se7ens

It is going to absolutely take some time for Sam to restore Holmes to contender status but I have some good reasons to be optimistic: - He “gets” the program/community about as good as anyone can, something that was sorely missed the last few years. - He has experienced both great failure and great success throughout his career and is built to keep the program moving forward during lean times. - For a team which as many losses as Holmes as experienced the past two years, to get a coach with head coaching experience at two places alongside the amazing coaching trees he is a part of as an assistant while still being under 40 is just an absolute home run.

It has been announced - Sam Elsbernd finally gets his chance at his alma mater.

Boys Varsity & JV Assistant and Freshmen Head Coach Trevor Steiner has been named the Girls Varsity Head Coach.

Long time middle school coach Laura Hall was named varsity coach today.

I think it is a great job for a first time coach like it was for Browning. But overall, no, if you are an established coach wanting to win and compete for regionals, this one isn't it. Getting out of the district alone is a tough ask anymore and I don't see that changing anytime soon. With all of that said, I cannot imagine a current head coach going for it. I would look at some of the younger, more ambitious assistants out there, maybe even some in house that don't go with Browning. You have some staffs shaken up right now at Conner, Dixie, and Grant etc... Could leave some quality assistants out there looking for that new step up.

As it should be.

My take on the program under Coach Shields - he ran his system of taking the air out of the ball on offense and a tight zone that made games, especially against schools of a similar size, ooze along and result in super low scoring affairs. That makes a team capable of winning against teams better than them (and losing to teams worse than them). Brian Coburn came in with a more standard way of going about things than the niche Shields system. Though never wildly successful, he got some wins during the career of Lexie Aytes and a middle school Kayla Unkraut. Unkraut leaves for St. Henry when she enters high school and Villa still hasn’t found anyone near the level of Unkraut or Aytes to be the engine to success. During that decline, Coburn left, giving rise to the Kortekamp Era. I think the legacy of Katie Kortekamp will be that she kept the program alive, which can’t be said for other small school girls programs across the state.

And the fifth 9th region All A school job is open. This position, to me, is one that is truly all about the kids because there are few programs, on either the boys or girls side, that have more trouble stringing together wins than this one.

Bumping this. Who do we expect to cause the next head coaching vacancy in the 9th?

Another All A school in the 9th region has a vacancy. Dayton really struggled this season and the participation isn't where they need it to be if they want to start competing for Div. III conference titles again. Next year is going to be tough with what they had on the roster to finish the year and with Bellevue coming back in full force but there is some hope for the future with the right hire here.

Honestly I think this a big time grab by East.

I hear what you are saying but the difference is pretty clear - Holmes is officially open and Covington Catholic still very much has a coach. Also I am starting to think about another name very familiar to this district who has had some wonderful rebuilds - Erik Goetz.

Amanda Wimsatt

Ouch. Yeah, those are some huge losses. I didn’t know about the early graduates.

They certainly had a promising start but weren't yet at the level to sustain that success. Certainly reason to believe they should be able to build off of that.