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The way I see it...when you are thrust into a situation like there is at Pound, you had better establish an "us against the world" attitude. And, if you have had defections, you had better address that...especially if it substantially impacted your team. I see nothing wrong with what he said...if it can be used as a catalyst for motivating his team, he needs to wear it out.
When you attack a kid, harrass his family that is another issue though folks. Be a man and get over it. Those kids decided that they didn't want to stay at Pound. Move along, and do what you get paid to do-coaching. Bitching and whining about it solves nothing. He isn't the first coach that has had to deal with this, and he won't be the last.
I'm not gonna defend what he said...but from his and Pound's point of view, how do you think they view the players that left only because they wanted to play on a team they thought would be better than Pound ?... All I am saying is that if he can make his team better by letting them feed off of this, then he is doing his job as a coach.
Unfortunately for Crabtree, this is fueling Chris, and I have a feeling come Friday, August 31 at Carrol Dale Stadium, young Strouth is going to be thinking about Crabtree when he puts on the show that I think he is going to put on for us all. Sometimes what you say comes back to haunt you. It has happened to us all before.
Well, Strouth may be motivated as crap, but I'm sure that there will be some motivation from Pound to show him he made a mistake. As a coach, he has to worry about the team he has, not the player he doesn't have, and if he offends a former player a bit, then so be it.
We all gripe about it when it happens to one we get, and support it when its one we lose.
As a coach, he should be firing the guys he has up. Is there some bitterness, some wishing they had, not just Strouth but others who transferred? I'd guarantee that, but at this point, the one thing they shouldn't do is make him or any other transfer happy.
The difference is Strouth went to Wise...Cantrell went to PV. Pound has no shot at PV..but they always have a shot at Kelly. Folks can come on here and tell me how great Kelly is, but until I see it in W's instead of L's..I'm not buying it.
It's not about motivation Rock. There's nothing wrong with motivation, but when you harrass a family by calling their home, and you slander the kid in public so much to where his parents have to call the school board asking for relief, then you are ovr the line. I apologize to Michelle in advance for saying this. It's about doing the right thing. Doing the right thing is motivating the kids, but the wrong thing is the barrage of personal attacks.
Considering all this is happening in the Lb...and everything that happens up there gets overblown...IMO there is a HUGE chance this is overblown as well.
I remember several years back, a few players transferred from Clintwood. I think they went to Pound. As best I recall, neither was any big loss to Clintwood, they did actually help Pound a bit, but don't think for a moment that Clintwood didn't have a point to prove to them they made a mistake. I'm sure those guys wanted to prove to Clintwood they made a mistake not giving them the chance to play. It works both ways and when its a player who played, its even more motivation.
I couldn't tell you what Pound has back, but if they have a single guy who blocked for Strouth, I'd be on them talking about how they worked for him and he bailed on them when things got rough. I'm sure the old military view, would you want that guy in your foxhole with you, comes up.
And to be honest, there isn't a team, a coach or a fan who would have reacted any other way. If one of the few talents that Kelly had 2 years ago had transferred out, good kid or not, when Kelly played them, they would have been wanting to smack the stuffing out of him.
If we are talking about purely football, I say hells yeah I am pumped for the battle. I have zero doubt that those prideful Wildcats are going to come scratching and clawing into The Reservation. I have zero doubt that they have circled us as the "red-letter" game this year. I have zero doubt that even though I have no clue how many (if any) the Cats will win this year, Crabtree's boys will play hard and fight every snap to the end. I have much respect for the kids who stayed at Pound, and are committed to the program. I wish them all the best, but this isn't just about football. At the end of the day, this is about a young teenager who loves/wants to play the sport he loves, as well as his parents who out of love for their son, will watch him don the scarlet and white, all along dealing with the emotions that come with knowing that they are both Wildcats. I respect Chelle and Chris sr very much for that. I have said it before: if I had to do he exact same thing, I would. What parent doesn't want their kid to succeed? Crabtree is a minister, a devout religious man. This obviously has me scratching my noggin'. I have known him since we were 5 years old, have been a big fan of his until this bit. There are bigger and better things than winning football games in life folks (GO DAWGS!!!-heck-had to throw that in there)