Sam Elsbernd is the new coach at Holmes

[theguru]

[Pi]

I agree with this take. I think Sam fit the bill in what the program and the school district needed at this time. This is shown by the majority of the reaction from Holmes graduates on social media. 
 

If he can get his teams to play hard like he did at Pendleton and with the Bracken girls, which I suspect he will, the people in Covington and Holmes alumni will start returning to Evans Fieldhouse. 
 

 

On 4/24/2024 at 11:12 AM, se7ens said:

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 

[brooksville]

Sam is a great coach and friend and I hope he has success which I’m sure will happen.  At Bracken girls and Pendleton boys he did the best job he could with the players he had so he’s been in this situation before.  I think he did a good job on the court coaching, but off the court he knows what it takes to run a program.  

[theguru]

From Coach E's mom, Lynne, on Facebook:

I believe his first words were " ball and net". He was a very unsettled child (I'm being kind) and simply Did Not Stop. He was still in diapers when I turned on a basketball game and he stopped dead in his tracks and sat down on his little red plastic chair and actually watched the game. His love for the game was set in motion.

Before he even started school, he was carrying a clip board with pages and pages of x's and o's. He did not leave the house without his notebooks and eventually binders stuck under his scrawny arms. One never knew when he might need to scribble an emergency route to run. Somewhere along the line, he acquired a whistle (that was wonderful). Long before any math lessons, he taught himself to add and subtract by determining how many points a team was up or down. His grandparents would cut pictures of "balls and nets" out of newspapers and magazines and these were his prized positions. He would carefully paste or tape these in a notebook for future reference. He broke out with chicken pox at the ninth region tournament one year and tried to hide it because he knew that meant he would not be able to go the following night. 

When he went for a tour of the school where he attended kindergarten, his only comment referenced the gymnasium. All else would be lost on him. That is pretty much how he started and ended his school days. Not much on education, but it was a small price for him to pay to play ball.

Going into the 7th grade, he was transferred from his small parochial school to the public school because no matter how hard everyone tried, he was a square peg and simply did not fit the round hole environment the school provided. As parents, it was a difficult decision to make. It was simply Blind Faith (actually more like what the hell could we possibly lose). It turned out to be so much more than the right decision. 

That was the school that built him. He thrived there. He was blessed with an abundance of friends, coaches, teachers and mentors who helped mold him into the man he is today. Trust me when I say, this was no easy feat. However, there were people there he respected and trusted and they did right by him and continue to do so.  Besides Debbie D. Bowman and a handful of others, they were the first people to accept him for what he was (and is) instead of trying to mold him into what he definitely was not. They saw potential and worked on his strengths. They were the game changers. There will never be enough words to express my gratitude for these men and women. The ship was sinking and you were our lifeboat.

It is still lost on me that this boy who tolerated school at best has circled around the world and ended up being a teacher. Of course, this means he is still a part of "the game". He has been a little here and a little there preparing for this day. He has done the work, taken his knocks, persevered and his efforts and passion for the game have found him right back where it started, where he undoubtedly belongs. 

He is still a square peg and the world is still a round whole. But, guess what? That's ok. He has found his way. Not always easy, but always worth it. He will come upon more of these "square pegs" and I am certain that he will be able to do for them what has been done for him.

Congratulations, Coach Elsbernd. You certainly have your work cut out for you. But, that has always been and probably will always be the case for you. You have NEVER taken the easy route and I see no good reason to start now. You have years of experience beating the [redacted] and overcoming countless obstacles. You have proven repeatedly there are times when only a Square Peg can get the damn job done!

Signed, Momma. Forever your biggest fan and worst critic. 😉

[theguru]

Coach E posted this.  Looks like some old swag and some new swag.

[CVG]

On 4/26/2024 at 10:56 AM, theguru said:

From Coach E's mom, Lynne, on Facebook:

I believe his first words were " ball and net". He was a very unsettled child (I'm being kind) and simply Did Not Stop. He was still in diapers when I turned on a basketball game and he stopped dead in his tracks and sat down on his little red plastic chair and actually watched the game. His love for the game was set in motion.

Before he even started school, he was carrying a clip board with pages and pages of x's and o's. He did not leave the house without his notebooks and eventually binders stuck under his scrawny arms. One never knew when he might need to scribble an emergency route to run. Somewhere along the line, he acquired a whistle (that was wonderful). Long before any math lessons, he taught himself to add and subtract by determining how many points a team was up or down. His grandparents would cut pictures of "balls and nets" out of newspapers and magazines and these were his prized positions. He would carefully paste or tape these in a notebook for future reference. He broke out with chicken pox at the ninth region tournament one year and tried to hide it because he knew that meant he would not be able to go the following night. 

When he went for a tour of the school where he attended kindergarten, his only comment referenced the gymnasium. All else would be lost on him. That is pretty much how he started and ended his school days. Not much on education, but it was a small price for him to pay to play ball.

Going into the 7th grade, he was transferred from his small parochial school to the public school because no matter how hard everyone tried, he was a square peg and simply did not fit the round hole environment the school provided. As parents, it was a difficult decision to make. It was simply Blind Faith (actually more like what the hell could we possibly lose). It turned out to be so much more than the right decision. 

That was the school that built him. He thrived there. He was blessed with an abundance of friends, coaches, teachers and mentors who helped mold him into the man he is today. Trust me when I say, this was no easy feat. However, there were people there he respected and trusted and they did right by him and continue to do so.  Besides Debbie D. Bowman and a handful of others, they were the first people to accept him for what he was (and is) instead of trying to mold him into what he definitely was not. They saw potential and worked on his strengths. They were the game changers. There will never be enough words to express my gratitude for these men and women. The ship was sinking and you were our lifeboat.

It is still lost on me that this boy who tolerated school at best has circled around the world and ended up being a teacher. Of course, this means he is still a part of "the game". He has been a little here and a little there preparing for this day. He has done the work, taken his knocks, persevered and his efforts and passion for the game have found him right back where it started, where he undoubtedly belongs. 

He is still a square peg and the world is still a round whole. But, guess what? That's ok. He has found his way. Not always easy, but always worth it. He will come upon more of these "square pegs" and I am certain that he will be able to do for them what has been done for him.

Congratulations, Coach Elsbernd. You certainly have your work cut out for you. But, that has always been and probably will always be the case for you. You have NEVER taken the easy route and I see no good reason to start now. You have years of experience beating the [redacted] and overcoming countless obstacles. You have proven repeatedly there are times when only a Square Peg can get the damn job done!

Signed, Momma. Forever your biggest fan and worst critic. 😉

Rooting for Coach Elsbernd ever more!

[Mustang]

On 4/28/2024 at 12:11 PM, theguru said:

Coach E posted this.  Looks like some old swag and some new swag.

Yea, Bring back the striped warmup pants, and run the "Bulldog Weave" drill that used to accompany them.  I still know it should you need a refresher.  

[theguru]

10 hours ago, Mustang said:

Yea, Bring back the striped warmup pants, and run the "Bulldog Weave" drill that used to accompany them.  I still know it should you need a refresher.  

I agree on the striped pants Mustang, I thought the same thing the instant I saw the photo.

[JobuNeedsARefill]

29 minutes ago, theguru said:

I agree on the striped pants Mustang, I thought the same thing the instant I saw the photo.

They wore them multiple games last year if I’m not mistaken.

[Voice of Reason]

12 hours ago, Mustang said:

Yea, Bring back the striped warmup pants, and run the "Bulldog Weave" drill that used to accompany them.  I still know it should you need a refresher.  

You like living in the past and I disagree with you most of the time on that, but I am with you 100% on the striped warmups.

[allsport71]

Reynolds Flynn era, love it.

[Cincinnati Cobra]

Sam is really good people. Here's hoping he can bring back that old school swagger to Holmes and teach the young Dawgs how to really play with a chip on their shoulder. Everyone around the Ninth knows the Ninth is better when Holmes is better.

[JobuNeedsARefill]

4 hours ago, Cincinnati Cobra said:

Sam is really good people. Here's hoping he can bring back that old school swagger to Holmes and teach the young Dawgs how to really play with a chip on their shoulder. Everyone around the Ninth knows the Ninth is better when Holmes is better.

0-2 against Holmes the last two years, both losses at his home court. 40% of Holmes wins the past two seasons have come against teams led by him. Not sure why everyone is so convinced this was the best hire when he couldn’t win games against the two least talented teams in Holmes history. Feels like this hire was rushed to appease to community rather than made because a long, deliberate search took place. 

[se7ens]

3 hours ago, JobuNeedsARefill said:

0-2 against Holmes the last two years, both losses at his home court. 40% of Holmes wins the past two seasons have come against teams led by him. Not sure why everyone is so convinced this was the best hire when he couldn’t win games against the two least talented teams in Holmes history. Feels like this hire was rushed to appease to community rather than made because a long, deliberate search took place. 

Just to confirm, you are counting Brossart losing to Holmes this past season as part of his 0-2, correct? When he was an assistant for a Brossart team with one of the most depleted rosters in recent school history? Does not seem like a fair assessment to Sam, does it?

[FatNate]

2 things that must happen in order for Sam or anyone to achieve success at Holmes.

1. Keep the homegrown talent at Holmes. Can't afford to lose talented kids to Cincinnati and neighboring schools.

2. Needs an assistant that has the appeal to possibly bring in a few kids, a guy with some AAU knowledge. Possibly a local trainer. Newport is a good model to follow.  High school basketball is not like it once was. It is following the AAU/college w/ the portal. They need to be able to get a few kids that want to come and be a part of Bulldogs basketball. Perfect example, Johnson brothers showing up a few years ago! Have to score some kids from Cincinnati. 

It is a tall order to get back to the glory days of Holmes Basketball. I agree Holmes being good makes high school basketball better.