gahs4ever wrote:To get back to football: Just to show what kind of prophet I am during the early 00's when GAHS was enjoying all those playoff years; winning week 11 games in 1999, 2002, 2003, and 2006, and going to the regional finals in 1999, all the while winning three straight SEOAL titles 2002-03-04 that our fans were becoming spoiled. Winning never satisfies; it only creates an appetite for more winning, and when you get used to going to the playoffs, anything less is substandard and unacceptible.
These people fail to realize that prior to 1999, GAHS had only been to the playoffs twice in school history and had yet to win a playoff game. They also fail to realize how many schools in SE Ohio have NEVER come close to a playoff berth EVER and would give anything to have our history. Finally they fail to look at other successful programs historically that have experienced a similar dropoff like we have. Jackson comes to mind. Up until 1998 they had won more SEOAL football championships than any school in history. They havent won one since 1998 and Logan has surpassed them with the most titles. Athens in fourth on the list behind GAHS, but when was the last time they won one before they left for the TVC?
The point being that every school experiences ups and downs and some classes are stronger and deeper than others. But you let a couple or few down years show up and heads will roll. That mentality seems to be surfacing everywhere these days and Im not sure we are the better for it.
This past fall at the awards recognition, our football coach who had just concluded his first season with a 2-8 record began talking about the season by saying that they didnt win as many games as he and the team had hoped and that if he had a repeat 2-8 next year it would probably be his last awards night as coach. It drew a laugh from the audience as he meant it to, but there is a growing impatience with administrators and fans with their coaches who dont win and some schools in recent years have been nothing more than coaching carousels (see Warren Local).
I agree with you to a point and truly believe that coaches deserve a fair chance. However, at what point should the coach be on the "hot seat" When you see coaches go into perennially poor programs and make an immediate impact, it can be difficult to have patience. Coaching is the key to having a successful program.
Unless the program is already successful and the coach is taking over for a winner, here are some key things that I think define a coach that has a program moving in the right direction:
Improvement in terms of wins and losses over time
Over all headcount of kids playing football from biddy league to varsity increases over time
Kids play hard and don't quit even if they get blown out
A large percentage of players participate in voluntary, off-season workouts
If these things aren't happening after 3 years, I think it is fair to start examining if a change is needed. I'm not necessarily talking about GAHS. I like some of the things Coach Eddy did in his first year and think it is way too early to decide whether or not he's going to be successful. My point is that coaches deserve a fair chance, but they also need to be held accountable if things aren't at least improving.
