beachboy

RonMex, yeah have to agree with you on your assesment. Totally different demographics especially with so many different things to do. However, there is a very strong volleyball community in middle TN, and I would of thought they might be more vocal on CoachT. Just thinkin'. Thanks for the input.

RonMex, very interesting thoughts. Good ideas on the all important demographics comparison between Nashville and ETN. Would the same theory apply to West TN and Memphis? Wonder what kind of really "old" fossil I would be. Too funny.

Have not been on the football message boards, so interesting to know it is there as well. hmmmm....

K2R I did not realize that K2 was in a coaching war. That is ashame. I do not know who he coaches in club. I think he will do a good job at Catholic.

Brent Carter of ESK is the new volleyball coach at Catholic High School

Rumor has it that Catholic will announce new volleyball coach this afternoon after school. It will be a local coach.

Well, it sounds as if we don't have enough to talk about during the holidays (lol), so I thought I would ask a question that I have been thinking about for a while. As I read through the volleyball message board I have noticed that the majority if not all of the posts concern volleyball in Knoxville. Why are there not more postings from upper East Tennessee, or Middle or West Tennessee lately. And for that matter not much from the Chattanooga area (digs of the Queen of TN HS volleyball; Coach Neely). I very rarely hear anything about volleyball in Memphis and most of the Nashville posts seem to come during club season. Am I missing something, or why is the CoachT crowd so focused on KTown and not elsewhere recently? Very curious..... Of course my feeble mind might have missed a lot.

K2R you are partially correct. Coach Garland helped to get his team to the state tournament this year and to the sectionals last year (losing to Sullivan South the "to be" state champs). And for sure he did not have the talent of Bearden, Farragut or CAK. He had some well trained players who played very hard for he and his coaching staff. However, he did not have an abundance of top level athletes. Certainly no one taller than about 5'9 maybe 5'8 (real measurements). He did not have a true middle blocker for the last 2 years. Must have been good coaching to get by with that, or other teams were not smart enough to take advantage of that deficiency. However, his best player this year was one of his middleblockers and she should have been an OH. She bought into his coaching and was very good. Good player, and good coach. Oh, if memory serves me correctly, Coach Garland was the head coach at Catholic for the past 2 years, and an assistant the previous 3 years. I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe Merry Christmas

IrishBBall, you are right that Coach Garland did not have his best returning player back this season. But I do not know that he "ran" her off. She simply chose to continue training with her club team during the fall. This all goes back to our previous discussion of high school vs. club. No matter what she does in club she will never have the same feelings and memories her former teammates had as they succesfully advanced to a great state tournament showing. A loss for her she will never understand. Too bad.

I agree with Hardangle and BBV both. I saw Catholic play several times and they definitely were short changed on the athletic side. He did a very good coaching job with the players that he had. No 6'6 players at Catholic this year. He probably should have received more recognition for coach of the year than he did. It does sound like 4 leaf has a pretty big axe. Maybe that person should change their name to Paul Bunyan. I am thinking possibly just another parent who is blinded by their own kid's selfishness to play and not enjoy the success of the team that finished 3rd in the state. And had a great chance to win it! Enjoy the journey people. Just a thought.

Was told Catholic has placed its volleyball opening on the TSSAA website and seems to have a possible English position open for that coach. Any takers?

Yes, Rob has hit a tough spot. But he has a young team, and if they will stay together I think he will be fine. Sometimes coaches need to learn and grow just like the kids. It is easy to keep doing the same thing over and over. And yes, the parents are too involved at the college level too. Shame for that. Let the kids play and have fun and let the coaches coach.

HardAngle, who are those two coaches?

I agree on that, being sarcastic

That would be interesting to have a Catholic parent as an interim coach. Most parents at a lot of high schools seem to think they know more than the coaches anyway. Maybe that is the way to go for the future. The AD's would have less complaints for a girls sport and that would make things easier for them. Would not help volleyball but.......

No clue

Never thought of that theory. Maybe that is part of what you are talking about. I think for the most part it is a lack of knowledge and ability to teach setting skills from coaches at all levels including club and high school. Most probably do not know enough about the skill to thoroughly train a setter at a high level. The setter is the key (in my opinion, the most important player) to any team and is a very special position. Training a setter takes ALOT of extra time before and after practice each day. Not many coaches have the expertise nor want to spend the extra time training setters. Lets face it, the setter needs to be one of, if not the best athlete on the team. And as you said k2r most of those play other positions. But I still think the problem lies more with not enough qualified coaches knowing enough to teach setting the right way. Just my humble opinion. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Be grateful for all of your families and give thanks for that!

K2R, yes I think that Cara's downside, is like I mentioned earlier and that is lack of experience. She is young and full of enthusiasm, so that is in her favor. Plus she knows the game. She has played for some good coaches in high school (Coach Moore was a great one), and some good coaches in club/college. I agree it is a big jump to a program like Catholic. Just throwing ideas out there. I do not know anything about Coach Pittman at CAK so I cannot say yea or nay. As far as a Hames giving the ok for hiring at Catholic, I kinda lean toward Hardangle. She is into K2 and her team at Webb, so she not even a player in the hiring process for KCHS. She did coach at Catholic for one year, mostly as a part time JV coach. It is my understanding that Coach Garland ran most of the JV practices as she only showed up part time. Guess it was a team effort. I agree that K2 has helped the level of volleyball in Knoxville, but I certainly would not agree that K2 is entirely responsible for the state of Knoxville volleyball. I think that is a bit too much. And to say she is the greatest volleyball coach of all time here is quite a head shaker. I think her main supporter from what I hear on this board is K2R. She is knowledgeable and dedicated, but I don't think she rates as the godly savior of volleyball here. There have been many very good coaches here in Knoxville and they were here before she moved to the area. Gotta give them some credit. Guess we could start a new thread on that one. I hope that everyone has a wonderful and very safe Thanksgiving. Turkey down everyone!

Been thinkin about the Catholic job. And here is a name that popped up in my feeble mind. She is young and inexperienced, but comes from a very good volleyball background. Played at Farragut and in college in Alabama (I think). She has also coached in club as well as summer camps. What do we think of Cara Gregg who is the assistant coach at Farragut? Just thinkin out loud. Be nice to her on CT

It sounds as if IrishBBall knows what they are talking about. A good mix of club and high school players with two pretty good coaches that cared about the program. Also, I think the comment about playing other sports contributed quite a bit as well. Catholic is a small school and I am betting that many of their athletes are multi sport athletes. Keeps em fresh and interested. And Hardangle is right, good players will make coaches look really smart. And despite having good/great players coaches still need to be good coaches to get the best out of them. I do think Coach Petrik did a very good job the past few years. Just because you have someone that is 6'6 does not automatically win it all for you. Volleyball is the ultimate team sport and if you don't have other players on the court doing their jobs consistently, then 6'6 does not do much good. Remember the game always comes back to ball control to get the ball to the right players. Pass and dig baby!

I think Catholic went to the state volleyball tournament 4 times in 8 years. Just throwin that out there. Three times with Coach Jones and this past season with Coach Garland.

Whatever it is, it is not enough.

Remember Coach Garland is a Bearden alum. He went there 2 years. Also, a question, does anyone know what Knox County pays their volleyball coaches. I have heard it is quite low. That certainly would not bode well for getting a quality coach. Can booster clubs kick in extra $$ to coaches that work in KC schools?

I agree that the kids deserve the best coaches wherever they can get them if that is what they want. I do not think that labeling certain high schools as certain club schools is a positive thing to do. We can agree to disagree, but I do think that is a divisive approach. I am convinced the high schools AND the clubs need to work together. They are both trying to promote the sport as it deserves. I am a lover of the game and not on either the high school or the club side. Done both, and love both. But too often we are butting heads when we don't need to.

Don't really think the AD's will care a bit about what is said on CoachT. No disrespect intended.