01-23-2009, 09:51 AM
Nice article on Kentucky's newest High School and the struggle of a start-up program.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll...901230432/
By Rory Glynn ⢠[email]rglynn@enquirer.com[/email] ⢠January 23, 2009
The gleaming, two-story gymnasium is a focal point of the new $42 million Randall K. Cooper High School, with its sturdy red-brick skin and shiny hardwood floor, its Jaguar mascot snarling up from center court.
Spacious trophy cases flank the doors on the east side, awaiting championship hardware everyone agrees eventually will come.
But in this, Cooper High's first winter of competition, sometimes it seems as if building the school was the easy part. Building the programs is a challenge of a different kind.
"Every team we've got is playing very hard," athletic director Matt Wilhoite said. "But we're definitely outmanned. For the most part, we're sophomores going against experienced varsity players.
"The best thing we've got going for us is very good coaches. Eventually we're going to have very good players. He have some here now. They're just young."
The boys' basketball team is 1-15. A senior, a junior, two sophomores and a freshman took the floor against Ryle, the No. 7 team in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll, on Monday night and managed only sophomore guard D'vontae Bradley's jumper in the first half, which ended 29-3. The Jaguars lost 60-34. Two nights later, it was a 63-32 loss to No. 2 Boone County.
"We have improved greatly from where we started," coach Tim Sullivan said. "But nothing can replace maturity. Right now, we just don't have that."
It's a similar story for the girls.
"We're a 1-15 team with not much margin for error," coach Shannon Turner said. "It's girls against women. My varsity team is really only a few months older than my freshman team."
When Cooper, Boone County's fourth public high school, opened its doors in August, in walked a student body heavy on underclassmen. Seniors-to-be in Cooper's new boundaries were given the option of finishing at their old schools........
....continued on link
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll...901230432/
By Rory Glynn ⢠[email]rglynn@enquirer.com[/email] ⢠January 23, 2009
The gleaming, two-story gymnasium is a focal point of the new $42 million Randall K. Cooper High School, with its sturdy red-brick skin and shiny hardwood floor, its Jaguar mascot snarling up from center court.
Spacious trophy cases flank the doors on the east side, awaiting championship hardware everyone agrees eventually will come.
But in this, Cooper High's first winter of competition, sometimes it seems as if building the school was the easy part. Building the programs is a challenge of a different kind.
"Every team we've got is playing very hard," athletic director Matt Wilhoite said. "But we're definitely outmanned. For the most part, we're sophomores going against experienced varsity players.
"The best thing we've got going for us is very good coaches. Eventually we're going to have very good players. He have some here now. They're just young."
The boys' basketball team is 1-15. A senior, a junior, two sophomores and a freshman took the floor against Ryle, the No. 7 team in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll, on Monday night and managed only sophomore guard D'vontae Bradley's jumper in the first half, which ended 29-3. The Jaguars lost 60-34. Two nights later, it was a 63-32 loss to No. 2 Boone County.
"We have improved greatly from where we started," coach Tim Sullivan said. "But nothing can replace maturity. Right now, we just don't have that."
It's a similar story for the girls.
"We're a 1-15 team with not much margin for error," coach Shannon Turner said. "It's girls against women. My varsity team is really only a few months older than my freshman team."
When Cooper, Boone County's fourth public high school, opened its doors in August, in walked a student body heavy on underclassmen. Seniors-to-be in Cooper's new boundaries were given the option of finishing at their old schools........
....continued on link