Will the Generals go winless in the district? If so, it will be the first time since 2012 that Lee has failed to win at least one game in the district.
I saw the quote below from Jeremy Pruitt in the Knox News Sentinel, after the beating from Alabama. Whether you like Pruitt or not he speaks truth. Several folks have suggested several different problems with programs.....i.e. players, parents, etc... I thought the last sentence specifically applies to this topic.
Blue Devil faithful, assuming Mr Leatherhead and Mr GrapeApe are correct and GC is looking for a new captain of the ship; are you going inside or outside the Big Blue family? Somebody suggested earlier the program has only had 4 head coachs in the last 50 yrs. The way I see it....Fry, Colobro, and Akers were outside the family and Houseright was the only guy in the family.
I thought the TV and camera crew did a great job. I would love to see more local high school games televised. Back to the game, any word on #43s injury?
Turner will always get my vote. I'll never forget watching them pull into GC one night about 15 minutes before kickoff. They came in and kicked our hind ends, went straight back to the bus and left.
LOL. I experienced that myself. Assuming "district" as the LPD, coalfield demographics and different VHSL divisions over the years it's hard to make a fair comparison between coaches. Never played for Phil or Tom but played against them. Those two would have to be at/near the top of my list. Best high school game I ever saw Appy vs PV, I think 1997. Travis playn at Appy and Julius Jones at PV. There was a wall of PV blue and red jerseys down the PV sideline and I think around 25 dressed out for the Bulldogs. Appy came up short on the scoreboard that night but I will never forget how much I respected the Turner's and the rest of the Bulldogs when I left that game.
Hey Duckthecook won't argue about talent. At least he was smart enough that they didn't transfer to Norton or Gate City. I think you probably left out a Jones. Thomas, Julius, and Barry. Not a big Robbins fan but you're being pretty hard on a coach that has more than twice as many wins as your school. Record speaks for itself.
Phil Robbins record speaks for itself. He had talent and good assistants for sure. Maybe one of the most important traits of a good head coach is......If it ain't broke, don't fix it and if it's working, don't screw it up.
What exactly are you fishing for in this conversation? You are making it seem like you have a grudge on a program trying to pick itself up. Just call it what it is, a combination of many bad things combined into a program. With the knowledge you show about the situation, you also know that, if any change will occur it will be after the election.
No grudge at all TW. Just responded to a comment with a couple questions. And your obviously very close to the workings of Lee County if you know that change will only occur after the next election. Hey maybe Lee puts TWHS back on the regular schedule and turns it around and goes 5-5, 6-4 the next few years.
The problem at Lee is a combination of many things, not just blaming a coach. The parents and fans are a huge part of the problem because they think Lee should be in the same category as the Richlands, Unions, etc. Since the late 90's Lee has been a bad program with a few years sprinkled in on 6-5 and 1 good year of 9-3 when they lost some close games in the regular season they probably should have won. You have a 3 year shelf life to either win or you are gone, fair or not. Terry Martin did a great job with the program and was ran off, Palko (from Maryland who did not win any state titles btw) was a complete joke and made the program worse than before. Pendergraft knows some football and has some really good assistants, but the parents will always know more than anyone, so why even try. That job is a lot less appealing than the Gate City job in my opinion.
Duh Huh you seem close to the current General program and coaching staff, I'm curious can you tell me another high school, college, or nfl team that routinely lines a 6'3" 280+# nose man up head up on the center a foot from the ball in a two point stance? Or a high school or college team that starts the year in the spread 4 games, then goes to the wishbone for 3 games and then back to spread? I'm interested. I'm sure it's all the kids or parents fault for not understanding.
I live in a Trump world.....it's all about WINNING now. I just had to throw that in for fun. I wish Coomer, Palko, Martin, Derek Dooley, and yes UT Butch Jones had all been successful but it didnt work out. I hope the current coach ends up very successful but look at some other successful coaches in the first few years...Rockin Phil Robbins 11-1, 8-2, 12-1; Tom Turner 12-1, 8-1-1, 3-7, 7-3; Travis Turner 22-13 third year 9-3; Harry Frye, Rick Mullins, Don Williams, Ralph Cummins, Nick Colobro....go ahead look for yourselves. Each of them may have had a rocky season out of the three but there was at least one season that energized the program. I don't see that at Ben Hur. I hope I'm wrong.
Just curious at LEE, why did Don Williams(playoffs 6 out of 6 yrs), Allen Kinser(4 out of 4)and Terry Martin(3 out of 4) leave or not coach long. I know retirement for 2. They were all successful. 10 coaches in 30 years of football is a lot. I know a while back. Johnny Cooke was a good coach at Jonesville, did he leave after consolidation?
As I previously mentioned, adequate talent and number of players have not been a problem for a coach to be successful at Lee High. I have heard that after consolidation there was not a position for John Cooke on the coaching staff. To my knowledge, Coach Cooke is the only coach that has ever coached a Lee County school to a State Championship. Why Coach Martin left is a question for Coach Martin or the Lee County School Board and/or School Administration. Why a head coach is let go or how a head coaching position is hired has not exactly been open to the public. Somebody from Lee help me out here, were the last two head football coaching vacancies at Lee High even advertised to the public?
I don't know, but multiple coaches have not had significant success in the past, so maybe the system is broken, maybe there is not as much talent as some would like to believe. Maybe there are probably a lot of factors other than coaching that have led to Lee High football not being a championship caliber program.
You bring up some good points Weatherman. There could be more going on behind the scenes. Have you seen Lee High play in the last few years? I won't get into Xs and Os, which have been confusing. In football, I think school enrollment is very important, more students, more players, more potential talent. Looking at enrollment on VHSL website Union 659 students, Gate City 667, Ridgeview 677, Central 693, and JI Burton 239. Lee lost to each of those teams. Lee's enrollment was 671 students. I have always thought part of the head coach's job is getting the kids out to play. Bottomline the buck stops with the head coach. I know there is a pretty good player at Union right now that use to be on Lee High's roster, I don't know why the family left the program but they left. Like you said Lee's problems may not have anything to do with the coach.
What was Greg Mance's record at Richlands after 3 years?
My source fourseasonsfootball.com.....14-18. Second year he went 9-3. So there was an indication he might know something in his secknd year. Plus there were a few quality wins his second year.
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. Whether you like Pruitt or not he speaks truth. Several folks have suggested several different problems with programs.....i.e. players, parents, etc... I thought the last sentence specifically applies to this topic.
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