largely present. It's a good watch as well.
The first two seasons follow the East Mississippi Community College Lions, a junior college football team in the less than 1,000 person town of Scooba, MS, not far from the Alabama state line.
The team is a veritable powerhouse, with core players recruited from Division 1 programs, after being dismissed, or leaving of their own accord. The players are predominantly black, poor, from places you've not heard of and struggling badly with college life, particularly academics. A fair number are in Scooba because there is literally nothing to do but play Madden, go to Subway, or meet girls, which for most of them, is far less trouble than they knew before. The viewer, if paying attention, will literally want to throttle at least two players an episode.
Besides the players, two people feature prominently in each episode. Buddy Stephens, the head coach, is a "large and in charge" type, who suffers nothing and is all about two interrelated things, winning, and getting players NCAA offers, to ensure new recruits for next season, to keep winning. In the 2nd season, Stephens is somewhat upset with the way he acted during the first and resolves to better himself, although it's not clear how successful he is.
Brittany Wagner, the academic advisor, is probably the most easily liked person on the show, as she basically pushes a boulder uphill in trying to get the players to maintain the GPA they need to be NCAA eligible. It's hard work, players skip classes, don't submit assignments, argue with teachers and so on. It is literally all she can do to get some of them to take a pencil and notebook to class.....in college.....really! By the end of season 2, Wagner clearly is becoming frustrated, but never stops genuinely caring about the players she's paid to help.
The film itself is a well shot documentary, where the crew is able to keep a good handle on the drama within the team week to week. You see a team that wins, making no friends along the way, then that animus boil over, then the team pay for it for the next year and a half. By the end of season two, Wagner is planning to leave EMCC, as are both co-ordinators and a few other coaches, as Stephens' attempts at personal development don't progress very considerably and he begins to openly resent the presence of the film crew. The players mostly get their offers, some don't and one of the main players in Season 2 now stands accused of a murder. I more or less binged 2 seasons(6 and 8 episodes of around an hour each) in a week and a half. Season 3 just wrapped up shooting.....at a JC in Kansas. I'd highly recommend this and eagerly await next season.
Update:
Seasons 3 and 4 feature Independence Community College in Kansas. The production team succeeded in finding a place to pick up right where they left off. The coach has issues, so do some players, some are decent kids who are struggling hard and the whole thing boils over soon enough. I don't have the recency to be any more thorough, but it's on par with seasons 1 and 2.
Season 5 features Laney College in Oakland. The coach is a bit more mellow, the players are are a little less intense than before, but the same issues are largely present. It's a good watch as well.