Coaching...

Heard the boys coach from clintwood was finished?

Heard rumors of that during the later part of the season, but haven't heard anything verifying it as of yet.

Boy's coach... couldn't blame him.

He's had very good success with the cross country teams though.

Clintwood needs a coach that is going to stick there and duke it out.. i know that coaching has to be hard with parents and everyone breathing down your neck. But the kids cant have any expectations coming into each of their 4 seasons as a varsity player and having 3-4 different coaches.. they need to find someone that is going to say no matter what he will be there for 3-4 years and turn the program around.. parents bitching or not..

Well the Team did improve from last year at least . I would hate to see him leave but if he does it is his dission

I'm not sure Clintwood can be turned around.

The essential thing that is missing is a genuine interest in basketball. You're not going to have that if your players are only playing basketball to pass time until football season starts. A coach can only do so much. He can't create interest where it doesn't exist in either his team, the parents, or the community. He can't play the game for this team. He can only prepare them as best he can.

I realize there have been a couple of players at Clintwood in the last two years who really had an interest in basketball and wanted to play, but unfortunately they have been alone.


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Clintwood needs a coach that is going to stick there and duke it out.. i know that coaching has to be hard with parents and everyone breathing down your neck. But the kids cant have any expectations coming into each of their 4 seasons as a varsity player and having 3-4 different coaches.. they need to find someone that is going to say no matter what he will be there for 3-4 years and turn the program around.. parents bitching or not..

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The essential thing that is missing is a genuine interest in basketball. You're not going to have that if your players are only playing basketball to pass time until football season starts.

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I may be wrong but is that really that much differant than most other LPD teams?

How many football players are on GC or Nortons team?

IMHO alot of Clintwoods problems popped up after Heath Counts (No relation) was lost to injury and caused Clintwood to lose one of there better ball handlers.

There is a common thread there, Counts. All of the LPD teams have football players playing basketball.

There's nothing wrong with athletes playing multiple sports. But, being a good athlete and excelling at one sport doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be a good basketball player.

The difference I saw in Clintwood is that there was just a general sense of apathy from the team as a whole. In the games I saw, there were basically two players on the floor who were really trying. The rest were "going through the motions." I honestly think some really didn't care if they won or lost. It was just something to do on a Tuesday or Friday night.


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I may be wrong but is that really that much differant than most other LPD teams?

How many football players are on GC or Nortons team?

IMHO alot of Clintwoods problems popped up after Heath Counts (No relation) was lost to injury and caused Clintwood to lose one of there better ball handlers.

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If that is the case they would be better served staying in the weight room and work on getting bigger and stronger. IMHO there is no need to play any sport if you are not intrested in it. That being said there are few reasons to skip a sport you enjoy to get ready for another

I agree.

If the interest is in football, and there is little or no interest in boys basketball at Clintwood, the school could only benefit from focusing on football.

I hate the thought of any school dropping a sport, but for the last two years, I've felt that Clintwood might be better served to drop boys basketball.

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If that is the case they would be better served staying in the weight room and work on getting bigger and stronger. IMHO there is no need to play any sport if you are not intrested in it. That being said there are few reasons to skip a sport you enjoy to get ready for another

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No need to drop a sport if those not interested do not show up then those who want to play can sure you could go 0-20 but there is more to sports than just winning the importan thing would be that kids with an intrest in playing would getthe chance to play.

That being said I have no clue as to wheather some of the kids playing Basketball this year did or did not want to be there if they enjoy the game by all means keep playing if not leave a spot open for someone who might.

Getting back to the point if it is true that Mills is steping down Clintwood would have to rank right with Pound in terms or running off coaches LOL

Well, in Clintwood's case, it wasn't a problem finding players willing to play. There were enough to play, but they weren't serious about basketball. The result was a half-hearted effort and lackluster season. Winning and losing aside, I'm not sure that is beneficial to the school either. If you have a really bad team who really tries, you can say, "we'll they have it their best." But, to have a group go out and not even try is not fair to the coaches who give their time or the fans, however few they may be, who come out to support them.

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No need to drop a sport if those not interested do not show up then those who want to play can sure you could go 0-20 but there is more to sports than just winning the importan thing would be that kids with an intrest in playing would getthe chance to play.

That being said I have no clue as to wheather some of the kids playing Basketball this year did or did not want to be there if they enjoy the game by all means keep playing if not leave a spot open for someone who might.

Getting back to the point if it is true that Mills is steping down Clintwood would have to rank right with Pound in terms or running off coaches LOL

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I heard the same agrument made to drop Ervinton football a few years back but they turned there ship around.

The problem with droping a sport for the reason you gave is that you punish the kids that may have had nothing to do with that team IMHO if the players are not putting forth the effort it is the coachs job to sit them on the bench or run them off.

I missed alot of games near the end of the season due to work and illness in my family but from the games I watched I did not think Clintwood looked that bad out side of one or 2 games the biggist thing I saw was that there shooting was horrable but the same thing could be said for several other teams I watched this season.

CW shouldn't drop basketball as a sport. You just cant drop a sport because you arent that good in it. When Green and Hamilton played for CW back in the day they werent LPD champs or anything. CW has always been competitive. Just because the coaches arent that great doesnt mean to do away with the sport, it just means you might need a new coach. You just have to find the right one. The kids can only do what they are taught and coached to do.

I think it would be awesome to see Clintwood turn the program around. But, based on the lack of interest I've seen in the last couple of years, I think it would be really unrealistic to expect any coach to be able to motivate a team who just doesn't care about a sport.

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I heard the same agrument made to drop Ervinton football a few years back but they turned there ship around.

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I suspect there have been times in the last two years when the coaches have wanted to do just that. In fairness to them, if they eliminated everyone expect the players who were really interested in playing, they would not have had enough to play some games.

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The problem with droping a sport for the reason you gave is that you punish the kids that may have had nothing to do with that team IMHO if the players are not putting forth the effort it is the coachs job to sit them on the bench or run them off.

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Clintwood actually had the potential to have a good team this year. The team reached rock bottom, imo, during the LPD tournament in the game against Powell Valley. I can honestly say I've never seen less emotion or effort from a Clintwood team before.

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I missed alot of games near the end of the season due to work and illness in my family but from the games I watched I did not think Clintwood looked that bad out side of one or 2 games the biggist thing I saw was that there shooting was horrable but the same thing could be said for several other teams I watched this season.

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You know the problem at Clintwood. No talent coming up! Simple as that. No talent! At the beginning of the year if you have to play freshmen on a varsity team that do not have the basic pick and roll; jump, sag, and slide defensively, take a charge, dribble with both hands, shoot a left hand lay-up while jumping off of the right foot, basic skills... you are going to have problems. You could bring in Dick Vitile as an inspirational speaker, Bobby Knight to coach the team, and have the L.A. Laker cheerleaders to root them on and they still would not have a winning record. You can say so and so got hurt but I have seen them play, watched them practice, and if you know any thing at all about basketball outside of the LPD you will realize that this team along with several others have no talent to be competitive. I am not sugar coating anything.
Clintwood has one of the best fundamental coaches in Mike Grear and Coach Mills but they only work with the kids from November to Feb. The kids are simply not dedicated to basketball. The numbers and talent are not there.
You want to get better? Call your coach (Coach Grear will always have an open gym for his players if he is not busy)and friends and go to a gym at 8 in the morning when school is not in, play for a few hours. When the coach leaves, hide someone in the gym and come back about 15 minutes later. Play for a few more hours, put the pitching mound ramps out and jump off them to dunk the basketball. Then after this is over around 5, go eat dinner, and then meet up with your friends again to go play open gym over at Pound, Clintwood, or Longs Fork (when we had an open gym) with the adults. That is how you get better. Sweat and heart. (Ahhhhhhh what memories!!!!!!)
During the summer, go to Kingsport, Bristol and play at their Y's or outdoors where the men play at. Take your team to the team camp at VCU in Richmond. A lot of AAA city schools out there with better athletes then you will find at Va Tech. You get better by playing better competion and keeping a basketball in your hand.
Coaching has not got a thing to do with it at Clintwood. The coach does not throw the ball away when up by 3 with a few seconds left. Coach doesn't shoot 50% from the free throw line even though he goes over and over how important free throw shooting is, coach does not get beat by not blocking out after the offense takes a shot. Basketball is a REACTION game. If you have to think, you are dead. That is why you have to play all year round.
My passion is football but there is no excuse in this small area why you cannot succeed in both sports if you want to.

Well for me, its not about winning or losing, but about how much interest the school has in the sport.

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CW shouldn't drop basketball as a sport. You just cant drop a sport because you arent that good in it. When Green and Hamilton played for CW back in the day they werent LPD champs or anything. CW has always been competitive. Just because the coaches arent that great doesnt mean to do away with the sport, it just means you might need a new coach. You just have to find the right one. The kids can only do what they are taught and coached to do.

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Yes, a coach at the High School level may not be the problem but what you need is a coach (usually a parent) to form up a travel team when they are young. Get the kids excited about the game, teach the fundamentals and practice, practice, practice. This will make your teams better for the future. This is not a hard thing to do you just have to devote the time.

Very good idea but a traveling team is good if you can find parents that are willing to travel to the tri-cities, or Roanoke to find the good teams that play AAU tournaments. There is a lot of work for parents to do with those organizations and you runthe roads more sometimes than you do going to high school games. Not to many basketball tournaments are held down here in the mountains for the youth.
I believe in the simple things to get better. Dribble to your hands fall off, shoot 4-500 JUMP shots a day, not white-boy, text book set shots; and play defense against better competion and adults in an open gym somewhere.

I think Clintwood has pretty good talent myself, Id be willing to go to battle with em.

There are more tournaments around than you think. Castlewood, Lebanon, Coeburn, Ervinton, Grundy, Honaker, Wise, Appalachia and Richlands for boys and girls and all have at least One Tournament each winter and thats just the ones on that side of the clinch Mountain. There are many more on this side all over Southwest Va. A travel team can play 20 to 30 games easy each winter and not travel every weekend. Thats the same as two or three rec seasons against pretty good competition in a matter of two months. I have coached a travel team since my son was in the 4th grade. We are now in our 5th season with almost all the same kids. This weekend we are playing in Honaker. So as you can see there are plenty of places to play without having to travel out of the area. Like I said before all you have to give is time and it doesn't hurt to have a sponsor.

I agree with you CVCgrad. You have to have the passion for a sport before you can succeed in it. I don't care who the coach is, how many people come out to support you, or what town you are from, if your players are not willing to get out there and give everything they have every game and every practice, in the end you are not going to be successful. There has been a steady decline in the bball program at Clintwood, both boys and girls, from a lack of effort and dedication. You have a couple of players who actually care about the game and are willing to make themselves better during the off-season, but the rest never have a ball in their hand until November. Raw talent can only get you so far. Clintwood has some of the most talented athletes in the Region, yet they lack the discipline and dedication needed to win championships. And unfortunately, I don't see it changing anytime soon.

When Clintwood first start having coaching changes, I admit I wanted to blame the problem on the coaches. But I realize that these guys were in an almost impossible situation of trying to generate interest in basketball in a school where nothing really matters but football.

There are adults who have tried to get the younger kids involved in local basketball camps/tournaments. But ultimately, in this town, the world begins and ends at Ralph Cummins Stadium.

Now, I think its great that any school has so much passion for any sport. But it is unfortunate for the few who really do want to play basketball or baseball, etc.

It's really a shame. Nothing bothers me more than a kid/or kids with a ton of talent who wastes it because of a lack of dedication and discipline. Not that I think playing football is a waste. But there is no reason why you can't be dedicated to more than one sport, and actually be successful in both. I guess it's just the Clintwood mentality.

I wonder who will be the coach at clintwood now? will one of the former coaches take back over? if they go with a former coach i would probably go with the vanover guy he at least doesnt make every official get annoyed at him. greer always was loud when he disagreed with calls it was funny to watch him react

Honestly, I don't know why ANYBODY would want to try and coach this day and time. They get so much grief. It's sad that alot of people go into coaching for the sheer love of the game and wanting to work with young people but then alot of them end up getting treated like trash in the end. My husband was just a little league coach for years and got physically threatened by one parent because he felt like his son was not playing enough. This was the kid who refused to learn plays, told my husband he didn't want him to give him the ball at practice (because he was scared) and would run into his own player and knock the ball out of his hands... His Dad thought he should stay in the game all the time. I really don't think some kids even want to play and their parents force them to-of course they aren't going to give it their all if they don't want to be there. There were times I would get up and go over and sit on the visitors side just so I couldn't hear the parents complain about their kids not starting or playing in the outfield. I know there are some coaches who really aren't up to par, but it seems like the good ones sometimes get run off because they get tired of all the complaining. I'm not saying this is the situation with this coach or any particular coach. Just my opinion on coaching in general. I don't know how well the Clintwood coach did with basketball but I know he is an awesome cross country coach and a very good guy. I also know how hard it is to try and make everyone happy all the time. I have alot of respect for anyone who has good intentions and does their best to coach kids. It's a really hard job!

you gotta love the game and love what you're doin

Yeah, but the few trouble makers take the fun out of it sometimes...

Clintwood has those 2 options, if they are interested. Both did well, and I would think both learned a lot from their past experiences. Who knows if they are interested or not.

is it official that mills stepped down or is this just a rumor?

official...

Official. In the Dickenson Star today with comments from Bill Castle and Mills.

i thought mills would be pretty successful while at clintwood.

Last year was a bad year this year was an improvement and with a young team I think next year could have been a break out year. At least who ever takes over starts out with a better team than Mills had to start out with

Mills did a great job with the cross country program. But he might have been a mis-match for the boys basketball team.

Hopefully he'll continue with cross country.

Yeah I think he should stick with cross country. What individuals are looking at taking over for him?

Well Vanover or Greear could take over again. Also heard one other name mentioned from outside but I promised not to say anything so sorry for the lack of useful information [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

I think Clintwood may not be the only LPD team to have coaching changes next year.

In the Cumberland, I understand that Mullins may be stepping down at Rye Cove as well. I was a little surprised to hear from some folks at Twin Valley that Moore may be done coaching. I asked if Goodman was going to take over as coach, and the answer I received was "not likely."

The TV one suprises me I would have thought Goodman would be a shoe in there to take over

That was my first thought. But the impression I got was that he wasn't interested.

Unless I'm mistaken, in the Gate City - Twin Vally Region D game he wasn't on the bench with the team.

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The TV one suprises me I would have thought Goodman would be a shoe in there to take over

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