If the City of Bluefield doesn't negotiate that price. There may be a very good possibility that Graham will be playing at Tazewell on Thursday or Saturday nights. They would have a couple of Friday games during Tazewell's open week and when Tazewell is away.
Well you have to take care of the grounds year round, modern locker rooms for teams and officials, concessions that pass health inspections, electric bills, rest rooms, parking lot, clean up crews etc. You want to build a place that is up to playoff standards. You are looking at least at half a million without synthetic turf which is another million. 50k to rent a field is not a bad deal. It is tough to except when the rent has been so low before. What needs to be done is charge Bluefield College three times as much as they are now since they use (and abuse) the field almost every day.
I see, there's a lot more to it then meets the eye. And I totally agree about Bluefield College footing a bigger share of the bill. The "Snow Plow" incident a couple of seasons back did a number on that carpet, I was there when that fiasco happened. A slight increase for the school systems...say up to $40,000 per year... and charge BC around $80,000 a year would seem fair to me. BC still getting a good deal considering how much they use it. I believe the City stated that they needed about $150 K a year to operate it? I think I saw that figure somewhere. It would work out
You can't finance a stadium on 50K a year. Without the rent from Mercer and Tazewell Counties there is no Mitchell Stadium to play the Graham-Beaver game. The stadium would most likely be sold to Bluefield College which is kind of ironic since they are who the stadium was built for in the first place in 1935. Bluefield didn't play it's first game there until 1936 and they didn't play there full time until 1937. Same for Graham. They both continued to play at Wade Field for 2 years with a few exceptions.
By Stadium, I really mean aluminum bleachers, something like what I have pictured above. I have no idea what something like that would cost, More than 50K to finance something like that??? not sure, just something to throw out there. Anybody know how much this would run a school system?
Cold that the rent is increasing so sharply? Or Cold that Graham would have to play at THS? That's just old man at Hardees talk, but you never know...sometimes those old men have good sources.
Rent for Mitchell Stadium is going up for the school systems, from $35,000 to $50,000 per year. Quite a steep jump to digest in one year for a school system. Talk around Tazewell County is that Graham may be forced to play home games at THS on Thursday nights this season.
My two cents.... I would like to see Graham have their own stadium at the High School, nothing too fancy. Something like Floyd County or Marion has. Probably could be financed for what they are paying in rent at Mitchell. Obviously the Graham / Bluefield game could be held at Mitchell Stadium, with the teams splitting the gate each year.
Looking forward for these freshmen and sophomores to be juniors and seniors. Graham wasn't far from where Tazewell is at a couple of years back. That 70-0 drubbing at Gate City is still a fresh memory.
Smyth County Schools Superintendent Dennis Carter reiterated Thursday that the incidents outlined in the warrants occurred after the high school volleyball season had ended and the travel team’s season had begun.
“Really, this is outside the school setting,†he said. “This was outside of our school’s volleyball team.â€
Leftwich, there was a couple of youngsters that just graduated and played at the College level.... They have RE-Posted the job, however and are now accepting applications again.
If the districts were combined, how would they fall? I'd have Richlands, Union, and Graham all on top (order TBD), but am clueless about the rest.
Best guess: Tier 2-Marion, Central, Virginia High, Gate City, Ridgeview
Tier 3:Battle, Lebanon, and Tazewell.
I don't know what happened to Lebanon, but they have seemed to have fallen off, though not as far as Tazewell. Am I missing a team?
Pretty much spot on of what I would guess...
Top teams: Richlands, Graham, Union (not sure how they will finish).... only team I know much about is Graham and they will be nearly as good as last season, maybe slightly better with the upgrade at the QB position and development of Chinault and Reed at RB's... Hearing a couple of athletes transferring in...2 (possibly 3)..but those are rumors right now... you know how people talk. Lineplay will be better, but I think Richlands will have the team to beat on the line of scrimmage and on the defensive side of the ball... Graham will be loaded offensively, again. I don't know anything about Union, just that they are always good and well coached.
Middle Teams: Marion, Va High, Gate City, Central, Ridgeview (Is Grayson in Southwest this year... if so, I'll put them at the bottom of the middle...I heard they were alternating districts every other year, which blows....L)
Lower Tier: Lebanon, Tazewell, John Battle...
* Tazewell will be very young... in a couple of years they will be very competitive, I'm not giving up on them.... this is assuming they get a quality coach, which I feel confident that they will... there were some very good coaches in the pool of applicants before Colobro was hired.
Graham returns T. Cooke, J. Reed, C. Chinault and C. Allen on offense.... lot of firepower with those 4. Hearing 2 more excellent ballplayers will be suiting up for the G-Men next season, but that is still in the rumor stage. I'll believe it when I see it.
C. Allen at QB will be a very dangerous player. He can throw the ball "over them mountains" and has the ability to take it to the house. They return Workman, Oaks, Mason, Raley at lineplay. They should be solid.
Getting Lester to come back to Graham from Bluefield at LB will be a plus, that kid can fly around the ball...
I for one am tired of all of the Tazewell bashing. The man is 66 years old. He can give them 2 or 3 years at best and I think he realized that he can't put the time in to rebuild a program. I think he means exactly what he said and there's nothing to read into it. I hope Tazewell gets somebody young and energetic who is willing to put in the time. There is nothing wrong with Tazewell that isn't wrong with most other small schools. They haven't had a ton of talent. It was only 2 short years ago that they wiped the field with Graham.... they are very young and it's going to take time. The Middle School program is taking off and that will help, but those kids coming up are just in the 9th grade.
Graham had only 18 kids come out for Middle School Football last year, seems like they have some work to do as well... Let's not expect any miracles to take place from anybody, either. Sometimes you have to face facts and realize that maybe you don't have a lot of talent coming through right now and need to be patient. Lord knows as a Graham fan, we had to suffer through about 12 years of Sub Par football. A lot of that had to do with coaching....but Graham had a TON of talent last season.
Alright folks, let's give Tazewell a break. It will turn around soon enough. May take a little time, they will still be young and most of their talent will very young. Hopefully they won't give it up and stick it out and they'll be back before you know it. Consistency is what they need. Besides, Colobro didn't coach one single down this season and the other coaches were leading the weight lifting, so they are still in the same situation they were in at the end of the season, without a head coach. There were several highly quality coaches who applied for the position, including some very good college ball players. I think they need somebody young and enthusiastic who will get the kids out, that's what it's all about anyway, getting the kids to buy in and come out and play. Colobro would have been there for 2 or 3 years max...
I quit my job as a coach in 2000...say something...I dare you...
Quit mine in 2006. Various reasons, new baby.... sick child. Stuff happens. If Mance is taking another position to better himself, it would be awfully selfish to blame him for that.
As for Colobro leaving Tazewell, we'll all find out soon enough. If it's true, so be it....move on. Nothing to miss if he was never there to start with. He could retire now, if he wants and maybe that is what he has decided to do, who knows. May be best for THS if they get somebody that can be there for the long haul, anyway.
Mitchell Stadium Rent increasing.
in SWVA Football
Posted
Had my doubts, but I will not doubt you again sir.