PurpleGrad

Sounds about right... only about 5% of the middle school team was planning to go to NDHS... of course it was the best 5% that were getting "invited"... the others had to return to their zoned schools... one was going to Boyd Buchannan... As for the game... Notre Dame should win easily... Sequatchie is still learning under their new coach... If this is a close game at all ND needs to fire their recruiting coordinator... Good luck Sequatchie!

He got ya there Ambassador.

Ok. I bet ya. Grundy by 12. I said 2 TD's. Nothing about extra points.

Well... They are definitely reaching out.

Grundy wins this game by 2 TD's.

I hope that you are right about the privates. During the regular season let teams play whoever they want but when playoffs come around split them up. If you charge tuition, you go private. Simple solution. As for Notre Dame... I found out an interesting fact this fall. Our middle school played their middle school in football. They don't have a middle school. The team we played was a "select" team of kids from all over the Chattanooga area. Not all of them are enrolled in traditional Notre Dame feeder schools. The better players will receive the "opportunity" to play at NDHS whole the others will just return to their zoned high school. So the team is nothing more than a recruiting tool for NDHS to gain access to the better athletes around Chattanooga. How good could other schools be if they had the same opportunity?

I coach boys basketball. I have nothing whatsoever to do with our football team other than being a fan who sits in the stands. I love watching and talking about football. I have an opinion and it's strictly my opinion. It does not represent the views or opinions of others within my school. I don't see the problem with me being on here and people knowing who I am. I rarely post on the basketball boards because I feel like that opens the door for my bleacher coaches to attack me anonomously. Plus, during the season i don't have time to spend on here posting. I have a family that I like to spend time with when I have it available. I did recently post about a playday we are hosting. I've heard people say in the past that coaches shouldn't be on here but I don't buy that philosophy. As long as I'm not arguing or discussing my sport, I see no harm. And like I said, I know a bunch of coaches who post daily. Some even in this thread, but they are reluctant for whatever reason to let their identity be known.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it... now that TN and NC have paid to open the National Park back up, we'll be spending quality family time in the GSMNP... Thanks for the comment Legit.

I'm not ashamed of what I have to say and I don't hide behind screen names.. I also make it a point not to post on or read the basketball boards during the season. 1) no one around these parts really care about basketball and 2) what little bit that gets said on there about us is never good because we lose nearly every ballgame and I can't coach.... You are correct though... I know many, many coaches who read and post daily on here but they are too afraid to let anyone know who they are for whatever reason.. that's on them though..

Does that go for me as well??

Just make sure you come to our place on January 25th... We are a L.B.O. (Low Budget Operation) and we need the money!!

Ha. The topic is Marion vs Open... do you honestly think anything good is going to come of this thread? I'll save you the trouble and close it myself...

Pretty sure no one is offended by being called a Warrior... At least we honor the heritage of the people who walked the land in our area many years ago... What has a Pirate got to do with anything from this area?

Chatt Central is horrible.

LMAO... The whistle has been hated since the mid 80's... We love it!

Marion County

You have determined that my losing record in each of the past three years makes me a bad coach and I should take it upon myself to step down, because that is what you would do... here's some more fun facts... my record vs GC is 7-7, my record vs Valley teams (GC, BC, SC, WHS, SP) is 43-37, my record vs teams in my District is 44-27, and my record vs teams in my classification is 49-36... This is why I will never use winning/losing seasons to determine effectiveness...

Through the years I have consistently defended coaches who were fired or threatened with firing based on win/loss records, and that includes Evans. Regardless of the sport, coaching at the high school level is very difficult and more involved than most people realize. College and Pro coaches who do nothing but coach should be held accountable at a different level. Most high school coaches, at least around here, have responsibilities in the classroom first. That is why the admin needs to be the one to make the decision if a coach stays or goes. That admin has more knowledge of the type of job that coach is doing than the general public. As far as ease of replacing a coach, I guess all of GC coaches teach subjects that would be easy to move/replace people from... At MCHS, I teach Algebra I... our girls basketball coach teaches Geometry and Algebra II... our soccer coach teaches Trig, Pre-Cal, and Calculus... our baseball coach teaches US Government and Economics... our softball coach teaches Machining... Our football coach teaches PE... We have an asst football coach that teaches Wellness, an asst football coach that teaches Senior English and an asst Baseball coach that teaches Physical Science and Chemistry... Not easy to move most of those people to make room for new coaches... I would venture to say that in reality, GC is no different... I've never defended Bryant, but I have defended the position... If a change is needed then go for it but don't base your desire for change upon win/loss record or your own personal conflict with the coach... More than just the players on the team can and will be affected...

Sorry. Had to show Beav why win/loss record don't tell the whole story. I'm done now.

One thing that I have learned is that as a coach you have to invest something into the team. More often than not that investment has to be time. If you work hard and put in the time good things will happen. That's the lesson I hope my players learn. I never said Bryant was the best man for the job. People like Opie and Beav have said he needs to be fired because of his win/loss record. I say that's bull. But if the stuff that you brought out is true then maybe y'all do need to look for another coach. But again, that's the decision for the admin to make. Change is sometimes inevitable, just make sure the change is for the right reason. Am I the best coach for the job at MC? For folks like Beav that put stock in win/loss records I'm no good at all. But I like to think that I still have positive influences on the lives iof the kids who play for me and isn't that what being a high school coach is all about??? I don't know. Maybe my philosophy is all wrong. But I'm not changing it. Never place importance on # of wins over life building lessons. If Bryant is doing good for the young men of GC, get off his case about wins. It should be easy for everyone to see whether he is or isn't.

Actually, while it looks that way, this couldn't be further from the truth. The three winning seasons were possible because of a shooting guard from Grundy County that became the boys all-time leading scorer at MC and also the Senior class of 2010 led by a 6'9" D1 signee. Only the shooting guard from GC had played for the previous coach. None of the 2009-2010 team had played for the previous coach.

Valid questions. To your last point, Yes, I get defensive when coaches are attacked by fans and parents based solely on win/loss records. Everyone knows that high school sports is cyclical in terms of talent, meaning there will be good years and bad years. This is especially true in public school where you coach whatever talent walks through your door instead of being able to "recruit" players. As for me. Should I be fired? That is a question that has to be answered by my administrator and fortunately he is one that looks at the big picture and not just wins/losses. Things such as.... The boys basketball program at MC is in better shape now that it was when I took over. The TWO previous coaches had a combined record of 69-157 for a winning percentage of 30.5% over the course of their 8 year tenure. The coach before me went 14-71 in three years, never winning more than 7 games in any single year. My 7 year record is 85-118 for a 42% winning percentage. Since 1970, MC boys basketball is 447 - 662 for a 39.9% winning percentage. Since 1970, MC has had 11 winning seasons and I have 3 of those. Since 1970, MC has 5 District Championships and I have 2 of them. Since 1970, there have been 9 head coaches in boys basketball at MC. I am #1 in number of wins, tied for #1 in number of District Championships, #2 in years coaching, #3 in winning percentage, I'm 15 wins away from 100, and I'm 30 wins away from becoming #1 in number of wins for both boys and girls coaches at MC. In my 7 years as coach I have had 100% graduation rate and had two teams that have had a combined team GPA of 3.0+. In the past 7 years we have started the Tip-off Club, expanded the Jr Pro program to have more kids involved than ever, and we've had more volunteer hours with local charities. I get evaluated each year as a coach. What I have been asked to do is to run the boys basketball program, work hard with the boys that I have out there, be competitive in ballgames and represent MCHS in a positive manner. I feel like I am working very hard to accomplish the goals set for me and that I have set for myself, often at the expense of my own family. If I ever feel that I am not being effective, I will walk away from the job. But that decision will never be made based on win/loss record. If at some point my administration feels that I am no longer effective and they replace me, I'll walk away with my head held high knowing that I have worked my rear end off to do the best that I could for MCHS. Simple as that.

I graduated 5 seniors last year but I return 5 who saw significant playing time last year.

My first year as head coach was 06-07. Yes, we had winning records in those three years but that is exactly my point. Last years team was better in terms of teamwork, attitude, effort, academics, coachability, and social behavior than any of those three teams but our record wasn't as good. Which is why win/loss record is not a valid method for determining effectiveness of a team, coach, and program.

Beav... I do agree with a lot of your last post. The idea that losing is ok in my opinion comes from little league sports where everyone gets a trophy for just participating. It also develops from parents who move their kids from team to team and start new teams just because they don't like the coach or little Johnny don't get to play the right position or isn't the "star". I don't see any of that changing. As for the winning is most important part... I disagree. Learning to overcome adversity, dealing with defeat and maintaining a positive attitude are life lessons that high school sports teaches and are far more important in my opinion than winning. Last year we had a brutal schedule. The only Class A teams that we played were our district opponents. All of the others were one, two, or more (Ga teams) classifications bigger than us. With nine games left to play we lost our leading scorer to a season ending injury, ironically vs GC. We finished the regular season with a 7-18 record. Not good at all if you think "winning" is important. What you can't see from that record is that when our leading scorer went down, new players stepped up and filled his role scoring and defensively. He was averaging 21 ppg but in his absence we kept our scoring average the same. Also, when we were losing games, the players never got down on themselves because we knew how hard we were working, how tough our competition was and we kept our sights set on winning the District Championship. My guys always kept fighting every game and they never gave up. Life lesson. We limp into the District Tournament with 7 wins and a #4 seed. No one gave us a chance to win it. No one except for us. First game was a nail biter that we had to hang on in the final seconds to win. Semi final game we had to come from behind in the fourth qtr to beat the #1 seed. In the Championship game, we were down 11 points to the #2 seed team with 2:30 remaining in the 4th qtr. I called time out and when the guys came off the floor the first thing one of them said was "we got this". Because we had been battle tested all year long, there was no panic among the players. There was a true feeling that we were still going to win the game. We tied it up and won in OT. Now, if you go with the "winning is everything" mentality and you see our 10-19 record you'd say we weren't very good. I say that was the best team that I have ever coached and those guys learned more about perseverance and positive attitude than they would have if we had won 20 games last year. My point is, you can't judge a team, coach or program simply by looking at win/loss records.