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Posted
5 minutes ago, L-Train11 said:

We were undersized on the line. Our best lineman was probably 180, and he played with a lot of heart. 

I wasn’t trying to cut your buddies down. They are grown men now. I was told that a lot folks quit freshman year. I can’t remember the whole story it was long ago

Posted
5 minutes ago, LC-M said:

I wasn’t trying to cut your buddies down. They are grown men now. I was told that a lot folks quit freshman year. I can’t remember the whole story it was long ago

Oh no I know what you meant. But Goins was the guy I was talking about, he was good. Probably one of the best leaders on our team imo.

But yeah freshmen year we lost a whole lot of talent. For some reason Lumberton kids only want to focus on one sport.

Posted
4 minutes ago, L-Train11 said:

Oh no I know what you meant. But Goins was the guy I was talking about, he was good. Probably one of the best leaders on our team imo.

But yeah freshmen year we lost a whole lot of talent. For some reason Lumberton kids only want to focus on one sport.

That happens a lot. LCM has a lot kids in Baseball that could play. We probably got the largest band kids that could play o line and some of them would start. We cant get more kids to come out and play. Carthage had prob 50 plus suited up this year and looked a like a 5a. That's one of the problems we have in this area that the kids don't want to play for a bad team but they don't understand you have to put the work in to make the team better. 

Posted

When I was coaching, a good friend of mine who is a very successful coach, gave us all some good advice. Before you take a coaching job, look at the size of the band. If the band numbers are larger than the football program numbers, look elsewhere. So now I catch myself always looking at the size of a schools band and booster club in comparison to the size of their football teams and athletic boosters. Tends to show priorities of the community.

Posted
17 minutes ago, Raider24 said:

When I was coaching, a good friend of mine who is a very successful coach, gave us all some good advice. Before you take a coaching job, look at the size of the band. If the band numbers are larger than the football program numbers, look elsewhere. So now I catch myself always looking at the size of a schools band and booster club in comparison to the size of their football teams and athletic boosters. Tends to show priorities of the community.

That is spot on. We have  probably  200 in the band maybe 32 suited up on varsity. Don't get me wrong we are good in band we finished 7th in State. But if we could put more in football we would be better. Did you coach at Lumberton? I believe Lumberton wrote a book a few years ago, and I cant remember his name but it was about crazy parents?
 

 

Posted
6 minutes ago, LC-M said:

That is spot on. We have  probably  200 in the band maybe 32 suited up on varsity. Don't get me wrong we are good in band we finished 7th in State. But if we could put more in football we would be better. Did you coach at Lumberton? I believe Lumberton wrote a book a few years ago, and I cant remember his name but it was about crazy parents?
 

 

No. BISD and TAPPS. Youth football in Lumberton. 

Posted
8 hours ago, Raider24 said:

When I was coaching, a good friend of mine who is a very successful coach, gave us all some good advice. Before you take a coaching job, look at the size of the band. If the band numbers are larger than the football program numbers, look elsewhere. So now I catch myself always looking at the size of a schools band and booster club in comparison to the size of their football teams and athletic boosters. Tends to show priorities of the community.

Preach, Brother... Preach.

Posted

Lumberton, LC-M, Bridge City, Hamshire Fannett and other teams that don't consistently win will never consistently win.

It's not because their coach sucks, or there kids "just aren't as big as kids on the other team" or because select baseball or band or because no one gives them a chance or BLAH BLAH BLAH and the sickening list goes on and on...

The kids, the parents, the community, the fans, the school system - they are all complacent.

Until that kid wakes up at 5:30 each morning and gets a run or a lifting workout in before school or goes to the gym on the weekends and eats a good diet to pack on some beneficial muscle mass and gets some other leaders from his team to force all the other kids to join him, then it will never work. Those kids need to be salesmen for the team. Talk it up with the band kids or soccer athletes or baseball players that don't play football and try to get them to play. Until the student athlete takes control of every aspect of his athletic ability and knowledge of his position, then it will never work.

Until the parents quit bitching about the coaches' crappy decisions about who should start at QB, until they nudge their athlete at an early age to condition and stay active and athletic, until every parent of an athlete joins the booster club and actually does more than pay their once a year dues, until they are ALL IN on their town's football program, then it will never work.

Until the community & fans backs the football program like they do at PN-G where season tickets are passed down from generation to generation, until every business owner has the school colors in their windows during football season, until the people who pass an athlete in a letter jacket at the grocery store and tell him "Good Luck" or "Go Bears", until Friday night stands are packed out with folks that don't even have a kid on the team, then it will never work.

What does the school district need to provide? A coaching staff. I'm not knocking ANY of the coaches in our area. Quite frankly, I know several of them, and they are pretty good guys that feed their families by coaching high school sports. But if I have the means, and I want to win, I'm getting the best that's available. Not just from an X's and O's standpoint, but someone that can help turn a program around. Someone that can not only draw up plays and prepare for their opponents week to week, but someone that can help with the kids and the parents and the community issues above. How many coaches of what would be considered average schools in this area have had consistent 4 deep playoff runs? How many have been to state more than once (or ever)? ANY? More like none. Forget the pretty turf stadium (Lumberton, for instance) and spend that money on a coach. Until the school and the community are willing to pay, then it will never work.

A very good friend of mine who has coached at a lot of schools coaches at WOS. He says the atmosphere there is much more different than you find at the "average" schools. Until the atmosphere changes and people quit being complacent, and until it makes each player AND parent AND fan AND school teacher/administrator AND anyone else in the community physically ill to lose, then it will never work.

Winning is not just a goal, but an expectation. Anything less isn't good enough...

 

 

Posted
13 minutes ago, SmashMouth said:

Lumberton, LC-M, Bridge City, Hamshire Fannett and other teams that don't consistently win will never consistently win.

It's not because their coach sucks, or there kids "just aren't as big as kids on the other team" or because select baseball or band or because no one gives them a chance or BLAH BLAH BLAH and the sickening list goes on and on...

The kids, the parents, the community, the fans, the school system - they are all complacent.

Until that kid wakes up at 5:30 each morning and gets a run or a lifting workout in before school or goes to the gym on the weekends and eats a good diet to pack on some beneficial muscle mass and gets some other leaders from his team to force all the other kids to join him, then it will never work. Those kids need to be salesman for the team. Talk it up with the band kids or soccer athletes or baseball players that don't play football and try to get them to play. Until the student athlete takes control of every aspect of his athletic ability and knowledge of his position, then it will never work.

Until the parents quit bitching about the coaches' crappy decisions about who should start at QB, until they nudge their athlete at an early age to condition and stay active and athletic, until every parent of an athlete joins the booster club and actually does more than pay their once a year dues, until they are ALL IN on their town's football program, then it will never work.

Until the community & fans backs the football program like they do at PN-G where season tickets are passed down from generation to generation, until every business owner has the school colors in their windows during football season, until the people who pass an athlete in a letter jacket at the grocery store and tell him "Good Luck" or "Go Bears", until Friday night stands are packed out with folks that don't even have a kid on the team, then it will never work.

What does the school district need to provide? A coaching staff. I'm not knocking ANY of the coaches in our area. Quite frankly, I know several of them, and they are pretty good guys that feed their families by coaching high school sports. But if I have the means, and I want to win, I'm getting the best that's available. Not just from an X's and O's standpoint, but someone that can help turn a program around. Someone that can not only draw up plays and prepare for their opponents week to week, but someone that can help with the kids and the parents and the community issues above. How many coaches of what would be considered average schools in this area have had consistent 4 deep playoff runs? How many have been to state more than once (or ever)? ANY? More like none. Forget the pretty turf stadium (Lumberton, for instance) and spend that money on a coach. Until the school and the community are willing to pay, then it will never work.

A very good friend of mine who has coached at a lot of schools coaches at WOS. He says the atmosphere there is much more different than you find at the "average" schools. Until the atmosphere changes and people quit being complacent, and until it makes each player AND parent AND fan AND school teacher/administrator AND anyone else in the community physically ill to lose, then it will never work.

Winning is not just a goal, but an expectation. Anything less isn't good enough...

 

 

You made a good point about getting workouts in before or after school, and that parents should encourage their kids to get conditioned at an early age. That’s whats missing in Lumberton. I guarantee that Babin has those boys inspired to put in the extra work during their own time. That’s how it was when i was in school, we were pretty much expected to participate in track or powerlifting practices after school. Problem is, while the PNG and Nederland and wos and newton etc kids are doing this at a young age, Lumberton kids don’t start till high school. It’s a town culture problem. Our boys are already a step behind most other schools by the time they are freshmen because they grew up playing video games all day.

Posted
1 hour ago, L-Train11 said:

You made a good point about getting workouts in before or after school, and that parents should encourage their kids to get conditioned at an early age. That’s whats missing in Lumberton. I guarantee that Babin has those boys inspired to put in the extra work during their own time. That’s how it was when i was in school, we were pretty much expected to participate in track or powerlifting practices after school. Problem is, while the PNG and Nederland and wos and newton etc kids are doing this at a young age, Lumberton kids don’t start till high school. It’s a town culture problem. Our boys are already a step behind most other schools by the time they are freshmen because they grew up playing video games all day.

I spent quite a lot of time around the area STJFL youth football program with my kids. LOTS of those kids playing on Friday nights have been raised playing football since kindergarten. Video games are a billion dollar industry. It's not just a few kids playing them... It's not just those few things. It is, like you said, a culture problem though. It's being a loser and liking it. It's thinking that getting your butt whipped by Carthage or Newton or (insert any powerhouse here) is par for the course. Hamshire Fannett, Vidor (insert any average team) has the same chance as WOS to grow a program and some big strong athletic boys to fill it up. But they never will, they won't, they can't. They are complacent and aren't willing to do what it takes, to sacrifice what it takes, to be a winner. They are not winners when it comes to football, anyway. I hope no one takes it personally. It's not meant to belittle anyone. The coaches and kids of these "average" programs are awesome. They work hard and do so much more than so many of the non-athlete, non-extra-curricular students. I love them all. But, unfortunately, it takes more than a good person to be a winner in football...

L-Train11, I'm supposing you're a young man around 25 years old who played football with a great bunch of guys from Lumberton, who you still talk to and share stories with and love with all of your heart. I'm much older than you, and I still do the same with guys I played with... We were average. Most people are, that's what average means. It's gonna take a lot more than you can imagine for ANY of those average programs to be anything other than that.

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