Lumberton's season

[baseball_1989]

so who all agrees with me saying that lumberton had a horrible season? could their coach (buffamonte) have anything to do with it?

[ESPN]

Don't think so? Give him some time. He has some good ones coming up..

[OldSchool98]

I believe you can blame a coach on choices that he makes that may cost the team a game or somethin of that matter but as to blame a coach for a horrible season i dont think so. A coaches job is to coach and make the best of what hes got. sure you've seen movies where a coach turns average kids into stud ball players and wins wins wins but its not to often you see that. a coach has to work off what hes got and well... if you dont have much to work with then i dont see how thats his fault. "You can't change the cards your dealt... you just have to play with them."

[RaiderFan99]

I don't think it was the Coach at all. I mean last year they finished 9-18 and had much better talent than this year. He took care of business, and in my opinion cleaned up a pretty much horrible program. He started some young (but talented) ball players this year, and I look for them to be pretty good in the next couple of years. Lumberton needed Coach B's discipline. Mark my words, we will be good sooner than you think.

[KFDM COOP]

I think so to!

[whsalum]

I dont know anything about the Lumberton position in particular but coaches can definitely kill a baseball program.If all the emphasis is put on a different sport and baseball is ignored then you gradually see your better players taking up other interest.This is not intended for the Lumberton coach because I have never seen his team play.I have however seen it locally in the district we live in.

[MIF04]

New coach in a very tough district. The team was thin talent-wise, and the record reflects that. You can blame the coach but that's simply not his fault. Now, in time, it may be his fault for not building his program, but he wasn't dealt a strong hand.

[midcountymadness]

so who all agrees with me saying that lumberton had a horrible season? could there coach (buffamonte) have anything to do with it?

I try to stay out of conversation like this one, but I just can't do it on this topic today.

I can remember at the first of the season when Lumberton did have the talent to "possibly" make some noise in this district.

The new coach rolled in over there and began to do what he does best and that is to coach baseball and start "his" program. I would like to add at this point that this coach was born into this great sport, as his dad is one of the greatest high school coaches in Southeast Texas baseball history. He coached the first LCM district champion in any major boys sport, and that was the 1982 Bears that went to the State Quarterfinals and lost to the eventual State Champion Austin Westlake. (interesting trivia: that team had on outfielder that many of us know by the name of Grif)

Believe me, this is a baseball man that has always and will always lead a baseball life.

Stories began to flow from that practice field. Some probably true and some probably false, and some probably somewhere in between.

Here is the first one I heard. The coach tells the kids after practice one Friday that it is time to run. One kid (a returning team "leader") says "We don't run on Friday's. I don't know the exact response he got, but I can come close. "You either run or leave" I think he left.

Everything in the game of baseball is contagious. Laziness, bad attitudes, quitting, errors, struggling at the plate, and many other components of this game.

Other similar stories came from over there this year and every time I heard one I personally felt like that guy is actually going to get it going over there once he clears out all of the guys "that won't run on Friday". The kids will obey the request of the man in charge or they will be down the road.

I wonder, and you should as well, about what if that first leader would have done the right thing and led that team in the right direction, what may have been?

It may have been, a better season.

Good luck Coach

Find the kid (or dad) from your bench that started this thread and run his butt off too and you will be one step closer to having the people around you that you need to succeed.

[MIF04]

Amen.

[rhino1877]

Amen

[CoachB]

MidCounty...I don't believe I have responded to any posts this year, but I couldn't resist this one. Thank you very much for the kind words of my father. He is an inspiration to me, and a definite role model when it comes to coaching. Yes, this year was somewhat odd, but all in all we made huge strides into becomming a top-tiered program. The talent is here in Lumberton, we just have to fix some of the attitudes. I look for some success in the future. Once again, thank you for the kind words of my father, it is good to see someone respect the discipline he had.

Coach Buff

[J Rock]

coach B,

I've never responded to any post on this site, but after reading the post about your father, I want to share my experience playing for him. I played for LCM in the early 80's on teams that had many talented ballplayers, but the Baseball program at that time was not a prioriety. Until 1982 when this baldheaded coach showed up my senior year and took over. My first day to meet him he told me to get in my batting stance and he just laughed and told me that was horrible and would never bat for him.(coachB, that was a sutle hint, you can probably figure out who this is) Back to Coach Buffamonte, the man turned a baseball program around one year and yes we all had doubts and wanted to run him off because of his coaching techniques. He coached BASEBALL, not football, track, tennis, golf, he coached BASEBALL. You were at ever practice, game, meeting we had which is why baseball is in you blood also. You were even there when we ran on FRIDAYS(saturdays, sundays, holidays, etc)

I was one of the players that wanted to quit because of his disipline and work ethics, but realized his ententions. I give all my sucess in my baseball career totally to him. He was a great coach, and I can see you following in his footsteps. Keep you head up and if you need a batting practice pitcher give me a call (still throwing the Knuckle-curve)

[patbrown]

I have sat back and watched things happen this year in baseball that really sicken me. Coach Buff came to Lumberton with high hopes of building a program. But the first obstacle he ran into was lack of discipline from the kids on the team. But that can be expected when a new coach comes to town, what really got me was the lack of support from the parents. When a kid gets caught by the coach skipping practice at the creek having a party. The parents should get a hold of their kid not gripe at the coach saying he overstepped his bounds, and I've got to tell you if my kid stripped down to his sliding shorts in the dug out, quit the team and went to sit in the bleachers during a game for any reason that would be the last time he would SIT for a long time.

Instead of dogging the coach because your kid isn't a starter maybe you should get off your rear, help your kid be a better player or at least instill some discipline so the coach can work with him.

OVERALL I think Buff did a good job this year with what he had to work with. And I hope he'll be back for many years to come.

[KFDM COOP]

Great Post! I have known both Buff's for Year's and they are great people and know the game of Baseball. Brian will do a great job at Lumberton just give him some time.

[adminbaberuth]

Don't know the Coach from Lumberton but anytime you have former players speaking out, it holds water compared to current players or parents. If he’s anything like he’s Dad, who I saw in action, Lumberton has a steal. Heck, I thought the former Coach at Lumberton was pretty good also, Brevell.

Orange County has a long history of quality baseball, the reason imo, Buff (LCM), Ronnie Anderson (WOS) and Chuck Young (BC).

Kid’s are no different today than they were in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s., it’s the parents. I’m going to leave this open to someone who played for any of the guys I mentioned and you tell me what they would have done, with some of the antics of parents today.

[Jsmity]

I completely agree. The behavior of some Parents these days are equivalent to that of their children and quite honestly, it has become the demise of ethics, hardwork, and leadership in young people my age. I am so greatfull to my parents to never letting me quit something ever got started. To the Lumberton coach and all the guys that play for him, continue to work hard because hard work pays off in ways that are not always visible by W's or L's.

[baseball2006]

No disrespect to the LCM team of the 80's but............This is about Lumbertons 2006 Season. It is about a good group of boys with good parents. The boys were looking forward to a great season, with a new head coach who PROMISED them the moon.

Coach buffamonte was hired to to help them with their skills AND we thought he would reinforce positive self esteem , but instead added to what had been taken away in the past. They were forced to watch a CIRCUS ACT everytime he stepped on the field. As for the parents, they are just standing up for their kids, !!! Parents who have had enough....... Until you have actually been "COACHED" by BRIAN buffamonte or know someone who has been by him, then you have no clue about what went on at the practices or games this year.

BY THE WAY.... the majority of the complaining came from the kids who DID start !!!!!!!!

To the 2006 Lumberton Raiders..... Good season guys, YOU had to deal with the cards YOU were dealt. Sorry for the Seniors. Underclassmen : BETTER LUCK next year. Hold your heads up HIGH .......

[Jsmity]

:scratch Not quite understanding??? It seems like you have a problem with the coach. If I am understanding correctly?

[MIF04]

They coulda had Tony LaRussa and (a) parents would still complain and ( still wouldn't have made the playoffs.

[Jsmity]

:iag You are always going to have parents complaining no matter what. Thats why coaches would make excellent politicians lol.

[raider09]

I played under Coach Buff this season, and he was a good coach tring to get rid of the "Terds" as he liked to say, and he did that, one of them was the best hitter on the team overall had 9 people quit the whole season, he gave us underclassmen a shot on varsity the other night he pitched 4 sophmores and started a freshman at 2nd base, alos the whole season everyone was scared to make errors because if u did u would get chewed out by coach some of the parents didnt like that, but hopefully we can put all this behind us and make a playoff run next year

[ESPN]

Each Coach has a different style of Coaching. The Parents will just have to get used to him and give him time.

[RaiderFan99]

I am confused. I go to most of the Lumberton games, and wasn't the 2nd basemen (Lemare Sp?) the starter all year? Also, if you were one of the ones that came to practice everyday and worked hard, wouldn't you want this type of coach. To punish kids that missed practice? I know Coach Buff very well, and believe me it takes one heck of a guy to stand up to some of the things the parents said and did. I even heard (from another source) that a parent held up a sign A PARENT that said something I can't repeat on this board. From what I hear there are 7-8 parents who are causing the problems. I personally have talked to 10 + and they really talked about wanting Coach B to stay. It is about time we have someone here that stands up to these parents who have NO discipline.

[raider09]

Yes i was one of the kids that came to practice everyday then i finally got my shot to pitch varsity the last game at ozen i was nervous at first but he made it seem that everything was good and just let me do my thing and yes i know cory started all year and earlier that day after we hit he gave us a 20 min speech about the year and all sorts of stuff but hopefully we can make Lumberton a playoff contender