Where Has Riverdale's Once Proud Program Gone?

[Lost Old Dad]

My personal opinion is that some of the Riverdale fans are delusional. You guys were riding a 6 game winning streak when you lost to Blackman friday. And Blackman will most likely be in the semis this year and might even win it all. So what do Riverdale fans honestly expect? To win 7AAA and win state every year? If you expect that you will be sorely disappointed if you expect that with any coach but George Quarles. The explanation for Riverdale's lack of dominance in recent years is very simple.. 7AAA is very good from top to bottom. In '10 Smyrna went to state and lost to Maryville, in '11 you guys went to the semis and lost to Maryville, in '12 siegel went to the semis and lost to maryville, and last year Blackman went to the semis and lost to... You guessed it maryville! The level of competition and parity in your league is crazy. It seems like every year a different team is top dog in 7AAA. You guys are still a good team and have winning records but you are not going to be dominant while the rest of 7AAA is so good and you guys have to face maryville if you make it out of 7AAA... It is what it is.

Actually YES, we do. If you will look at the 10 year records before Maryville moved up, you will see that R'dale usually was at the game for the Gold Ball. We didn't bring it home every time, but at least we were there. Now just home many times has WB EVER been in the game for the Gold Ball?

[Governm]

Well, it's obvious that the players that were going to Riverdale are now going to Blackman and Oakland. That is readily apparent. Back in the day all of those kids were going to Riverdale, hence why they were so dominant for so long. But, Murfreesboro is such a big town so you would think their would still be enough talent to go around, so it simply can't be just the zone changes. Riverdale is still a big 6A school. The staff there just isn't up to par I would think. That school still has talent I would assume, they just aren't getting the kids to come out and get excited about Riverdale football like when Rankin was there. Not everybody is Gary Rankin, though. He is the top coach in Tennessee in wins for a reason.

Imo Riverdale fans romanticize Gary Rankin the way families will do when one of their relatives die. What do I mean by that? They do not see him clearly. He is not some kind of world beater coach. He is the kind of coach that goes where the athletes are at the time. And he has stayed at Alcoa because they always have talent in that community and also get good athletes from WB and Heritage who transfer in and pay tuition. Plus they play mostly weak competition and have an overwhelming talent advantage against most of the teams they play. IMO they usually have more talent than most 6A schools, including maryville. But they usually lose to maryville, why is that? Because Rankin runs the most dumbed down and simple offense I have ever seen. All they do is hand it off to which ever dominant rb they have at the time and he runs for a touchdown. They almost never have any kind of effective passing game despite having good athletes at wide out most years. Heck One time I only saw them pass the ball once through a whole ball game and that pass ended up resulting in an interception. The only way you can win being one dimensional like that is if you have overwhelming talent, which they do against 99% of the teams they play. But when they play a team that has more talent they get beat every single time. I'm not saying that Gary Rankin is bad by any means, but he is no GQ. I have to take my hat off to him for being smart more than anything else. That's why he left Riverdale, he knew he wasn't going to win there anymore so he went to Alcoa where it is easy to win.

[ORidgeKat]

Gov, what about the time they beat Murvil without ever attempting a pass.  That was 3 years ago wasn't it?

[Governm]

Actually YES, we do. If you will look at the 10 year records before Maryville moved up, you will see that R'dale usually was at the game for the Gold Ball. We didn't bring it home every time, but at least we were there. Now just home many times has WB EVER been in the game for the Gold Ball?

You were in the championship game because you didn't have to deal with Maryville that's it. And WB has never been there, you know that as well as I do. As a WB fan I know a thing or two about bad coaching because I have seen it since meadows left,that's why I can only scratch my head when I hear Riverdale fans complaining. If you have a poorly coached team you do not make it to the semifinals or have winning records,especially in 7AAA. Last year you guys started 0-6 but finished the season strong and won the last 4 games and started this season 2-0 before losing to blackman. Last year many of your posters talked about how young your team was. I will admit that I don't know much about Riverdale but the fact that you guys were young and inexperienced last year, played that brutal schedule, and still ended up being good by year's end tells me all I need to know. It's obvious you guys must have a good coach or you wouldn't have finished the season that strong. Edited September 8, 2014 by Governors91

[Governm]

Gov, what about the time they beat Murvil without ever attempting a pass. That was 3 years ago wasn't it?

like I already said. They win when they have an overwhelming talent advantage against the team they are playing, which is 99% of the time. During that period of time they did have an overwhelming talent advantage over maryville. They would have never won otherwise. Edited September 8, 2014 by Governors91

[AlcoaBasketball]

But when they play a team that has more talent they get beat every single time.

Ummm....I'm not so sure about that. That CPA team last year was stacked, including at least 2 D-1 college athletes. That McCallie team in 2006 was loaded as well, yet we beat them. We also beat Webb and CAK (the first meeting) in 2012.

 

Yes, Rankin is old school football, and probably needs to pass more, but it doesn't matter if he can win state titles by running it down your throat, which he has done quite well.

[Governm]

Ummm....I'm not so sure about that. That CPA team last year was stacked, including at least 2 D-1 college athletes. That McCallie team in 2006 was loaded as well, yet we beat them. We also beat Webb and CAK (the first meeting) in 2012.

 

Yes, Rankin is old school football, and probably needs to pass more, but it doesn't matter if he can win state titles by running it down your throat, which he has done quite well.

There are a few examples where they were able to beat teams with lots of talent. But you can't deny that most of the times Alcoa has an overwhelming talent advantage over their opponents though.

[AlcoaBasketball]

There are a few examples where they were able to beat teams with lots of talent. But you can't deny that most of the times Alcoa has an overwhelming talent advantage over their opponents though.

Yep, most of which is the talent we develop right here in Alcoa through our feeder programs and weight training. Transfers help, too, but they're not THE reason we win.

[Red Rebels]

My personal opinion is that some of the Riverdale fans are delusional.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2014 by Red Rebels

[SweetScience]

 

 

LOL!!!

[SweetScience]

If Gov91 was told Rankin would be coming to WB after leaving Alcoa he would be ecstatic. Don't kid yourself, 91.

[STARSNBARS]

My personal opinion is that some of the Riverdale fans are delusional.