Tarkington Open

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

4 hours ago, mrtomcat said:

thank you for clearing that up for me

Goes back to what I posted yesterday afternoon. 

[navydawg31]

On 5/5/2022 at 1:53 PM, Mr. Buddy Garrity said:

That would be weird since Coach Taylor just got hired as DC back at La Porte. 

Maybe he saw what he was working with at La Porte? More money but also more problems… lol 

Nothing like running a program how you want vs having to answer to someone…

If Tarkington really did reach out to him he probably throughout a $ figure and said heck why not?

Plus at this point I think Tarkington just wants someone to stay for more than a few years… 

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

1 minute ago, navydawg31 said:

Maybe he saw what he was working with at La Porte? More money but also more problems… lol 

Nothing like running a program how you want vs having to answer to someone…

If Tarkington really did reach out to him he probably throughout a $ figure and said heck why not?

Plus at this point I think Tarkington just wants someone to stay for more than a few years… 

I think it was more of he really didn't want to leave Liberty County if he didn't have to. He still lives there from my understanding. I can see him being there for awhile, I can also see him bouncing from there for a bigger job if they were to have some great success.

 

(I'll let you guys decide what great success would be 😉)

[navydawg31]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Buddy Garrity said:

I think it was more of he really didn't want to leave Liberty County if he didn't have to. He still lives there from my understanding. I can see him being there for awhile, I can also see him bouncing from there for a bigger job if they were to have some great success.

 

(I'll let you guys decide what great success would be 😉)

7 years or else!!!!!-Reagan 

 

 

[Matthew328]

15 hours ago, navydawg31 said:

Maybe he saw what he was working with at La Porte? More money but also more problems… lol 

Nothing like running a program how you want vs having to answer to someone…

If Tarkington really did reach out to him he probably throughout a $ figure and said heck why not?

Plus at this point I think Tarkington just wants someone to stay for more than a few years… 

I dont think it had anything to do with LaPorte at all, I think that was going to be a one-year thing at most anyway...a transition job...add in the fact you have a 20 minute commute one-way vs an hour one way, plus the better pay, chance to run your own program etc....and hell he can't do any worse than what's already been done in Tarkington...it's a win-win for Coach Taylor

[Reagan]

Curious why Taylor was no longer the coach at Liberty through reassignment?  Maybe Liberty's bar for a State Title is set at 9 years.  Good for them!  It's like PNG's 12 years, they need to work on that, and my 7 years.  Like I've said before -- you'll be 95% sure after the 7th year if a coach has what it takes to win a State Championship!

[oldschool2]

On 5/6/2022 at 12:46 PM, Broncos2447 said:

He just left La Porte...you never know who will stay and who will go

He didn’t just leave La Porte.. he took a DC job at La Porte after being at Liberty for roughly a decade.  A job that hasn’t started I’ll add.  Taking a head job somewhere after accepting an assistant job within the same spring/summer literally happens all the time.

[Guest mrtomcat]

On 5/7/2022 at 4:48 PM, oldschool2 said:

He didn’t just leave La Porte.. he took a DC job at La Porte after being at Liberty for roughly a decade.  A job that hasn’t started I’ll add.  Taking a head job somewhere after accepting an assistant job within the same spring/summer literally happens all the time.

ALL. THE. TIME.  I'm not much of a betting man, but I'd venture to say he will win 50% of the games on his schedule at tarkington this year.

[oldschool2]

9 minutes ago, mrtomcat said:

ALL. THE. TIME.  I'm not much of a betting man, but I'd venture to say he will win 50% of the games on his schedule at tarkington this year.

50% wont cut it.  It's state championship or bust.. according to some.  I also hear there's a required timeline. 

[Reagan]

Again, low expectations will be met every time!  So, with that being said:  9 years at Liberty with a 45-50 record.  This is a 47% win rate.  Not bad.  But not looking good for the time frame!  A future Elite coach?  Well, anything is possible!  

OH, BTW -- a telling factor is that no one wants to answer why he was reassigned and no longer HC at Liberty!  

[oldschool2]

37 minutes ago, Reagan said:

Again, low expectations will be met every time!  So, with that being said:  9 years at Liberty with a 45-50 record.  This is a 47% win rate.  Not bad.  But not looking good for the time frame!  A future Elite coach?  Well, anything is possible!  

OH, BTW -- a telling factor is that no one wants to answer why he was reassigned and no longer HC at Liberty!  

A good guess would be that they missed the playoffs last year.  

05/06  5-4
06/07  4-7
07/08  4-6
08/09  2-6
09/10  3-7
10/11  5-6
11/12  8-2
12/13  3-7
13/14  3-7
14/15  2-8
15/16  4-7
16/17  10-3
17/18  8-3
18/19  7-5
19/20  4-6
20/21  4-5
21/22  4-6

They aren't world beaters to begin with.. seems based on these records dating back to 05 that they're pretty mediocre.  In fact.. of the 4 above average seasons they had in that timeframe, 3 of them were under Taylor.  Coaches are only as good as their players. 

[Guest mrtomcat]

9 minutes ago, oldschool2 said:

A good guess would be that they missed the playoffs last year.  

05/06  5-4
06/07  4-7
07/08  4-6
08/09  2-6
09/10  3-7
10/11  5-6
11/12  8-2
12/13  3-7
13/14  3-7
14/15  2-8
15/16  4-7
16/17  10-3
17/18  8-3
18/19  7-5
19/20  4-6
20/21  4-5
21/22  4-6

They aren't world beaters to begin with.. seems based on these records dating back to 05 that they're pretty mediocre.  In fact.. of the 4 above average seasons they had in that timeframe, 3 of them were under Taylor.  Coaches are only as good as their players. 

wouldn't the majority of these seasons have them playing against opponents like jasper, wos, silsbee and this bunch?   thats a tough slate for any coach

[oldschool2]

1 minute ago, mrtomcat said:

wouldn't the majority of these seasons have them playing against opponents like jasper, wos, silsbee and this bunch?   thats a tough slate for any coach

None of that matters.  eLiTe CoAcHeS cAn WiN nO mAtTeR wHaT...

[bullets13]

59 minutes ago, mrtomcat said:

wouldn't the majority of these seasons have them playing against opponents like jasper, wos, silsbee and this bunch?   thats a tough slate for any coach

Liberty is no-man's land.  you lose athletes to the big city in one direction and the nicer rural areas in the other.  apart from softball they don't do much in any sports out there on a consistent basis.  with a little more talent during a 3-year stretch they had a decent run of seasons, but they're a mediocre (or bad, depending on the year) program that's had to play elite teams in district or early in the playoffs.  Taylor didn't do badly at Liberty with what he had.  If he can bring stability to Tarkington and create a little interest in the program, there will be some improvement. look at Tarkington's football history, and if Taylor does exactly the same at Tarkington that he did at Liberty I'd call it an overwhelming success.  If he stays 10 years, goes 45-50 with a few 8-9 win seasons and a playoff win or two they'll be ready to name the stadium after him, and for good reason.  

[Guest mrtomcat]

18 hours ago, bullets13 said:

Liberty is no-man's land.  you lose athletes to the big city in one direction and the nicer rural areas in the other.  apart from softball they don't do much in any sports out there on a consistent basis.  with a little more talent during a 3-year stretch they had a decent run of seasons, but they're a mediocre (or bad, depending on the year) program that's had to play elite teams in district or early in the playoffs.  Taylor didn't do badly at Liberty with what he had.  If he can bring stability to Tarkington and create a little interest in the program, there will be some improvement. look at Tarkington's football history, and if Taylor does exactly the same at Tarkington that he did at Liberty I'd call it an overwhelming success.  If he stays 10 years, goes 45-50 with a few 8-9 win seasons and a playoff win or two they'll be ready to name the stadium after him, and for good reason.  

you mentioned something that i have asked the board several times and yet cant get a solid answer from anyone

two things have always confused me and that is

how does liberty win at softball every year it seems they make a deep run or win it all

and how does hardin win at volleyball so much that our girls in southeast texas or no match it seems? why if we beat them at every other sport 

[Guest mrtomcat]

19 hours ago, oldschool2 said:

None of that matters.  eLiTe CoAcHeS cAn WiN nO mAtTeR wHaT...

hey i know first hand about what elite coaches can / cant do at programs that struggle to win football games

we just hired a darn good coach and staff, but i know it will take years before we will have any kind of success and hopefully we stay down in 3A Div 2

[2wedge]

3 hours ago, mrtomcat said:

you mentioned something that i have asked the board several times and yet cant get a solid answer from anyone

two things have always confused me and that is

how does liberty win at softball every year it seems they make a deep run or win it all

and how does hardin win at volleyball so much that our girls in southeast texas or no match it seems? why if we beat them at every other sport 

One word in both situations, PROGRAM. 

Karen Slack has built quite the program at Liberty, and her success is aided by the Texas Dirt Diva's organization being right there in her back yard. Chandler has dome increcible things with that select softball program to develop players feeding into Slack's program.

Randy and Regina Snell have done the same in Hardin with volleyball. It's expected to win and the girls coming up know that. 

In both situations, stability is present in leadership of the two programs........stability gives the ability to build. When you understand your job is safe even if you underachieve once in a while, you feel open to building there. When you think you are going to get run off the next time you are below .500, you're always looking for the off ramp. 

[bullets13]

4 hours ago, mrtomcat said:

you mentioned something that i have asked the board several times and yet cant get a solid answer from anyone

two things have always confused me and that is

how does liberty win at softball every year it seems they make a deep run or win it all

and how does hardin win at volleyball so much that our girls in southeast texas or no match it seems? why if we beat them at every other sport 

2wedge covered it better than I could, but made the point I was going to make.  Anytime you have a community that buys into a certain coach or program, or even sport in general, you can see extended success.  Little boys in Hardin don't have much to look forward to for football, but little girls who are athletic can start working towards that volleyball goal at an early age, and softball in Liberty is even easier with a great club program locally.  One can even look at a school like WOS to see how one sport might be elite while others are average or bad.  It's pretty mind blowing that with the athletes WOS has they can hardly put a .500 record together in basketball most years, even though their football team is perpetually in the running for a state championship.

 

Another example, and one I grew up in.  HJ has a really good basketball team pretty much every year, but the football team is usually bad.  I remember playing little dribblers out there and each age group would have 10 or more teams.  The average school class over there was around 125 students, and each little dribblers age group covers two classes.  So two classes is around 250 students, and approximately 125 boys.  Each little dribblers team would have 8-9 players.  So out of 125 possible kids, close to 90 would play.  By the time we got to high school most of us had been playing together for nearly 10 years.  Out there it was just expected that you would play basketball, and we did.  We actually had a special group of athletes while I was there, and our football team was pretty good for 3-4 years, but basketball stayed strong and football faded back into mediocrity until the next special group came along about 15 years later.  

[Guest mrtomcat]

1 hour ago, bullets13 said:

2wedge covered it better than I could, but made the point I was going to make.  Anytime you have a community that buys into a certain coach or program, or even sport in general, you can see extended success.  Little boys in Hardin don't have much to look forward to for football, but little girls who are athletic can start working towards that volleyball goal at an early age, and softball in Liberty is even easier with a great club program locally.  One can even look at a school like WOS to see how one sport might be elite while others are average or bad.  It's pretty mind blowing that with the athletes WOS has they can hardly put a .500 record together in basketball most years, even though their football team is perpetually in the running for a state championship.

 

Another example, and one I grew up in.  HJ has a really good basketball team pretty much every year, but the football team is usually bad.  I remember playing little dribblers out there and each age group would have 10 or more teams.  The average school class over there was around 125 students, and each little dribblers age group covers two classes.  So two classes is around 250 students, and approximately 125 boys.  Each little dribblers team would have 8-9 players.  So out of 125 possible kids, close to 90 would play.  By the time we got to high school most of us had been playing together for nearly 10 years.  Out there it was just expected that you would play basketball, and we did.  We actually had a special group of athletes while I was there, and our football team was pretty good for 3-4 years, but basketball stayed strong and football faded back into mediocrity until the next special group came along about 15 years later.  

i understand the stability you mention but nobody in all of southeast texas has similar stability on the girls side of any program?  and for those same girls to lose at basketball and softball in hardin, but to win and not even be challenged in volleyball - thats confusing to me.

 

liberty winning softball doesnt shock me because like yall stated, their is a feeder (travel ball system in place) that prepared the girls early on to raise the expectation long before they even enter the HS program, so that makes sense completely.

[Guest mrtomcat]

2 hours ago, 2wedge said:

One word in both situations, PROGRAM. 

Karen Slack has built quite the program at Liberty, and her success is aided by the Texas Dirt Diva's organization being right there in her back yard. Chandler has dome increcible things with that select softball program to develop players feeding into Slack's program.

Randy and Regina Snell have done the same in Hardin with volleyball. It's expected to win and the girls coming up know that. 

In both situations, stability is present in leadership of the two programs........stability gives the ability to build. When you understand your job is safe even if you underachieve once in a while, you feel open to building there. When you think you are going to get run off the next time you are below .500, you're always looking for the off ramp. 

so its a culture thing in that community?  i always heard that winning is contagious so maybe there's something to that

[Guest mrtomcat]

back to the topic of the thread: has anyone seen a schedule for tarkington yet ?  can they realistically go 5-5 under Taylor's leadership?

[Separation Scientist]

Teams rarely go from 0-fer to .500 in the next year. Not impossible, but not typical. Give the new guy at least two years to show some real improvement. The fortunate thing for him and Tark is that they play in one of the weakest 3A districts in the state, so the bar is low to step over.   

I do know endless snark on a sports board does not accomplish anything for anybody, any coach, player, or fan.  

[Bobcatfan4life]

47 minutes ago, mrtomcat said:

back to the topic of the thread: has anyone seen a schedule for tarkington yet ?  can they realistically go 5-5 under Taylor's leadership?

TARKINGTON LONGHORNS (0-0, 0-0)

Aug. 26 - at Evadale, 7:00pm

Sept. 2 - at Shepherd, 7:30pm

Sept. 9 - Huntington, 7:30pm

Sept. 16 - at Beaumont Kelly, 7:00pm

Sept. 23 - OPEN

Sept. 30 - Hardin*, 7:30pm

Oct. 7 - at Orangefield*, 7:30pm

Oct. 14 - Kirbyville*, 7:30pm

Oct. 21 - at East Chambers*, 7:30pm

Oct. 28 - Buna*, 7:30pm

Nov. 4 - at Anahuac*, 7:30pm

[Guest mrtomcat]

18 minutes ago, Bobcatfan4life said:

TARKINGTON LONGHORNS (0-0, 0-0)

Aug. 26 - at Evadale, 7:00pm

Sept. 2 - at Shepherd, 7:30pm

Sept. 9 - Huntington, 7:30pm

Sept. 16 - at Beaumont Kelly, 7:00pm

Sept. 23 - OPEN

Sept. 30 - Hardin*, 7:30pm

Oct. 7 - at Orangefield*, 7:30pm

Oct. 14 - Kirbyville*, 7:30pm

Oct. 21 - at East Chambers*, 7:30pm

Oct. 28 - Buna*, 7:30pm

Nov. 4 - at Anahuac*, 7:30pm

who does tarkington beat on this schedule?  i can see them winning over hardin and evadale maybe but i dont see any other wins?

[bullets13]

22 hours ago, Separation Scientist said:

Teams rarely go from 0-fer to .500 in the next year. Not impossible, but not typical. Give the new guy at least two years to show some real improvement. The fortunate thing for him and Tark is that they play in one of the weakest 3A districts in the state, so the bar is low to step over.   

I do know endless snark on a sports board does not accomplish anything for anybody, any coach, player, or fan.  

 Orangefield was a 7-4 playoff team in 4A last year, Anahuac went 9-3 last year and is on the rise in pretty much every sport, and East Chambers is always good.  Kirbyville was mediocre last year, but seems to be coming up.  Buna was bad and Hardin was worse, but half the district will be pretty good.  Regardless of what you think of the district, Tarkington was by far the worst team in the district last season, and they were a long way from even stepping over the bar to next to worst.  6 of the 9 teams Tarkington played last season (0-9, 0-6) are on their schedule this year, and only one of their nine losses was by less than 30.  The only game that I can look at on this schedule and think they may have some realistic shot at winning is Hardin.  I think a great season is 2-8 and the majority of the 8 losses being by less than 30 points.