Best Coach in SWVA History

[Cousin_Hoyt 87]

15 minutes ago, Cousin_Hoyt said:

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. 

Forgot. And a very humble and gracious person. 

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

That's a pretty impressive branch on Norm Lineburg's tree.

[Fairlawncat 252]

Coach Lineburg a class act.  Great man and great coach.  

[The U Bear 59]

16 hours ago, sup_rbeast said:

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.

didnt appy score 1st in that game?

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

Comparing Phil Robbins and Tom Turner is somewhat like comparing the careers of Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick (83 wins) and Dale Sr. at Childress (76 wins).

One is hired by a team already at the top with all the personnel and resources needed to succeed. 

The other is hired by a relatively underfunded team with limited resources and will need to rely on talent, grit, and hard work to succeed.

Both are among the best ever and go on to have HOF careers. But which one is better?  Should we ignore circumstances and simply choose the one with the best statistics? 

[BigWinners 1,643]

16 hours ago, Liam McPoyle said:

Comparing Phil Robbins and Tom Turner is somewhat like comparing the careers of Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick (83 wins) and Dale Sr. at Childress (76 wins).

One is hired by a team already at the top with all the personnel and resources needed to succeed. 

The other is hired by a relatively underfunded team with limited resources and will need to rely on talent, grit, and hard work to succeed.

Both are among the best ever and go on to have HOF careers. But which one is better?  Should we ignore circumstances and simply choose the one with the best statistics? 

lol okay man.

 

You realize Appalachia was a very good program before Turner took over, just like Powell Valley right? Did Riggs not build a solid enough tradition there? You’d think they prob wouldn’t name the stadium after a bum coach. 

[Duke2015 451]

32 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

lol okay man.

 

You realize Appalachia was a very good program before Turner took over, just like Powell Valley right? Did Riggs not build a solid enough tradition there? You’d think they prob wouldn’t name the stadium after a bum coach. 

Little before my time and I could be wrong but I think Appy was really bad after winning state in the early 70s

[jarhead24219 440]

A little history for you young guys, James Poss Bolling won the 1st state championship at PV , everyone knows that , he also vowed to be win one the resign which he did and left the shelves stocked full from the peanut program up. He insisted that all the programs run the same plays as varsity. He also took a non existent weight program( 1 weight machine max 240 lbs) and built it up. His asst. coaches were Bobby Couphlin and future D B coach Graham Clark , so yes he only won 1 state championship but man he poured one heck of a foundation for Phil to build 7 more Championships on!!! Phil has said as much

[BigWinners 1,643]

Bob Coughlin was an assistant in 82? He must have been super young at the time, he was my drivers ed and PE teacher twenty years later and wasn’t super old then. But he was always in great shape and has aged extremely well so I guess it shouldn’t be so surprising. 

[BigWinners 1,643]

29 minutes ago, Duke2015 said:

Little before my time and I could be wrong but I think Appy was really bad after winning state in the early 70s

It’s possible, I don’t really know. But Appalachia had won a state title before Tom, one, same as PV before Phil. I think both youth programs were always pretty well ran and prepared the kids for the HS offense. 
 

I also believe Tom probably didn’t want expensive, new uniforms or any of that stuff, he seemed to relish the hard nosed underdog role. 

[Duke2015 451]

16 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

It’s possible, I don’t really know. But Appalachia had won a state title before Tom, one, same as PV before Phil. I think both youth programs were always pretty well ran and prepared the kids for the HS offense. 
 

I also believe Tom probably didn’t want expensive, new uniforms or any of that stuff, he seemed to relish the hard nosed underdog role. 

Won in 72 I think Riggs retired soon after and had a few bad seasons before Tom got there 

[S10SQUAREBODY4LIFE 239]

It's hard to dispute any coach that has the hardware after it's all said and done no matter what was there before they arrived.  Just within this region over the past 40 years, there have been more coaches than can be remembered that ran a great program and never had the hardware but still deserve tons of credit.  So, yea I guess that separates the good from the best.

[Gridiron60 2,555]

I think most great or even really good coaches are only as good as their support staff. One man alone doesn't make a program great but one man with a couple outstanding assistants can build a solid program. 

[BigWinners 1,643]

I wouldn’t argue anyone putting Turner ahead of Robbins FWIW, I just think you can’t put Turner alone on a pedestal bc Phil, with a few more kids and better facilities, won more titles, more games and owned the head to head record. If Turner is 1, Phil is top three IMO. Same as reversed, if Phil is 1, Tom is top three. 
 

in the six seasons before Robbins took over (77-82), PV was:

4-5-1

7-3

7-3

6-3-1

12-0-1

In the six seasons before Turner took over (74-79), AHS was:

6-2-2

5-5

4-6

5-5

7-3

and Turner went 12-1 his first year, losing the state title game so there had to have been some talent there as well I’d say. 

[Vol Hater 276]

6 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

I wouldn’t argue anyone putting Turner ahead of Robbins FWIW, I just think you can’t put Turner alone on a pedestal bc Phil, with a few more kids and better facilities, won more titles, more games and owned the head to head record. If Turner is 1, Phil is top three IMO. Same as reversed, if Phil is 1, Tom is top three. 

Someone can't handle that daddy fat phil ain't highly regarded like he wants uh......you give Tom powell valley and Phil appy Tom has the same success maybe better Phil not so much at appy. That's the difference my man.

[sup_rbeast 296]

1 hour ago, BigWinners said:

Bob Coughlin was an assistant in 82? He must have been super young at the time, he was my drivers ed and PE teacher twenty years later and wasn’t super old then. But he was always in great shape and has aged extremely well so I guess it shouldn’t be so surprising. 

Coach Coughlin was older than he looked. He coached JV for years.

[sup_rbeast 296]

19 hours ago, The U Bear said:

didnt appy score 1st in that game?

I’m pretty sure they did. Then the Chargers woke up.

[sup_rbeast 296]

38 minutes ago, Gridiron60 said:

I think most great or even really good coaches are only as good as their support staff. One man alone doesn't make a program great but one man with a couple outstanding assistants can build a solid program. 

In 1989, PV had 60 players and 2 coaches at practice everyday. That was Phil Robbins and Barry Jones. On game days, and maybe once or twice a week there was another coach who worked with RBs, and that was Jim Kelly. The following year, Kelly was out there full time and Coach Huff began his tenure coaching O Line at PV. 

[sup_rbeast 296]

41 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

I wouldn’t argue anyone putting Turner ahead of Robbins FWIW, I just think you can’t put Turner alone on a pedestal bc Phil, with a few more kids and better facilities, won more titles, more games and owned the head to head record. 

The people who argue that PV had better facilities than anyone else have no clue what PV had prior to the 1990s. Until 1991, there was no field house. The players dressed in the basketball locker room, in the hall, in the JV locker room or the PE locker room. There was a sled, a chute, some boards, a few dummies a practice field with an old crossbar, and a weight room in the old health class room, and that was it…and 4 State Championships were won before the field house or any of that ever come along. Hell, Appalachia had a field house years before PV did.

[sup_rbeast 296]

37 minutes ago, Vol Hater said:

Someone can't handle that daddy fat phil ain't highly regarded like he wants uh......you give Tom powell valley and Phil appy Tom has the same success maybe better Phil not so much at appy. That's the difference my man.

I’d argue that if both staffs were swapped, you’d have the same result because I never once saw either coach make a single play for PV or Appy either one. All I ever saw was them standing on the sidelines coaching the runs of talent they both had.

[Cousin_Hoyt 87]

1 hour ago, BigWinners said:

It’s possible, I don’t really know. But Appalachia had won a state title before Tom, one, same as PV before Phil. I think both youth programs were always pretty well ran and prepared the kids for the HS offense. 
 

I also believe Tom probably didn’t want expensive, new uniforms or any of that stuff, he seemed to relish the hard nosed underdog role. 

Well, well, LittleBigWinners. Awhile back we posted a comment during one of these discussions where Coach Turner’s name popped up. You came back with a smart @r$€ comment that Turner wouldn’t do that.  Now look what a dumb @r$€ comment you have made. Our comment was made based on fact. See, Uncle Percy knew Coach Turner, we seriously doubt that you ever did.  
 

 

 

[Duke2015 451]

The biggest issue with Phil over the years not getting enough credit was most people were giving Barry Jones most of the credit.  Barry was a great assistant but you can’t take away what Phil did also 

[Duke2015 451]

25 minutes ago, sup_rbeast said:

The people who argue that PV had better facilities than anyone else have no clue what PV had prior to the 1990s. Until 1991, there was no field house. The players dressed in the basketball locker room, in the hall, in the JV locker room or the PE locker room. There was a sled, a chute, some boards, a few dummies a practice field with an old crossbar, and a weight room in the old health class room, and that was it…and 4 State Championships were won before the field house or any of that ever come along. Hell, Appalachia had a field house years before PV did.

I can’t remember when Appy built theirs I was young maybe around 1990

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

3 hours ago, BigWinners said:

lol okay man.

 

You realize Appalachia was a very good program before Turner took over, just like Powell Valley right? Did Riggs not build a solid enough tradition there? You’d think they prob wouldn’t name the stadium after a bum coach. 

Riggs was exceptional, and Appy wasn't completely void of tradition. It certainly wasn't like Tom Turner took over St Paul, but the Dawgs had three coaches in seven years between JR and TT and the program had declined.  But, no, the cupboard wasn't bare either. And while Appy had nothing on the level of TJ and JJ, they did have the likes Tr Turner, T Clark, Huff, Jessee, Mabe, etc

What keeps Phil Robbins from my top spot was his seeming inability to build a program. He had limited success at both John Battle (15-42-3) and Christiansburg  (32-28-1). Tough places to win, but not impossible. Multiple coaches have since built winners at both schools. It wasn't until Bolling handed him the keys to the Cadillac did Robbins finally excel. But while he didn't build it, he deserves a ton of credit for sustaining the program at an elite level and winning those 7 titles. 

I'm not certain of my final two SWVA Coaches Mt. Rushmore, but Turner and Robbins are no-brainers

[Liam McPoyle 1,863]

2 hours ago, Vol Hater said:

you give Tom powell valley and Phil appy Tom has the same success maybe better Phil not so much at appy.

To quote Bum Phillips..."He can take his'n and beat your'n and take your'n and beat his'n."