It was always a thing covering high school football, when it was time for season previews.

Call up the head coach and ask him to provide a rundown of his roster. Invariably, he would mention, right off the bat or in one of his first comments, how many seniors he lost to graduation and how difficult it would be to replace those players who were so vital to the program.

Sometimes, the prior year’s team was composed mostly of underclassmen and the coach would point that out as a reason for optimism. “We have eight starters returning on offense and nine on defense, so I’m pretty excited,’’ the coach would say.

It was at that point where a decision had to be made. Was it simply stating the facts or a bit snarky to remind the coach his team was coming off a 2-8 season? Was all that continuity with the roster actually a good thing or a bad thing?