Cookeville -CAVS

[CHAMPS93]

that isnt what i meant. i aint blaming them. i am just telling you what the aprents are saying and proving that what everybody says is right.

[tkeballer]

let me make this real clear. parents talk!!!they talked in little league when the parents themselves were tommy lasorda and little johnny was kirk gibson and they are still talking now. well this is NOT spring street bi-rite and we dont play the jere witson blue jays. this is high school baseball! parents do not see the faults in their children and that is okay. so of course they will talk bad about everything and anything( besides little johnny) when things are going bad. So why would any intellegent baseball fan listen to parents? Coach Hunt will win big in cookeville in the very near future. And maybe if everyone would shut-up and let the team and the staff do their job, they might even realize this season is not over.

[coach21]

Coach Hunt, I know that you are a great coach and that you put your heart and soul into that team and I appreciate that as a coach myself and as a former CHS player. I hope that you stick with those guys and pull them out of this hole and become a winner. As a coach I know you have the tools. People expect results right away, but as you and I both know it takes a little time. It takes time for the kids to understand your philosophy and feel comfortable with it. Once they do, everything seems to fall into place. Cookeville always has talent, but it's getting those players to do what you ask them to. Good luck the rest of the season and keep up the good work. God Bless!

[baseballwizard]

The problem as i see it in cookeville as a former coach who has competed against 3 of the 4 coaches (not Kennedy) is that the parents in Cookeville have been doing this routine for years...they ran out Chaffin, Swallows, and truth be known Coach Kennedy. Now they are on Hunt. Players win games and there are very few coaches who can screw up a good team. You would think that in the last 13 years if the players were good enough they would have won a least one district title? They happen to be in a district where there were some great teams, Warren Co. 93 State Champs, Oakland, and now Riverdale. The job of any HS coaching staff should be to develop the players as people first, players second. No one will play the game forever. All the coaches who were ran off and Coach Hunt are coaches who I think had/have that philosophy. Values such as work ethic, team work, sacrifice, etc are what HS sports should be about, not w-l records, championships, etc. That stuff takes care of itself if you can get the kids to work hard, play hard and dedicate themselves to the idea of "team". Parents think their son/daughter is the best, they have blinders, i can't tell you how many all-americans i have had the opportunity to coach...countless...the only thing that can make this situation change is a principal and maybe and ultimately a superintendent/school board who tells the parent they aren't in charge. Coach Hunt, stay off this board, don't look at it again, it will only bring your spirits down. You are doing what's right, you don't need to do more...you have good coaches, and you will be successful, and i would try to make it back home more if i could, your family is much more important than this job.

[baseballwizard]

The problem as i see it in cookeville as a former coach who has competed against 3 of the 4 coaches (not Kennedy) is that the parents in Cookeville have been doing this routine for years...they ran out Chaffin, Swallows, and truth be known Coach Kennedy. Now they are on Hunt. Players win games and there are very few coaches who can screw up a good team. You would think that in the last 13 years if the players were good enough they would have won a least one district title? They happen to be in a district where there were some great teams, Warren Co. 93 State Champs, Oakland, and now Riverdale. The job of any HS coaching staff should be to develop the players as people first, players second. No one will play the game forever. All the coaches who were ran off and Coach Hunt are coaches who I think had/have that philosophy. Values such as work ethic, team work, sacrifice, etc are what HS sports should be about, not w-l records, championships, etc. That stuff takes care of itself if you can get the kids to work hard, play hard and dedicate themselves to the idea of "team". Parents think their son/daughter is the best, they have blinders, i can't tell you how many all-americans i have had the opportunity to coach...countless...the only thing that can make this situation change is a principal and maybe and ultimately a superintendent/school board who tells the parent they aren't in charge. Coach Hunt, stay off this board, don't look at it again, it will only bring your spirits down. You are doing what's right, you don't need to do more...you have good coaches, and you will be successful, and i would try to make it back home more if i could, your family is much more important than this job.

[disgustedfan]

I admire Coach Hunt and his dedication to the team. The parents that are talking are the seniors parents whose boys have endured 4 different coaches. I personally have talked to the parents of the sophmores and freshmen and they are thrilled with Coach Hunt, Tubbs and Stites. Of course it's understandable that the senior parents will talk because they have seen 4 different coaches. No one has stood up for their kids, so they must stand up for them.

According to the box scores the problem is execution. When a team makes 7 errors in a game and all of them are by seniors that is not coaching. If you play at this level, by the time you become a senior you should be able to throw it to first base without throwing it into the dugout. When a team gets one hit in two games and that by a sophmore-then that is not coaching-that is execution. BY the time you become a senior you should make contact or join the drama team.The young players parents will stand behind Coach Hunt- and try to turn this thing around. Another coaching change is not what is needed at Cookeville-that won't accomplish anything.

And by the way- no one run Kennedy off. He left for money. In fact part of the problem Cookeville is having today is that Kennedy did nothing during the summer to develop talent, but he took the parents money. And any parent who was involved with Cookeville baseball last summer will tell you that is the truth.

[barnowl]

disgusted fan,

you are missing the point completely! no one thinks the fortunes of cavalier baseball rest on coach chaffin. it seems to me he got out at the right time. while he was there, they were a winner. now that the inmates run the assylum, their past few seasons have been filled with losses. obviously, the problem is not the coaching. when you get rid of the "daddy wall" right behind the backstop, then maybe some coaching can take place.

[coach21]

Thank you barnowl. That is the truth.

[disgustedfan]

Thanks for your thoughtful critique of my opinion. I agree with you completely about the daddy wall. But the daddy wall is found on the little league field, babe ruth field, and at Twitty City-because I played at all of those places.

The daddy wall will continue as long as daddys have boys playing baseball. The key is not to get rid of the daddy wall-because remember daddys pay for the program-the key is to establish a program that is built on winning fundamentals which includes keeping a coach and letting him incorporate his program and techniques. A coach that runs the program and is insulated from the daddy wall, because he is supported by the administration and has a history of building a program. As long as coaches change as often as they have at Cookeville-no one can build the program-I don't care how good a coach they may be.

Coach Hunt and his team have the goods to bring winning to Cookeville. He inherited some players that didn't even make Babe Ruth all-stars. So this year is a trying season- and so unfortunate for those seniors and parents who have watched baseball woes their entire tenure at Cookeville. But the building blocks are in place for better days ahead so let's get behind our team and coaches and make the best out of what's left.

[jingo1]

I'll tell you somthing "disgustedfan" You are digusting! If you knew half the crap you thought you knew then they should hire you at cookeville. To say that Kennedy took the peoples money last year is biased and full of crap-Last year he took basically that same team with only three seniors starting everyday the others filled in and won-- in the summer they as a program played over 70 games and thats not helping to develop the talent pool?????? -- those kids played all summer long and worked or had the opportunity to work--obviously you are completely misinformed or just plain lied to about the opportunity they had in the summer and for that matter he stayed three weeks longer than he wanted to to finish the thing up!

[disgustedfan]

Well it's very obvious you are misinformed. The team played 29 games last summer-I have the schedule. Coach Kennedy bought the boys a shirt and even was the umpire many of the games himself-in order to get the money. Hey I don't fault him if you can do it-but don't try to fool anyone by saying that he had a stellar summer season. Better yet-ask the parents of the young men who played. I liked Coach Kennedy he was a great coach- but he didn't help Cookeville baseball by his summer program. His heart was gone-so in defense of him it's difficult putting everything into something when your heart has already left. Now on a personal note-this board is trying to disgust in a civil way the program at Cookeville. If you want to name call because someone disagrees with your opinion-then you have a lot to learn about life and baseball.

[CHAMPS93]

well i don't know about the summer ball but i know from one of the cookeville parents that you're coach is probably on the way out and that comes from the parents mouth himself . i think it is sad too, so dont get mad at me, i am just giving you what i hear. i have been to the game with oakland and the team this past saturday, and i am just telling you.