[Pulp Fiction]

Honestly I dont think that Bill Tom Ross was a bad hire. He had the unfortunate circumstance of having a stoke right when he first started, and was probably not really able to effectively coach the team. He had a very good resume and had been successful everywhere he had been prior to his stint at JC. He just received a bad break of fate..I could never have a bad word to say about anyone who went out there and tried his very best despite not having the gift of good health...IMO, the jury will forever be out on him, however JC did hit a home run with Coach Matney.

In hindsight, I consider Ross to have been a much worse hire than Bruce Humphrey. Coach Humphrey was a good man who, because several other people turned the job down before it was offered to him, was hired way too late to properly prepare for the season. He was not a very good coach but he stepped into a tough situation. I hope that he found more success after he left JC.

I agree that for most of his career, Bill Tom Ross was an excellent coach who came to JC with a very good resume. The stroke undoubtedly affected Ross's ability to do the job, but the fact is he did not do a good job at Johnson Central. My youngest son, who loved football and was one of JC's top returning players as a junior, came home after Coach Ross met with the team for the first time and told his mother and me that he would not be playing football. I will not share his reason here.

My oldest son had started for JC as a sophomore on Bill Musick's last team and played most of two seasons before finally quitting during his senior season. I believe that most people who had a son who played for Coach Ross at JC would agree that it was two long, miserable years for the team, and not just because of the team's poor record. The morale was as low as it could get and the teams were in the worst condition of any in the history of JC football, IMO.

I don't blame anybody for hiring either Humphrey or Ross. Coach Matney came very close to taking the job the year after Musick departed. Despite his poor record, Coach Humphrey was a hard worker and, in hindsight, probably deserved a second season because he was hired so late for his first season.

In Ross's case, I understood at the time that Musick recommended hiring him, and I was satisfied with the decision at the time. He had a very good resume, but things just did not pan out for him or for his players. My youngest son made the right decision by playing other sports after his sophomore season. As I said, I really don't blame anybody for hiring either Humphrey or Ross.

They were probably the best available candidates at the time and I may have made the same decision, had I been in the principal's shoes. I think he hit home runs with both Musick and Matney. It takes time and continuity to build a strong football program and that was lacking until Bill Musick was hired.

The bolded and underlined are FACTS!!!!