I personnaly think Bracken Co's program is in great hands. A head coach, who has come back to coach at her alma mater! She above all people wants the program to succeed.

 

People have to remember it takes time. At Ripley we have won 9, 8 and 12 in my first 3 years. Each game is a step in the right direction. I have been just as satisified in some of our losses as I have our wins.

 

The 10th Region is a great basketball region, and EVERYTHING GOES IN CYCLES!!! Mason in the 80's was great, then down for a while. Clark, Montgomery, Harrison, Brossart, Paris, and Nicholas have all taken their turn as the dominant team.

 

As for all of these teams in the 5th-8th grades, give these kids time. See which ones really pan out. Once kids hit high school, things change. Boyfriends, cars, jobs, friends, etc all take their toll on a team. Honestly, as a coach, if I can find 3 players in each grade level that can contribute at the high school level I feel lucky.

 

One blessing I have in OH, you cannot move up middle school kids.

Let me know your thoughts on this:

 

Do great high school players make great coaches? Just curious.. someone at the bank asked me this and I was wondering what your thoughts were

 

One blessing I have in OH, you cannot move up middle school kids.

 

A great rule. A high school coach who always has to look south for his team is a coach that is never looking up to succeed!

A great rule. A high school coach who always has to look south for his team is a coach that is never looking up to succeed!

 

Oh how wrong you are!

Uh, Ok. Look at the top programs year in and year out and I think the proof speaks pretty clear. I am not talking about the occassional exceptional player. I am talking about the year in and year out adding and those programs do not succeed.

A great rule. A high school coach who always has to look south for his team is a coach that is never looking up to succeed!

I don't agree! From what I have seen in some of the middle schools ...I think it only makes sense to sometimes get the very talented middle school player the opportunity to play up. Both to give her some experience that you can only get in games and to allow the team more time to "gel". I have seen several eighth graders who had played AAU ball for 4 years be able to more than succeed at the JV/Varsity level. How sweet for a coach to have 5 or 6 years to work with these talented ladies...that looks to me like a coach looking to succeed!

I don't agree! From what I have seen in some of the middle schools ...I think it only makes sense to sometimes get the very talented middle school player the opportunity to play up. Both to give her some experience that you can only get in games and to allow the team more time to "gel". I have seen several eighth graders who had played AAU ball for 4 years be able to more than succeed at the JV/Varsity level. How sweet for a coach to have 5 or 6 years to work with these talented ladies...that looks to me like a coach looking to succeed!

 

You do not see this with the best programs. That is a fact. And by your own statements, time to gel, etc. This does not spell success for the high school team. All it is self benefit for player. That is not how programs stay successful. Sorry.

And one other question. If the coach has 5 to 6 years and does not have success and is repeating the process with the next patch of middle school kids and repeats it again, should the coach be kicked out by that time because he is certainly not developing this "talent" after several cycles of players.

For a lot of these programs that have all the success with veteran players, it is only because they learned the ropes very young (as middleschoolers) and by the time they are juniors and seniors they know how to win.

And one other question. If the coach has 5 to 6 years and does not have success and is repeating the process with the next patch of middle school kids and repeats it again, should the coach be kicked out by that time because he is certainly not developing this "talent" after several cycles of players.

I'm not sure I understand the question. Who said anything about the coach not being successful? I am just saying that I think the rule about not being able to move middle school kids up, doesn't always make sense to me.

Let me know your thoughts on this:

 

Do great high school players make great coaches? Just curious.. someone at the bank asked me this and I was wondering what your thoughts were

 

 

I think to be classified as a great coach one has to excell in the position as a coach it dosent matter if they were a great high school player or not . There are alot of very sucessful coaches out there that people dont think are great coaches thats a pretty odd question . IM sure we all know what you are trying to get at! I also belive it would take any coach some years to be considered great if that title was given probably not going to happen in 2, 3, or even 4 years i would think greatness comes with time. Pat Summit is a GREAT coach but 4 years into her coaching career i doubt she was consider to be a great coach so i dont hink you can really say weather great high school players make great coaches one thing is certain most great player usually have a GREAT understanding of the game and what it takes to win the rest is up to the kids they are coaching.

good post Countryboy7....

 

There is no correlation between the two.. You can be a great player and a lousy coach, you can never played the game at all and be a great coach.. You could be a great player and great coach.. I think that CountryBoy7 hit the nail on the head...

 

A lot of it is the drive and determination that you have and if it feeds over to the players you are coaching

You can add up the wins from the this year and Last and not get some season totals countryboy... The only thing going ni our favor right now is our very week schedule. If we dont get 10 wins this season it will be very disappointing

LBM, you may not want to hear this but there is not a single players close to the caliber of talent that Hannah Jefferson had. She was a special, special player who won many of games for Bracken County during her run there.

 

While some of the players at BC are nice players they pale in comparison, AT THIS POINT, to Hannah and what she did for Bracken County to make them competitive and able to play against some teams they presently cannot play against.

Uh, Ok. Look at the top programs year in and year out and I think the proof speaks pretty clear. I am not talking about the occassional exceptional player. I am talking about the year in and year out adding and those programs do not succeed.

Harrison County NEVER made the state tournament till Mac Whitaker became coach. They had some great players and great coaches BUT NEVER made the state tournament till he became coach.

 

And his tenure has been based on moving up MS players. Noelle and Dorothy Boyers played in the 6th grade. Camryn, I think did too. Megan Gray and Brooke Faulkner played HS ball as 7th and 8th graders, I believe starting as 8th graders on varsity.

 

You check out Harrison County's freshmen team roster and it will be loaded with MSers.

 

Montgomery County has had a nice team the past two years (10th region champs). Almost all of those girls were on the HS roster as MSers.

 

Iroquois made the state tournament two years ago, starting two 8th graders and a freshmen.

 

All great examples of successful programs that consistently move MSers up. SS on the girls' side, you are wrong.