rjhall71

I wish HogoOnline was still operational.  He done a great job with throwback helmets and future concepts.

@Liam McPoyleOh yes, my dad was so mad when JEB Stuart Generals did not win out. I think a lot of us kids at the time wanted something different and new, and that is why it didn't gain traction. We RV folks tried to compromise with the Shakers by saying we could name it Salt Valley, we could keep their maroon, and we'd keep our gold as colors. For the mascot, we would keep our first 3 mascot letters and the last 3 letters from the RBW one. They didn't go for it, unfortunately lol.

I forgot that JEB Stuart was being considered. It seems like it was a popular choice with the adults. I didn't remember Walker Mountain, but that would've been so much better than the generic Northwood name.

As a student on the naming committee, I can attest that the names mentioned were indeed in the running, along with JEB Stuart. The one that received the most votes from students at RV was the Walker Mountain Wildcats. I can't remember exactly how Northwood or Panthers came into play and won, though. I can say that the original colors were supposed to be blue and yellow, but some folks said yellow would be too close to our gold (which was a mustard yellow), so silver came into play. How that was not considered close to RB Worthy's gray is beyond me.  In the end it all worked out though. In fact, at our very first home football game Don Morgan who had been the voice of the Shakers, shouted here come the Shakers over the PA system as we ran onto the field before correcting himself.

and one of the absolute worst for visitors

Thank you so much for sharing this. I lost all of my yearbooks a long way back, and being able to see the field brings back so many good memories. There was nothing better than Friday nights @ RVHS. 

Thank you so much for sharing this. I lost all of my yearbooks a long way back, and being able to see the field brings back so many good memories. There was nothing better than Friday nights @ RVHS. 

Marion is well on its way of being in the same boat.. but I think this biggest issue at Fort Chiswell is that football is the 3rd sport there. It takes a back seat to basketball and baseball and it really the only school in the area where that is the case. You could argue VA High is the same but the difference is Paterson has done a good job there keeping that program relevant and having success where FC just hasn’t had a coach stay there long enough to do that. I think there is a lot of non football issues at FC. You have two major interstates running through Max Meadows which is great for local businesses because of the amount of people that come through but when you have that many people coming there that also means there are people coming through transporting things like drugs that end up in the community which at the end of the day hurts the extra curricular activities. I have always thought FC has athletes but it’s going to take a special person to take that over whose ego is not too big because and I don’t feel like football will ever be #1 there, is willing to put the time in and stay for a while even when things get rough, and really loves those kids and is willing to go that extra mile to keep them out of trouble and develop them off the football field

What is mind-boggling to me is that since Stephen James left in 2013 after nine seasons, only one coach has made it past two seasons, and he only made it one more. They've had six coaches in the past eleven seasons. 

One of my favorite leaders in the military was a 1SG Jones.  I was one of his platoon sergeants and he was hard on us but that cat had an energy and charisma about him.  I busted my ass for him and took my ass-chewings with pride.  I had my platoon squared away and Top (what we call 1SG) pulled me aside and said "Keep that shit up....you're the standard now.  I need to focus on the other platoons but I'll be on your ass if you slip an inch."   Hooah!!!  Our platoon motto after that was "Never slippin'!"  and every time we sounded off with that he would yell "Damn Right!" 
I found out near the end of my tour that his younger brother was Walter Jones, the All-Pro OT with the Seahawks.  Dude never said a word about it but had a small picture of the two of them in his office. 
The point is that building a connection goes a long way in how much your team or people will put out for you. 

I'm confident Jack Ginn is a great person. With that being said, the general vibe off of Ginn the entire time that he was at Marion was that the community was blessed to have such a tenured coach leading their children. As a result, his unwillingness to try anything different, no matter how unsuccessful his strategy was, rubbed a lot of people, myself included, the wrong way. What I can say is that whoever inherits the team is going to get a hard working team, which Ginn taught them. Marion is still a ways away from having a winning team, but nobody will dispute that with all their struggles the last couple of years, Marion has played hard, often giving the better teams in the region more of a fight than any one expected. 
Either way, I just hope the decision wasn't health related. As I said before, I didn't agree with his coaching philosophy, but he did put a strong investment in being a personal mentor to his players. 

I know that every time somebody loses their job it devolves into a "people are too soft" these days conversation, but let's call it what it is, Marion was far from a talent juggernaut under Ginn, but he produced statistically the worst team in school history last year with a senior heavy team and a lot of returning starters, and his track record up until that point did little to prove that it was a fluke. Seemingly every time someone played Marion the last several seasons, the opposing team's fans were on here talking about what poor coaching decisions Ginn was making. If any thing, I think it's a compliment to the mental toughness of the players and the lack of "daddy ball" influence that the players continued to play hard for him through it all. But at the end of the day, the football gate is the single most important revenue source for an athletic department, and with all three County high school finally starting to receive long overdue facilities upgrades, the financial factors are going to come in to play across the County. I hate it for Ginn as a person, and I don't want to speculate the particulars as to how this decision was made, but I think it was the right decision for every one involved. 

Quite a bit of celebration I'm sure is in order there

Thanks for that info. I looked them up on YouTube, and those entrances are very impressive for a high school team. 

If only we had a decent A.D. 🙄
After 3 or 4 years he has pushed the program back years not helped it!!

Ginn is a joke and has been since he got the job. He has killed Marion football with this stupid ass shit he does. 

They're 5-5 in the last 10 meetings, and 11 out of the last 13 games have been won by the home team. Both teams are senior heavy, and graduated big time players from last year, but the bulk of both team's starters return. Because it's at Marion, I'm going to say Marion wins 19-17, but it could go either way. 
The only real prediction that I have is that Marion will attempt more onside kicks and/or 4th down attempts in their own territory than forward passes. 

To me a legend in the area.  Sarge was a long time assistant for Harry Fry at Gate City.  In the late 70s he took over as the lead Dawg at Appalachia stepping down in 79 after a 7-3 campaign handing the keys to Tom Turner to take over.  Sarge then took over the Rye Cove program in 83 and got the broke on the brink of a state title in 88.  RC had defeated Jonesville at Jonesville near the end of the regular season before losing to the Dogs in a mud bowl in the region finals during the improbable run for the crew from Jonesville.  Sarge stepped out of coaching after 1990 but returned to the Cove in 97.   He was to be he HC but took the assistant title instead so a former player, Joe Carter could be the HC.   Sarge still ran almost everything for the program for the next three years which were some of the programs winningest teams.   He took over the Twin Springs program in 2003 as they were coming out of a really rough stretch.  I asked him why he was heading up there.  Coach told me he liked a challenge and had coached at GC and RC, he might as well mark off the last county school before he retired for good. Coach stepped down after only two seasons.  He led TS to two of their programs three region final games during those two years.
Coach Reed wasnt flashy.  He wore the same clothes to practice everyday and its hard to tell how many miles had been put on his 80s Thunderbird.  He expected you to be physical as he said he only felt like he had lost two ballgames when his teams were the most physical one on the field.  The playbook wasn't super deep on either side of the ball but like the nickname "Sarge" practice was drilled like military over and over to run things to perfection.  He commanded respect but showed his "bigguns" a lot of love over the years.  RIP to a SWVA coaching legend in my book.

Congrats to rjhall71!!! Back to the winning ways in fantasy football with a 265.72 - 265.54 victory. That is INSANELY CLOSE. Congrats!

Jack Ginn has won an NCAA playoff game as a head coach and some how is still completely incapable of coaching 2A high school ball. 

It's a coach who believes that he is reinventing the wheel thing. 

LOL I’m with you on everything you said man. Hey we just scored let’s kick an onsides kick and give them the ball around midfield nah forget that let’s kick an onsides kick every time we score a TD or FG and we aren’t going to have anyone back to receive a punt. This program is toast and it’s sad cause they have some talented kids 

I'm sure common names like Frye, Carlock, Ragsdale, Cummins, Turner, Robbins are there, but some to not be missed that many may forget are
Merle Gainer of the Bluefield Beavers, (my argument as Numero Uno, the Dean of HS football in the Appalachians, the Michaelangelo as far as I'm concerned and if you look at the coaching true that sprang from him and the success that the guys under him had not just locally, but in multiple states, he's my pick for number 1), but others like Chmara, Fred Simon, Joel Hicks of Pulaski, Lineburg of Radford were all solid, don't forget about Dave Ryder of Tazewell, Greg Mance of Richlands.
Most Unpopular historically, but the best On Field Tactical X's and O's guy to come out of the coverage area in my opinion.  Dennis Vaught.  He saw things on the field that 99.9 percent of his peers didn't see,  His in game and mid game adjustments were foolishly good.  But, things like smart decisions off the field, temper, leadership prevents him from being viewed in the elite and that's fair, but on the field wise, on a completely other level.  Just my opinions

The team has a lot of potential and talent but the coaching staff is non existent.. Chilhowie adjusted when we didn't have a clue after the first quarter.
A first year Coach out coached a so called experienced one. The kids were cramping which shows lack of conditioning. SMH

It's high school....put your best players out there where they can help the team...usually the QB is one of your better players/athletes....play them both ways if he can help you win games