Best Coach under 30

[BMic014]

You are correct about Lambert and the championships, but Lenoir City never had the pitching to match up with anyone else in the district. If a team's pitcher is not allowing runs and his offense is scoring runs, thats a good combination. A combination LC lacked, due to pitching depth. Greenback does have a summer team. I played against them 99-00. I saw them play last year. I am not sure who the coach is or whatever, but they do have a team. Last I heard all the kids who played on that summer team did not make their high school team. That is an indicator of their level of play.It was not pretty. If Greenback had a summer program with their high school players that would be rewarding for their baseball program. They are getting it on the right track now anyways.

 

I intended in no way to take anything away from Greenback's high school team, in fact it sounds as if they have a really good team this year.

[Hack]

Greenback has no summer program for high school players. Me, Caleab Moore, Trae Helton, and Gene Disney all played for the Knoxville Spartans last summer. We were the only four who played summer ball. Greenback has not had a summer ball team since I have been in high school. If you played against one it was a mix of scrubs from WB and Greenback middle schoolers who are to old to play in the younger leagues.

Hack#3

[volfan2001]

Your right it won't help the chemistry but i think that if ever one is getting better then a team as a whole will get better and you can build chemistry with a team that you play for ever year like your highschool thats not hard to do.I thought that lc had some pretty good talent your not going to be a top 10 team in the state with out talent.Players like massey,freeman,york, and some others but yes pitching was a problem but i thought lc had just as much talent as ac or kingston.loudon probably had more talent then all of them as a team.yea it was that big of a number and no it wasn't because he pushed so hard.It sounds like you got your head to far up his butt to see.

[LCborn]

Volfan2001, what do you mean he wants to be able to tell a couple of high school kids what to do? I think he has a great program going. His summer program is getting better every year and his off season programs are also going to produce some great results, thanks in part to his facilities. The kids on his team who see the biggest improvements are the kids who stay with his summer teams, sounds like he is doing something right. I believe that he still has some improving to do, but anyone who is ever satisfied is someone who doesn't care about being the best. That is definitely not Coach McNish. He will have LC baseball being a top notch program in the state. Give him time. He has also added a program at the middle school level to serve as a feeder program. That should start helping in a few years also.

I agree that Coach McNish is getting better every year but I don't think he's there yet. LC has seen some great improvements in their facilities but that's as much from some parents who were willing to pitch in and donate considerable materials and labor as it is from Coach McNish. Anyway, facilities are only a part of what a total program should be.

 

BTW, even though he's only in his third year, isn't he 30? I dunno for sure.

 

But the new facility does give him a great tool.

 

The summer program is not getting better every year and the team is driven by the kids who did not play on the summer program. Typically, and I think that means 2 of the last 3 years, the LC JV has been runner-up in their summer league--so the competition hasn't been that good. They go to the NABF championships in Memphis every year and they are 2-14 facing that level of competition over the last 4 years, I think. Of the top 4 in the lineup LC used in Florida last week, 3 of the kids played for competitive travelling teams and not in the LC summer program. The summer program kids are behind the competitive team kids.

 

As far as record, LC finished 2nd in the district in the regular season the year before he took over, graduated 1 kid, and finished 4th in his first year. I don't think they've finished higher than third in the regular season or the tournament before last year. And last year, they had one kid who really carried them through the district tournament, pitching 14 innings in the first 3 (of 4) games they played, giving up only 1 run, and getting wins in all 3 games. Throw in timely hitting by the rest of the team and LC had a great run.

 

I think Buzz McNish is a good guy who really wants to do well and works hard at it. He's bound to get better. However, I think he still has some weaknesses (but then, don't we all). (1) He could teach mechanics much better. (2) He needs work on handling his pitchers, particularly needing to set up a regular rotation (I don't think he's ever used one) to insure that everyone gets enough work. (3) One of his goals seems to be setting school win records, resulting in over-scheduling (often cupcake teams), which means his teams don't practice much during the regular season (and can't work on their problems much) and sometimes they seem to hit the tournament tired. (4) He either needs to seriously upgrade the summer program (no more TMG, no more JV--play tough teams) or stop discouraging his top talents from playing for Stars, Thunder, Dogers, or Yard teams, where they can face top competition. (5) He needs to let his catchers call the pitches.

 

Maybe in 2 or 3 years you can identify him as being in the top tier of coaches but I don't think you can yet. He's still as much of a work in progress as his program is. He could get there, he's got the work ethic. Still, predicting a "top notch program" on the basis of 1 district championship is a bit much at this point--particularly since they had to win the tournament from the 4 seed.

 

He'll really be tested in two years when LC goes AAA.

[LCborn]

I agree you have to play good teams to get better. I however don't see how playing with players from other schools, benefits your high school team. It helps the team chemistry if you can keep your team together year round. Maybe some kids need that status symbol of playing for a traveling team, who knows. Greenback and TMG??? You have got to be kidding me? I know middle school teams who would beat those teams. That is not helping to play them that many times, I agree with you there. 2 or 3 district titles? LC hasn't had a dominating pitcher since Randall Brown back in '99. Without a dominating pitcher, you don't win district titles. Loudon had Greg Lambert; AC Shay Horseman, Matt Hensley;Kingston Matthew Buntrock. LC didn't have the talent to measure up to that until here recently. I will have to say the pitching in the district has gone down, aside from Everett at Loudon. I still believe McNish is a good coach. As for 90% of his players not liking him. I doubt it is that big of a number. If he is a good coach they probably don't like him because he pushes them so hard. Hard work is the foundation of winning.

Team chemistry can be important...but give me a team with good skills and poor chemistry over one with poor skills and good chemistry, every day. Sometimes, good chemistry just means everyone has a good time losing together.

 

And yes, the summer program usually includes Greenback's pick-up team, TMG, and the LC JV. Some years, that's about all it's been--adding in LC's varsity, of course. That and a sprinkling of tournaments.

 

And LC hasn't had notably good chemistry lately, although they did last year and appear to this year. I don't think that had anything to do with the summer program, either. It had to do with the personalities on the team and leadership. Anyway, it takes summer ball to build chemistry? These kids are in school together every day. They already know each other pretty well, it shouldn't take more than the first week of practice to establish good chemistry. If chemistry is the only benefit of the summer program, I think there is a problem.

 

LC's summer leauge doesn't allow good players to fully develop their skills, as it has been operated while I've been around the program--with the possible exception of summer '02, when Seymour and some other decent teams played. I think it holds the team back.

 

LC did have a dominating pitcher last year in Erik Draper (8-3, 1.85--LC defenders gave up about 16 unearned runs in those 3 losses).

 

Everett at Loudon is pretty good...but come check out Jubal Duncan at LC, too.

 

I think McNish has the potential to be a fine coach but he's got to show me more to get to "good" and even more to get to "one of the best." He's showed he can improve the facilities. He's showed he can win a district if he's got an all-state player on his team. For me, he has to show me better talent judgment (that all-state player mostly rode his bench for two years, after all) and better talent development ability. Hey, like I say, he's still a work in progress, he can get there.

[VHScatch18]

Wes Smith

Brandon Reed

Will Cordel

Brandon Rogers

 

 

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[utcgolf]

Coach Phillip Campbell @Siegel High School. He already has a State Championship ring from LaVergne.

One of the greatest motivators around!!!!!

[Harris' hooligans]

do u mean reavis from siegel????? dont believe there is a Campbell at Siegel

[sludge31]

Coach Mac at TCA? Look a little harder...His assistant Eric Quinn has to be at the top of my list for coaches under 30...this guy deserves to have his own program...and whoever lands him will be lucky...at least he has the class to look you in the eye and shake your hand after a game that TCA came out on the short end of...Ozment does a great job when he has something to work with...can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh**" (Sammy Fisher, 1995)...Eubanks is also right up there...Huntingdon plays with alot of heart...as for Messer...I can't beleive that crazy sucker made it through college alive...and I mean that in a good way...great guy...can't wait to see his team play this weekend...can't say that Humboldt's Greg Scott (another coach that won't shak'em up) is even close to being on my list...they have some good talent...but, from what I have seen, are poorly prepared...again, maybe a case where the assistant is better than the "man"...that is what the voices in my head tell me.

[nokona2]

How bout Joe Wingate of Ooltewah HS. I think he's 29???

if wingate is under 30, then he definitely is one of the best around... definitely in the chatt. area if not east tenn.

[nokona2]

CSAS HAS THE WORST FIELD IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL. CSAS PLAYS CUPCAKES.....21ST CENTURY, SALE CREEK,...ETC. THE PROGRAM IS NOT A PROGRAM.

i agree, and not to mention, the only tough team they beat in their district was east ridge ONCE. they beat howard and other teams like that (CUPCAKES). and their field is pretty terrible. fielding a groundball is like playing plinko, you never know where it will end up!

[shrtstop2000]

not sure if he is under 30 but coach Purvis at Mt. Juliet is a great coach and has really turned Mt. juliet baseball around. He will win a state title very soon.