[alfus21]

They'll never get a coach that takes baseball seriously because the school doesnt, nor does anyone in area. Im sure Alfus can verify that. The coach last year was a joke. I applaud him for stepping in when no one else would. He just doesnt know the game very well. The year before, Coach Osborne has a great conditoning ethic and knows the game pretty well as did his assitant Tackett. Kids just dont come out for baseball at the Valley due to other sports and what not. Coach Wright is a great guy, and a decent coach. He's just too easy on his players. The wildcats will be very down this year, just like the past few years, but this year is basically due to talent.

The last few years have been very tough on Shelby Valley baseball, and would have been a great challenge for even the brightest coach or baseball mind.

The feeder systems in the area have turned into a pure joke. I'm not even sure if Virgie still has a little league program, and if they do they don't have anybody up there that can teach the fundamentals.

These kids come to the high school level of play straight out of little league, and to be honest it is a shock to most of them. They never adjust, and when you have to teach basic fundamentals and rules to high school players you're always going to be a step behind other programs.

Coach Slone last year did give it a good shot, but like somebody mentioned he honestly just didn't have a clue about baseball, and from the couple of games I watched he had zero control over his team as well.

Coach Osborne stuck with it a couple of years, and he instilled some discipline and hard work into the program, but there was a lack of talent and depth which led to him resigning. It is one of the toughest jobs to take a program that nobody cares about and turn them into winners.

I had never seen anyone say Coach Wright was easy on his players, but he did relate well to his players and had a lot of fun in his 8 seasons there. He resigned the job, not because it was too difficult or he saw it going downhill but because it wasn't fun to him anymore after his son graduated. His first couple of years were as difficult as those that Coaches Osborne and Slone had, but he stuck with it and had some great success. (Winning district, 20 win season, very competitive with top tier teams his last couple of years)

But to get that success you have to stick with it, and learn along the way like Ron Wright did. The first couple of years will not be easy.

As far as this season goes, Ron Wright did consider taking the job back but in the end decided against it.

As far as I have heard up to this point, Shelby Valley has hired a coach that has nothing to do with Shelby Valley or their feeder schools, which is something that I have a difficult time understanding.

I'm pretty sure they've hired former East Ridge junk ball pitcher Tyler Ratliff, but it will be interesting to see how he can run a program having nothing to do with the school or the kids there. I feel that they should have asked around a bit more. Anthony Hampton would have been a decent hire as he would have made the kids work hard and he already knows the majority of the kids there.

It will be an interesting year, but I don't think it will be much different from the last 3 seasons. It is difficult to start fresh with a new coach each year and expect to compete with anybody.

Shelby Valley needs to bring in somebody that will stick with the program for years (Much like Ron Wright did) and knows the game of baseball. Until then, I don't see much changing.