LostTime

What was the score of the Centennial vs. Glencliff girls game on 1/30/14? I have not seen it posted anywhere. After beating Lighthouse Christian their record is showing as 9-16 on the Tennessean's website. If that is correct that would mean that they lost to Glencliff. I can't believe they would have lost to Glencliff, but they seem to be really struggling down the stretch of the season. I thought they would have improved more this year after having shown some progress last year with a very young team. I saw that they beat Ravenwood to start the district season 1-0, but they have not won another district game since and I think they have only been with double digits, against Summit, since then. They play Summit Friday so maybe they can beat them to end the season on a positive note and finish tied for 6th with Summit. If anyone has seen them I would love to hear your thoughts on their play this season.

What does thst mean? I don't see a lot of similarities between the programs.

I understand that the girls basketball position is now open. What happened to the previous coach? It is really unusual for a head coaching position to open up this late. Is it also true that the boys position is now open too?

Bond and Bradshaw are both very good coaches. I don't think Bond would leave Central to go to Lebanon. I think Bradshaw would be more likely to go back to LHS. I don't know about the climate at LHS right now. definitely a lot of turnover going on in the building and not just with coaches.

According to the Wilson Post Coach Keil was fired over the phone on Sunday by principal Myra Sloan after having met with her a couple of times since the end of the season and being assured that he was in no danger of being let go. Really bad timing for such a move.

Just saw on the TSSAA bulletin board that Lebanon was looking for a boys basketball coach. What happened to Doug Keil?

After reading the Wilson Post article on Coach Inman's hiring, which was mostly a cut and paste job from the EKU press release of his retirement announcement in 2008, I thought it might be interesting to give folks just a little more information on Coach Inman's record. After going 23-8 overall, 15-1 in conference, winning the OVC regular season and tournament championships, and going to the NCAA tournament in 2004-05 things dropped off the last 3 years at EKU. During the last 3 years of his tenure EKU had records of 7-20 overall/ 7-13 OVC in 2005-06, 12-18 overall/9-11 OVC in 2006-07, and 14-14 overall/9-11 OVC in 2007-08. Final 3 years totals 33-52 overall/25-35 OVC. My guess is that he got a little tired of the recruiting grind and that might have been the reason for the drop off. With 2 years off, his batteries should be re-charged and he should be fired up and ready to go at LHS. I think this is one of the most interesting hires in the mid-state in years and it will be fun to see how it all works out.

There were 40 applicants, but not all 40 were interviewed to be sure. My guess is that 10 or less were actually interviewed for the position.

This report is accurate. Coach Inman retired from EKU in 2008, but I guess the he hasn't gotten the coaching bug completely out of his system yet. It will be interesting to see how he does against the Brandon's and his old school, MJHS.

I have heard that there were over 40 applicants for the job. Does anyone know who some of the coaches are that have applied and which ones have been interviewed? Also, does anyone have any idea of when LHS is planning on naming the new coach?

Darian Brown was not begged to take the job. He applied for and pursued the position. He was Scott Benson's second hire for the girls basketball position. He was also the AD when Coach Dilligard was hired. As everyone knows the second hire worked out much better, although it should be noted that Coach Dilligard inherited a roster that had lost several seniors that played most of the minutes the previous season and also had a solid senior-to-be post player decided she no longer wanted to play basketball. No matter who took the job under those circumstances was likely to see some level of drop off. When Coach Brown took the job 3 years later the program was drifting, but there was some young talent to work with and he did a good job developing it. Coach Johnson came into a good situation with the confidence level high with the team coming off a sectional appearance. They finished strong her first season, but finished with a overall losing record. Her second season ended with a winning record, but the team faded down the stretch. After looking at the schedule they beat 3 AAA schools with winning records (Wilson Central 15-13, Creekwood 18-11 and Cookeville 19-12) and none after beating Wilson Central on Jan. 5. In their last 11 games they went 4-7 and lost in the first round of the district tournament. I think Coach Johnson did a good job, but I don't know if I would describe it as "striking gold". I am not saying that she was not a good coach, but I think it should be kept in perspective. Over the last 4 years Lebanon has gone 60-65 with some very big wins, a district championship and a sectional appearance. The last 2 seasons Barbara Hallums coached the Devilettes were 32-22 with wins over Riverdale with Krystal Horton, Mt. Juliet with Alysha Clark and a victory at Jackson County over a team that eventually won the AA championship. Maybe there should be a little more appreciation for Coach Hallums. I get little tired of everyone seeming to believe that Lebanon had been in the dumps for a long period before the Brown/Johnson era. Yes, the bottom dropped out for a 3 year period, but Barbara Hallums also inherited a program in shambles and turned it into a very competitive program in the old 7-AAA before she retired in 2003. So this is just an attempt to put the recent history of Devilette basketball into some perspective.

I don't believe that there is now or ever has been a AD for girls athletics at Lebanon High. Bobby Brown is the current AD and Scott Benson was the AD that hired Darian Brown. I don't know who was the AD at the time of Ashley Johnson's hiring, but I don't believe there was a AD for girls involved. Denise Joyner was the AD at one time, but she wasn't just in charge of girls athletics as far as I know. I can confirm that interviews are being conducted.

LaVergne High School has its girls basketball position posted on the TSSAA website. What happened to Coach Dean?

PHargis, maybe it is just me, but I really don't have any idea what you were trying to say in this post. Maybe someone else can translate it for me, but I cannot follow it at all.

On #1 new schools are sometimes given some money to get started, but extra-curricular activities are generally self-supporting. I definitely don't think state tax money is supposed to be used for these programs, but it may be that the local government kicks in some money. I can just speak to the schools that I had dealings with and at those schools we were self-supporting, even non-revenue sports like tennis and track. As for #2 field construction is a fixed cost that all taxpayers pay for. This is one argument for allowing homeschoolers to participate in extra-curricular. They pay for the construction and upkeep of these community facilties with their taxes regardless of whether they choose to take advantage of the academic offerings at the school. Athletics are extra-curricular activities that are not a required portion of the academic program so why should students that are home educated be prevented from participating because their parents have chosen a different academic track for them. No student that is participating in the school's academic program is prevented from having an opportunity to make the team. Just as in Metro students at Hume Fogg that want to play football can, I believe, participate with the team at Hillsboro. How is the homeschool student different from the student at Hume Fogg? Don't they both deserve a chance to participate?

PHargis I absolutely know who pays for public schools, but tax money does not pay for the dues of TSSAA member schools. Money for athletics does not come from taxpayers other than coaching supplements. The athletic department budgets are determined by the funds they raise themselves through gate receipts, fundraisers or from booster clubs. I read the minutes and your presentation of them as some kind of huge expense and expansion of a bureaucracy is not at all accurate. The committee that is mentioned as doing the work on determining if a student at a private school is getting financial aid based on need is made up of the school heads of Division II schools. How does having the heads of private schools work on this burden taxpayers? The 3 companies that are used to show proof of financial need are paid for by the private schools, not the TSSAA. This is no cost whatsoever on the taxpayers. I will post the link to the minutes so that others can read this for themselves and see who has the more accurate assessment of this. http://tssaa.org/BoardofControl/Actions/March09.pdf Your comment about homeschoolers not being willing to stick with the public schools to improve them misses the point for many homeschoolers. Even if you make the public systems as good as they can get they will not be able to offer some of the advantages that those who home educate are looking for, such as teaching from a particular religious perspective. Those that send their kids to private schools or homeschool don't want to see public schools fail just because they have chosen a different option for their children. As for the number of posts having any bearing on the substance of a post, my answer would simply be that a high quantity of posts does necessarily produce high quality posts nor does a lower quantity of post necessarily produce lower quality of posts. Each post stands on its own merits and I will gladly stand by mine.

PHargis I believe you are well intentioned, but you have no idea what you are talking about in this area. The TSSAA is not supported by tax dollars. Member dues and revenues from TSSAA tournaments pay the costs of the TSSAA. I also have no idea where you got all the stuff about 3 companies to process information about financial aid for private schools. I read the TSSAA by-laws and it bears no resemblance to what you described. Your comment about taxpayers giving welfare to private schools is completely ridiculous. If anyone is getting the short end of the stick on taxes it is the parents home educated and private school students that pay taxes to support public schools and then pay for the education of their own children on top of that. PHargis I believe you mean well, but with posts like these you are running the risk of becoming the Cliff Claven of Coacht. To get a summary of the bill under discussion follow this link: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/B...llNumber=HB0842

This bill has been assigned to commttees in the House and Senate, but it is a long way from becoming law. The TSSAA has opposed this bill in the past and you can bet the TEA folks are against it because if it passes you will see the number of kids homeschooling through high school grow significantly. Right now many homeschoolers start attending public schools because they can't get the kind of athletic competition they need to be considered for college athletic scholarships if they don't. If they have the option of participating with the local public school athletic teams many more homeschoolers will choose to continue their homeschooling through high school. I support this legislation, but I would be surprised to see it get through the General Assembly.

Not as far as the coaching position at Smyrna goes. I know Mr. Raikes, the principal at Smyrna, doesn't normally post jobs as soon as they become available, but I also haven't read anything in the paper to back up this rumor. I am beginning to believe that there was nothing to the rumor.

Wow! How did a simple question about whether anyone else had the rumor about Coach Wiley turn into this drama? PHargis you do have a tendency to overdramatize things, which I think you did here. You also exaggerate the size of crowds at girls games as well. At the 2008 7-AAA girls championship game between Lebanon and Riverdale at Lebanon the gym was at best half full. This was with the defending state champion and a home team that had not won a district championship in 20 years. Even this year's Region 4 girls championship game between Blackman and Cookeville at Blackman was not close to being packed even with Blackman competing for their 1st region championship. Most schools are not depending on girls basketball for their revenue streams, even those with excellent girls programs. All that being said, I still want to know if there is anything to the rumor about Coach Wiley. Is there anything to this or was it just someone's speculation?

Rumor is that Steve Wiley is stepping down at Smyrna. Has anyone else heard this?

Cookeville was lead in scoring by Johnson with 18, Helton had 17, and Brooks had 16. Helton had a great 1st half with several great offensive rebounds and putbacks. In the 2nd half Brooks it a couple of big 3's, but Johnson was the key to Cookeville holding off Riverdale. Johnson's aggressiveness in attacking the basket and getting to the foul line against Riverdale's pressure allowed Cookeville keep the Lady Warriors at from ever getting closer than 4 points in the 2nd half. I also thought Riverdale looked like they ran out of gas at about the 2 minute mark and they really never made the challenge I was expecting at the end. I guess they probably had expended so much energy in fighting from behind for almost the entire game. Riverdale lead 4-2 and never lead or tied the game again after Cookeville hit a 3 to take the lead at 5-4. It was a well played game that was fun to watch. Congratulations to Coach Odom on winning another 7-AAA Championship. She and Coach Brock do a great job year in and year out. PHargis I have a question for you about the earlier post on the Lebanon/Blackman game. How can you say Blackman was never really in the game when they were tied with Lebanon at 38 all with 4 minutes or less left in the game? You must have a different measure of being in the game than most people do.

Didn't there used to be a thread that discussed issues related to the Warren County girls basketball team? Did someone shut it down?