Plywood_King

There are a lot of factors that would contribute to that, that have been discussed widely by both school administrators and politicians alike. At the end of the day it comes down to industry, the best example would be to look at the schools in the coalfields and how their enrollments have been on a steady decline for a long time. As a more local example for the Grayson/Galax situation, you can look at the Smyth County schools, who have similar geography and economic opportunities.
 
In about twenty-five years time, Northwood and Marion's enrollment numbers have been cut almost in half, while Chilhowie's have been relatively unscathed, and if you look at the industry that has left the Marion and Northwood (previously Worthy and Rich Valley) school districts since the late seventies into the early eighties, there is a clear relationship. After Olin closed, the folks in Saltville started looking towards Marion for jobs, but as factories started closing in Marion, they began looking toward Abingdon and Bristol. Soon they began moving out of the Valley, because as anyone who has to do it will tell you, having to cross Walker Mountain every day isn't a fun experience. Chilhowie, because it sits in a crossroads between Saltville, Marion, and Abingdon, has seen it's population remain stagnant, despite the fact that most places in the region have seen school enrollment drops. So as younger people from Saltville move toward the Middle Folk of the Holston, younger people from Marion move further up and down the I-81 corridor looking for work and older folks moved towards Marion for retirement, because of its scenery, quaintness, and accessibility, causing their school numbers to drop without effecting the overall town/County populations. 
 
So, to answer the question, people go where there are jobs, and as small-time farming becomes less profitable, rural people go where there are unskilled labor opportunities. If there are no factories, mines, et cetera, they will find a place where those jobs exist. Yes, it is normal for local populations and school enrollments to fluctuate in 15-20 year intervals. However, the overall drop of school enrollments around the region is not normal, and should be very concerning.

It's never too early to start talking about football. In my household, especially regarding college ball, there is no "football season". It's pre-season, regular season, post-season, and off-season.

It's never too early to start talking about football. In my household, especially regarding college ball, there is no "football season". It's pre-season, regular season, post-season, and off-season.

Summer is at the doorstep....  I can't take anymore basketball or baseball.... I'm one of the rare soccer fans that frequent this forum....but I can't wait for football season and going out to watch the kids play on friday night.....

Ironically, Battle's last coach, Steve Wright, won the Highlands District Championship in 2000 and 2001, posting 9 and 10 win seasons, respectably, and visiting the state-semis. Meanwhile, his successor, Brian Lee, was busy going 3-14 at Lee, in the same less-than-stellar District, with the benefit of coalfield talent.
 
Comparing apples to apples, the track records speak for themselves. We'll see what happens, but on paper, this is a pretty big step down.

Thought some of you might find this as interesting as I did,
 

 
 

Cool stuff, indeed. To clarify something that was mentioned on the other thread, the combination of Sugar Grove High School with Marion was "technically" a consolidation, rather than an absorption. Sugar Grove High School was consolidated with the old Marion High School, creating the new Marion Senior High School. In fact, as I understand it, the word "Senior" was added to the name for the sole purpose of appeasing Sugar Grove community members, ensuring that it was different school. The new school was built and the old Marion High School became Marion Junior High, now Marion Middle. There was quite a bit of backlash from old timers in the Grove, because while it was a consolidation from a technical standpoint, it was handled more as an absorption, with the school retaining the "Marion" name, as well as the Scarlet Hurricane moniker, the goat as a mascot, the Marion fight song, all the cheers, and most of the traditions of Marion High. In fact, Marion's primary cheer still refers to itself as "M-H-S", and the words to the fight song say, "We'll win this game for 'Marion High'". Obviously you can see how this would have offended some of the older folks in the Grove, who still remembered a very intense basketball rivalry between the Canes and the Leafs before VHSL Hall of Fame Coach Charlie Harkins began coaching for Marion, and Sugar Grove could no longer stay competitive.

Before the consolidation of Marion and Sugar Grove, there was another high school in Smyth County that was absorbed by Marion in Atkins. I believe that the Atkins High School Bulldogs were green and white, but don't quote me on that.

I'm not completely sure about the mascots for Liberty Hall and Damascus, although I am familiar with both schools, as the school buildings are fixtures in their respective communities. Liberty Hall has fallen into quite a state of disrepair, being used to store hay. It's really a shame because it's a gorgeous building and quite a point of pride for the community of Lodi. Upon researching Damascus High School, it's easiest to find by looking for references to "The Rock School", a very common nickname for the school. I was also able to find a picture of the Damascus High baseball team from the 20s at this address: http://www.vacreepertrail.us/images/smith06.jpg

I'm not 100% positive on this, but I believe that Glade Spring High School were the Rebels, the nickname taken by Patrick Henry after consolidation. I can remember my grandfather telling stories about playing basketball versus Glade back in the 40s at Emory & Henry, and the stands emptying onto the court after the officials called a disputable technical against Glade. Of course, if you listened to any of my grandfather's stories, apparently every athletic competition that he ever competed in ended in a big fight. He had been ejected from the famous Marion/Wytheville football game of 1949, three minutes before the stands emptied onto the field, killing a drunk who fell off the back of the bleachers. It caused the VHSL to ban Marion and Wytheville from playing each other in football, which continued until 2011.

Sounds good, thanks. They missed a chance to have awesome uniforms with Navy/Maroon.

Unfortunately, that's the way things are everywhere, not just Washington County. You look at the business in Wytheville, and realize that times have changed (that's probably not the best example, considering that there should have been disciplinary actions taken, but no one should have lost their job IMO).You can argue that good coaches lose their jobs because of parents, but every coach in the country has to deal with that. Back in the day, the best coaches were coaches who the players respected, enjoyed playing for, and won championships with, but now you have to have the skill to appease parents and fans. When a parent doesn't like the way a coach is coaching, the people who have to hear about it the most are the kids, who in turn, lose confidence in their coach and the team suffers. 
 
As Coach Wright, himself, said in the Bristol paper today, "I do think we're not as tough as a society as we once were. We seem to have lost some of that blue-collar mentality."

Coach Wright came pretty close to getting there, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and that's the risk you take hiring a coach that already had the experience that he had; sure, you know you're going to get a good coach, but how long will he be there? However, assuming that it is true, I'm not so sure that Coach Wright is done. I feel pretty sure that his allegiances were always closer to wrestling than football, and he also has AD experience, so it could be that he was just tired of the sport. Regardless, if he does move on down the road or packs it up completely, he left Battle in a better position than he found it, and the head football position is much more desirable than it was before he got there.

I believe so. I know that the modern Atkins Elementary School, which still prides itself on being the Bulldogs, is motif-ed in green and white. I could ask some friends of mine though who are from the area and find out for sure if that was the case.
 
I'm not sure what Meadowview's mascot was, but I have seen pictures of their football uniforms and they were definitely blue. Again, I could probably do a little digging and see what I can come up with. Stay tuned.

Cool stuff, indeed. To clarify something that was mentioned on the other thread, the combination of Sugar Grove High School with Marion was "technically" a consolidation, rather than an absorption. Sugar Grove High School was consolidated with the old Marion High School, creating the new Marion Senior High School. In fact, as I understand it, the word "Senior" was added to the name for the sole purpose of appeasing Sugar Grove community members, ensuring that it was different school. The new school was built and the old Marion High School became Marion Junior High, now Marion Middle. There was quite a bit of backlash from old timers in the Grove, because while it was a consolidation from a technical standpoint, it was handled more as an absorption, with the school retaining the "Marion" name, as well as the Scarlet Hurricane moniker, the goat as a mascot, the Marion fight song, all the cheers, and most of the traditions of Marion High. In fact, Marion's primary cheer still refers to itself as "M-H-S", and the words to the fight song say, "We'll win this game for 'Marion High'". Obviously you can see how this would have offended some of the older folks in the Grove, who still remembered a very intense basketball rivalry between the Canes and the Leafs before VHSL Hall of Fame Coach Charlie Harkins began coaching for Marion, and Sugar Grove could no longer stay competitive.

Before the consolidation of Marion and Sugar Grove, there was another high school in Smyth County that was absorbed by Marion in Atkins. I believe that the Atkins High School Bulldogs were green and white, but don't quote me on that.

I'm not completely sure about the mascots for Liberty Hall and Damascus, although I am familiar with both schools, as the school buildings are fixtures in their respective communities. Liberty Hall has fallen into quite a state of disrepair, being used to store hay. It's really a shame because it's a gorgeous building and quite a point of pride for the community of Lodi. Upon researching Damascus High School, it's easiest to find by looking for references to "The Rock School", a very common nickname for the school. I was also able to find a picture of the Damascus High baseball team from the 20s at this address: http://www.vacreepertrail.us/images/smith06.jpg

I'm not 100% positive on this, but I believe that Glade Spring High School were the Rebels, the nickname taken by Patrick Henry after consolidation. I can remember my grandfather telling stories about playing basketball versus Glade back in the 40s at Emory & Henry, and the stands emptying onto the court after the officials called a disputable technical against Glade. Of course, if you listened to any of my grandfather's stories, apparently every athletic competition that he ever competed in ended in a big fight. He had been ejected from the famous Marion/Wytheville football game of 1949, three minutes before the stands emptied onto the field, killing a drunk who fell off the back of the bleachers. It caused the VHSL to ban Marion and Wytheville from playing each other in football, which continued until 2011.

Cool stuff, indeed. To clarify something that was mentioned on the other thread, the combination of Sugar Grove High School with Marion was "technically" a consolidation, rather than an absorption. Sugar Grove High School was consolidated with the old Marion High School, creating the new Marion Senior High School. In fact, as I understand it, the word "Senior" was added to the name for the sole purpose of appeasing Sugar Grove community members, ensuring that it was different school. The new school was built and the old Marion High School became Marion Junior High, now Marion Middle. There was quite a bit of backlash from old timers in the Grove, because while it was a consolidation from a technical standpoint, it was handled more as an absorption, with the school retaining the "Marion" name, as well as the Scarlet Hurricane moniker, the goat as a mascot, the Marion fight song, all the cheers, and most of the traditions of Marion High. In fact, Marion's primary cheer still refers to itself as "M-H-S", and the words to the fight song say, "We'll win this game for 'Marion High'". Obviously you can see how this would have offended some of the older folks in the Grove, who still remembered a very intense basketball rivalry between the Canes and the Leafs before VHSL Hall of Fame Coach Charlie Harkins began coaching for Marion, and Sugar Grove could no longer stay competitive.

Before the consolidation of Marion and Sugar Grove, there was another high school in Smyth County that was absorbed by Marion in Atkins. I believe that the Atkins High School Bulldogs were green and white, but don't quote me on that.

I'm not completely sure about the mascots for Liberty Hall and Damascus, although I am familiar with both schools, as the school buildings are fixtures in their respective communities. Liberty Hall has fallen into quite a state of disrepair, being used to store hay. It's really a shame because it's a gorgeous building and quite a point of pride for the community of Lodi. Upon researching Damascus High School, it's easiest to find by looking for references to "The Rock School", a very common nickname for the school. I was also able to find a picture of the Damascus High baseball team from the 20s at this address: http://www.vacreepertrail.us/images/smith06.jpg

I'm not 100% positive on this, but I believe that Glade Spring High School were the Rebels, the nickname taken by Patrick Henry after consolidation. I can remember my grandfather telling stories about playing basketball versus Glade back in the 40s at Emory & Henry, and the stands emptying onto the court after the officials called a disputable technical against Glade. Of course, if you listened to any of my grandfather's stories, apparently every athletic competition that he ever competed in ended in a big fight. He had been ejected from the famous Marion/Wytheville football game of 1949, three minutes before the stands emptied onto the field, killing a drunk who fell off the back of the bleachers. It caused the VHSL to ban Marion and Wytheville from playing each other in football, which continued until 2011.

The elders have oft said that it is "bird".

What about Coach Mike Briscoe. he still lives in Abingdon. Played football and was all state at defensive end. He loves the town of Abingdon and im sure he would be interested in the opening. He coached under Bowles one year and they played the best defense in the Bowles era while Coach Briscoe was the defensive coordinator. He led Marion to their first ever 6-0 start 2009. He could bring Abingdon back to glory days of the 70s.

Congrats to Ms Allen on what must have been a great year. I'm sorry but so what if she is co-player. On 1st place teams the player has some talent around her, as for last place teams the star can get doubled or tripled teamed because no one can step up and help the way better teams that have someone else that can score. You should be proud of what she did and also give the other young lady a little love. And i hope Ms Allen's future at the next level will be just as good. Co-Player takes nothing away from Ms Allen.

Congratulations, Panthers! That certainly makes the race for the Smyth County Championship more interesting. I had a feeling they would surprise some people, and a rivalry game against a somewhat overrated Chilhowie team is the perfect place for that to happen.

Congratulations, Panthers! That certainly makes the race for the Smyth County Championship more interesting. I had a feeling they would surprise some people, and a rivalry game against a somewhat overrated Chilhowie team is the perfect place for that to happen.

Congratulations, Panthers! That certainly makes the race for the Smyth County Championship more interesting. I had a feeling they would surprise some people, and a rivalry game against a somewhat overrated Chilhowie team is the perfect place for that to happen.

Either Haysi or Honaker win the BDD
 
GW bounces back and Wins the Hogo
 
JI Burton wins the Cumberland
 
GC wins the Mountain
 
Tazewell wins the SWD

I know that at the Marion/Appomattox game last night there was someone shouting "Get your boy off the field!" while they were waiting to bring in the cart to get Sam Wagner off the field when he was injured. The coaches and medical staff finally had enough and helped him over to the sideline and put him on the cart there. However, every Appomattox fan that I encountered face-to-face was very polite, perhaps more than any group of fans I've ever had contact with. Unfortunately there's somebody like that in every crowd. It's a shame, but you've got to take it for what it's worth and realize that the actions of some don't reflect the actions of all.

I know that at the Marion/Appomattox game last night there was someone shouting "Get your boy off the field!" while they were waiting to bring in the cart to get Sam Wagner off the field when he was injured. The coaches and medical staff finally had enough and helped him over to the sideline and put him on the cart there. However, every Appomattox fan that I encountered face-to-face was very polite, perhaps more than any group of fans I've ever had contact with. Unfortunately there's somebody like that in every crowd. It's a shame, but you've got to take it for what it's worth and realize that the actions of some don't reflect the actions of all.

Ha. I see what you did there.

Appomattox tends to make people surrender.
 
I'll take Appomattox.

I was hoping this was a story on Southbound and Falcon Man being banned from the internet but this is a great story too.