Ok, i have kept my mouth shut long enough. Lets talk about it..

[redskinthruandthru]

OK first off i am a loyal viewer of this site and read a great deal of posts that are available throughout the day. Now i know that you look at my information and see that i have only posted one time. Well guess what, that post was about the hiring of a new basketball coach at my beloved alma mater. So im gonna spill some things that i have noticed and would love to get some response.

 

 

As most of us around these boards know it is almost a bad omen to get on here and talk about coaches and the way they do things, but i have seen all i need to see of our new coach. I went to nearly every loudon game last year and i left in sickness due to the state the team was in. Lets face it, it starts with coaching. Now as mentioned above, I have seen all i need to see of Wells. I watched Shane a great deal while he was in the middle school rankings at FLMS and also a few times at NMS. He has his act together. He does the small things that make the big things easy. It is amazing when you watch the difference in the team from last year to this.

 

Now granted in Loudon Basketball you have never had to worry about hustling, playing hard and being prideful about your school. But if anyone has been there to see the victories over Hancock County (a sophomore hit a 70ish foot shot to tie the game at the buzzer) or last friday against the Mavericks of Anderson County, you can tell these kids are on a different level, they have their leader back. Realize as well, they defeated hancock county without their football players dressed. They are now back, but not in the shape Coach Wells needs them to be. This team has special written all over it. But the question is, with all that talent on the team, can the attitudes of those having to sit on the bench more than they would like be turned into positive energy and positive team vibe? I know that some of these kids have egos the size of the city of loudon and a great deal of that comes from their parents saying that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, but its a fear none the less. I am hoping that the kids on that team realize that when you have something this special, it is important to understand your role and do it to the best of your ability.

 

I know that a great deal of change has taken effect since Coach Wells has taken this job, i believe he has lost 3 players already to this point from strict competition as well as some off court problems. He holds these kids accountable for every little thing they do and thats a great thing. As a parent i sometimes look at it from a perspective that i may not have done a good enough job of it at home. So when you look at this team play, watch them closely and see if you notice the great deal of change. Im sure you will.

 

Now thats all the good things. I want to talk about something that i would really like to discuss. For a long time during the hireing process (even last year) when Well's name came up i was very skeptical of the possible hireing of him because of his ties to lenoir city. Granted as a Loudon Grad and athlete, we dont like LC that much, well at all, lets just leave it at that. But I understand that you cant hold him responsible from where his parents raised him, but i think he has a home now. I have watched coaches come and go throughout the years (mitchell, mcdonald, etc) and it has come to my attention that this has to be one of the hardest places to coach in the state, heck maybe even the country. We are so reluctant to give new people (outsiders) a chance to woo us. But after further review and like i said, i have kept my mouth shut since the summer I would like to give Wells and this years redskins my full aproval. I would really hope that the other old fogies in loudon will be as forgiving as me and realize that we have a great coach and hopefully we can make him feel at home. Im sure beating AC on friday didnt hurt his cause. Good Luck Redskins.

[brocksterdanza]

agree 100%

[threeball]

very respectable post...

[CardinalRed]

I think that everyone that knew Shane Wells before he was hired knew he could handle the job, but only if people around Loudon gave him a chance. I am not sure about Loudon being something special this year, but looking at the past couple of years going .500 would be pretty special. The team is going to have to be willing to work a little harder if they are going to keep it up, but it is great to beat AC. Definitely not gonna be AC's best year but it's a good win to start district competition with. Loudon's major problem will be lack of a dominant post. After watching the AC game I will say that to win Loudon will have to be able to hit 3's in the clutch. They started out the game on fire and full of hustle and ended it the same way, to beat some of the teams they will be playing, they will have to do this the whole way through. I am expecting losses in the single-digits. Big game coming up against Catholic, beat them and Loudon may become the frontrunner to win district.

 

Also, that's a good post redskinthruandthru.

[twhoops]

It has always intrigued me to examine the Lenoir City and Loudon rivalry. Two schools nine miles apart filled with so much hatred and comtempt for one another. I have (as a Lenoir City Player, Coach, and Fan) never shown much love for the Redskins, but I really respect their sports programs and the town in general. Now that Coach Wells is there, I am their biggest fan, as long as they are not matched up against the Panthers.

 

I have some friendly advice for the citizens of Loudon...Don't let your hatred of Lenoir City cost you to lose a great up and coming coach....He is passionate, knowlegable, and hard working. He will never do anything to embarrass your school or community and he will always represent your people with class and honor. Those are all the characteristics of the great coaches...You have one and shoud be proud, because he is proud to be your COACH....

Edited December 6, 2005 by twhoops

[LCborn]

I think it's very easy to get to caught up in the local vs. outsider thing (and that thinking can apply to players as well as coaches, unfortunately). When you restrict your hiring of coaches to graduates of your HS, though, I think you are asking for trouble. First, you might not end up with the most talented available candidate. Second, should the local guy turn out to be less than what you'd hoped for it can be more difficult to discard him because of local politics. On the good side, I suppose you can be more confident that a local guy will hang around for a long time and not be looking to move on to something bigger and better.

 

You see that in college sports sometimes, too. A lot of schools like to hire somebody with ties to the university and that doesn't always work out well.

 

Of course, there's outsider and there's outsider; at least Wells has ties to Loudon County--it's not like he's from New Jersey or something.

 

Naturally I'm rooting for LC over Loudon every time! Even with the rivalry, though, I'm pulling for Loudon (and Greenback) over everybody else--unless it affects LC's standings--when they're not playing LC. So I hope that coaching situation works out well for Loudon.

[treeball]

I don't think most of the people around Loudon had a problem with Coach Wells being from LC as much as the fact he had no experience as a head coach. McDonald had good references and had been an assistant but never a head coach either. I think that being burned by that made some of us leary about someone with no track record.

 

As far as what LCborn says, I just wish that we had a chance to pull for our teams against each other. I can't believe that the people in LC haven't run Sims off yet for cancelling the rivalry games. I have heard all the excuses but none of them stand up. There has always been bad blood between the teams. If you think it is bad now, what about in the 50s and 60s when there were large fights in town before and after the games? If the powers in charge would show some back bone and hold the kids (and adults) accountable, they wouldn't have off the field problems.

[boo71]

I don't think most of the people around Loudon had a problem with Coach Wells being from LC as much as the fact he had no experience as a head coach. McDonald had good references and had been an assistant but never a head coach either. I think that being burned by that made some of us leary about someone with no track record.

 

As far as what LCborn says, I just wish that we had a chance to pull for our teams against each other. I can't believe that the people in LC haven't run Sims off yet for cancelling the rivalry games. I have heard all the excuses but none of them stand up. There has always been bad blood between the teams. If you think it is bad now, what about in the 50s and 60s when there were large fights in town before and after the games? If the powers in charge would show some back bone and hold the kids (and adults) accountable, they wouldn't have off the field problems.

 

 

some one tell me abt the loudon lc freshman game

[IrishBBall]

I'm a little nervous as a Catholic fan to post to this topic but I'm a huge fan of Coach Wells. I love the style of play and energy that his team brings to the floor. Since last year was our first in the district, I have no clue about the past history. I was shocked to see the loss to Stone Memorial and even posted that I thought Loudon would win easily based on the way they played against us after we beat Stone. Give him the right attitude and latitude and he will deliver a winner if the kids buy into his system. Don't get caught up in the outsider vs. local race, he's doing a great job!

[dream n it]

Both the Lenoir City and Loudon basketball programs are very fortunate to have the coaches they have. I have been impressed with both of them. Coach Williams is taking the Lenoir City program to a whole new level. I really feel they will be one of, if not the top team in the next couple of years. Same goes for Loudon. Coach Wells is doing a great job. It will be interesting to see how these two teams progress.

 

As for the Lenoir City/Loudon freshman game there's really nothing to tell you. Lenoir City dominated and beat Loudon 56- 34. The first time these two teams played Lenoir City beat Loudon 85-50. Lenoir City has only lost one game and that was to Maryville by 8 points and they only played with 8 players (Hood wasn't one of them). If the Titlow kid hadn't fouled out this very small but full of heart Lenoir City team probably would have beaten Maryville. Lenoir City has a very good freshman team with Titlow and Hood being the core of the team. Powers being a great shooter and Hayden Park leading this team like no one else could. It will be interesting to see how the team does over the next 3 years. Some have mentioned State for them I don't know they are really small (with the exception of Titlow and Hood). I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I do however think this is the most talented group of kids Lenoir City has seen in along time. It should be interesting.

Edited December 21, 2006 by dream n it

[GovMan]

Both the Lenoir City and Loudon basketball programs are very fortunate to have the coaches they have. I have been impressed with both of them. Coach Williams is taking the Lenoir City program to a whole new level. I really feel they will be one of, if not the top team in the next couple of years. Same goes for Loudon. Coach Wells is doing a great job. It will be interesting to see how these two teams progress.

 

As for the Lenoir City/Loudon freshman game there's really nothing to tell you. Lenoir City dominated and beat Loudon 56- 34. The first time these two teams played Lenoir City beat Loudon 85-50. Lenoir City has only lost one game and that was to Maryville by 8 points and they only played with 8 players (Hood wasn't one of them). If the Titlow kid hadn't fouled out this very small but full of heart Lenoir City team probably would have beaten Maryville. Lenoir City has a very good freshman team with Titlow and Hood being the core of the team. Powers being a great shooter and Hayden Park leading this team like no one else could. It will be interesting to see how the team does over the next 3 years. Some have mentioned State for them I don't know they are really small (with the exception of Titlow and Hood). I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I do however think this is the most talented group of kids Lenoir City has seen in along time. It should be interesting.

 

Hey, this is off of the original topic, but I just wanted to confirm ... Hood DID NOT play in the Maryville freshmen game--correct? Has he played with the freshmen any at all? He's gonna be a good one, have watched him play middle school and aau ball for a couple of years.

 

Sounds like Loudon and Lenoir City have some fine coaches to work with their young men. That's great. Who's coaching the boys at Greenback now? I know Coach Sandlin stepped down ... did I hear the old timer, McCollum, took his place? Or am I dreaming that?

[dream n it]

Hey, this is off of the original topic, but I just wanted to confirm ... Hood DID NOT play in the Maryville freshmen game--correct? Has he played with the freshmen any at all? He's gonna be a good one, have watched him play middle school and aau ball for a couple of years.

 

Sounds like Loudon and Lenoir City have some fine coaches to work with their young men. That's great. Who's coaching the boys at Greenback now? I know Coach Sandlin stepped down ... did I hear the old timer, McCollum, took his place? Or am I dreaming that?

 

Hood played with the freshmen at the beginning of the season. He has always been on varsity but he was moved to a starter. That's when he quit playing with the freshmen. Hood DID NOT play with the freshmen against Maryville. He actually didn't play in several games with the freshmen team. I heard he is now back with the freshmen team as of the last game which was against Loudon. I really don't know what they are doing with him. But that's the beauty of this team when one is down another one picks it up(unless your 5'8 taking on a 6'8 dude). They play very well together as a team. You really don't see that very much in high school basketball. Lenoir City has got a lot of talent in their freshmen team. They just don't have much depth on their bench. When they played Maryville and Titlow fouled out that left a kid like 5'8 to guard a 6'8 guy. That's actually where they got beat. Lenoir City lost to Maryville in OT. I think that says alot for this freshmen team they had 8 players, Maryville had like 15. LC plays a very up tempo game and if you are a big team like Maryville you just can't keep up.

Edited December 21, 2006 by dream n it