old_school 78 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Jamie Harris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunz9 71 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Any info? Where he's from....etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpillBoss 127 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Tazewell, Middle School coach the last few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old_school 78 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 He has done a good job with the middle school program. Community just needs to get behind him and let him coach. It's going to be a little uphill battle for who ever got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunz9 71 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Good luck to Tazewell. I've heard good things about the middle school program, just might take a few years to see the same at the high school. old_school 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpillBoss 127 Report Share Posted April 10, 2017 Just takes time, patience, and support. Won't be a quick fix but it'll be positive. Bulldogs52 and old_school 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 Wasn't he the boys basketball coach at Tazewell a few years back when everyone beat them by 70/game? EH31 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SXSW 557 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 Good Luck to him and the Bulldogs, I hope you can return to your former glory sooner rather than later! Bigrhsfan and SpillBoss 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu_bean 1,058 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 Community is behind him for sure. Players should want to play for him as well. Now need to make sure to fill back in a great coach in the middle school to continue to feed in. SpillBoss 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techfan 43 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 At least they can reuse some of the quotes and the story http://www.bdtonline.com/sports/harris-plans-to-end-boys-basketball-coaching-carousel-at-tazewell/article_71153f70-7528-11e4-93a5-63ec4426fc04.html Ryan4VT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 11 hours ago, GMan said: Wasn't he the boys basketball coach at Tazewell a few years back when everyone beat them by 70/game? I'm sure many parents are hoping to see him duplicate those results on the gridiron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futbolking 766 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 I almost thought that was a misprint and a new article... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigrhsfan 884 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 Good luck to the Bulldog players and also to the new coach ! I hope this is the guy that can get Tazewell back to the proud program it once was ! SXSW 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucfan64 307 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 And the countdown begins..................................AGAIN......................... Ryan4VT 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH31 2,518 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 Post from G-Man - 10/26/2005 ...Harris Hart didn't "ruin" Tazewell football, "politics" ruined Tazewell football. Going to play Nostradamus here for a second...I forsee the same thing happening to Coach Wyatt in the future... i think it's safe to say that G-Man cursed the Bulldogs 12 years ago. GMan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 22 minutes ago, EH31 said: Post from G-Man - 10/26/2005 ...Harris Hart didn't "ruin" Tazewell football, "politics" ruined Tazewell football. Going to play Nostradamus here for a second...I forsee the same thing happening to Coach Wyatt in the future... i think it's safe to say that G-Man cursed the Bulldogs 12 years ago. Deleted Account and Bulldogs52 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan4VT 4,554 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 1 hour ago, EH31 said: Post from G-Man - 10/26/2005 ...Harris Hart didn't "ruin" Tazewell football, "politics" ruined Tazewell football. Going to play Nostradamus here for a second...I forsee the same thing happening to Coach Wyatt in the future... i think it's safe to say that G-Man cursed the Bulldogs 12 years ago. How far back did you have to search to find that?!? How did you even remember he ever said it in the first place hahaha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 I can't wait to hear the Tazewell crowd after they start the season 1-4 or 0-5, facing Hurley in Game 6...OH, MY!!! Things could really come unglued at that point... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucfan64 307 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 IMHO The time needed to establish the program will never be afforded to Coach Harris. The Middle School parents will be shocked when there 14 and 15 year old kids lose to 18 and 19 year old seniors and they will invariably blame the coach. A lack of parental intelligence at one level, is passed on to the next level. I wish the best for Coach Harris but he needs to stand with his back to the wall during this process. cityofRaven and Branzonduh 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgibb 207 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 Until the parents at Tazewell realize that they aren't coaches from the stands and that it takes time to turn a program around, Tazewell will continue to have losing seasons. Tazewell does have a proud program and it has always impressed me how they could be 1-6 but their stands are still full every Friday night. I am a firm believer that this program does not need to be rebuilt, it needs to be restored. Good luck to Coach Harris, even as a Graham fan I would like to see Tazewell start having success again, just not against us haha stu_bean 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu_bean 1,058 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 I know I'll really stir it up saying this but it's not all parents and politics anymore. Of course it is part of it. We had some stupid choices for coaches for a little bit that ran the whole morale/attitude down hill fast. Say what you want but the work ethic of some of the past few "winning" coaches was still questionable. Harris Hart was ruined by a few influential ($$$) type parents and their politics. Bottom line we need someone that will get the work ethic back on and off the field and be able to relate to the kids and get the most out of them while ignoring all the bs that comes from all sources. Any coach will have a rough time if they start bad no matter their pedigree. Look at the big hire UVA had last year... I look forward to the season as always and will be pulling hard for my Bulldogs as always. Our team support from the town I would rate second only to Richlands as far as continued support and dedicated fans. I can only speak from the areas I know well but there are plenty of Dogs up everywhere and this town needs a team to be proud of again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu_bean 1,058 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 For those unable to get past BDT bs: TAZEWELL, Va. — Positivity exudes from J’me Harris. He’ll need it as the new head coach of the struggling Tazewell football program. “I always believe in the kids, I believe the kids want structure and I believe if you give them the opportunity the kids are going to try to compete,” said Harris, who was selected on Monday to replace Nick Colobro, who had been selected in January as a replacement for Shane Allen. “I don’t think getting down on them is going to help them.” While the Bulldogs hasn’t had a winning season since 2008, Harris was successful during a four-year stint as the head coach the Tazewell Middle School team, posting an 8-0 record last year and 7-1 in 2015. Those players, who are now freshmen and sophomores, will be a big part of Harris’ first team at the high school. “I coached all of them. The senior group would have been my first year coaching at Tazewell Middle School so I do understand it is going to be an uphill battle to restore the program, but I do believe when when the players, coaches, school and community care for one another then special things can happen here,” said Harris, who added that the rising freshmen on the Tazewell program had won 16 of their last 17 games at the middle school level. “I do believe it can be done. Hopefully we can lit a spark here, build a power program, keep it going. The main thing we want to do is turn young men around so they can do better and then they can come back and help the community do better.” Since posting a 9-3 record in 2008 and dropping a heartbreaking Region IV championship game decision to Richlands, the Bulldogs have won just 21 games under four different coaches over the last eight seasons, including last year’s 2-8 campaign, the final season for Allen, who led the Bulldogs to a 5-6 record and the playoffs in 2014. He was replaced by Colobro in January, but Colobro resigned without coaching a game last month, leaving the position open once again, and Harris jumped at the opportunity. “When Coach Colobro decided to resign it reopened the position and I decided I wanted to take advantage of that opportunity and put my name in and apply for the job,” said Harris, a 12-year resident of Tazewell, who coached the girls basketball program this season, and has led the boys program in the past. “I am excited about the opportunity. Tazewell has some great kids here and I just know that I am going to love coming to work every day.” There is plenty of work ahead for Harris, but it’s not like the prospective Bulldogs haven’t been working toward the upcoming season, which begins on Aug. 25 with a visit to Virginia High. “They have been doing a weightlifting program under Coach (Nick) Leftwich since January,” said Harris, who plans to include Leftwich and Allen staff holdover Deacon Young on his staff. “The plan is to keep Coach Leftwich in place and let him continue with the weightlifting program. It will be status quo for what we have been doing. Here I will just take over the reins. We are four months away so we are playing catch-up in some other areas with the team but the weightlifting program has been good so far. Up next will be devising plans for both sides of the ball, including an offense that will be missing the talented duo of quarterback T.J. Kitts and tailback Israel Harris. “We are going to fit our offensive philosophy around the kids we have and hopefully we are going to try to get a lot of kids involved,” said Harris, who plans to get his Bulldogs involved in several summer football camps and 7-on-7 competitions. “We want to have an offense that gets multiple kids involved and I believe that will help our numbers. Defensively, obviously we want to be a team that is fundamentally sound and tackles the football well. We understand there are going to be mistakes and there are going to be growing pains because we will be so young next year... “I believe right now we have six returning seniors and six returning juniors. Our numbers will still be good. I am still expecting around 35 to 40 kids out for football, but the majority of them will be freshmen and sophomores. Physically, football is a struggle for a freshman to compete against a senior.” While Harris professes offense to be his strength on the sidelines, he got plenty of help on the other side of the ball from Stevie Mitchem, who served as Harris’ defensive coordinator at the middle school. Mitchem died unexpectedly last month. “I would probably consider my strength to be on the offensive side of the ball, but when you are a middle school head coach and you are limited with assistants you have to pick up both sides,” Harris said. “I had a great teacher for defense. Stevie Mitchem helped me tremendously. He meant a tremendous amount to this community and he was a tremendous role model for the young men, especially the freshmen and sophomores that he helped coach the last two years. To me you see what a great community Tazewell is by the way they have rallied around the Mitchem family during their time in need and how supportive this entire community has been for Stevie and his family.” Harris plans to meet with the Tazewell football team on Thursday, with the work beginning toward a new season against a normally rugged schedule that will include four new additions in River View, Hurley, Fort Chiswell and Bluefield. Harris does feels like the Bulldogs already have some of the best facilities in the region, which includes a fieldhouse with a weight room he compares to that of a small college. “The main thing is selling the program and we have got to get the kids to believe in ourselves and understand if you believe in the product it is a lot easier to sell,” Harris said. “We will put the staff together and hopefully have that finalized in a week. Once we get the staff finalized we will start installing what we want to do offensively and defensively. The weather should be nice enough for us to get on the field and start implementing some of that.” Football can be a challenge at Tazewell, which is sandwiched between a pair of winning programs at Richlands and Graham. Harris sees that as a good thing. “The kids are right here, it is just going to take some patience, community support and some realistic expectations early on,” he said. “The benefit of both of those teams being good is we don’t have to look far to have programs that we can model ourselves after. What works at our level of football is being done right around us so we can model ourselves after those two good programs and that might speed up our process.” As for what to expect from the Bulldogs when 2017 season kicks off, Harris knows where to start. “This team is going to play hard,” he said. “We are going to have a good attitude and we are going to play hard and we are going to be aggressive in everything that we do.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 2 hours ago, GMan said: I can't wait to hear the Tazewell crowd after they start the season 1-4 or 0-5, facing Hurley in Game 6...OH, MY!!! Things could really come unglued at that point... I'm going to go ahead and eliminate the 0-5 in that guess, most middle school teams can beat River View (Week 3). But starting on the road at V-High, then at Graham, home against a cupcake from the County, then away to Marion and Bluefield, 1-4 is a certainty going into week 6 vs. Hurley... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futbolking 766 Report Share Posted April 12, 2017 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EH31 2,518 Report Share Posted April 13, 2017 12 hours ago, Ryan4VT said: How far back did you have to search to find that?!? How did you even remember he ever said it in the first place hahaha. No clue. Alcohol and spare time led me there GMan, cityofRaven, 1inStripes and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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