etcoach

I always read people on this site pumping up their coaches, especially the younger ones. I saw a great young coach last night in coach Mercer, the Fulton girls coach. also, Coach Smith from S Doyle has done a great job there turning that program around. However, with all of the hype for Coach Smith, I feel obligated to hype coach Baumann from WB. They talk about S Doyle having 3 rough seasons before Smith got there. Correct. And as I mentioned, he has done great things for S Doyle and does an excellent job. However, many people do not realize that WB had not been to the Region Tourney since 1987 when DB took over in 2001. He has, since then, had a District Tournament Runner Up, District Tournament Championship, Region Tournament Runner Up, and a Sub State Qualifier in 2002. That is turning a program around and then some. Congrats to DB on a job well done.

Go figure the WB Govs. Exactly one week after being slammed by the Bearden Bulldogs by 51 and 4 days after a 30 pt loss to Maryville, the Govs smash West by 23 who lost to Bearden by 1 ten days ago. Just a reminder that the transitive property does not work in athletics. The transitive property, for those who are not mathematically strong is If a=b and b=c, then a=c.

I, and the WB coaching staff, had gotten over the game and tried to put it behind them. But then to see that Coach Blevins be quoted as saying that he did not press in the 2nd half bothered me. To do something while emotions are running in the game can be overlooked. To ball-face lie to the press is highly questionable. His definition of the word press must not be anyone else's. In the 3rd quarter, Blevins simply employed a full court man press with no trapping. That, in my opinion, is fine. As soon as the 4th quarter began, however, it was back to the full court run and jump. Most every coach would agree that is pressing. Now, back to the original point. WB sucked that night and some of the players may have given up. Bearden was awesome and never gave up. There is nothing wrong with that. Bearden shot the eyes out. There was nothing wrong with that. Bearden trapped and fouled intentionally the last 2 minutes to see if they could get 100. There is something wrong with that. What shocked the WB coach was that he stood behind Blevins last year in the Cruze situation and backed him 100%. What a Thank you Blevins gave him. Chuck Cav needs to see game film before he backs someone who is lying.

It does not belong in high school sports period. If it does, then when is it OK to start? Middle school? Elementary School? Upward Basketball? If you say it is OK, then there has got to be a time line when it is accepted. I say NEVER!!!! Why does profanity have to brought in? It is just an excuse for people to not have to watch their language.

Hey caca, how about some commas.

It is correct. I did take a 20 pt pasting from a very good S Doyle Freshman team. I will give them credit. I'm not sure I was talking about freshman games though. I was specifically speaking about VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL. Not golf, not bowling, not beating dead horses for pleasure. By the way, I will not be there in 2 weeks because I do not help with the varsity this year. None of these comments reflect the opinions or views from the VARSITY COACHING STAFF. They are probably not even happy I am writing this.

I know exactly what the "lack of class" post is all about at WB last year. Gov Man is right. The WB student body started chanting "Should have been nicer" to Blevins all in reference to the Cruze deal. As G Man stated, Coach Baumann shut them up in a hurry. See, what we must understand here is that kids are kids. Student sections say crazy things. Players want to do everything in their power to drill an opponent. There is nothing wrong with that. Coaches, I would think, should be above that. Baumann was. He shut the fans up. Why?? Because he defended Blevins to the bitter end of the Cruze situation. He continually told Mark how he supported him. Obviously, Blevins did not care. This is why Baumann was hurt the way he was the other night. Blevins, obviously, is not at the point to be above it yet.

You and E do have the sexiest heads in the district.

Let's see. The score 96-44. The situation. WB calls timeout to hold the ball to keep the Bulldogs from scoring 100. Bearden's reaction....to start fouling to stop the clock. Excuse me, but that is not generally what you do when you are up 52. I was totally impressed with Baumann last night. 5 years ago, somebody might have gotten hurt. Now, Baumann knows there is more to life than a basketball game and he is to be commended for his demeanor and his class. Blevins is to be commended for having his team ready to play and play well; however, his lack of restraint in the last 4 minutes proved to actually hurt his kids incredible performance. Instead of everyone saying, wow you guys were awesome tonight, the comments are now wow what's Blevins got to prove and does he even care who he hurts. The kids will get over it. Coaches, however, take it as a personal insult and embarassment. A once respected coach form Bearden in the eyes of many Blount county coaches has come to an end. Of course, maybe it already should have. Early in the season, Blevins pressed to the end while pasting Stan Ballard 101-53, a former WB player who we all know has had cancer and has seen it all the last 6 or 7 years. At least in that game, he got his "100." Last night, all he got was a reputation that will never be forgotten. Will WB ever get to return the favor, probably not. As long as Blevins is at Bearden, he will always have enough talent to never be embarrassed like that. However, who cares. Revenge would not even satisfy the situation. When coaches intentionally hurt their peers like Blevins did Baumann last night, it puts a question on their character, and I officially question Blevins' character.

I think I told the Hairless wonder last week that the Swirling winds in the AC gym are not strong enough to bother a Tornado. I also told the big E that Alcoa would play with ORHS. What is our total now anyway???????????

We must all be pleased with T Wright's decision. Furthermore, we must be very pleased with the way his personal life is coming together. Some who were concentrating on getting another coach need to be patient with this decision. We know it is not always good to change decisions and minds, however, in this case, it was the right thing to do. For those who will be disappointed and will threaten to not play or be supportive, shame on you. Play and have fun and win 30.

In all of the posts I have seen about this job, I have yet to see the name of Robert Reeves. I know he is interested in the job. Where is his name been???

To take up for OSU Brutus, he has called or contacted an up and coming AAA program to play. He would have gotten the game, but that particular school can't play just girls games.

And I forgot. Coach Gorman who resigned at Sev Co. will be dearly missed during the summer time. He came to MC dressed in a practice uniform like the players. That was classic. Maybe even better than Lindsay's no shirt at all.

Coach Wright at Fulton may be able to win games and have his teams play hard, but it sure does take him a long time to get me my camp shirts. Coach Eldridge at Anderson County does a respectable job. I would give him higher ratings if he would pay up in time for my office pools. Coach Mitchell at AE is by far the funniest and most entertaining. Coach Blevins is as prepared as any high school coach around. Heck, his wife might know more about baskets than I do. Coach Baumann's teams sure do peak at tournament time but his chair-banging is making some of his assistants nervous. Coach Nelson just keeps on winning. Coach Darden sure does want a lot of tapes all the time. Coach Lindsey gets best dressed for summer camps. Coach Norris is the best looking coach in ET (at least that is what my wife says). Coach Dodgen bought me a hot dog once so he is real high on my list. Coach Rines provides good bench entertainment during summer camps. But my number 1 coach of all time does not even coach anymore. Coach Manny Moore from Cosby. Anybody that can get his post players to rebound a 30 foot bomb and kick out for another 30 foot bomb has my respect. Congrats Manny.

I thought Chill was the most paid coach in the area?

Sam is your man if you want stability and success.

I am somewhat confused by the comments of OS 91. I was trying to make the point earlier that I did not leave for greener pastures, I left for family reasons. What kind of a parent are you if you leave at 7:00 every morning and get home at 11:00 at night on game nights and 8:00 on practice nights? Some might say that many people do that all the time. I would answer to that that that is their primary job. Coaching, for me anyways, is my secondary job. Teaching is my primary job. I make 14 times more money teaching compared to coaching. In my opinion, coaching is enjoyable, not a job. So I was not going to spend all my nights out doing a "hobby" and not seeing my kids. That is just my opinion, of course. Also, I have never made a statement that OS puts more pressure than any other school. It does not. It is one of the great atmospheres in all of High School Sports. All I know is that it was extraordinary pressure to return to the state tournament just as it was in T Wrights case this past year. That is fine. It would be that way anywhere. It was just more than I could handle at the age of 27. Furthermore, I do not understand the vague post on the underlying reasons for Wright's departure. There is nothing hidden to it.

Coach Reid will be dearly missed here at William Blount He had a fine season this past year and I know the decision to leave was a tough one. However, you can't argue with the pay increase. Good luck to Coach Reid. I guess this opens up the job here at WB.

My name is Scott Cupp and I am an assistant coach at William Blount High School under coach David Baumann. I just wanted to wish Coach Gorman well as he steps down from this position. I have the utmost respect for this fine Christian Coach. He has obviously suffered through 2 very difficult seasons as Sev Co, but the way he continued to coach these guys was incredible. No matter what the score, Coach Gorman was coaching his tail off. He never had a cross word to say after a loss, and many times these losses were near embarrasing. Good luck Coach Gorman in all that you do.

Hello everyone in OS. This is Coach Cupp, a name that has been a little mis-represented on this particular thread at times. Somewhere in these 8 pages of commentary my name was mentioned with a small hint of "using OS talent to get better jobs." Excuse me but let me make the following statements regarding that statement. 1. I am now a Freshman coach at William Blount High School. How does that rate as a "step up" when you go from being a Head coach (although it be AA) from a school that has been to the state tournament a couple of times to a freshman coach at a school that has never been? 2. I did not intend to leave OS talent- starved. First of all, I never had any intentions of being the head coach anyway. Ballard suprised all of us by up and leaving when he had an outstanding team. I did not have much of a choice but to take the job. Furthermore, although it was a great year except for the last 2 games, it was a miserable year for me mentally. It is very difficult when you go into every game being expected to win and many times, win convincingly. It is very difficult when you are handed a team and are fully expected to make it to the state tournament and you don't even have one game of head coaching experience (except for the times when Ballard was ejected HA). I was very fortunate to have not just basketball players on that team, but "winners" who would not let this team lose. 3. I did not leave because of Hacker. Him and I got along fine. I left because I was tired of driving 45 minutes to work everyday. If OS was located in Maryville, I would have coached there for a long time. I loved the atmosphere and the people. Finally, whoever gets this job better have a strong mind and stomach because the expectations are just too much. Ask TWright why he left. Besides a lot of personal issues, it was a long year for him emotionally because of all the pressure that was placed. He did not have a very fun year because of this pressure. Good luck to his replacement.