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If I were an assistant and had to live not knowing until my position "is posted" or not, then my decision would be easy. I would be out the door.

Usually takes 3 months to be released. A High School in Greenville,Va, called Riverheads has to first see the numbers, then they turn in their own numbers, and then it gets released

The issue is really that the upper half of group 4, all of 5, and the lower portion of 6 are all basically the same size. Those need to be combined, leave 1/2 alone as is

True. But I will add that Ethan & his parents did an excellent job of marketing himself on social media since he was in middle school. They constantly updated his X (Twitter) page with his size, weight room PR’s, camp visits & accolades. To any upcoming recruits: use Ethan as a blueprint & make it easy for college coaches to find you.

Looks like the Blues pulled off the magic. Richlands upset Union in round 1 today 8-6 final.

Tazewell County School Board tonight voted 5-0 to purchase the home and away bleachers at Grundy High School from the Buchanan County School Board to be moved to Graham High School to be used at our stadium. Approval for lights were passed 5-0 as well. The funds were released in a vote by the Tazewell county BOS late last week.

Think that I am more shocked that the school board made a semi-intelligent decision for once. Will be good to see it happen sooner than later for sure.

New coach. Distance from the shitshow of the past year. A fresh beginning. He wins as many games as I think he will, nobody will give two shits what the helmet looks like.

Ethan Lawson commits to WVU.

Actually this was somewhat of a project of mine a couple of months ago then i got sidetracked. I went back and compiled standings in the SWD from 1956-1969. Not 100% sure its accurate due to teams coming and going but this is what I have........Im not sure if Saltville was a SWD member in 1956 but I counted them. Maybe someone else can figure that out. The interesting thing to me was that every team in the district got at least a share of the championship over 14 seasons. And every team finished last in the district except for Tazewell. 1956: SWD Champions Graham (1) 1957 SWD Champions Saltville(1) 1958: SWD Champions Graham (2) 1959 SWD Champions Tazewell (1) /Saltville (2) Graham 4-0 Saltville 5-0-1 Graham 6-0 Tazewell 5-1 Tazewell 4-1 Tazewell 4-0-2 Marion 4-2 Saltville 5-1 Richlands 3-2 Graham 2-1-3 Saltville 3-2-1 Richlands 4-2 Marion 1-2-2 Richlands 3-3 Tazewell 3-3 Marion 3-3 Grundy 1-3-1 Grundy 2-3-1 Richlands 2-3-1 Grundy 2-4 Saltville 1-4-1 VA High 1-5 VA High 1-3-2 VA High 1-4-1 VA High 0-3-1 Marion 0-5-1 Grundy 0-6 Graham 1-4-1 1961:SWD Champs Graham(4)/Saltville(3) 1962: SWD Champion Graham (5) 1963: SWD Champion Grundy(1) 1964 : SWD Champion VA High (1) Graham 4-1-1 Graham 6-0 Grundy 6-0 VA High 5-1 Saltville 4-1-1 Tazewell 5-1 VA High 3-2-1 Tazewell 4-2 Grundy 4-2 Grundy 4-2 Tazewell 3-2-1 Grundy 4-2 Tazewell 4-2 Richlands 3-3 Graham 3-2-1 Marion 3-3 VA High 2-4 VA High 2-4 Richlands 2-3-1 Richlands 3-3 Richlands 1-5 Marion 1-5 Marion 1-4-1 Graham 1-5 Marion 1-5 Saltville 0-6 Saltville 0-5-1 Saltville 1-5 1966: SWD Champions Graham (6) 1967: SWD Champions Richlands (2) 1968: SWD Champions Marion (1)/ Tazewell (2) Graham 4-1 Richlands 4-1 Marion 4-1 Tazewell 3-1-1 Tazewell 3-2 Tazewell 4-1 Richlands 3-2 VA High 3-2 VA High 3-2 Grundy 2-2-1 Graham 3-2 Graham 2-3 VA High 1-3-1 Marion 2-3 Richlands 2-3 Marion 0-4-1 Grundy 0-5 Grundy 0-5 1960: SWD Champions Graham (3) 1965: SWD Champions Richlands (1) 1969: SWD Champions Tazewell (3) Graham 5-0-1 Richlands 5-0 Tazewell 5-0 Marion 4-1-1 Marion 2-1-2 Marion 4-1 VA High 4-2 Grundy 2-2-1 Graham 3-2 Saltville 3-3 Graham 1-2-1 Grundy 2-3 Grundy 3-3 Tazewell 1-4 VA High 1-4 Tazewell 2-4 VA High 0-4-1 Richlands 0-5 Richlands 0-6 Edit: Sorry they are out of order, the page wouldnt display correctly unless I moved these to the bottom of post.

I want to make sure I have this right. Edwards was replaced at OC by Mike Davis. Who wasn't approved by the school board hired by the HC who's contract was not renewed yesterday. And Edwards was named interim coach by the principal who's boss is on the staff and on the school board and has a kid on the team....... Nothing fishy about this at all. Id be willing to bet you guys have a couple of new starters tomorrow that weren't starting on Monday. If I have that right all I can say to you guys is good luck. Youre going to need it. And I mean that with no disrespect.

Let’s call it like it is. He started his personal training business and got kids in there working out with him and now they’re at Bluefield. Graham was fine without Daniel Jennings when he left for Princeton. Graham will be fine. A big loss , sure but the season marches on. Good luck to both young men.

Unless something is clearly going wrong that must immediately be dealt with, patience is a virtue not often displayed in recent years. (Again, I don’t know the details here so it could be legitimate or not.) Coaching tenures are shorter and shorter. One thing, both historically and currently true, is that patience and stability are key to success. As I look at the most successful programs in the area, one thing they certainly have in common is very little turnover. Though I often point to talent discrepancies in some areas which may help coaches stay, the fact remains that there is very little turnover. Phil Robbins, Tom Turner, Glynn Carlock, Fred Simon, Tony Palmer, and he who shall not be named have had sustained success. Bluefield, in particular with one coach that continues to hang on is arguably the most successful around. Graham, due to the untimely death of Carlock and several mediocre years, were successful almost immediately after Palmer took the reins. I still believe that talent helps get and keep them there, but they remain committed to not mess it up. As far as Richlands is concerned, in my opinion it is a typical student body with some talented classes and others not so talented. It takes prolonged commitment to build and establish a program to be successful. Look no further than Greg Mance. I was there when he took over for Dennis Vaught and a coaching staff somewhat in shambles. People forget during his first four seasons, he was 20-23, bolstered by my 9-3 senior class. If he would have been let go or abandoned who knows where it would have gone. He stayed the course and Richlands experienced a successful run. I think it takes commitment on both ends.

Once completed, Graham will have once of the nicest home field advantages. I think the seating will be perfect for the average Graham home game. I always have said Graham and Bluefield have great fan support but it looks scarce playing in Mitchell. Home side is never full unless it’s a big game. Won’t have to worry about that anymore.

Don't like them. Keep the U. That's your identity.

The regions for class 1 and 2 iare fine how they are now with the exception you mentioned. 1D just lost 4 teams and it evened them up with the rest of the classifications so it should stay put. 5 classes would help a school like abingdon with travel and Graham would go bananas in the lowest classification

As a union faithful fan and the rivalries we endured with Richlands over the years, for once, I will say Richlands got the shaft. I don’t care what the coaches agreed on, the VHSL says, Richlands got royally screwed. Figure out a way.

I will be forever grateful to him for giving my eldest son a fulfillment of his dream. He has left a huge, lasting legacy by all of the young men in high school and college that he molded. My son has spoken so many times about how much he learned about not just football but life from Coach Newsome. #STINGERSUP. You will be profoundly missed Coach!

Whoever decides to start a VHSL baseball playoff game at 11:30 at night should be fired. There was simply no reason to start this game. The teams are 25 minutes apart. Reconvene are start this morning at 10/11 am. Richlands should file an appeal and someone should justify their decision to have kids playing baseball at 2 am. Stupidity….all the way around.

Ethan Lawson should be proof to everyone that you don't have to leave a small school to get noticed. If you're good enough, they will find you.

The graphic can say what it wants-Lebanon is the 1 and Richlands is the 2. SWD regular season champion is the auto bid for the top seed.

I know for Lebanon the biggest key has been “daddy ball”. People can hate on it all they want but it’s needed at the youth level, not needed in HS, but definitely youth. I’ve noticed since about 2015 all of the good HS baseball teams all have had a group of dads get a group of 7-8 year old kids together and going to play travel ball. Granted it is a lot easier to do this whenever you constantly give the youth levels motivation with consistently having a good HS team. All of these kids that you see today that are good, 99 times out of 100 their parents have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on lessons and team fees. Lebanon is going on about their 5th or 6th straight group of kids like this, with about 3 more already in line. This has been the case at Battle and Abingdon too, with BSG also starting to see that come to fruition, which is also why East TN schools are usually light years ahead of SWVA in baseball, Johnson City and Kingsport are travel ball hotspots. Same thing applies in softball. Baseballs not like Football or Basketball, HS coaches very rarely play a role in the development of players, usually you can already tell who can end up contributing at the high school level pretty early and easily. So I’d recommend if you wanted your school to become a good baseball program, don’t worry about the highschool players. Get parents that have some knowledge of the sport and get them to organize a team and just go play. It’s a lot easier said than done but it’s theres not a secret formula to it

Clinch Valley 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 [ Black Diamond Castlewood 5-0 / 5-0 / 1-4 / 4-1 / 7-0 / 7-0 / 3-3 / 5-1 [ 1978 1979 Garden 0-5 / 3-2 / 4-2 / 6-1 / 3-3-1 / 2-4 / 3-3 / 2-3-1 / 2-2 / 0-3-1 Haysi / 1-5 / 3-3 / 3-3-1 / 5-2 / 5-2 / 4-2-1 / 2-2 / 4-0 Honaker 4-2 / 4-1-1 / 5-2 / 4-3 / 1-5-1 / 3-4 / 4-2 / 6-0 Hurley 4-2 / 0-5 / 2-4 / 1-5 / 2-4-1 / 1-6 / 0-6 / 1-6 / 1-3 / 3-1 Lebanon 5-1 / 2-2-1 / 6-0 / 6-0 / 6-1 / 5-1 / 5-0 / 2-3 Pocahontas 2-4 / 1-4-1 / 3-4 / 0-7 / - / - / 3-1 / 3-1 / 4-0 / 0-3-1 St. Paul 4-3 / 4-2 / 6-1 / 3-5 / 2-5 / 0-7 / 0-6 / 0-6 / 1-3 / 2-2 Twin Springs 0-6 / 1-4-1 / 0-6 / 2-4 / 2-5 / 4-3 Cumberland 1970 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Jonesville 2-0 / 0-2 / 0-2 / 1-1 / 1-1 / 0-2 / 2-1 / 1-2 / 3-0 / 0-3 Penn. Gap 1-1 / 2-0 / 1-1 / 2-0 / 2-0 / 1-1 / 3-0 / 3-0 / 2-1 / 2-0-1 Rye Cove 0-2 / 1-1 / 2-0 / 0-2 / 0-2 / 2-0 / 1-2 / 2-1 / 1-2 / 2-0-1 Twin Springs / 0-3 / 0-3 / 0-3 / 1-2 Lo. Pine 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Appalachia 5-2 / 7-0 / 3-4 / 6-1 / 4-2-1 / 2-4 / 3-4 / 1-6 / 3-4 / 4-3 Clintwood 3-5 / 3-5 / 3-4 / 7-0 / 6-0-1 / 7-0 / 7-0 / 7-0 / 7-0 / 7-0 Coeburn 3-5 / 4-3 / 1-6 / 0-6-1 / 0-7 / 2-5 / 2-5 / 0-7 / 0-7 / 0-7 Ervinton 2-4-1 / 1-6 / 0-6 / 1-6 / 2-5 / 0-6 / 0-7 / 2-4-1 / 2-5 / 1-6 JI Burton 2-4-1 / 5-2 / 7-0 / 5-2 / 5-2 / 4-3 / 4-3 / 4-2-1 / 2-5 / 4-3 JJ Kelly 6-1 / 5-2 / 5-2 / 4-3 / 2-5 / 6-1 / 5-2 / 6-1 / 6-1 / 4-3 Pound 6-2 / 1-6 / 3-4 / 1-5-1 / 3-4 / 1-6 / 3-4 / 3-3-1 / 3-4 / 3-4 Powell Valley 3-3 / 3-3 / 6-1 / 3-4 / 5-2 / 5-2 / 4-3 / 3-3-1 / 5-2 / 5-2 Haysi 0-4 / 0-2 Hogoheegee 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Chilhowie 3-0 / 3-0 / 4-0 / 4-0 / 2-1-1 / 4-0 / 2-2 / 2-2 / 2-5 / 6-1 Holston 1-2 / 0-3 / 1-3 / 0-4 / 1-3 / 0-3-1 / 2-2 / 0-4 / 2-4 / 1-6 RB Worthy 2-1 / 1-2 / 0-4 / 2-2 / 4-0 / 2-2 / 4-0 / 4-0 / 4-3 / 4-3 Rich Valley 0-3 / 2-1 / 3-1 / 2-2 / 0-4 / 2-1-1 / 2-2 / 3-1 / 7-0 / 0-7 Rural Retreat - / - / 2-2 / 2- 2 / 2-1-1 / 0-2-2 / 0-4 / 1-3 / 0-7 / 3-4 Castlewood 4-2 / 5-2 Honaker 3-4 / 7-1 Lebanon 5-2 / 3-4

Would you mind letting us know if any of these games feature any top prospects? That would be cool, to see how any of those top ranked kids produce.

Not having. Coach Young or Coach McDaniel on staff, I look for Tazewell’s discipline issues to get worse. I hope I’m wrong but looking at the list of assistants, I’m not seeing anyone who will hold players accountable, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The two from central have a bright future in basketball, stay away from getting a knee blown out with a weak team ! Hayes is the best player in southwest Va. be crazy to play football !

Saunders shared a post from Central regarding student physicals. Seems to be a cryptic tell if you ask me.

As Denny Hamlin tweeted last night about becoming a Knicks fan, “I’d rather sit on an ant hill.” 😂😂

And that kept us from hosting a state semi against Salem in '96 - VHSL said 'safety concerns' having all the fans on one side. Ended up losing in OT in a mud bog at Tazewell.

Yeah...maybe they can reconfigure them somehow. Could put those 800 in the endzone and maybe cut off a few rows on the home side for the away.. Lots of possibilities. I guess leave it up to the engineers to figure things out...either way, it'll be great for them tp have a place to call home.

Maybe Richlands can make a hologram of Phil Robbins...

It’s late to hire someone, but I remember when PV made a late hire and settled for a guy who coached at Battle and Christiansburg. IIRC, it worked out ok. 🤔

I don’t want to speculate because I don’t know anything. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that a once proud program is following the pattern of the wrong county rival. (No offense, Dogs). I’m referring specifically to the frequency of turnover as Tazewell experienced the merry-go round in the not so distant past. The lack of stability is both an indicator of greater problems and the cause of them. I don’t know what those issues are or continue to be, but I feel for the players and coaches if the casualties were no fault of their own.

Sounds like right daddy or mommy threw a fit.

Yes. And it looks like the two schools have made a deal to keep the big game at Mitchell each year, which is awesome. I'm old enough to remember when Graham sat on the visitors side each year. It's not just great for football, but for soccer, track, little league. The band can now host competitions. Graduation can be held outdoors now, great deal all around. Also, shout out to the Buchanan County officials for looking out for their neighbors.

Has to be much more to this.....

As long as y’all aren’t also getting Grundy’s announcer and PA system 😂

That now means 1D and 2D have 12 and 13 schools respectively so there is really no reason to move schools down

There's a ton of excitement around town, and it's from knowing that we finally feel that we have a coach who can and will take us to the next level. It may take him a couple years, but no doubt he will. I refuse to mention the previous coach because quite frankly, I have heard his name so many times I am about to vomit, but the truth of it is he was a good coach, but not a great coach like Jamie Harless is. He stayed way too vanilla on offense, was too tight in huge games and got outcoached by great coaches like Palmer. I feel very good about Harless in big games. Our kids are excited, enthusiastic and are listening to him.

I have no dog in this fight, but I'll offer what I believe is an unbiased opinion—though that may be a mistake. I don't believe anyone was intentionally wronged. Had the game been allowed to continue and Lebanon ended up losing, they would have had just as much grounds for a complaint. Given the unique circumstances, this situation was predictable from the outset. Once the decision was made to start the game so late in the evening, there was little chance it would end without controversy. The VHSL and the umpire crew set these events in motion by allowing such an ill-advised situation to occur in the first place.

I just saw that he went 7-3 one year at Ervinton when they were in the LPD. That’s very pretty impressive. Especially in those days.

Because he is a Prima Donna prick.

Then move the championship game to Friday so there is no advantage. This is entirely stupid and why the VHSL never adopted the NFHS rules for the postseason is asinine.

Let me preface this by admitting it’s a speculative long term view of Richlands baseball (and possibly Tazewell being closely connected) and not a prediction. Declining enrollment, more choices in spring sports, and the nature of the necessary investment into travel sports to compete makes it very difficult to consistently compete. The biggest challenge is location, location, location. Using Stelly’s explanation for Lebanon’s success it costs a lot of money and time for travel sports. That cost is higher simply due to being farther away from the Tri-Cities and a shrinking monetary base. Every weekend costs more with shrinking margins than those located closer. For comparison, the programs that are arguably on par/better than Lebanon (John Battle/Abingdon) have greater enrollment and are closer. (I have no explanation for the Bearcats fall). I think some of Tazewell’s and Richlands players already combining somewhat but not as seamlessly as say Honaker/Lebanon since the Tigers have been down. I think Richlands has a good core group of kids and parent/coaches. They will be successful some years it’s just tougher to be elite in baseball and softball. Congratulations to this year’s team and coaches and hopes they continue.

What a softball game between Richards and Battle. Richlands up 4-3 with 2 outs in the top of the 7th. Battle gets 3 runs to go up 6-4. Richlands ties it up with 2 outs in the bottom. Then in the bottom of the 7th, Richlands walks it off to advance. So many momentum swings at the end.

I have decided to help out. Im working on the district standings for the Commonwealth, Cardinal, and Cedar Run districts. I know they are not in sw Virginia but it’s where I grew up. It’s going to take a little bit of time but it’s an interesting project.

To me thats a really interesting scenario, in particular the games in the 90s between Haysi/Appalachia would have been really interesting imo. Contrasting styles and some really good teams

Central, D-B & Betsy were the 'designated' district games Gate City had in '70. ---- Saltville had the shortest run of any school in a VHSL district - one year. They switched to R.B. Worthy in 1957. --- 1956 has some probs. Totals are 14-15-5 - that doesn't work. Richlands went 3-3. Grundy went 2-3-1. Didn't look at any of the rest. Total wins has to equal total losses, and total ties has to be an even number. Exception - SWD from 70-85... wins/losses should always be off by 1. And Region D did the 'designated' district games thing a few times in the 70's. ---- Side note - The first SWD game was played in Tenn... Grundy-Va. High at Municipal Stadium. The only score came when Grundy recovered a (forward) fumble in the end zone.

As much hate as the fan base from Central gets, the M7 is better as a whole if they are competitive. Saunders is the guy to get them there. Really doesn’t matter what kind of coaching style, winning, losing, championships parents are going to find something to whine and b*tch about. Been that way long before Central existed.

I think Saunders will regret getting back with the EX