Best Coach in SWVA History

[tornado99 345]

3 minutes ago, Liam McPoyle said:

-A Case for Ralph Cummins

-Won 72% of his games with a record of 267-90-14.

-In his first 23 seasons, there were no playoffs and no chance of playing for a state title. Undefeated and powerful teams in '57 and '62 perhaps could've won state.

-VHSL only crowned three teams (A, AA, AAA) from 1970-1985 making the feat more challenging. During that era, Cummins won three (3) titles and was runner-up to a much larger school in Madison Co. losing by 1 point. 

 

 

That is impressive! Was either of the Clintwood or Ridgeview coaches a Cummins product?

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

Harry Fry had a similar misfortune as Ralph Cummins. He fielded multiple undefeated teams prior to 1970, with no chance of playing for a title. He then won two (2) titles and a runner-up in '70s against much larger schools.

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

3 minutes ago, tornado99 said:

That is impressive! Was either of the Clintwood or Ridgeview coaches a Cummins product?

Rick Mullins played for Cummins. He went on to coach Clintwood to a title and two runner-ups and was Ridgeview's first HC.

[Gridiron60 2,555]

I guess Dennis Vaught is out of the question.  

[S10SQUAREBODY4LIFE 239]

3 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

I guess Dennis Vaught is out of the question.  

Best coach in the trenches lol

[Mountain Football 1,532]

22 minutes ago, S10SQUAREBODY4LIFE said:

Best coach in the trenches lol

He got his team the tools they needed to get the job done. Can't fault a man for that lol

[SW_VA_boy 492]

I'd feel like I wasn't doing my job as well if I didn't throw Harry Ragsdale's name into the ring.  You don't have Steve without him.  32 game winning streak, playing in the New River District, with what would've been Group 2 numbers at best today.  Coached a HS All-American player.  Had another winning streak of 20 games that got to be able to claim 2 Class C titles in the 30's and was putting players in college ball back then as well, the first going to South Carolina. 

[BigWinners 1,643]

4 hours ago, tornado99 said:

I don’t know enough about him personally. Still the success is second to none. Fair or not, and through no fault of his own, many of us take points away due to the riches of talent at his disposal. It makes me question if his contemporaries would be as successful with 4 seasons of NFL talent on the roster. Not just that, the surrounding talent was impressive as well. Is Phil the reason for that? (I honestly don’t know. My outside perception was the talent and culture was already there.)

It’s of course nice to have six years of two NFL RBs, but he won three titles and played for one more without a Jones on the team. Phil had a big part in the BSG youth program as well and that led to a lot of kids being prepared to play. He was a very good offensive coach and wasn’t afraid to have very good, competent coordinators on defense. Phil was also very ballsy, and would take risks and was always playing to win games, never to not lose. You can’t win state without talent but you can’t win on talent alone. You have to execute and be prepared mentally and physically and Phil always had his team ready to do that. 

[sup_rbeast 296]

7 hours ago, goose111874 said:

Too many good ones to just pick one but I'll go with Tom Turner and no other reason than winning 6 titles with that small of a school and in many years could've won at what is now 2a

Turner was great, but it would be hard to win a title in D2 if your record vs the best D2 team in your district was 4-19-1.(It has to be recognized that PV never won a state title in a year they lost to Appy) That’s not even counting the D2 teams who were winning titles when PV wasn’t. Another point, Appy played Central of Lunenburg 1 time with Turner as their coach and lost handily. PV won 3 championships at the expense of the same school. I have a lot of respect for Turner and his ability, but I’m also realistic. Appy wasn’t a small school in the same terms of small schools today. Appy regularly had over 300 students until the final decade or so of the school’s existence, and usually loaded with talent.

[Duke2015 451]

14 minutes ago, sup_rbeast said:

Turner was great, but it would be hard to win a title in D2 if your record vs the best D2 team in your district was 4-19-1.(It has to be recognized that PV never won a state title in a year they lost to Appy) That’s not even counting the D2 teams who were winning titles when PV wasn’t. Another point, Appy played Central of Lunenburg 1 time with Turner as their coach and lost handily. PV won 3 championships at the expense of the same school. I have a lot of respect for Turner and his ability, but I’m also realistic. Appy wasn’t a small school in the same terms of small schools today. Appy regularly had over 300 students until the final decade or so of the school’s existence, and usually loaded with talent.

The  93 94 96 97 Appy teams could’ve won D2, in 94 and 97 PV barely beat them who says they wouldn’t have beaten them in the playoffs.  Lunenburg game was in 1982 and wasn’t D1 and D2 yet.  I graduated in 95 and we had 40 kids in my grade so not so sure about 300 kids unless you count the 8th grade 

[sup_rbeast 296]

17 minutes ago, Duke2015 said:

The  93 94 96 97 Appy teams could’ve won D2, in 94 and 97 PV barely beat them who says they wouldn’t have beaten them in the playoffs.  Lunenburg game was in 1982 and wasn’t D1 and D2 yet.  I graduated in 95 and we had 40 kids in my grade so not so sure about 300 kids unless you count the 8th grade 

Out of those 4 years, Appy proved on the field they could beat PV 2 of em. The other two times they shot their shot and come up short. The 1996 Giles team would have been a great match for 1996 Appy, IMO. Also, I never said Appy played Lunenburg as a D2 team, I just compared their performance vs them with PV’s 3 against them. That Appy Lunenburg game was 1980 I’m pretty sure. Kelly won state in 1981 and PV won it in 1982. That 1980 Appy team was loaded, too. I’m thinking that was the team with Danny Mabe, Joey Clay, Snuffy Smith, and Brian Williams, etc.

[Duke2015 451]

35 minutes ago, sup_rbeast said:

Out of those 4 years, Appy proved on the field they could beat PV 2 of em. The other two times they shot their shot and come up short. The 1996 Giles team would have been a great match for 1996 Appy, IMO. Also, I never said Appy played Lunenburg as a D2 team, I just compared their performance vs them with PV’s 3 against them. That Appy Lunenburg game was 1980 I’m pretty sure. Kelly won state in 1981 and PV won it in 1982. That 1980 Appy team was loaded, too. I’m thinking that was the team with Danny Mabe, Joey Clay, Snuffy Smith, and Brian Williams, etc.

Yeah Danny Mabe was QB.  I was a kid at the time and have been told by many that they knew the game was over when Lunenburg stepped off the bus.  Think they had a couple guys play D1

[EH31 2,518]

6 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said:

 

World War II veterans include:

-Ralph Cummins served in the US Army as a paratrooper in Europe.

-Merrill Gainer served with the U.S. Navy. 

-Ernie Hicks had been at Richlands HS for 19 years before enlisting in 1943.

Was Burrhead Bradley WW2? Or later?

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

2 minutes ago, EH31 said:

Was Burrhead Bradley WW2? Or later?

Yes he did. Burrhead Bradley served as dive bomber pilot during WW II in the Pacific Theater.

[sup_rbeast 296]

2 hours ago, Duke2015 said:

Yeah Danny Mabe was QB.  I was a kid at the time and have been told by many that they knew the game was over when Lunenburg stepped off the bus.  Think they had a couple guys play D1

I went to that game. I was 7 years old and having a mom who came from Appy and a dad from PV, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to be at that time. I was getting pulled in two different directions. Once I started playing P-Nut in BSG, I was a Viking, though. Haha. The difference in that game was that Appy couldn’t contend with Lunenburg’s speed. They were fast to a man and had just dropped down from AA if I’m not mistaken. Lunenburg never had a team that wasn’t fast. I can attest to that first hand because I played against two of them.

[memorex 16]

Please consider coaching tree as well when answering this. I believe quite a few greats came from the Gainer coaching tree.

[Weatherman 135]

13 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said:

-A Case for Ralph Cummins

-Won 72% of his games with a record of 267-90-14.

-In his first 23 seasons, there were no playoffs and no chance of playing for a state title. Undefeated and powerful teams in '57 and '62 perhaps could've won state.

-VHSL only crowned three teams (A, AA, AAA) from 1970-1985 making the feat more challenging. During that era, Cummins won three (3) titles and was runner-up to a much larger school in Madison Co. losing by 1 point. 

 

 

Winning was the by-product of how Cummins coached. If you do things right, winning will take care of itself. During his coaching days, the LPD gave a sportsmanship award each year, and his teams consistently won that award. The type of behavior that goes on today would not have happened when he coached, gotta respect that more than anything else his teams accomplished. 

[tbgfan 855]

18 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said:

 

World War II veterans include:

-Ralph Cummins served in the US Army as a paratrooper in Europe.

-Merrill Gainer served with the U.S. Navy. 

-Ernie Hicks had been at Richlands HS for 19 years before enlisting in 1943.

Clues on the seafloor (bismarcktribune.com)

This is what our nation was built on...valor, sacrifice and honor.  Anything else is inferior and cannot withstand the storms that come.  

A great read.  I love history.  It is the DNA of our nation.  Some of its genes have grown in establishing this nation and its leadership to what a united people can be and do.  Correcting injustice, giving of self so others can be free.  Freedom is never seized;  it's giving of one's self unconditionally.  This story reflects this virtue.  It calls the mediocre to be valiant, strive beyond your own goals and rest in the goodness of effort.  

[1Wingit23 54]

15 hours ago, SW_VA_boy said:

I'd feel like I wasn't doing my job as well if I didn't throw Harry Ragsdale's name into the ring.  You don't have Steve without him.  32 game winning streak, playing in the New River District, with what would've been Group 2 numbers at best today.  Coached a HS All-American player.  Had another winning streak of 20 games that got to be able to claim 2 Class C titles in the 30's and was putting players in college ball back then as well, the first going to South Carolina. 

A man gets over 150 wins in that era and without a 10 game season or extra wins in playoffs definitely deserves.his name in the hat. 

[BandanaVTDavis4321 1,717]

7 hours ago, memorex said:

Please consider coaching tree as well when answering this. I believe quite a few greats came from the Gainer coaching tree.

Which ie exactly why I mentioned Gainer's coaching tree in my first response.  It's not even compariable.  Nobody is remotely close regarding the coaching true from Gainer.  Not only lots of coaches, the amount of success that came from those coaches.  With Gainer, it was more than just a few greats.  It was a whole, whole lot of greats.

[JDHoss 249]

On 10/6/2023 at 3:51 PM, BigWinners said:

It’s a small school but let’s not downplay the amount of truly great talent Turner had at his disposal. People seem to ding Phil bc he was blessed with talent but Tom wasn’t exactly playing with a bunch of scrubs either lol. Huff, his son, Travis Clark, etc……he had some serious talent in those coal camps. 

Absolutely. Turner has my vote, but to act like he produced great teams out of thin air is a disservice to a lot of great players who came through the program. 

[Cousin_Hoyt 87]

23 hours ago, BigWinners said:

FTR I love Phil, still, and nothing I say is meant to insult him. I think he’s criminally underrated in these kinds of debates bc people simply didn’t like him. But seven state titles, 300 wins, scores of LPD and Region D titles, Phil has to be included on any SWVA Mt Rushmore, arguably a VA one. 

Quess what BigWinners, We know one person that got along great with Robbins, Uncle Percy.  You may now  go ahead and make a smart @r$€ remark like the time when we made a comment about Tom Turner that you didn’t believe. 

[BigWinners 1,643]

9 minutes ago, Cousin_Hoyt said:

Quess what BigWinners, We know one person that got along great with Robbins, Uncle Percy.  You may now  go ahead and make a smart @r$€ remark like the time when we made a comment about Tom Turner that you didn’t believe. 

Cool story. 

[Cousin_Hoyt 87]

23 hours ago, sixcat said:

Steve Ragsdale - Giles

Joel Hicks - Pulaski

Norm Linburg- Radford

Tommy Thompson - Carroll County/Hillsville. His resume will pale in comparison to everyone else mentioned in this thread. But what he meant to his community cannot be undervalued. 

Mr. Sixcat, Uncle Percy says you may have to enlighten the people west of Richlands and Marion to who these Coaches are, especially the pups who post on here.  Uncle Percy knew Norm Linburg from coaching track. Great Football and Track Coach. Nothing but 200% Class and one of the most Respectful persons you could ever meet. 

[Cousin_Hoyt 87]

Uncle Percy has been sitting here and telling us some stories about some of these characters and was wondering why some of you New River boys didn’t mention Dave Crist of Blacksburg. Uncle Percy said he could beat you in so many ways. Said you had better be totally prepared and then some.