Some things I found a bit too contrived
Overall, I enjoy the show; kind of a guilty pleasure, but I'd read the book and thought I'd give it a shot.
I think they captured the feel of the small town football fanaticism that can exist in places like that. But there were a few things that I just didn't get, or really buy in to.
1: Firing coach Taylor. Here's a guy who won the state title his first year and is so highly respected that he was offered a job as a college coach. He gave that up to coach high school, and continued to do well. And during the championship game, he put in the "new" kid, who totally flubbed the game. It wasn't until he put in his vet QB that they scored any points, and they damn near won. So they FIRE this guy? Because one booster (albiet a rich one) wanted it that way? Not buying it. Too contrived, and didn't go with the spirit of the rest of the show. A better way of handling it would have been the district forcing him to move to East Dillon somehow.
2: Tami Taylor, principal. So she's never been one. Just a GC. And she's made the principal over the VP? Not likely, and a school with that reputation would have had candidates lined up out the door for the job. I get they wanted to do it to add tension to her character and relationship with her husband, but c'mon. No experience, and her husband is the head coach of the football team (a huge conflict of interest in a town like that)? Nope. No way.
3: The redistricting story. This was just handled badly. They said in the show that East Dillon had been closed. If that's the case, then all the high school kids in that town would have gone to Dillon; they didn't. They didn't know each other. Add to that that East Dillon had a principal and teachers working there before the coach came on, and you wonder how the hell the writers could make such a glaring error. The whole thing with the mailbox made no sense because of that; if the school was closed, why would they need it? The entire town goes to one school, right? They'd have to. Just made no sense.
4: Matt's father. Okay, so Matt says after his dad died that he had left to go join the army after Matt was born because he didn't like being a father, or having to keep an eye on his mother. But they also say that he's been in for 20 years. That timing doesn't add up, given Matt's age. Also, his rank when he comes home is sergeant, or E5. But when he dies a year or so later, he's suddenly a first sergeant, or E8. Never mind the whole "come home on leave, decide to stay and get a job, change mind, return to Iraq" thing. Whoever wrote those episodes didn't do much research into how the military works.
Whores will have their trinkets.