olewave

I remember watching him play basketball in high school.  He was a good player, athletic, and tough to guard with his left-hand game.  The impression I got from him even back then was arrogance and attitude.  Doubt he's changed much given his baseball success after high school.  
With that being said, I am somewhat torn on this situation.  I feel like I was a tough parent with my kids concerning how they acted and represented themselves regardless of the situation.  My philosophy was always "win well, lose well".  I believe in respecting your teammates and your opponents.  I was not at this game but by reading all the comments it is my understanding that his youngest son was throwing a tantrum after getting out by throwing his helmet and cursing towards the opposing team.  When it is just one of your players, you reprimand them, set a severe punishment, and address the team that attitude/reaction such as that will not be tolerated.  When it is also your son, the parent side of you tends to react a little harsher.  From the video, I see him grab the jersey, confront his kid harshly, and shove him by the shoulder toward the handshake line.  I do not see any strike to the face and some mentioned.  Anyone who says that you shouldn't hold your child to a higher standard than the rest of the team has probably not been a parent/coach at the same time.  It's a very tough thing to do. It's human nature to react different to things your children do as oppose to things other children do. I do believe that it should be handled outside of the public/camera eye and away from the teammates simply because of the embarrassment factor.  I also believe that this situation cannot be fully judged by watching a video online.   One would need to have been present to witness everything leading up to that situation to truly get a feel for what happened.

My wife is a teacher and I've worked in education for 23 years. I would disagree.
Being a classroom teacher with constant student interaction from 8 am to 3:30 pm, plus bus duty days with little to no breaks, M-F, in addition to using your planning period to remediate students and call parents.
Then, grading papers and answering student and parent questions throughout the evening.
I'm sorry but assistant principals don't even come close to that level of continuous work. You might argue that they deal with parent complaints, but these days, most administrators dodge, deflect and refer parents back to the teacher. If they don't, then the teacher gets yelled at, still not escaping. Remember, everything flows down hill.

Looked like he stepped out to me.
 

This is exactly the reason. Buchanan County has spent millions developing flat land (nonexistent outside of surface mine reclamation sites, like the one that has been developed) to create more modern facilities and drive the county into a more modern era.
God forbid they used some foresight and selected this to be built close to the CFX connectors, not in a flood plain(also tough to do in Buchanan County) and what is developing as the "new" town.
I remember when Whitewood and Garden consolidated and at the time, you would have thought we were on the verge of war. Turns out the kids adjusted just fine, and the throngs of petty adults eventually accepted the fact that Buchanan County's population continues to dwindle, coal isn't making a comeback, and while community schools are a sense of pride, they must concede to the fact that one newer and full school is better than 2 or 3 half full schools that bleed the county year in and year out. 

1996 whined and cried to VHSL to get semi playoff game at Grundy moved. Game was moved to Tazewell, worst field conditions than at Grundy. Don’t care how many trophies they have, they’re still a bunch of whiny losers.

Covid has hit TV.

They dropped Grundy.

Folks, I have the pleasure of being around a few athletics programs due to my profession and I see an alarming trend going on locally in the aspect of discipline. 
Programs that used to have depth and stability no longer have that and are grasping at straws in regard to talent. 
If you hold some of these young men accountable, they will leave the program and never return. Sometimes that will snowball to other players leaving, "Come on man, we don't have to put up with this."
With the lack of numbers, I see coaches afraid to be tough to make players better men because they are scared that their numbers will dwindle or at worst their parents will go and cry to an administrator who will back the parent regardless of the situation just to please. 
It's not what it used to be and let's not be too fast to blame the kids because a lot of this starts at home.
Just my observation...
 

Bamm!

I just hope their program can survive that trip to Jenkins Ky.  Lots of power points for that game.

my bet was stepping down had more to do with lack of talent after losing a bunch of players due to graduation

And your point???

I thought about you last night. I saw it online somewhere and a coach commented "doing it for every high school coach in history". 😂

All these people commenting on social media outlets knowing nothing about the backstory. 😂I stand by my comment that Tom Rife will be a legend among HS coaches everywhere whether they voice it publicly or not. 😂 

Can’t fire somebody who has no intentions on returning. 
Ricky Lawrence is a daddy ball coach that took his bullshit too far and anyone that lives in Richlands knows this is a fact. There’s no way he should ever be allowed in the gym again. I miss the good old days when there could be a good knock down drag out and the best man came out on top, those were good times. 

I might add this to my rant , 75 year old coach gets harassed by 40 year old and the 40 year old gets pushed around like a rag doll and embarrassed in front of  around 500 people! Goes to show you that old men are some mean ass dudes !

I’d ban him for life not just a year but that’s just me. I don’t know if he’s a dirt bag but he’s definitely to blame for instigating the entire exchange. These parents have been at this all year because they’re still mad about Lowe. It was unfair to Rife, his assistants, & the girls when none of them had anything to do with Lowe being let go. Lowe has stirred so much crap and keeps stirring. I doubt he will ever coach again in Tazewell County. 

Nah, if white Tshirt dude kept his ass on the bleachers and watched the ballgame from the bleachers and cheered the team on from the bleachers and ran his mouth at the coach and refs from the bleachers, the scene would have been avoided. Since we are doing what ifs and opinions, they may have even pulled out a win. But no one will ever know that now. 
 
Tom Rife has no intention of returning. All Ricky Lawrence did was ruin those girls last game and make it about himself. He had a choice to keep his ass put and watch the ballgame, yet here we are debating his shitty behavior that started the shit show.  Parents need to stay in the stands. The entire scenario wouldn’t have happened if he kept his ass on the bleachers. 
 
Good luck finding a new coach, no one in their right mind would apply for it after last night. 

I read the comments on Rife. I know Rife a little bit, not well, but know him distantly. I liked him the 2 times we met. I think hes a good dude. I know about the "rules" and all that BS. What about the dirtbag who went down near the bench and literally wanted and tried to start confrontation? No talk about this nitwit? The guy that did this has a reputation in that area (as I just discovered by text last night and I know the source is valid) and he's a hothead and is known to be one.
I hope the Taxewell County School Board gets this right. Suspend Rife for 3 games as he broke the rules, but understand everyone has a bad day, but the dirtbag who Started the confrontation (on purpose and with intent) should be the one banned from Tazewell County gyms for the next 1 year. That's actually the appropriate thing to do. Only my opinion, and it's easy to pile on, but I just hope people know the Other side of the story about the party involved and his history that actually causes the incident on purpose. 

Grundy did not have anyone suspended. No one left bench and others just walked away. 

I don’t have a dog in this fight but sort of weird to create an account on December 17 just to trash Tom Rife and Richlands’ girls for being what you perceive as being out of shape. I haven’t watched them in person only on NFHS but they seem in pretty good shape overall. They’re definitely not Gate City level. That team is off the charts but Richlands is  decent & will probably take the SWD easily which hasn’t happened recently. 
It would very adult-like if the Lowe loyalists would just support the girls & accept Lowe isn’t coming back as coach and quit stirring up more drama just my opinion. 

I see Aaron Lowe made a new burner account 😂

From Aiden’s FB page posted today. 
We just got my results back everything is good no bad anything Me and mom cried tears of joy Praise The Lord!

It still bothers me that the star on the midfield logo is in Oceana instead of Bluefield 

HHS students will combine with HEMS students utilizing the empty rooms available at HEMS. HHS will be closed the remainder of the week to set up classrooms. Students will resume classes, sometime next week.
HEMS is just a stones throw from HHS so Hurley will be a K-12 facility until the damage can be assessed. 
 
Reports that the building is gone are entirely false. Considerable smoke damage and water damage in the area where the fire started, the 2nd floor above the concession area has been seriously compromised. The rest of the facility appears to only have smoke damage.