PurpleGrad

I never said I was a good coach... never said I was a smart coach... but I do have a good relationship with my players, they understand that I am working for them and that I'll fight for them, most of them buy into what we are doing (the others quit which is OK), and we have fun playing basketball. Two District Championships in four years and picked this year pre-season to finish #1 again... I think most high school basketball programs around here would take that... I could be wrong..

I never said that we go into the game saying we can't win... I talk very honestly and openly with my boys about each opponent and what we can expect. We approach each game with realistic expectations for ourselves... if we meet all of our expectations then we will be in a position to win the game at the end. Last year, only our district games were against teams in our classification, all non-district games were vs teams in higher classification. We went into every game with a strategy to win. Some games we just didn't match up well with our competition and we took some beatings... Our overall record was 10-19, which is not good... Our district record was 10-5 and we won the District Championship even after losing our leading scorer with 9 games to go.... We were prepared for tournament play because of our difficult schedule...

I didn't say I went in there expecting to win but I have gone into games that I knew it would take our very beat effort and some luck for us to have a chance. Case in point, Christmas Tournament two years ago at Gulf Shore Alabama. We played Pensacola High School. They dressed 15, played 11. Any of their 15 players could have started for most 90% of the Chattanooga area schools. Physically and athletically we couldn't match up and we had nothing for them. We gave it our best effort but it was like your JR Jackets football team playing Alcoa High School. We went out with a game plan to control the basketball and limit our turnovers. They were just too much for us. We lost 98-18. Callipari, Bob Knight and Coach K combined couldn't have win that game with the players that I had, but when we played schools our on size and talent level we competed very well.

I understand what you are saying, but let me ask you this... Why is this how coaching works? I have coached 203 high school basketball games... some of which we have won and some of which we have lost. One thing that I can tell you is that in those 203 games I have never taken a shot, missed a shot, missed a layup, made a bad pass, fouled a shooter, turned the ball over, missed a defensive assignment, failed to block out, gotten beat for a rebound, or fouled out of a game... All of which have gotten us beat... There have been some games that I have called the wrong defense, called for the wrong offensive play, failed to use timeouts effectively, made erroneous substitutions, gotten ill-timed technical fouls, and not had my team properly prepared... all of which has gotten us beat... My point is, some of our losses are solely my fault However in some of our losses I have coached my butt off and the kids have made the mistakes that cost us the game and the fault falls squarely on them.... Also, some of those losses, we were just absolutely facing a superior opponent and it didn't matter what myself or my players did, we were going to lose the game... My point is this, while parents don't like to hear it, losing happens and it's not ALWAYS the coach's fault... sometimes the kids just don't perform as they should and they lose. It happens...

Dadgum it Dillard, you done gone and got another one talking like them Mountain folks.

Lol. Don't forget... You're sensitive too... What surprises me is that if things have been that bad for five years why has your admin not noticed and done something about it? Also, how many elections have taken place in the time? Someone in an elected office has the power to change things but people would rather get on message boards to complain. smh

Opie?? Is that you???

We don't have a great chicken sammich in Jasper so I gotta has gas money to drive and get one. That's why it costs $10.

And I told you $10... But I'd rather you give me one in person when we come to GC to play basketball.

Are you gonna offer him a chicken sammich if he is the new coach? If so, hope you follow through with it. I'm doubting that ill ever see mine.

We're awful proud of our chicken sammich down here in the Valley. It will cost you $10 to buy your way out. I'd much rather you just give me a chicken sammich when we come out to the mountain for basketball. I'll keep reminding you.

Calling the Dillard of the Mountain.., where's my chicken sammich?????

Winner. Winner. Chicken..... Sammich!!!! Where are you Mt Dillard???

But you swore up and down that y'all would lose this game. Sounds like GC is playing better football and you don't have an answer because it doesn't fit your "coach sucks" philosophy....

I'm guessing that was coach's fault too.

Hey Dillard.... When are we gonna meet up so you can buy me that chicken sammich????

I'm in Gatlinburg.... What's the score??? I got a chicken sammich bet on this here game.

I'm not bashing Crownover. He is a very nice guy. I just feel like for whatever reason he and his players were on different pages. I have the utmost respect for Joe and his entire family. He is a class act as a person and as a coach.

Out of curiosity, have you been to a basketball game in the past four or five years or do you just look at box scores or win/loss records? Pretty sure that LV has won the district championship 2 out of past 4 years. The lean years before that probably had more to do with coaching than players. Joe Galloway knew how to coach the athleticism... Crownover didn't seem to mesh well with those guys. Just my opinion.

So your stance is that those kids did nothing the past few years to improve football and basketball at LV?

How? Really? It's no secret that most of the athletes that LV had which made their football and basketball teams so competitive in the past actually lived on the other side of the mountain. Now that the bus no longer runs from St Elmo the pool of athletes is drying up. Since many of the locals have gone elsewhere to school, rough times lay ahead for the Jackets.

Before the change in bussing policy by the HCDOE, LV was definitely benefitting from kids from outside the community. Could be the reason so many local kids chose "other" schools.

lol. I have to watch for smokey bear... Can't afford to feed him the lettuce.

The Central game is one that the boys and coaches definitely would like to have back... The good news is that they have worked on their mistakes from that game and have moved forward.. The sign of good teams is that they learn from their mistakes... Look for Marion to make another deep run into the playoffs...

The removal of the NCLB regulation that let students transfer from their zoned schools that were failing is having a profound affect on the athleticism at LV. It's actually hitting their football team sooner than I thought it would... Total phase-out of county provided transportation is still 3 years away...