Scott Tillman out at Lipscomb

[fredjones]

3 hours ago, OrangeTiger said:

Where will Tillman coach next season? He is still young and probably wants to still coach.

Unless its at a small private school,  I doubt that he will ever coach again.  3-19 will do that to you.

[fredjones]

11 hours ago, LetsGoToWork said:

Curious on the statement you guys made re. “I’d be leery of accepting a job at Lipscomb after the way they have treated some coaches and athletic programs”.   What are u guys referring to specifically?

the Ernie Smith situation is what's being referred to

[cbg]

4 hours ago, fredjones said:

the Ernie Smith situation is what's being referred to

Not trying to stir the pot because Ernie is a great guy but what was his record the past few years against good competition.  Yes, Lipscomb could beat up on the MNPS  and a few county schools but D2 is a different ballgame.  It's all about winning games and Lipscomb has really struggled against good competition.  

Edited January 24, 2019 by cbg

[KnightofTruth]

5 hours ago, MichaelMyers76 said:

If you are a Lipscomb person you know exactly what he is talking about.

Your AD pushes out a state  championship coach that he has worked alongside for 40 years in order to hire his son to replace him. A guy that went to school there K-College and had dedicated his entire life to the  school. A guy that won a state championship and a dozen district championships in girls basketball and won 7 state championships and 3 runner ups in baseball.

Yet the AD gets to retire on his own decision because he saved the school from having to play BA, MBA and Ensworth in football.

Classy.

So who replaces the AD that "gets to retire on his own"?? The son?

[Gambler]

Beyond the hire of Trent Dilfer other things must change which will not happen over night.  Facility wise Lipscomb is in great shape.  However talent wise not only in football but in other sports the gap is evident.  Obviously from what people say Lipscomb will be offering more financial aid and attracting athletes like other D2 schools.  Football wise D2 or not the last two seasons represent some of the lowest quality and quantity of overall team talent in the last twenty years.  Obviously steps are being made to improve the future of athletics at school.  If Dilfer wins 5 or 6 games next year I am assuming that will be considered a success in some eyes and failure in others.  Essentially in all sports Lipscomb isn't rebuilding but restarting from the ground up.  This needs to be kept in mind when evaluating Dilfer and other coaches within the competitive league they are participating.  Honestly most could see the athletic challenges on the horizon a few years ago that are now reality.  In the end its a new day at the academy but people will need to move forward with patience or the school will fall into the cycle of changing coaches every four years. 

Edited January 24, 2019 by Gambler

[dej08]

48 minutes ago, cbg said:

Not trying to stir the pot because Ernie is a great guy but what was his record the past few years against good competition.  Yes, Lipscomb could beat up on the MNPS  and a few county schools but D2 is a different ballgame.  It's all about winning games and Lipscomb has really struggled against good competition.  

Lipscomb's girls team is 7-7 overall and 1-5 in region.  Roller really has them going in the right direction...

Firing him was their choice, although it appears they are no better off. The issue is the administration issued a press release saying he was stepping down, trying to make it seem as if it was his decision.

[cbg]

40 minutes ago, Gambler said:

Beyond the hire of Trent Dilfer other things must change which will not happen over night.  Facility wise Lipscomb is in great shape.  However talent wise not only in football but in other sports the gap is evident.  Obviously from what people say Lipscomb will be offering more financial aid and attracting athletes like other D2 schools.  Football wise D2 or not the last two seasons represent some of the lowest quality and quantity of overall team talent in the last twenty years.  Obviously steps are being made to improve the future of athletics at school.  If Dilfer wins 5 or 6 games next year I am assuming that will be considered a success in some eyes and failure in others.  Essentially in all sports Lipscomb isn't rebuilding but restarting from the ground up.  This needs to be kept in mind when evaluating Dilfer and other coaches within the competitive league they are participating.  Honestly most could see the athletic challenges on the horizon a few years ago that are now reality.  In the end its a new day at the academy but people will need to move forward with patience or the school will fall into the cycle of changing coaches every four years. 

If Lipscomb is going to win in D2 the families must accept the fact that the campus will look very different and things will be done very differently from how it has appeared in the past.  The major issue with offering 100% financial aid to kids that do not come from traditional Lipscomb families or C of C kids is that some families will be very jealous.  I have watched this play out numerous times where a child (Lil Bobby) has attended a school since first grade and been the BMOC and played QB.  Now a hot shot QB arrives on campus as a freshmen and is clearly better than all the other players including Lil Bobby who is a junior or senior.  The fact of the matter is that Lil Bobby may not even be good enough to get on the field at another position.  Everyone gets mad and the whole situation blows up especially if Lil Bobby is the child of a major donor.  

Edited January 24, 2019 by cbg

[LetsGoToWork]

7 hours ago, MichaelMyers76 said:

If you are a Lipscomb person you know exactly what he is talking about.

Your AD pushes out a state  championship coach that he has worked alongside for 40 years in order to hire his son to replace him. A guy that went to school there K-College and had dedicated his entire life to the  school. A guy that won a state championship and a dozen district championships in girls basketball and won 7 state championships and 3 runner ups in baseball.

Yet the AD gets to retire on his own decision because he saved the school from having to play BA, MBA and Ensworth in football.

Classy.

I thought that was what they were referring to.  The statement of "Coaches and Athletic Programs" confused me as it sounded like there were multiple issues. 

MM, you and I would have to agree to disagree on this one.  There are definitely two sides to this story (regarding the decision and treatment) but it probably needs to be left alone.  CBG brings up a good question in his post above.  Dig into that question and you'll see there were many more issues than his supporters are aware of or willing to admit.   He's a good man...…and I'll leave it at that. 

[Gambler]

4 hours ago, cbg said:

If Lipscomb is going to win in D2 the families must accept the fact that the campus will look very different and things will be done very differently from how it has appeared in the past.  The major issue with offering 100% financial aid to kids that do not come from traditional Lipscomb families or C of C kids is that some families will be very jealous.  I have watched this play out numerous times where a child (Lil Bobby) has attended a school since first grade and been the BMOC and played QB.  Now a hot shot QB arrives on campus as a freshmen and is clearly better than all the other players including Lil Bobby who is a junior or senior.  The fact of the matter is that Lil Bobby may not even be good enough to get on the field at another position.  Everyone gets mad and the whole situation blows up especially if Lil Bobby is the child of a major donor.  

I agree with your over arching point.  Some people need to be careful what they wish for.  One thing to point out is the Lipscomb student body is less than 50% church of Christ.  The school no longer requires employees to be c of c.  Therefore they are trying to expand their reach beyond the c of c.  Hopefully this will not alienate those families. This opens up their hiring pool.  The changing of the identity of the school in all ways is occurring which will come with positive and negative outcomes. Honestly in the short run I look for their baseball program to be their prominent successful program because when the middle division of football disappears that will make things tough but maybe they will be able to compete by then.  Also I don’t think Coach Smith situation was handled by the AD.

Edited January 25, 2019 by Gambler

[LetsGoToWork]

7 hours ago, cbg said:

If Lipscomb is going to win in D2 the families must accept the fact that the campus will look very different and things will be done very differently from how it has appeared in the past.  The major issue with offering 100% financial aid to kids that do not come from traditional Lipscomb families or C of C kids is that some families will be very jealous.  I have watched this play out numerous times where a child (Lil Bobby) has attended a school since first grade and been the BMOC and played QB.  Now a hot shot QB arrives on campus as a freshmen and is clearly better than all the other players including Lil Bobby who is a junior or senior.  The fact of the matter is that Lil Bobby may not even be good enough to get on the field at another position.  Everyone gets mad and the whole situation blows up especially if Lil Bobby is the child of a major donor.  

Guys, I generally agree with what you are saying but I do not agree that the “change” needed is as drastic as being described.  The whole idea that the campus must look differently (not exactly sure what that means) feels way to drastic.   Lipscomb is simply making some coaching changes with people who better understands today’s coaching landscape, and understands the need for true player development.  Lipscomb continued on an old school approach way too long.  While it sounded great, i.e. let kids be kids by not working them too hard, allow other life priorities to interfere with off season training or simply don’t have any off season training/development.....it wasn’t working. 

IF the middle division survives in D2, then I disagree that there needs to be drastic changes regarding adding talent ,etc, etc.  Player development at younger ages and great coaching will make up a lot of ground.  There are those selling the idea that Lipscomb is void of talent.....don’t buy it.   That’s a good way to justify why athletics have declined vs considering maybe the old school approach of their coaching just doesn’t work anymore.  

IF the middle division doesn’t survive, then Lipscomb won’t be the only school that will need to make drastic changes to compete with schools like BA, Ensworth, MBA and others in the  “talent acquisition” game.  Who knows what the future holds   

[cbg]

8 hours ago, LetsGoToWork said:

Guys, I generally agree with what you are saying but I do not agree that the “change” needed is as drastic as being described.  The whole idea that the campus must look differently (not exactly sure what that means) feels way to drastic.   Lipscomb is simply making some coaching changes with people who better understands today’s coaching landscape, and understands the need for true player development.  Lipscomb continued on an old school approach way too long.  While it sounded great, i.e. let kids be kids by not working them too hard, allow other life priorities to interfere with off season training or simply don’t have any off season training/development.....it wasn’t working. 

IF the middle division survives in D2, then I disagree that there needs to be drastic changes regarding adding talent ,etc, etc.  Player development at younger ages and great coaching will make up a lot of ground.  There are those selling the idea that Lipscomb is void of talent.....don’t buy it.   That’s a good way to justify why athletics have declined vs considering maybe the old school approach of their coaching just doesn’t work anymore.  

IF the middle division doesn’t survive, then Lipscomb won’t be the only school that will need to make drastic changes to compete with schools like BA, Ensworth, MBA and others in the  “talent acquisition” game.  Who knows what the future holds   

With the TSSAA apparently having financial concerns due to revenues from the 2018 playoffs being down 19% from 2017 and 2017 was down (no numbers have been provided) from 2016 I see drastic changes on the way if the TSSAA is to survive.  I could easily see two divisions in D2 (Large & Small) for football, basketball and baseball.  Personally I don't have a problem with the split going from three to two divisions.  What truly needs to happen to help with the financial issues is for the TSSAA to place everyone (D1 & D2) back together into four (4) divisions for football, basketball and baseball. 

Class A  Small public schools and no private schools

Class AA  Public schools and private schools that do not offer any financial aid or work study.

Class AAA Public schools and small private schools that offer financial aid or work study

Class AAAA Large Public Schools and large private schools that offer financial aid

Unfortunately this will never happen as that ship sailed long ago and the difference between 85% of the public schools and the private schools is so much different than it was 25 years ago.

[MichaelMyers76]

You have already entered the "talent acquisition" game. LA is not driving up to Gallatin everyday for the  scenery.