WK1 Ironton @ Wheelersburg AUG 29

[pembrook burrows III]

I have to respectfully disagree with oleblue and superstar. Ironton is not the only community in Ohio who has had access to great talent. Portsmouth has great talent, but no football coach has ever won close to 341 games there. Same with Canton McKinley. You can find great talent in school districts throughout the state. Many, many other Ohio high schools have produced more D-I football players than Ironton in the past 35+ years, but very few have won as consistently as Ironton

Sure, great talent helps you win. Ironton has been blessed with its share of talent. But a truly great coach like Bob Lutz builds a program. He did this in Ironton by galvanizing a community around football and taking it to another level.

With someone like Lutz, you don't have parents second-guessing the coaches and creating problems; you attract the financial support needed to have a good staff of assistants; you implement a system that the players learn from the beginning of their midget football years; you build a team each year that improves throughout the course of a season; you make amazing halftime adjustments that turn potential losing games into winners; and, yes, you attract (note: I said attract, not recruit) a few kids from other school districts that want to play for an elite program. Success breeds success. It takes great organizational and interpersonal skills to build and run an elite football program. It is so much more than just coaching x's and o's and running great talent out onto a field.

You can hold an MBA from Harvard with a great product to sell. But if you do not have great organizational and interpersonal skills, you may still find yourself in bankruptcy.

[black76]

I am not sure why you think parents didn't go after Coach Lutz. Plenty did over the years, both in the stands and otherwise. I recall a recent year where a kid left the sideline and went up in the stands and finished watching the game. One of thousands of examples. He was not immune, that is everywhere more or less. He was a dang fine Coach but he did not have interpersonal skills at all. I say all this with the utmost respect for Coach Lutz. He would probably laugh and agree. He was very organized and enjoyed talent from everywhere.

[pembrook burrows III]

Those are fair comments, black76. I appreciate your point of view.

I am sure that Lutz was not immune from parental criticism. But he had such credibility with the Ironton community, especially after his first couple of years on the job, that he had less strife than in most programs. There was a reason the Ironton School Board had Coach Lutz tape a commercial supporting the levy to construct the new high school. And I remember the incident you cite because I was there. I think that player's younger brother played and excelled for Coach Lutz, and both young men's mother was a strong and vocal supporter of Ironton athletics throughout their careers, including postings on this website.

As to Coach Lutz's interpersonal skills, I agree with you that he may never excel at a cocktail party or as a TV host. He probably would laugh and agree with your assessment. But he did have that fundamental ability to communicate with and motivate coaches and players. At least that is what I was trying to say, until my poor communication skills failed me. :122245

[kevbk6222]

I am not sure why you think parents didn't go after Coach Lutz. Plenty did over the years, both in the stands and otherwise. I recall a recent year where a kid left the sideline and went up in the stands and finished watching the game. One of thousands of examples. He was not immune, that is everywhere more or less. He was a dang fine Coach but he did not have interpersonal skills at all. I say all this with the utmost respect for Coach Lutz. He would probably laugh and agree. He was very organized and enjoyed talent from everywhere.

As i recall that incident the player went into the stand to cheer on his teammates who were still playing, as many fans had already left or were leaving. If my memory serves it had nothing to do with any amount of discontent with coach lutz.

[black76]

Now that is funny. No player is allowed in the stands. It doesn't matter I was simply making a point that he had all kinds of problems with fans parents players etc as does every coach at some points in their career. I had heard it and seem it firsthand from both sides if the fence. There were down years for him as well as outstanding years. He went 3-7 or 4-6 or 5-5 at times. He sought out other jobs at times. So to paint some perfect rosy picture of what he accomplished is dumb.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I'M GETTIN THAT OLE FAMILIAR TWITCHIN AGAIN, A CHILL IN THE EVENING AIR. FOOTBALL BEING DISCUSSED ON THE NEWS, PRE-SEASON GAMES, OLD BOWL GAMES ON TV. YUP, IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN, FOOTBALL 2014

HERE'S TO MY TEAMS GETTIN R DONE
IRONTON FIGHTING TIGERS
OHIO STATE BUCKEYES
CINCINNATI BENGALS

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

WHAT'S THE WORD-----------------------BEAT THE BURG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[local superstar]

Good Luck Ironton! They have all the ingredients and more seasoned players than Burg so no excuses, go Tigers!

[Trojan_Pride]

Good Luck Ironton! They have all the ingredients and more seasoned players than Burg so no excuses, go Tigers!

TIGERS will win this game!!!!!

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

let's git r done.

[fbnut]

Good Luck Ironton! They have all the ingredients and more seasoned players than Burg so no excuses, go Tigers!

Burgs pretty seasoned, a lot of kids returning.

[victor creed]

i just love these people that yell ironton recruits. lutz won cause he had all this incredible talent. they all came in from all over the county to play for him like coach burcham, jones sheridan, lewis etc were out setting up livingroom sit downs and telling kids what a great education they would get and how they would win state championships if they came and played for ironton. anybody that knows coach lutz, knows he wouldnt walk accross the street to ask or "recruit" a kid to come play for him, but when your successful and you build a good program parents seek you out or seek out coaches or teachers, and they say hey i want my little baby to come play at ironton cause i think he is great and can be the next archie griffin, so how do i get him to ironton. there is not an athletic director in the county, or the state thats gonna say "no we dont want your kid to come here. they are gonna say well if you want to come play you gotta do this and then you gotta do that and this and we would love to have you. if the rock hills or portsmouth wests or coal groves would have built the kind of program that lutz had at ironton the exact same thing would have happend there over the last 40 years. in fact i am one of those people that belive if lutz would have taken the job at coal grove in 1972 and had the same coaches there that he had at ironton i believe he would have won more state championships there than he did at ironton. speaking of the talent yes there was a lot of it but name me some kids that went on to be big time players at the division 1 level. sure there was jermon, at osu, conwell to kentucky, whaley at osu (fyi not considered a d1 recruit just worked his hind end off to be successfull, how many 5' 10" d1 linmen youknow) fritz at osu, harmon at msu, arden at osu, thats 6 over a 25 to 30 year period the truth is he molded a TEAM into the players that he had out. there were not headcases or you didnt play didnt put up with crap from parents or they took their kid and left. and he made ok players good and good players great. thats why he is the winningest coach in ohio not because he recruited, it just didnt happen.

[ridgerunner]

Nice post.

[youthsportsfan]

i just love these people that yell ironton recruits. lutz won cause he had all this incredible talent. they all came in from all over the county to play for him like coach burcham, jones sheridan, lewis etc were out setting up livingroom sit downs and telling kids what a great education they would get and how they would win state championships if they came and played for ironton. anybody that knows coach lutz, knows he wouldnt walk accross the street to ask or "recruit" a kid to come play for him, but when your successful and you build a good program parents seek you out or seek out coaches or teachers, and they say hey i want my little baby to come play at ironton cause i think he is great and can be the next archie griffin, so how do i get him to ironton. there is not an athletic director in the county, or the state thats gonna say "no we dont want your kid to come here. they are gonna say well if you want to come play you gotta do this and then you gotta do that and this and we would love to have you. if the rock hills or portsmouth wests or coal groves would have built the kind of program that lutz had at ironton the exact same thing would have happend there over the last 40 years. in fact i am one of those people that belive if lutz would have taken the job at coal grove in 1972 and had the same coaches there that he had at ironton i believe he would have won more state championships there than he did at ironton. speaking of the talent yes there was a lot of it but name me some kids that went on to be big time players at the division 1 level. sure there was jermon, at osu, conwell to kentucky, whaley at osu (fyi not considered a d1 recruit just worked his hind end off to be successfull, how many 5' 10" d1 linmen youknow) fritz at osu, harmon at msu, arden at osu, thats 6 over a 25 to 30 year period the truth is he molded a TEAM into the players that he had out. there were not headcases or you didnt play didnt put up with crap from parents or they took their kid and left. and he made ok players good and good players great. thats why he is the winningest coach in ohio not because he recruited, it just didnt happen.

You knocked it out of the park. IMO Lutz was a great coach no doubt. However , I think there was one thing that trumped his coaching and that was his players feared him in a respectful way. They wanted to do well as they didn't want to let him down. He expected perfection knowing you wouldn't be but you tried to be for him for you team mate nxt to you. It was the team culture , I've seen some players flip off coaches during the game heard them cuss their coach to his face and the players never missed a play. If her Jermon , Kenny or Harmon ever flipped off Coach or cuss him to his face they never would've played college as they would've been off the team that moment. You want to see success you better have a culture of respect ,pride and a lil bit of fear. Coach Lutz made good football players but made great young men. And never once did you feel he was your friend. Today a lot of coaches want to fit in and be friends.

[doubleplay643]

i just love these people that yell ironton recruits. lutz won cause he had all this incredible talent. they all came in from all over the county to play for him like coach burcham, jones sheridan, lewis etc were out setting up livingroom sit downs and telling kids what a great education they would get and how they would win state championships if they came and played for ironton. anybody that knows coach lutz, knows he wouldnt walk accross the street to ask or "recruit" a kid to come play for him, but when your successful and you build a good program parents seek you out or seek out coaches or teachers, and they say hey i want my little baby to come play at ironton cause i think he is great and can be the next archie griffin, so how do i get him to ironton. there is not an athletic director in the county, or the state thats gonna say "no we dont want your kid to come here. they are gonna say well if you want to come play you gotta do this and then you gotta do that and this and we would love to have you. if the rock hills or portsmouth wests or coal groves would have built the kind of program that lutz had at ironton the exact same thing would have happend there over the last 40 years. in fact i am one of those people that belive if lutz would have taken the job at coal grove in 1972 and had the same coaches there that he had at ironton i believe he would have won more state championships there than he did at ironton. speaking of the talent yes there was a lot of it but name me some kids that went on to be big time players at the division 1 level. sure there was jermon, at osu, conwell to kentucky, whaley at osu (fyi not considered a d1 recruit just worked his hind end off to be successfull, how many 5' 10" d1 linmen youknow) fritz at osu, harmon at msu, arden at osu, thats 6 over a 25 to 30 year period the truth is he molded a TEAM into the players that he had out. there were not headcases or you didnt play didnt put up with crap from parents or they took their kid and left. and he made ok players good and good players great. thats why he is the winningest coach in ohio not because he recruited, it just didnt happen.

ding ding ding ding....we have a winner folks....pretty spot on post

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

i just love these people that yell ironton recruits. lutz won cause he had all this incredible talent. they all came in from all over the county to play for him like coach burcham, jones sheridan, lewis etc were out setting up livingroom sit downs and telling kids what a great education they would get and how they would win state championships if they came and played for ironton. anybody that knows coach lutz, knows he wouldnt walk accross the street to ask or "recruit" a kid to come play for him, but when your successful and you build a good program parents seek you out or seek out coaches or teachers, and they say hey i want my little baby to come play at ironton cause i think he is great and can be the next archie griffin, so how do i get him to ironton. there is not an athletic director in the county, or the state thats gonna say "no we dont want your kid to come here. they are gonna say well if you want to come play you gotta do this and then you gotta do that and this and we would love to have you. if the rock hills or portsmouth wests or coal groves would have built the kind of program that lutz had at ironton the exact same thing would have happend there over the last 40 years. in fact i am one of those people that belive if lutz would have taken the job at coal grove in 1972 and had the same coaches there that he had at ironton i believe he would have won more state championships there than he did at ironton. speaking of the talent yes there was a lot of it but name me some kids that went on to be big time players at the division 1 level. sure there was jermon, at osu, conwell to kentucky, whaley at osu (fyi not considered a d1 recruit just worked his hind end off to be successfull, how many 5' 10" d1 linmen youknow) fritz at osu, harmon at msu, arden at osu, thats 6 over a 25 to 30 year period the truth is he molded a TEAM into the players that he had out. there were not headcases or you didnt play didnt put up with crap from parents or they took their kid and left. and he made ok players good and good players great. thats why he is the winningest coach in ohio not because he recruited, it just didnt happen.

I could not agree more.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I've heard people say in the past he came to our house and talked with us about my son coming there. and I just grin , cause I know better.like victor said, he would not have crossed the street to do that.

[Trojan_Pride]

ironton plays like they did in the preview and they win this game by 10+!! a very well balanced approach called the right plays at the right time this time around!! work on getting them penalties under control and ironton will have a very successful season

[wobycat]

ironton plays like they did in the preview and they win this game by 10+!! a very well balanced approach called the right plays at the right time this time around!! work on getting them penalties under control and ironton will have a very successful season

Ironton will be better but the Burg is good again. Pirates +21

[Trojan_Pride]

ironton plays like they did in the preview and they win this game by 10+!! a very well balanced approach called the right plays at the right time this time around!! work on getting them penalties under control and ironton will have a very successful season

Ironton will be better but the Burg is good again. Pirates +21

ironton will lose NO game of the 9 regular season games this year by 21+