Signal Mountain

[SMOD]

I am close to the above situation and feel it necessary to reply.

 

It is one thing to question coach lennon's coaching style, however,

his individual acheivements as a wrestler in high school and at the

collegiate level speak for themselves as does john's impeccable career as a coach

at the high school level. The wrestler in question, although

taleneted, has repeatedly been disciplined to the point where Coach Lennon had

no option but to dismiss him from the team. In fact the most recent incident occurred while said athlete was serving a suspension NOT handed out by Coach Lennon. Again, this wreslter had been disciplined numerous times prior to coach lennon taking ANY action. To make wild and otherwise ludicrous accusations regarding

Coach Lennon's behavior is not only irresponsible but highly

inappropriate and only serves to distract from the actual facts

of the situation. Further, this takes away from the rest of the team following and abiding by school and team policies. Often we as parents do not hold our children accountable for their actions but rather defend the behavior their child has exhibited. I also understand each member of the team signed a TEAM policy/behavior contract prior to the season.

Coach Lennon has NEVER exposed any child nor has ever bullied, cursed, or treated any student inappropriately either in the theatre or on the mat. While we all get very emotional when our children

are involved it would behoove everyone to step back and look at the

FACTs of the situation. I stand in FULL SUPPORT of Coach Lennon

 

Well raider, it's true i love Signal Mountain, and i love America. And I'm sure you believe the old man has done some good; therefore, in order to save him some face i will not mention all of his offenses. He has however bullied wrestlers to the point of quitting then followed up with more by getting some kicked out of other sporting events, and he even drove one student to transfer schools. At times he violently curses and punches things, any Eagle wrestler will tell you that. He has lost so many uniforms that our team cannot even match. He also not only exposed a minor, but had a nice little follow up when he reached into said minor's pants... so raider, sorry i had to be the one to break this to you, and I'm sorry to John Lennon that you needed an explanation, but Lennon was in the wrong, and his resignation will likely not be the end of the problems he is soon to face.

 

And for all of you other freelance journalists in the lowlands, the "disciplinary problem" from which sprang so much offense was the student not reporting to study hall.

[SMOD]

Dear Mrs Pressley,

 

I have never had a beef with you or your kids, as a matter of fact they wrestled with us back in the old OLPH days, now I have one!!!!

 

My family Loves Coach Lennon and knows the kind of man he is...... To slander a great mans name, that has more love in his heart for teaching young men and women chaps my asss.

 

You said there is 2sides to every story, should I post the side that you aren't saying? I won't cause today I'm taking the high road.but if there is another attack, then f ing a I will.

 

I know that when Coach Lennon left Notre Dame, it weakened our program and I felt sorry for the kids that did not get a chance to learn life lessons from him.

 

Today I'm glad that Signal Mtn was built!!!

 

Coach, I love you and all that you have done for Tee and Jack

 

Tommy Boone

 

Well Tommy... that's no way to talk to a lady, and we welcome your side of the story since you were there for every minute of it.

[TNWrestling]

Well raider, it's true i love Signal Mountain, and i love America. And I'm sure you believe the old man has done some good; therefore, in order to save him some face i will not mention all of his offenses. He has however bullied wrestlers to the point of quitting then followed up with more by getting some kicked out of other sporting events, and he even drove one student to transfer schools. At times he violently curses and punches things, any Eagle wrestler will tell you that. He has lost so many uniforms that our team cannot even match. He also not only exposed a minor, but had a nice little follow up when he reached into said minor's pants... so raider, sorry i had to be the one to break this to you, and I'm sorry to John Lennon that you needed an explanation, but Lennon was in the wrong, and his resignation will likely not be the end of the problems he is soon to face.

 

And for all of you other freelance journalists in the lowlands, the "disciplinary problem" from which sprang so much offense was the student not reporting to study hall.

 

This will be my last little tid bit on this situation, but I understand the disciplinary problem was the wrestler skipped class and did donuts in the SM park and was caught by the police. A little different from not showing up for study hall. John Lennon had nothing but the best interests of the kids at heart his whole career. Much Love

[DoctorP]

Dear Mrs Pressley,

 

I have never had a beef with you or your kids, as a matter of fact they wrestled with us back in the old OLPH days, now I have one!!!!

 

My family Loves Coach Lennon and knows the kind of man he is...... To slander a great mans name, that has more love in his heart for teaching young men and women chaps my asss.

 

You said there is 2sides to every story, should I post the side that you aren't saying? I won't cause today I'm taking the high road.but if there is another attack, then f ing a I will.

 

I know that when Coach Lennon left Notre Dame, it weakened our program and I felt sorry for the kids that did not get a chance to learn life lessons from him.

 

Today I'm glad that Signal Mtn was built!!!

 

Coach, I love you and all that you have done for Tee and Jack

 

Tommy Boone

Tommy, I don't know why you would have a beef with our family over this. All the incidents are documented and submitted by other students to the administration. I guess the Lennon you know is different than the one we have experienced. I am sorry I have offended you, but unless you have lived it, you really do not understand. In retrospect, I should have sought further action for the above, but I did not want to ruin someone over it all. Incidentially, we are not the family that have gone to the county with bullying

charges. I am done with this and we are moving foward as a team. GO EAGLES!!!!!

[SMOD]

This will be my last little tid bit on this situation, but I understand the disciplinary problem was the wrestler skipped class and did donuts in the SM park and was caught by the police. A little different from not showing up for study hall. John Lennon had nothing but the best interests of the kids at heart his whole career. Much Love

 

Yes, Brock was caught doing doughnuts in a park, no it was not at school. He missed study hall, not class and that is what he was being punnished for. I am on the team, i know what happens on our team. We have closed this chapter and it is now time to fear, for now has begun the regin of Jucy J and the Signal Mountain Eagles.

 

SMOD

[RAIDER87]

Well raider, it's true i love Signal Mountain, and i love America. And I'm sure you believe the old man has done some good; therefore, in order to save him some face i will not mention all of his offenses. He has however bullied wrestlers to the point of quitting then followed up with more by getting some kicked out of other sporting events, and he even drove one student to transfer schools. At times he violently curses and punches things, any Eagle wrestler will tell you that. He has lost so many uniforms that our team cannot even match. He also not only exposed a minor, but had a nice little follow up when he reached into said minor's pants... so raider, sorry i had to be the one to break this to you, and I'm sorry to John Lennon that you needed an explanation, but Lennon was in the wrong, and his resignation will likely not be the end of the problems he is soon to face.

 

And for all of you other freelance journalists in the lowlands, the "disciplinary problem" from which sprang so much offense was the student not reporting to study hall.

[Rooftop]

This thread needs to be closed.

 

The Hamilton County Department of Education needs to provide third party professional couseling to the minors involved in this unfortunate series of incidents. The Signal Mountain High School Administartion needs to be removed. The Hamilton County Department of Education needs to provide training to their administrators and staff this summer to educate them on how to identify and respond to such matters. This situation should have been handled over a year ago. Had it been handled swiftly and correctly back then, we would not be discussing this today.

[Opry]

Penn State

[AsicTiger]

I find it odd that the Signal Mtn. loyals have seemed to have such a problem with Coach Lennon and yet Notre Dame and Cleveland loyalist preach a completely different tune. I have heard nothing but great things about Coach Lennon over the years. My family and I have known Coach Lennon for a long time and have never witnessed any unacceptable behavior while he has coached or off the mat. He has always conducted himself in a professional manner while having fun and teaching young men great life lessons and some good wrestling as well.

 

To hear people from Signal Mtn. complain about a coach cursing and having anger issues only gives me one thing to say, Leave Bill Price out of this!

 

Wrestling is a sport of passion and emotion. High school wrestling is intense. It's not for every boy that walks the halls of a school. It is a sport that requires these young men to be responsible and own up to the fact that they ARE YOUNG MEN. The boys that can't handle that emotion have band, soccer, and other activities people on this board don't care about. I think Coach Lennon understands this and teaches it. I don't think he yells at his theater students or curses them because there is a fine line on what certain individuals can handle. Wrestlers are a different breed and if someone yelling hurts your feelings maybe it's not the sport for you.

[anotherback]

As the saying goes there are always 2 sides to every story and I felt compelled to register and reply. When our wrestling coach of two years quit and we were told John Lennon would be taking over, I thought it would be fantastic. I was very wrong. He has two faces, one the public sees and the one the wrestlers see. The public face looks good, but the wresters have been treated very differently. He is very erratic and inappropriate. He repeatedly bit one student in practice...who bites kids? He "shanked" a wrestler and fully exposed him at Father Ryan last year and then subsequently pulled out that same student's pants, put his hand into his pants to put a harmonica that he was playing into the crotch of the wrestler's pants. What do you do as a 17 year old kid when a 50 something year old coach does those things to you? If it were your peer, you could "handle" it, but not your coach. So the team wrote letters to our principle hoping he would protect them, but instead, he gave the letters to the coach and the real verbal abuse began. Coach Lennon frequently curses the kids and loves the F word. The student who suffered the most humiliation finally had had enough and he and the coach had it out in a yelling match. The student was punished, but Coach Lennon wanted him off the team. When the administration told him no, he resigned and that ended a nightmare that we as a family have been living for the last two years. The fact that the people on this board think he was building a team shows that you have not been to any of our matches. We lost the majority of our returning wrestlers including four state qualifiers in weight classes that we are now forfeiting as they would not come back out. We have huge holes in our line up as a result and are putting JV wrestlers out there. He has no idea how to manage weights, line -ups, etc. My husband was a college wrestler and it has been very difficult for him to take, but we feel great relief that he is gone from wrestling. He is still at the school as a teacher over the theater department. If you think he is so great, please please recruit him so he will really be gone from our school.

 

 

 

I don't know what happened but if as in this post he put his hands into a kids pants for whatever reason that is a criminal act and if the school let it go that also is a criminal act, if they were informed. I hope this is some how worded wrong or the story got twisted. But as most things it had better be investigated cause we are still talking about a person who is in a leadership role.

[cougarcatcher]

Yes, Brock was caught doing doughnuts in a park, no it was not at school. He missed study hall, not class and that is what he was being punnished for. I am on the team, i know what happens on our team. We have closed this chapter and it is now time to fear, for now has begun the regin of Jucy J and the Signal Mountain Eagles.

 

SMOD

[cougarcatcher]

Yes, Brock was caught doing doughnuts in a park, no it was not at school. He missed study hall, not class and that is what he was being punnished for. I am on the team, i know what happens on our team. We have closed this chapter and it is now time to fear, for now has begun the regin of Jucy J and the Signal Mountain Eagles.

 

SMOD

Those Soddy boys are shaking in their steel toe boots!