Unicoi Lady Devils

[coachh17]

Kenneth Chambers is an outstanding coach and a fine man. Whether it be Unicoi Co., Happy Valley, or another school somebody will be getting a winner. Good luck to Coach Chambers.

[uchsbball]

Does anybody if anybody has officially applied for the job yet? If so, who has?

[dare]

bump

[uchsbball]

Erwin paper says that the 19 applicants have been narrowed to four:

 

Josh Epperson of Cumberland County

Kenneth Chambers

Jordan Simmons

Michael Smith

 

Interviews on Friday.

 

Any opinions on a frontrunner? Anybody familiar with the Epperson guy?

[ratherbfishing]

Epperson usually has teams that work very hard for him. He has done great things here in the past three years with us going through our split and all. I know that he was a college coach before coming here and had success before that as a girls assistant.

[bluedevilfan100]

Sounds like quite a track record. Only thing about an outside guy like that is...will he be committed for the long haul or is it just a stepping stone until a better job comes open? Based upon past experience, Unicoi hasn't always made the best decisions when hiring from outside of the system. The pay isn't great, which kind of leads me to wonder why Epperson would leave a more established program. Granted, he would have excellent facilities, a fantastic middle school coach that prepares the girls extremely well for high school, a very passionate fan base, and a stable of talent for the next 5 to 6 years for sure. I'm sure he's a great coach, but my vote would be for Coach Simmons or Coach Smith. Coach Simmons led this year's 8th grade boys to their best finish ever, and his college playing experience should be a plus. Coach Smith has remained loyal to Unicoi County for a number of years, and I'm sure he has turned down other jobs to stay at Unicoi. His JV teams are good year in and year out. Looking at the success of the boy's program over the past few years, you have to think that Simmons and Smith had something to do with that. Regardless of who the new coach is, he will have a lot to be excited about.

[uchsbball]

epperson was hired for the job. but we may wana keep this thread going because it looks from his resume like he doesn't stay anywhere for more than 2 or 3 years. i'm sure he'll stick around here for a few years and collect his wins then move on out. let's just hope he delivers in those couple of years he is here.

[bluedevilfan100]

Good point uchsbball!!! He seems like a young guy but he has apparently already coached at 4 or 5 different schools. Last time they hired someone from outside (football a few years back) I don't think it worked out very well. Oh well, the cupboard is full for the next few years so he probably won't be packing his bags until after that. I hope they know what they are doing.

[BigBlueFan37650]

I wonder what they were thinking. This guy might a good coach but his track record says he is here for only 3 to 4 yrs tops. Flash in the Pan. That is not fair to our program. Yes we will win now but we could have done that with any of the finalists, but what about our future. Those girls in 4th 5th grade.