VA High Down year

[Bulldog05 69]

I see a lot of people downing V-High. You give these kids 2-3 years and they’ll be a power house. From what I seen they are very young, but very talented. These kids are like Tazewell and are gonna have a couple down seasons due to being young and are not on the varsity level, but when these kids are juniors and seniors they’re gonna be a power house. 

[Pioneer pride 70]

1 hour ago, Bulldog05 said:

I see a lot of people downing V-High. You give these kids 2-3 years and they’ll be a power house. From what I seen they are very young, but very talented. These kids are like Tazewell and are gonna have a couple down seasons due to being young and are not on the varsity level, but when these kids are juniors and seniors they’re gonna be a power house. 

I agree I think Virginia  High has potential. Lebanon is also a young team that will be good in a couple of years. Most on here don't realize that Lebanon Is playing with over half its Roster being freshman and Sophomores. I see people  downing lebanon as well but don't ever discuss their  potential in the next couple seasons. I would think people from Tazwell  would get that because they've  watched a team grow. 

[Bulldog05 69]

1 hour ago, Pioneer pride said:

I agree I think Virginia  High has potential. Lebanon is also a young team that will be good in a couple of years. Most on here don't realize that Lebanon Is playing with over half its Roster being freshman and Sophomores. I see people  downing lebanon as well but don't ever discuss their  potential in the next couple seasons. I would think people from Tazwell  would get that because they've  watched a team grow. 

I see the potential with Lebanon improving also. To be a matter of fact I live in Honaker now, so I’m a tiger now, but I’ll always be a bulldog at heart cause that’s my hometown. I would like to see all the SWD teams on fire. I think it makes it more fun to watch. 

[Bulldog05 69]

1 hour ago, Pioneer pride said:

I would think people from Tazwell  would get that because they've  watched a team grow. 

& when you see me talk about Lebanon going 2-8 1-9 ect. I’m not downing them. I am just voicing my honest opinion. Just like Richlands, I only see them going 3-7 at worst, 4-6 at best. 

[FoxTrot 180]

Va High lost 11 starters on defense and returned 2 on offense. One thing people don’t understand about Va High, is they have always been able to throw out a few athletes on any team. Even when they have had talent, the culture of winning in the football program has really never been there. 

They won in the late 80s but if you compare to other programs in the last 20 or 30 years, Va High is happy to make a playoff game. 

The last 2 years, VA High had a talented team, but the winning culture for football in the community isn’t the same as baseball!

Even though talent is young with sophomores and a couple freshman, a winning culture has to be created from within.  Kids have to be held accountable and pushed to higher standards, and until that changes, VA High will be mediocre even with talent!  

 

 

[FoxTrot 180]

9 hours ago, Pioneer pride said:

I agree I think Virginia  High has potential. Lebanon is also a young team that will be good in a couple of years. Most on here don't realize that Lebanon Is playing with over half its Roster being freshman and Sophomores. I see people  downing lebanon as well but don't ever discuss their  potential in the next couple seasons. I would think people from Tazwell  would get that because they've  watched a team grow. 

 

[Bearcat Dad 439]

15 hours ago, Bulldog05 said:

I see a lot of people downing V-High. You give these kids 2-3 years and they’ll be a power house. From what I seen they are very young, but very talented. These kids are like Tazewell and are gonna have a couple down seasons due to being young and are not on the varsity level, but when these kids are juniors and seniors they’re gonna be a power house. 

Unfortunately for Bearcat fans, you’re off base here. You can’t compare VHS and Tazewell. VHS is not that young. Four of their top players, all skill players, are either freshmen or sophomores. Their linemen, which is the team’s glaring weakness(outside of the head coach), are all upperclassmen. There are no big bodies behind those upperclassmen, to take their place next year, or they would already be playing, to take their lumps with the young skills.

@FoxTrot hit the nail on the head. I can personally vouch for VHS football over the last 30+ years. Outside of the tenures of Paul Wheeler and Mike Locke (a Wheeler disciple) VHS has had over a century of mediocrity. Mostly, because Bristol always has been, and always will be, a baseball town. It really is as simple as that. The school and the community just doesn’t care about football, like they do baseball. Until another Wheeler or Locke type comes in, with not only the testicular fortitude to buck the system, but also with a good football IQ and the ability to actually care about more than themselves, VHS will stay mired in this century-long trip of being average......period.

[FootballFan67 60]

21 minutes ago, Bearcat Dad said:

Unfortunately for Bearcat fans, you’re off base here. You can’t compare VHS and Tazewell. VHS is not that young. Four of their top players, all skill players, are either freshmen or sophomores. Their linemen, which is the team’s glaring weakness(outside of the head coach), are all upperclassmen. There are no big bodies behind those upperclassmen, to take their place next year, or they would already be playing, to take their lumps with the young skills.

@FoxTrot hit the nail on the head. I can personally vouch for VHS football over the last 30+ years. Outside of the tenures of Paul Wheeler and Mike Locke (a Wheeler disciple) VHS has had over a century of mediocrity. Mostly, because Bristol always has been, and always will be, a baseball town. It really is as simple as that. The school and the community just doesn’t care about football, like they do baseball. Until another Wheeler or Locke type comes in, with not only the testicular fortitude to buck the system, but also with a good football IQ and the ability to actually care about more than themselves, VHS will stay mired in this century-long trip of being average......period.

Paul Wheeler coached at George Wythe before going to VH. We hated when he left. He was a top notch coach. 

[Bearcat Dad 439]

12 minutes ago, FootballFan67 said:

Paul Wheeler coached at George Wythe before going to VH. We hated when he left. He was a top notch coach. 

I couldn’t agree more. The football heads in Bristol were ecstatic when he came back for a second time, to set the program up for his son to take over. An unfortunate incident with a well connected player, caused Wheeler to be run out of town. I was very disappointed, as my son was in elementary school when Wheeler came back and I had hoped he would get the chance to play for him or his son. It wasn’t meant to be, I guess.

[Widespread_Panic 197]

9 hours ago, Bearcat Dad said:

  Outside of the tenures of Paul Wheeler and Mike Locke (a Wheeler disciple) VHS has had over a century of mediocrity. Mostly, because Bristol always has been, and always will be, a baseball town. It really is as simple as that. The school and the community just doesn’t care about football, like they do baseball. Until another Wheeler or Locke type comes in, with not only the testicular fortitude to buck the system, but also with a good football IQ and the ability to actually care about more than themselves, VHS will stay mired in this century-long trip of being average......period.

It also hurts that VHS lost Barry Reed as their AD. He was aggressive enough to reach out to coaches like Wheeler and recruit them to VA High. He put in a lot of time raising money for their athletics as well.  I don't believe they did a good job of replacing this position when he left. 

[Bearcat Dad 439]

1 hour ago, Widespread_Panic said:

It also hurts that VHS lost Barry Reed as their AD. He was aggressive enough to reach out to coaches like Wheeler and recruit them to VA High. He put in a lot of time raising money for their athletics as well.  I don't believe they did a good job of replacing this position when he left. 

Good point! Too bad the current AD didn’t bring any of the winning ways from the school he came from. 

[Bro Code 0]

I  don't think Barry Reed went after coaches like that. The former Superintendent Mark Linenburg did that. He went after Wheeler because they had coached against each other in the mid 90s. Mark had been a head football coach himself at Brookville. Then Mark also went after Crist as well. However, Reed did do a great job on the fund raising front.