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Coach Stone leaves Battle


bristol8434
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11 hours ago, Union_Fan said:

He may not have had a stellar record,  but his teams were well prepared and very competitive. Against Union at least.

https://www.heraldcourier.com/sports/local_high_school/stone-steps-down-as-football-coach-at-john-battle/article_34ba2536-6623-11e9-a49a-872c1aa4d831.html

Against Ridgeview on the Ridge last year as well.  We were losing to them under five minutes to play last year.

I got to talk to coach Stone quite a bit at the Tennessee High/Dobyns-Bennett basketball game in Bristol a few months ago.  He's a good dude.

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Coach Stone is a great mentor and teacher. He will be missed on Battle Hill. I don't blame him one bit for his decision.

It is a bit frustrating for a program that has lacked consistency over the years. It's always been one step forward and two steps back since the beginning. 

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2 hours ago, Grapeape said:

Great opportunity for Akers if he hasn’t sold his house yet. We all know he dreamed of coaching in Bristol. Plus, he’d get to whoop GC every year & show his talents to all the doubters. 

Heard he was heading a little further up 81.

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1 hour ago, bristol8434 said:

Hopefully they will hire internally and keep the momentum and energy that Stone brought to the program. 

17-26 in 4 years. Finished above .500 just one year. Never won a post season game in a heavily expanded playoff format. I think Battle needs to raise their expectations. At most schools these results would equal hot seat talk. 

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4 hours ago, Widespread_Panic said:

17-26 in 4 years. Finished above .500 just one year. Never won a post season game in a heavily expanded playoff format. I think Battle needs to raise their expectations. At most schools these results would equal hot seat talk. 

Prior to Steve Wright's hiring in 2011, Battle had 7 seasons above .500 and 2 playoff appearances in the entire history of the school. Not every school has a Gate City, Union, or Graham pedigree that can just get focused and accomplish something great. Battle genuinely has had to build from scratch and the fact that they have been consistently competitive is a good sign that Stone's staff had the program trending in an upward direction.

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I hate to see him leave battle. Stone is a good coach and his kids were always respectful and had great sportsmanship which says a lot about the guy in charge. I wish him the best of luck at the new job.

As far as who will take over it has to be slim pickings with Marion, Fort Chiswell, Northwood, and Gate City all opening up. I’m sure the same group of guys have been applying hopefully one of those guys get a shot.

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On 4/24/2019 at 3:29 PM, Widespread_Panic said:

17-26 in 4 years. Finished above .500 just one year. Never won a post season game in a heavily expanded playoff format. I think Battle needs to raise their expectations. At most schools these results would equal hot seat talk. 

They have had some monsters up front the last few year (big in height and weight but didn’t look like they bought into the weight room that much) and the Scarborough kid was a beast 2 years ago but the mountain 7 has been brutal the last few years. It’s got to be hard to win when you don’t have the support like Union Ridgeview and Abingdon have.  

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16 hours ago, Jags52 said:

They have had some monsters up front the last few year (big in height and weight but didn’t look like they bought into the weight room that much) and the Scarborough kid was a beast 2 years ago but the mountain 7 has been brutal the last few years. It’s got to be hard to win when you don’t have the support like Union Ridgeview and Abingdon have.  

Just curious, in what way is there a lack of support at JSB?

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On ‎4‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 9:02 AM, swva_havok_fan said:

Against Ridgeview on the Ridge last year as well.  We were losing to them under five minutes to play last year.

I got to talk to coach Stone quite a bit at the Tennessee High/Dobyns-Bennett basketball game in Bristol a few months ago.  He's a good dude.

I don't think Ridgeview ever trailed JB last year.  I know it was 0-0 going into half but Ridgeview came out and scored 1st.

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Outside of JSB, how many other HC jobs are left unfilled? I just cannot imagine being a kid in one of these programs with May starting tomorrow, not knowing who was leading their team in July. However, Abingdon hired Amburgey when two a days started and that seemed to work out well, but I think that was just an extremely fortunate case of right place, right time, right team. 

 

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10 hours ago, BigWinners said:

Battle made the playoffs this past season, losing at Union.

 

Tough to win a playoff game unless you're a top seed bc if not, you're playing Graham, Union, RV, Richlands, etc...

Well there was that year not too long ago when they won several playoff games and made it all the way to the semis before losing to Essex.

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18 hours ago, chipinbogey said:

Outside of JSB, how many other HC jobs are left unfilled? I just cannot imagine being a kid in one of these programs with May starting tomorrow, not knowing who was leading their team in July. However, Abingdon hired Amburgey when two a days started and that seemed to work out well, but I think that was just an extremely fortunate case of right place, right time, right team. 

 

So your saying there is shot!  All joking aside you are right.  The chances of that happening are very rare and the Falcons were very fortunate to get their guy.  Most coaches would have to come in and build from the ground up.

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3 hours ago, swva_havok_fan said:

Well there was that year not too long ago when they won several playoff games and made it all the way to the semis before losing to Essex.

They was an extremely down year for 2D, and Battle got an extremely favorable path to get there.  Fort Chiswell wasn’t a bad team, but when a team that can’t beat a sub-.500 Graham team is the #1 seed in the region, let’s just say it’s not a banner year.  The “Miracle at Max Meadows” was the play of the year for SWVA football, though.

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