[dozerdawg707]

To the kids that came out for basketball this year we as Dawgs fans will be backing you 100%. You are true Dawgs. You will learn a lot from Coach Miller. Good Luck and enjoy the year. Play as hard as you can and you will be winners. The players that didn't come out are the ones that will regret it in the future.

[SweetLemonade]

IMO nothing to regret. i dont see the dawgs doing much this season.

[dozerdawg707]

Didn't say they would. If the players that should have came out would have, then they had a chance to be a really competitive team in the region. I never knew a real Dawg that wasn't up for a challenge.

[dawgbyte02]

You should only be involved if your heart is in it.

[LCDawg]

Ah... if they don't want to play, they don't want to play, but like you said, they will regret it one day... has nothing to do with LC winning or losing.

[LClion4life]

Does Tyler Combs still play basketball? He was a beast in middle school for Fallsburg.

[dawgbyte02]

Does Tyler Combs still play basketball? He was a beast in middle school for Fallsburg.

It is my understanding that Tyler is playing. I think LC is only missing one player and he transferred to another school.

[LClion4life]

Yeah, but that one player sure is a big loss to overcome.

[Ricky Bobby]

It definitly will be a long hard struggle for the Dawgs this year.I'm sad to say that L.C.s program has fallen on hard times and it will take a lot of effort,determination,willpower and persistence to help this program dig it's way back from the sad state that it is currently in. I wish I had the answers but I really dont have them. Good Luck to the current group of Dawgs. I know they will learn some valuble lessons to help them down the road of life.

[dozerdawg707]

I agree, they will learn many valuable lessons this year. They seem to have already learned one of the most valuable lessons anyone could learn. These young men will be remembered as players that gave it everything they have to offer. I have watched practice and they play very hard. They are low in numbers but big in heart. Give'em #*&^ Dawgs!!!!

[dawgbyte02]

It definitly will be a long hard struggle for the Dawgs this year.I'm sad to say that L.C.s program has fallen on hard times and it will take a lot of effort,determination,willpower and persistence to help this program dig it's way back from the sad state that it is currently in. I wish I had the answers but I really dont have them. Good Luck to the current group of Dawgs. I know they will learn some valuble lessons to help them down the road of life.

Why has the program "fallen on hard times"?

[LCDawg]

Why has the program "fallen on hard times"?

I was wondering the same thing... I mean Coach A. was a great guy and all, but coaches come and go... that's just what they do. LC may have a rough year this year, but they will bounce back and be fine.

[Batpuff]

It is my understanding that Tyler is playing. I think LC is only missing one player and he transferred to another school.

The last I heard no one is returning to the team from last year team with the exception of two kids who didnt play any varsity time.. The team that will be the varsity team is about like an jv team... They only have 8 kids out for the team..
See this is what you get when they go against the search committee and hire someone other then what they suggested. And then after he does get hired he goes straight on vacation and doesnt even worry about if he is going to have anyone out or not.

[Nothing But The Kids]

Let's give the coach a chance before we start bashing him. A search committee's job is to do a search and compile a list of qualified candidates. The school council and ultimately the principal make the final hire.

[Batpuff]

Let's give the coach a chance before we start bashing him. A search committee's job is to do a search and compile a list of qualified candidates. The school council and ultimately the principal make the final hire.

Principle didnt hire the Super did the hiring but it wasnt who was recommend or who the parents or players wanted.

[LCDawg]

I wouldn't think the parents/players should/would have any role in the hiring of any type of coach... if the superintendent did the hiring, then that would only make sense to me since they are the highest level of administration for any school system.

Whatever the case may be or whoever some may think should have been hired, they weren't and Coach Miller was, so let's try to support the guy, he played no role in the hiring process and shouldn't be punished by the parents, would-be players or anyone else for that matter.

GO DAWGS! :rockon:

[dawgbyte02]

I was wondering the same thing... I mean Coach A. was a great guy and all, but coaches come and go... that's just what they do. LC may have a rough year this year, but they will bounce back and be fine.

The grade school buddy leagues were done away with in favor of a "travel team" under Coach A's tenure. This is the main reason for lack of players. When you eliminate 80 or 90 players in favor of 10 this is what happens. A good high school coach "develops players" over time and a travel team coach uses players developed by somebody else. Travel team coaches are usually not very good for middle or high school programs because they don't have the ability to coach and develop players of varying skill levels.

[LCDawg]

The grade school buddy leagues were done away with in favor of a "travel team" under Coach A's tenure. This is the main reason for lack of players. When you eliminate 80 or 90 players in favor of 10 this is what happens. A good high school coach "develops players" over time and a travel team coach uses players developed by somebody else. Travel team coaches are usually not very good for middle or high school programs because they don't have the ability to coach and develop players of varying skill levels.

Very, very good point. :Thumbs:

I'd like to see LC as a school district have a school sponsored youth program for every sport. As it stands now, and correct me if I am wrong, there are NO school sponsored sports until Middle School. You look at most of the surrounding counties and each school has a School sponsored basketball, football, cheer leading, etc. team. If it wasn't for some involved parents stepping up and taking the lead there would be no youth sports in LC whatsoever.

[LClion4life]

Very, very good point. :Thumbs:

I'd like to see LC as a school district have a school sponsored youth program for every sport. As it stands now, and correct me if I am wrong, there are NO school sponsored sports until Middle School. You look at most of the surrounding counties and each school has a School sponsored basketball, football, cheer leading, etc. team. If it wasn't for some involved parents stepping up and taking the lead there would be no youth sports in LC whatsoever.

That's awful. There are 4 elementary schools in Lewis County, 3 have grades PreK-6th and one has grades PreK-5th. And the one that doesn't have 6th grade those 6th graders go to the middle school but still compete against the other elementary schools in basketball and football. 3 of the 4 schools offer football and all 4 offer basketball and cheerleading.

[dawgbyte02]

Very, very good point. :Thumbs:

I'd like to see LC as a school district have a school sponsored youth program for every sport. As it stands now, and correct me if I am wrong, there are NO school sponsored sports until Middle School. You look at most of the surrounding counties and each school has a School sponsored basketball, football, cheer leading, etc. team. If it wasn't for some involved parents stepping up and taking the lead there would be no youth sports in LC whatsoever.

It does not necessarily have to be school sponsored. Little league baseball and youth soccer in Lawrence County are not school sponsored and have 200 plus kids involved. All it takes is an umbrella organization and volunteer coaches to teach fundamentals. Where I see problems is when folks think they can put together a better team than a local little league team for example. If there are 6 teams in the local league they pick the best 2 players off those teams and have a solid team. Of course this weakens the local league. The local league takes all comers, regardless of ability and has a fair draft system that puts teams on an even playing field. In other areas travel teams do not compete with local leagues but encourage participation in these leagues because they are great developmental leagues. We all know of players who at one time we would of thought they were mediocre at best because of size, ability, etc, but with some encouragement, practice and physical growth they became game changers later on. We have become to impatient and way to wrapped up in winning just for the sake of winning and have lost sight of developing the whole person. Travel teams are for players who want to go the extra mile and put in the work. Travel team coaches are only interested in the best players. That is why they have tryouts and expensive team fees. But my point is that both can work together to develop solid programs that helps all youth find their way in a very complicated life.

[LCDawg]

It does not necessarily have to be school sponsored. Little league baseball and youth soccer in Lawrence County are not school sponsored and have 200 plus kids involved. All it takes is an umbrella organization and volunteer coaches to teach fundamentals. Where I see problems is when folks think they can put together a better team than a local little league team for example. If there are 6 teams in the local league they pick the best 2 players off those teams and have a solid team. Of course this weakens the local league. The local league takes all comers, regardless of ability and has a fair draft system that puts teams on an even playing field. In other areas travel teams do not compete with local leagues but encourage participation in these leagues because they are great developmental leagues. We all know of players who at one time we would of thought they were mediocre at best because of size, ability, etc, but with some encouragement, practice and physical growth they became game changers later on. We have become to impatient and way to wrapped up in winning just for the sake of winning and have lost sight of developing the whole person. Travel teams are for players who want to go the extra mile and put in the work. Travel team coaches are only interested in the best players. That is why they have tryouts and expensive team fees. But my point is that both can work together to develop solid programs that helps all youth find their way in a very complicated life.

This is the key, IMO, and it's everywhere this is happening, not just Lawrence County. My opinion is that this comes mostly from the parents. Take soccer for example... you play games in U6/U8 and score is not even kept, but yet at the end of the game kids run to the parents and the first thing parents do is congratulate them on winning because they have kept the score... Myself, I would be happy as a coach if my youth team never won a single game, but at the end of the year they knew the sport for which they were playing... they knew the fundamentals.

As parents, people have become so obsessed with winning that the fundamentals of the game are lost and it's all about winning. Just an example, you take youth football. These kids don't know even how to block or tackle, why is that... because we are focusing on running some play???? Teach the kids how to block, how to tackle, etc.... then worry about plays down the road. Same goes for basketball, as a youth coach you should spend 90% of your practice teaching how to dribble the ball, pass the ball, play defense, shoot the ball, etc.... not run this play so "little johnny" can shoot the ball and score and we can win. This is the main reason we have kids that make it to the high school level and they don't even know what closing out means...

[dawgbyte02]

Kind of off topic here. But I understand the Coach Miller is working on developing a feeder system and that is the key to any successful high school program.

[LCDawg]

Yeah, that is my understanding as well. If you remember, they "sweetened the pot" or whatever they said by offering a whopping $2500 or something to start a feeder program with for whoever was hired.