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Post by jtjrmoney8 on Jul 2, 2012 20:10:16 GMT -6
With so many great head coaches leaving the region in the last few years, and many in this year's offseason, who is the best current head coach in northwest Indiana?
I guess to me, the obvious choice would be Brett St. Germain..he is the only current coach to have won a state title and looks like he has Lake Central on the verge of becoming a serious contender
Roy Richards should also be in the conversation..he has done a remarkable job with the Hammond Morton program
Zak Wells has been to 3 semi-state games, won several DAC crowns, and consistently has Merrillville as a top tier team in the region just about every year
But wondering what others think..there was such a high turnover of coaches in this offseason, many who had been at their current school for a long time
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Post by richsapper on Jul 2, 2012 23:49:51 GMT -6
As coaches go, the jury is still out on too many region coaches. New guys at the helm at Portage, Crown Point, Griffith, Valpo, etc, just too early to tell. McCormack has a body of work to draw on, but the others are first time head coaches.
Lets look at this conference by conference:
Duneland:
St. Germain is a great coach, no doubt. He is one of the region's best. That said, there is a lot more to being a great coach than a state title. I think he is a great coach, but the best? I don't know.
Wells has done a nice job with the Merrillville program too. What makes St. Germain a great coach makes Wells a great coach, a good feel for the game, some great assistants around them, and a staff that gets the best out of players.
John Snyder maybe one of the most underrated coaches in the area. He probably doesn;t get the respect he deserves sometimes, but Chesterton is always competitive, he wins against schools in the DAC, despite being the smallest school in the conference, and his players (many of them) go to college.
The Jury is still out on Michigan City's Michael Karpinski. He has only had 1 year, and he is in a big time turn around project. Having a couple of former head coaches on his staff will help out though.
Bob Schellinger does a nice job at LaPorte. Despite being beat up in a tough conference, his teams are always competitive and have had some great runs over the years. His longevity speaks volumes to the respect that the people of LaPorte and his players have for him.
Again, the jury is still out on Dave Coyle at Valpo and Kevin Enright at Crown Point because neither have coached a varsity football game yet. That said, think about this: who hired them? Enright still has the coach he is replacing in the building in new CP principal Chip Pettit and AD Bill Dorulla was a long time football coach. Dave Coyle was hired by the man he replaced with Mark Hoffman sitting in the AD's office. It is hard to follow a great coach like Petit or a legend like Hoffman, but for Enright and Coyle to get the nod from those guys, that says a lot.
McCormack has a solid body of work to draw on and is 70-38 in his 10 year head coaching career. Hobart fans never fully embraced him because the Brickies were never dominant like they were in the Don Howell era, but then again it is doubtful that they ever will be again.
Northwest Crossroads
Speaking of Hobart, Ryan Turley is the right guy for the job there and will likely improve the numbers and the results after a 3-8 start. That said, it is hard to judge a coach after only 1 year at the helm.
Keith Kilmer at Lowell has the chance to show that the Red Devils are the Red Devils we are used to this season after a 6-4 and 5-5 campaign in his first two years. This is the year that we will really see his stamp on this team.
Much like Turley at Hobart, Brad Stewart is going into year two of a rebuilding project at KV. He was a seasoned assistant that should get some great results. Again, too soon to tell.
Jim Pickett at Griffith, well, he gets the unenviable task a replacing a legend. Love him or hate him that is what Russ Radtke is. Again, too soon to tell.
It's hard to believe that it has been 16 years ago this season that Munster last won a sectional. It doesn't get much easier playing in 5A. He is respected among coaches for his work with promoting region football players to colleges.
Phil Mason at Andrean is another solid coach. He won at Wheeler, he is winning at Andrean, and if Wheeler hadn't pulled the upset of the century last season, he may have won a state championship last year.
Highland hasn't had a winning season since 2001 and is on their fourth coach in that time. Trent Grider has a rebuilding project in front of him too, but again, too early to tell.
Ok...never mind conference by conference for now...there are the two "power conferences" I will look at the others tomorrow.
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Post by Admin75 on Jul 3, 2012 7:52:13 GMT -6
I works say Roy Richards or Jeff Cain.
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Post by crowntownmike on Jul 4, 2012 8:25:55 GMT -6
I hope it will be Kevin Enright, but we don't know yet
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Post by crowntownmike on Jul 4, 2012 8:31:44 GMT -6
Right now, it's the coach from Lake Central though
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Post by apollo on Jul 4, 2012 11:28:31 GMT -6
Jeff Bean has done a heck of a rebuilding job at RF taking over for Dave Blevins.
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Post by indianbacker on Jul 4, 2012 13:14:18 GMT -6
Why is there any question that it is Coach Mac? He is one of the best coaches in the area and is ready to turn Portage around. Go Indians!
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Post by jtjrmoney8 on Jul 4, 2012 19:43:42 GMT -6
Well duh! Wally is obviously the top coach in the area..he will bring many DAC and sectional championships to the REAL Indians! Boom goes the dynamite!
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Post by julio on Jul 5, 2012 8:27:58 GMT -6
Coach Scheiber from Hammond. Did y'all see what he is doing in H-Town? Best coach for sure.
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Post by richsapper on Jul 5, 2012 22:53:35 GMT -6
wow JT, do I sense some sarcasm?
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Post by richsapper on Jul 5, 2012 23:48:46 GMT -6
Ok, back to my conference by conference break down of this question:
Greater Southshore
Ivan Zimmer is in his second stint at the helm of Calumet, and he has an uphill battle every year. Kids often have to quit because of this reason or that, usually because they need to work, or something else to that effect. He does the best he can with what he has to work with. Kids seem to play hard for him, even if the results don't always show.
Noll is one reason why I don't think the anti-parochial folks have much of a leg to stand on. As much as people complain about Andrean, Noll has not been quite the world beater that one would expect. I honestly don't know much about Noll though since I haven't seen them play in years. Much like Zimmer, he is coaching a football team in a basketball school.
Edison. Mike Hepp rescued this team from the ashes. The results have not shown yet in his second go around, but he is fighting a culture of losing and is starting to get kids to believe that they shouldn't lose. If the support that he was shown by the parents and players when they thought he would not be coaching is any indication, he must be doing a great job.
The jury is still out on Pat Brown entering his second year at North Newton. That said, they got on a tear at the end of the year ending 6-6 and playing Wheeler in the sectional championship game. What's more, the six wins put them at .500 or better for only the second time in at least the last 18 years. I would say they have some momentum and kids that have bought into the program.
As apollo said, Jeff Bean has done a great job rebuilding the program at River Forest. He took over a team that was just 1-19 in two years, and since has increased the win totals steadily over his tenure to the point of a 7-4 season last year. River Forest was the only team that was not completely blown out by Wheeler in the regular season. RF is on the right track in no small part due to Coach Bean's work.
South Central has a brand new head coach in Bob Foster. He has had success as an assistant. For now, it's too early to tell.
Wheeler? Who knows? Whoever it is inherits a great program, that, while it loses a lot of key players has others in the wings I am sure.
What can you say about Jeff Cain in Whiting? He coaches at one of the smallest schools in the area and all he does is win. His kids play for him the community embraces him, and he typically delivers winning football. If that does not make for a successful coach, I don't know what does.
Great Lakes
Jay Novak is in his first year at Clark. He will be the third coach in as many years.
Roy Richards at Morton has developed a successful program winning a couple of sectionals in a row and a regional title two years ago. He is one of the best coaches in the area for sure. He has developed great athletes and has given the city of Hammond a team to cheer for. His teams always see development throughout the year and get better as time goes on.
Eric Schreiber has done a nice job since taking over at Hammond. The former Michigan City, Bishop Noll and Greensburg coach took the Wilcats to an 8-3 mark in his first year at the helm which was not an easy task, being the third coach in the span of 3 years at Hammond.. Like Wally McCormack he has a body of wor to draw upon, and his teams are exactly at .500 for his career.
At Gavit Rob Robinson is in year two of a turnaround project. The Gladiators won 4 games last year, which doesn't seem that impressive until you consider that it is the first time that Gavit has won four games since current River Forest principal Shane Snider was head coach in 2004 and won 5 games.
Northwestern
Jason Johnson at West Side is probably the best coach in Gary. With all of the turmoil in the Gary schools over the last couple of years it is hard to gauge, but the 3 wins on the season were good considering the losses were to teams like Andrean, Morton, Dayton MArshall out of Ohio and Chicago Curie.
Speaking of turmoil, how about Eric Yarbrough at Roosevelt. Things are still up in the air concerning the status of Roosevelt athletics since the school was taken over by the state for failing to meet academic standards.
Alexander Williams has done battled low turnout for the team and has also played a far flung schedule with teams from Illinois to Mishawaka on the regular season schedule.
Independents
It is too early to tell on Tony Tinkle at Boone Grove who coached the team in it's first full varsity season. That said, it has to be difficult to build a program from scratch, first with AD Doug Knutson at the helm, them taking over himself.
Stacy Adams has done a great job at EC Central. In his two years, he has been 5-5 and 7-4. including winning 6 in a row the middle of last season. One thing that Adams has done very well is to assemble a staff that the kids in the school trust to help gain buy in for his program.
Robert Gross at Bowman went 4-6 last season playing teams from Indianapolis, Noblesville, Jay County, Muskegeon Heights to name a few. Hammond, Boone Grove, EC and Clark were the only local teams that the Eagles played. Still with only 1 year, the jury is still out.
Gary Lighthouse is in it's first season of varsity competition, and at the moment only has one game against River Forest on the schedule. We will see how that develops.
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Post by jtjrmoney8 on Jul 6, 2012 11:09:14 GMT -6
You really dug deep to find all of these facts on some lesser known schools..this is the kind of information that should be in the MAB monthly magazine IMO..but interested to see if any of these up and coming teams are ready to turn the corner this season
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Post by richsapper on Jul 6, 2012 18:33:25 GMT -6
Most of that was off of the top of my head, although John Harrell's website helped a lot. I don't know that I would put opinions on coaches in the mag, but there is a little bit on everyone. final analysis, is really that it is hard to tell. There are a lot of great coaches in the area that are great beyond just the win-loss record. Some guys are great because of how much they get out of limited talent, some are great because the get kids to college, some are great motivators and great x's and o's guys. It's hard to say. It's easy to say Roy Richards, Bret St. Germaine, Jeff Cain, Phil Mason or someone like that with a great W-L record. But how about the guys who turn around programs, who improve kids year after year, etc? Those great W-L guys do that too, but there is so much to coaching. That's why it is hard for me to answer as to who the best is.
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Post by jtjrmoney8 on Jul 6, 2012 20:38:17 GMT -6
I agree with that..I think most people tend to compare resumes with what coaches have done in terms of conference titles, playoff success, win/loss record..I think any coach that is able to get a kid to do his very best at something while keeping his nose clean is a good coach in my book..alot of times, especially in the inner cities, its extra curriculars like sports that keep some of these kids off the streets doing things they shouldn't be doing
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Post by julio on Jul 6, 2012 22:26:30 GMT -6
That's why I said Coach Schreiber y'all. He is a role model to these boys. He is a father where some don't have it and they play like they lives depend on it.
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