Wonderful character development!

Overrated

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The Coach in season 3 is the biggest reason why this was the best season. A White guy from Compton. 'The Eminem of football coaching.' He truly cares about his players and sympathizes with them. He is edgy but he gets the most out of his players and he does not leave the players defeated even if he harsh. Truly tough love. Also, the football teams history was very poor, so it made it more of a comeback story. Season 3 scores a 10! Season 1 and 2 is also really good but start with season 3.

The layout of most episodes follows like this:Players train up for a match and you get to follow their lives and the backstory of a bunch of players that the documentary focuses on. Especially the coach.You get an insight in what their studies is like and what hardships they face.The episode finishes with a football match that is edited with suspensefulness like a movie. There is much to like about this series as you see the team spirit throughout and beyond the team to the town folks.

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.

I've only watched the first episode so far, and I'll watch the rest. But I am so dismayed about your frustration with the community college culture. My husband was a music teacher in a CC, and realized that these kids just need a little more discipline, a bit more maturity and maybe a different leader than the parents could provide. He also knew that if you go to a CC, and then are more mature to handle the stresses of a full University, he may have changed the trajectory of an entire family. When my daughter was graduating from high school, my state was in a huge recession and my income dropped by over 50%. She had to go to a local CC while all her friends went to University. I told her that she was a little too social, and had not gotten good enough grades, nor had any athletic or musical talent to get a scholarship. But, not to worry, most of her friends would be back and going to CC after their first year.And they were. She is a very successful news journalist now. Many kids just need to mature and catch up a bit, before they tackle the strain of discipline without parents. I feel so bad for these kids! They have bad parents, a bleak life, bad education....BUT, athletic talent. This is the ONLY way for them to not repeat the sins of their fathers.