BigNutBuck

All West Brook has to do is win 2 district games in one of the weakest districts in 5A. They will easily do that. They will finish no worse than 5-5, probably 6-4 and be satisfied because they made it. In any other 5A district it would be a chore for them.

"Without his sons he has had little success." Wrong. Look at his career record at Waller. Any success he has had with or without his sons is much much better than 3 of the 4 people left on the list. But then again, you would not to be able to turn Phillips into a "puppet" like someone with no experience.

The money is way off? Not what I was told by a very good source! I'm not sure you know how much. If it was a decent salary they would have more interest besides mediorce coordinators. Wildcatter, how well do you think you can get to know someone on the phone? Is that how you operate. Instead of getting the best guy in for a one-on-one and looking him in the eye, you settle for a phone conversation and find reasons not to interview him. Look at the pool you are left with now. Take Huckaby out and you have no experience from three guys who have had little coordinating success in their past. Good call. I don't understand how you think Phillips wanted to be outta Greenville and didn't care about Orangefield. How did your telephone interviews go with the rest of them? Could you hear the sincerity in their voices? How do you know if they are "for real" or just pulling your leg. You don't, and thats what makes not interviewing Phillips more stupid. I'm sure if Bridge City comes open in a few years and they offer $7 or 8,000 more in salary you expect a Bridge City boy to stay at Orangefield, what about the LCM boys. Please. I was expecting more this time around, but it is the same ole penny pinching, power/political struggle, as the last 30 years with a "yes" man and hiring the 6th or 7th best person for the job. If Huckaby pulls his name or doesn't get the job it will be the same ole BS than with Morrison, Wallace, Foreman, Theriot, and so on. Afraid of hiring someone qualified, who is proven and do whats right for the program and not the "community". Surely Orangefield's dismal past hasn't had anything to do with hiring inexperienced people and the wrong person time after time, would it?

I guess they will determine a head coach by a last man standing contest the way they are dropping like flies. Long and Faust were my two favorites since they wouldn't consider Phillips, who was the most qualified candidate. Long and Faust must have thought the $63,000 they are gonna pay was a little too pathetic considering the trouble they will be facing next year. Either that or they knew they would go for someone else. What I find funny is that they will interview Bolton, Dubois, and Rankin and not Phillips. I also think it is funny that you say he wants out of Greenville and not "interested" in Orangefield. A coach of his caliber and they look for reasons not to bring him in for a interview. Experience, seasoned winner, kids coach, and a solid leader, and thats not good enough for the Field, so bring in a rookie that "knows the area." Too funny! I saw this one coming, and if Huckaby don't get the job it will be same song, different verse. Pass up someone who is proven for a rookie that will appease the school board and sup. By the way, I know Bolton. I like him and think he's a good guy, but about the 5th or 6th choice on this list unless you use Orangefield logic.

Who has he worked for that is good? Who did he work for at Orangefield? I'm sure it was a great one like Moody. The bottom line is they need someone that is proven. What has Bolton done? They don't need to play Russian roulette with every hire to see who will turn out good? BBallcoach, tell me where I missed the boat? Come on! The should have at least interviewed Phillips but instead were scared off for some reason. Probably his personality. For years and years they hire someone with no experience who will serve as a "yes" man, and someone who they can pay their poor salary too. Probably why Long left. In hiring a coach that has no head coach experience what would you look for? Would you not look at who they have worked and learned under? I hope so. If you do that would probably disqualify Bolton!!!!!!!!

Great post BBallgod! You are right about Paul Pewitt, they have great athletes. They have one in the NFL and the year they went to state they had a kid who was the Offensive and Defensive POY for the state. One of the best high schoolers I have ever seen. He won't have that luxery at Orangefield. I'm not sure what was said in the Phillips/Welch phone conversation but the guy has the best resume of anyone. He was at Waller for 18 yrs. so its not like he moves around a lot. I've heard he's the type of guy that does things his way, he's a big guy with a strong personality, and he won't back down from pressure. Maybe that has something to do with it too. I would like to see them get someone with experience, but if they pass on that, I hope they get someone like Faust who has been in larger schools, worked for some very good coaches and has some good ideas. If a guy has never been a head coach I would look at who he has worked for in the past, thats a good indicator of how he might operate. Faust has worked for some really good guys at a higher level, and guys like Bolton have worked for Theriot, Moody and the likes.

I'm sure the job is Huckaby's as long as he wants it. It unfortunate that Long withdrew his name, I thought he was the best candidate esp. since they never considered Jim Phillips, which is a complete joke. Its amazing they never even considered Phillips. Look at the other 3 or 4 interviewing and tell me why in the world they would pass over Phillips to get someone with no experience? I don't know anything about the guy from Marlin, but if Huckaby don't get the job hopefully they will give it to Faust!!!!

1981 Orangefield team. Went 9-2 with both losses coming against Newton and Anthony Byerly. Newton lost to Cameron Yoe in the Quarterfinals or Semifinals on penetrations.

Unfortunately that will never happen. He has too strong of a personality and will. At this point I just hope that they hire the right guy. Someone who has experience, but more importanyly someone who is a kids coach that will get the most out of the kids. Orangefield has too long of a history of hiring inexperienced guys that are puppets men to the admin, and a history of poor pay, unwilling to pay for a quality coach. They are afraid of a strong personality, someone who is gonna do things their way not the communities way. Rumor has it that they won't even interview Jim Phillips, the most accomplished applicant they have recieved in a long time, someone who is a proven winner with lots of experience at predomimently white schools and a kids coach. At the same time he is also everything that the school is afraid of like I mentioned before. There are still some good candidates like Long, Huckaby, and Faust. I just hope they don't screw this up!!!!!!!!!!!

Long runs the spread and is pretty 50-50 run/pass. Huckaby got his offense from Bruce Bush while he was at San Marcos. Its a wing-T type offense. Double tight with a wing back. Its more like what Buna runs though, you will not see a bunch of Newton or Kirbyville's wing-T version in this offense. It has lots of misdirection and lots of quick hitting traps. Go to youtube and see if you can find a San Marcos or Paul Pewitt highlight film if they have one.

I hope your right. I would like to see Long! The guy has a good offensive mind, much like Huckaby, but there styles couldn't be any more different. Stelly had a good point in that whoever gets the job will have to hit the ground sprinting, because he's gonna have a lot on his plate to do in a short period of time.

No one covers high school sports better than Stelly. He usually has some good insight and inside information and I hope he's right about some of the leaders. I too like Bolton, but I don't see him as one of the better candidates. Just because he "knows the area well" shouldn't make him one of the favorites. There are some other really good coordinators out there like Faust and Peveto that should be mentioned up there instead of Rankin or Bolton.

My choice would be Long, Huckaby, or Phillips. All 3 have head coaching/AD experience and all 3 have been successsful. For those knocking Long as a head coach are fools. PNG has been down offensively since he left and Kelly has beaten schools they have lost to in the past. They beat Sulpher, LA. a few years back when they were ranked in the top 10 in the whole state of LA. There are some other good coaches on the list with coordinator experience that would be good choices also. I just hope they are willing to pay for a top notch coach, and don't lose someone because they are too tight with the money.

I see your point Hitman, and I agree to a point. The main problem Orangefield is facing right now is the timing of the whole thing. I'm sure there are a lot of coaches who are afraid of taking the job in July with nearly a full staff to hire. They also don't have a lot of time to implement their philosophies and get acquinted with everything. Orangefield is a great school district and has great kids. Always have. One thing they need to do is pay more. If they pay someone on par with what most of the other HC/AD's make they will get a good guy. Orangefield has SOME good athletes. They are not loaded, but they can win with what they have if they can get all of them out to play. There is no reason why Orangefield can't finish 3rd in this district on a yearly basis. They should settle for no less. Behind WOS and Silsbee, who else is great. They have the athletes to win, not neccessarily win big, but go to the playoffs and play for a week or two, every year.

Huckaby has a lot of HC experience and has proven to be a winner. I believe he applied once before a few years back and didn't get it, maybe its his turn now. I was also wondering who the other apps. are? I was wondering if the guy from Hardin has put in his name? He has done some good things over there and has real explosive offenses. The guys he has over are no better athletes than what Orangefield has. Hopefully who ever they get will be able to turn the corner. He has his work cut out, but I don't think he will find any harder working group of kids than what Orangefield has.

Wow! I guess its the concensus that if you implement a basketball workout into your football offseason you will be bigger, faster, and stronger. PLEASE! Try to convince that to a football coach that wins and wins big. You can not and will not win football games spending 1.5 hours a week in the weight room. You will be pushed around and ran around for 4 quarters and the only consistency to it is losing seasons. I'm talking about small school athletics. And if you believe that one-sport athletes and coaches that convince kids to go "solo" don't kill a program you must be off in your own little dream world. Schools like Orangefield has to have their best athletes in the program or they will continually lose. Bottom line. They don't have the numbers to choose from to have their best athletes not playing football, going "solo" to earn a schlorship. If you are good enough you are good enough. Until they get that point across every coach that comes in will struggle and the community will continue to complain about the lack of success. Yeah, an air conditioned gym is much easier than the weight room and track. Wildcatter before you continue to mumble on you have no idea who I am. I have no kids old enough to play sports yet. One will be starting school this year and the other is in diapers. I don't even have any cousins in this district, I just happen to live here and love sports. By the way, my cousin's kids play multiple sports, but in the Splendora district, just to clarify. They do love football and in Splendora football is still king.

Agreed Bullets! Kids should play what they want to play, but they should be encouraged to play them all, especially at a smaller school where numbers are scarce. One-sport specialization kills a small school athletic program. If a kid and his parents want to throw all their eggs in one basket, let em, more than not they will be extremely disappointed. My only problem is when you have baseball or basketball encouraging kids to go "solo", then you have a problem. I also don't want to hear the people in the community bad mouthing the coaches when they are not as successful as they want them to be when their best athletes are giving up football. It starts at home, and like I have stated before, and will continue to, sometimes the kids look for the easy way out, football is too tough and too hot, before they even try it. The parents ought to encourage them more and baby them less.

You were a personal trainer for 3 yrs., now a all star basketball coach that shares his workouts with the 5a powerhouses across the state. OK! Like I stated before, if those kids gained strength lifting 1.5 hours per week they didn't start off with much did they. Its not hard to improve when you start at the bottom. Point is, if you have never lifted weights and you start with the bare minimum you will improve. No where to go but up. Like I said you show me a football team that only spends 1.5 hours a week lifting weights and I'll show you a loser. They may only spend 1.5 hours during the school day because of short periods, but I guarentee you they have a weight room full of kids getting extra work in after school and in the summer to improve. The last time I noticed football takes much more strength and work in the weight room than basketball does. Unless you are playing two-below.

You show me a kid that gets stronger putting 1.5 hours a week into weight lifting and I'll show you a kid that at one point was pathetically weak. There is also a huge difference between football offseason and weight training and basketball offseason and weight training. You can't play football with basketball strength. You show me a football offseason that emphasizes 1.5 or 2 hours of weight lifting a week and then show me their record. The two don't compare. I understand that basketball takes strength and that basketball players need weights, but they can get by with much less than what a football player needs.

Bleed Orange, you seem to know whats going on? You on the school board? Keep us updated on the applicants, interested to know who has interest.

great post!!!!!!!

What? LOL! We have a wild goose chase going on here, don't we. I assume you are talking about the Fundrasier in Orangefield yesterday? Unforunately I had to work 10 hours, because I had Memorial day off. I wanted to go but didn't get home until 6:30. How did it go by the way. I'm still waiting for Eli Manning to autograph a helmet I bought 3 years ago for $900!!!!!!!!!! Can you help me with that bballgod? I also can't believe you think I'm a jerk, hurts my feelings. Wildcatter, I promise you didn't see me playing bball. I don't love it that much to spend a miserablly hot Sunday practicing layups. Instead of pretending to be Kobe I did yardwork instead, and watched Golf all day. Exciting day! You are right though, if and when I were to ever play a little basketball it wouldn't be a very good example, I'm not very good.

I'm not saying a kid go straight football. They can play what they want. If they want to spend all summer long playing summer basketball and not spending the amount of time in the weightroom to be successful, FINE. They have that right. But when football comes around and they get pushed around, can't tackle when they get tired, and are less physical than their opponent, and they struggle to win games, don't blame the coaches. The weightroom is open all summer. Its football season. It sounds like to me the people in Orangefield encourage straight basketball with this all summer long stuff. Thats fine too, but like JACF said, prepare for the season at hand. Its football time baby, and if you don't prepare to win in the summer you will lose in the fall. You can't show up in August expecting to win when basketball and baseball is more important than weights and running in June and July. Thats o.k. though, the coaches will be blamed for a subpar season. Bleed, for one Orangefield don't have the numbers, your right. I think they have some good athletes, not near as many as some of their opponents. They definetly don't have the numbers for one-sport athletes. You can't win at a school like Orangefield, with the smallest enrollment in your district with kids going straight baseball and basketball. You have to get the best guys out. Secondly, speed kills! They don't have the speed of the Silsbee's, WOS's, and not even BC on most years. Is it race related, probably so. When the last time you saw an all white sprint relay or 100 meter finals in Austin at the state meet. I'm not saying you can't overcome it and be competitive and even win. YOU CAN. I believe, just like the school MOTTO. Like I stated before, all white teams better be stronger and tougher, because in all likely hood they will be slower and man for man less athletic. Celina, SLC, and Katy don't win because they are faster. They are extremely disciplined, strong, tough (mentally and physically), and they EXPECT to win. When the kids there buy into the track program (to get faster and tougher) and spend all the time they can in the weight room (to get stronger and tougher) they will continue to struggle. Like I stated before, you either get better or worse from May to July. It depends on the time you put into the sport (the weight training, conditioning, and drills), if you progress or regress. They obviously spend the time on the hardwood (year round) and it shows in the school basketball season. They need that same committment and drive for football. I know the reason. Its a much easier way out to go dribble around in a gym and play a few unorganized games a week than it is to drag your butt up to the track, run some sprints and throw some weight around. That takes much more desire and discipline. Maybe thats whats lacking and that starts at the house.

Wildcatter, sorry the truth hurts. If you get your feelings hurt that easily, that's a shame. I have nothing against the kids at Orangefield. If they all want to go straight basketball or baseball, I don't care. But the people of the community and the parents don't need to bash the coaching saying they don't know what they are doing, when they don't have the athletes to work with, and have kids that are not physically strong enough or mentally tough enough because the time they spend all summer long on the hardwood and not the weight room. The first thing people do is blame the coach. Well, you know what, the parents need to take blame for not having their kids run track and spending more time in the weight room. If you think that these kids are going to basketball practice and playing 4 to 6 games a week, then spending the time in the weight room to get stronger for football, you need to come back to reality. You don't lift weights 3 days a week for 1 hour a day and get better. You dont get faster by running up and down the basketball court and stealing 2nd. You get faster by running track, going through the practices and competing in meets. A coach who was very successful once told me that if you are coaching nothing but a bunch of white kids you better make sure they are really strong and really tough. When you are outathleted and slower, then you better make up for it with physicality and mental toughness. Its summer, basketball season is over, and football is right around the corner. When Orangefield puts its importance on football, and get the kids to realize they need to put the hours into the weightroom, track, and 7 on 7, and get all their athletes to play football they will never win. And until then all the parents like Wildcatter will continually blame the coaches for every loss.

Thank you WillieWonka! I have been trying to say that for weeks on the Orangefield board. That Orangefield don't have the athletes, then they get defensive and get their feelings hurt easy. I know people don't want to hear that about their kids, but its true. They are very quick to blame it on the coach, but don't realize them competing against Silsbee, WOS, and some of the others is like taking a knife to a gun fight. A lot of these parents experienced success in the 80's under Peveto and Bush and expect the same thing. The truth is is that the kids at Orangefield aren't the same as those kids were, neither are the times. Peveto got had some good players, don't get me wrong, but he also had a great track program and had nearly everyone run track. In return he got stronger kids, tougher kids mentally and physically, and also had parental support. I have been saying for weeks, you can't have kids at a school the size of Orangefield being one-sport athletes, and you can't have football players playing summer baseball and AAU basketball all summer long, then get ready for football once August starts. The kids coming into high school (8th graders) had two summer league games last night, on the last day of school. From the start of basketball season in school they play all summer long together through July, which is about 10 months. No wonder they are out muscled, and out physicalled most every game. It starts with the commitment of the players, the priority they place on football, and the work they put in it. Go to Kirbyville, Silsbee, and WOS and see if their weightrooms will be full this summer.