Rverdale 0-2 at #6 Blackman 2-0

[davidlimbaugh]

Great post.....coming from a fellow Bama fan, the only thing that would have been better is if you would have included a Bear Bryant quote or two.  Good luck to the Warriors on getting things turned around, and Roll Tide!!!!!!!

 

Someone has compiled a few. As someone who grew up watching the Golden Flake and Coca-Cola Bear Bryant show every weekend, I heard quite a few of these:  http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2012/bear-bryant-50-quotes/

 

Quite a few young men quit during a training camp in the brush of Texas once

[workinprogress]

Great post David. Unless you have consistently been iat practice, in coaching meetings, been in coach A's ear hole you don't know what is going on. It's easy to be a fan, or so called fan, and speculate about what is happening or what is not happening. Rankin had the advantage of having to compete with Oakland. Coach A has to compete with Oakland, Siegel, Blackman, Stewart's creek, and eagleville. Rankin was the right coach at the right time. When the times changed rankin left. With that said I could see a change if the season does not get turned around. Will it be a good change? Guess we will have to all wait and see.

[davidlimbaugh]

Sorry David, can't buy it.

 

Curious. Watching the web site going from one of the nations best to a laughing stock (just like the program has), how many times has Aydelott chewed your butt and demanded you get it together? That, or turn the web site over to someone that has 'time' for it. As the CEO, nobody expects Aydelott to run the web site, or coach defense, maintain the facilities, schedule scrimmages and practices at a championship level, or coach the kicking game. However, we do expect him to find the right people to handle all those things. That's where he's failed so miserably.

 

As we use to say in the Army: The maximum effective range of an excuse is ZERO meters.

 

It's been easy to see this disaster coming for years and it has arrived.

 

The web-site was one of the nation's best because Coach Wyant started it and then turned it over to me and I maintained it for several years. Thank you for the compliment.  I then was laid off my job of 17 years when health care reform meant no one wanted to build hospitals until it got figured out, so I went back to school, taking 18 hour semesters spring, fall and summer, completing 135 hours in 3 years, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a 3.75 GPA in History, with a double minor of Education (3.9) and Political Science (4.0).   That didn't leave me much time to work on the football webpage. I went back to work for that same company as soon as I graduated from college. I have been trying to get the website back up to those lofty standards the past few weeks, updating the all-time records page, all-time scores page, coaches records page and other items. I have a laundry list of things still to do, from adding my twitter feed to updating other items.  

 

Coach A understood I was going to school.  So did Mr. Nolan.  As a 35-Romeo, I know my Army terms quite well myself. I know my 3 general orders.  I don't remember questioning leadership among them? 

 

I have volunteered my time at Riverdale since 1994 for the usual fee, a diet coke and the occasional chicken sandwich.  Where were others jumping in to volunteer to work on the website or other things to do while I was taking those 18 hour semesters?  

 

I am not trying to sell anything, so I could care less if you are not buying anything. I am stating my love for my school, my football program and my coaches. I have that same love for Alabama since 1966, regardless of record. I have had that love for my Cubs since 1969, regardless of record. That is is what a true fan does, loves his team. Sure, I wish we had kept Lou Brock and traded away Soriano years ago.  I wish we had kept Maddux instead of him going to the Braves. I don't blame Bartman. My shortstop should have fielded a ground ball.  But boots happen. As a Red Sox fan since 1967, I know all about boots (Durham vs Padres, Bill Buckner in '86)

 

By the way, I have a love for other high school programs as well, from East to West. Because high school sports is about kids playing a game, learning teamwork, cooperation, compromise, commitment, handling failure, dealing with success.  Every team at every level loses their last game except a select few.  My Riverdale football team has had the great feeling of not losing that last game four times since 1994. A lot of schools have lost more. A select few have lost less. 

 

As we say in Alabama, sometimes you are the hammer, sometimes you are the nail.  We have been the hammer for a long time...  And one day we will be the hammer again...  

[riverdaleman]

Go warriors

[SwamiSays]

Swami, I just have one question of you. Have you EVER been a Coach of any sport in Davidson or Williamson County?

 

Also the "raw, undisciplined, city kids" he trained, they were some of the BEST Metro had due to Hillsboro being one of the better schools in Davidson County. Kids went there like what you accuse Rankin of. RECRUITING sort of.

1. Yes

 

2. You obviously know nothing about metro schools. It was actually a zoning change that brought a particular set of inner city students to Hillsboro that brought them a huge set of talent. 

[SwamiSays]

Since 1997 , Maryville has not played for a State Championship in just 2 years ... How ? Do you actually think we've always won with more talent ? If you do you haven't been watching ... All the kids want to play for Coach Quarles , these kids that are just average athletes are out there busting their Arses every day trying to get better . A great coach can do that , provide inspiration and desire , these kids don't want to let Coach Quarles down , and they don't want to let the community down . Maryville has kids that have went out of their way to be on Maryville's team , just like kids used to for Riverdale when Rankin was there . You can talk that talent crap all you want , I've watched kids with more heart and grit beat more talented kids for 15 years at Maryville ... Riverdale , under Coach Adyelotte has lost more kids every year , how much lower does Riverdale have to go before you might think maybe it is time for a change ? 

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasnt Quarles an assistant at Maryville when it all started going good for them? And it is pretty well known about your 4 county wide recruiting zone and cheap tuition to out of county students. Just a couple of top notch players make a huge difference. Hammontree used it, Quarles mastered it, and they learned it from Rankin. 

[SwamiSays]

You called coach a "a sow's ear".  I agree the talent is down, but like someone else said back a few post. "Kids used to look for reasons to play at Riverdale, now they look for reason to avoid it". When we moved to the burrow in 2006 I wanted my kids to play football at Riverdale and my wife wanted Blackman. Blackman won not because of football cause at the time the program was in the crapper under Wells. My kids were and are at Blackman because of Blackman Middle vs. Central Middle. Several years later my wife looks like the one with the brains and I am sooo thankful she won. When I was growing up in East Nashville I was zoned for East High School. One day a coach from Maplewood came during my Freshman year a told a group of us if we wanted to play at Maplewood here's what we needed to do. A summer school class and some creative scheduling later I graduated from Maplewood in 1979, had a great career, tons of wins and no regrets. I wanted to play at Maplewood because the football program at East was terrible and I made a way to play where I wanted to play.

 

Sixty kids on the roster in a school of 2100 should be setting off alarms all over campus. Coach has lost the kids and the program.   

So you played for momma, and you are saying he talked you into coming to a school you were not zoned to, and that you had a special schedule? There is a word for that...what is that word...???

[warhawks]

GO WARRIORS KEEP WORKING!!!

[SwamiSays]

As SID at Riverdale and involved with the program since 1994, I feel the need to add my two cents to this conversation.  I have missed three Riverdale football games since 1994.  Work got in the way.  I was in the rain at Cordova, watching my son try to kick off with the water deeper than the ball was high.  I was at Sevier County when it was Locke vs Mathews. 

 

The 1994 team may be one of the greatest teams, other than some amazing Central teams, to play in Rutherford County. Senior Corey Carney was an amazing athlete and starting QB who went on to play and excel at Samford.  His backup, a freshman, was Eric Locke, who went on to Alabama and Tennessee.  Alvin Duke scored 41 touchdowns that year and went on to Vanderbilt, returning a punt for a touchdown against Alabama.  Offensive lineman David Coppeans joined him at Vandy. Fernando Bryant went on to Alabama and the NFL.  Antron Peebles (one of the best high school linebackers I have ever seen) went to Tennessee.  Gerald Griffin would follow him there.  Larry Floyd went on to play at Tennessee State. Marcus Smith was the best FB I have ever seen in high school, literally the second coming of Alabama's Johnny Davis.  Johnta Martin and Ron Smith averaged 9.0 a carry. Kevin Litchford was a pretty good linebacker.

 

It was a fun team to watch.  http://www.riverdalewarriors.com/football/1994IndividualStats.pdf

 

We opened with a 38-0 win over Hillsboro. Cookeville 45-0, Gallatin 24-7, Warren Co 38-0, Christian Co Ky 76-3, Beech 48-0, Hendersonville 45-14, Mt Juliet 53-7, Lebanon 52-3, Oakland 49-0, Baylor 49-0, Dobyns-Bennett 28-0, Science Hill 40-0, Oak Ridge 21-8 and Germantown in championship game on an amazing Alvin Duke run, 14-10.

 

Here is a link to the history of coaches at Riverdale:  http://www.riverdalewarriors.com/football/tradition/21/58-coaching-history.html

 

My son was a kicker on the freshman team in 1994.  He was the kickoff kicker on the 1997 championship team.  Scoring 36, 46, 47, 35, 34, 34, 42, 56, 52, 20, 48, 20, 41, 45 and 34 in Championship game meant he kicked off a lot.

 

During this time we had two schools in Murfreesboro, Riverdale and Oakland. 

 

We now have a lot more than two schools in Murfreesboro.  Even with the great athletes at Oakland this year, and the awesome young man Jennings at Blackman, the 1994 Riverdale team had more SEC and D-1 players than our whole county combined today.  It goes in cycles.  Ask USC and Texas fans.  Oakland has won titles before.  Oakland has been pummeled by Riverdale as well.  My Tide had down years, including an 0-3 start by Gene Stallings. He turned out to be ok.  

 

Having worked closely with the coaching staff at Riverdale, I personally know their character, their ability to coach and how much they care about the program, including the players. It is easy to be the 100th player on a roster when things are going good.  It is hard to be the 70th player when things aren't going so well.

 

Water flows downhill, not up.  Quitting is far easier than working.   I will close with something a well-known writer and friend sent me when he heard I was running for state senate:

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."  - Theodore Roosevelt.

 

Grab a whistle. Show up at a practice.  Get involved.  Wait - that takes a lot of effort. Typing under a pseudonym is far easier.  After all, water does tend to run down hill.

Excellent. You said in one post what I have been trying to say in a dozen. And you said it from a perspective that no one here has, from the inside, and with historical content and context. Excellent

[SwamiSays]

Sorry David, can't buy it.

 

Curious. Watching the web site going from one of the nations best to a laughing stock (just like the program has), how many times has Aydelott chewed your butt and demanded you get it together? That, or turn the web site over to someone that has 'time' for it. As the CEO, nobody expects Aydelott to run the web site, or coach defense, maintain the facilities, schedule scrimmages and practices at a championship level, or coach the kicking game. However, we do expect him to find the right people to handle all those things. That's where he's failed so miserably.

 

As we use to say in the Army: The maximum effective range of an excuse is ZERO meters.

 

It's been easy to see this disaster coming for years and it has arrived.

Talent down is not an excuse, it is a reality. There is a reason for the NFL draft. 

[qb#7]

Talent down is not an excuse, it is a reality. There is a reason for the NFL draft. 

Please equate this to the 8 kids that signed with Maryville College last year from Maryville High School coming all, but one flag away from beating 8 kids that signed with D1 schools last year from Whitehaven? This is the norm, not the exception at Maryville. The guy above was right about one thing. In the days that Riverdale won they had exceptional talent. More talent than Maryville had during its run to the most state championships in state history.

[SwamiSays]

Please equate this to the 8 kids that signed with Maryville College last year from Maryville High School coming all, but one flag away from beating 8 kids that signed with D1 schools last year from Whitehaven? This is the norm, not the exception at Maryville. The guy above was right about one thing. In the days that Riverdale won they had exceptional talent. More talent than Maryville had during its run to the most state championships in state history.

With second year into the state to get the jitters out, the D1 talent won. Explanation made. Two schools that both have so many kids signing with colleges is a lot of great talent on the field and should be in the finals.