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Dugger still coachless !

Posted Sunday, July 22, 2007, at 10:38 PM
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The Union boys are still without a basketball coach.

No coach was hired at the last board meeting. Here it is

almost the 1st. of Aug. and still no basketball coach.

The players have lost a summer of work.A lot of people including myself think summer play determinds the success

of the winter season. There does not seem to be alot of interest in the coaching postion.

What does a basketball official and a drive -thru have in common? They both mess up calls.

Congrads and best of luck to Doug Boyd as he takes over the Bloomfield girls program.

Comments
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Hey Bigred its hard to agrue with the facts. So I guess now you define success as being able to field a team?? That is like saying a restaurant is good cause it has food. You flip-flop so much you should go into politics

-- Posted by unionalum on Sat, Aug 4, 2007, at 6:37 AM

WELL SAID BIGRED!

Done

Hey Joe! It's about time for something new. We just made your blog the most popular on the site so how about a little more effort!

I hope they're not paying you by the article.

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 4:18 PM

Contrary to the Google statmasters beliefs, Dugger football is a success, just being able to field a team on Friday night is a success story. Look around, you're the last of a dieing breed of small school football. David and Goliath, it works.

Good luck to you guys and I hope it all works out with the basketball program. WOW….

-- Posted by BIGRED on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 3:50 PM

Maybe Union would have more success if they would focus on either football or basketball due to their lack of enrollment. Just a thought

-- Posted by unionalum on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 1:50 PM

"But again, to get back to the point that started all of this. Dugger is without a coach. Where are these 6 players with college experience? Why haven't they stepped up to bail out their alma mater? I understand Joey. He's coaching and trying to build something. But where is everyone else?"

Well Cubhater, I think that Brody's name has been thrown around alot, one former player Joe Pigg from what I heard turned down the job cause only one kid showed up for open gym. I'm sure some other former players would be open to coaching these kids. I'm not sure who the school board has approached, but it would be nice if someone would step up and take on the challenge of rebuilding the basketball program at Dugger. Dog@hrt makes a really good point, thanks for stepping in with some hard facts, instead of just throwing numbers out and trying to act like you know what you are talking about

-- Posted by unionalum on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 1:48 PM

Maybe you guys can run off Gambill too. Then no one would want to coach football either.

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 1:12 PM

The 50 wins are now becoming a mystery. To the best I can tell, Indiainahsfootball.homestead.com shows union as having 41 wins in the 12 seasons leading up to this year. Yet it states that Coach Gambill is entering his 13th season and has a 50-76 record. Am I missing something?

BIGRED, I think you get the point, in the games I found Union has 1 win against an opponent who finished the regular season with a winning record.

-- Posted by dog@hrt on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 1:00 PM

Palestine, Ill- 1-2 vs. Palestine during this period, no idea of their season record.

Cumberland, Ill. - 1-1, again no idea of their record the season we defeated them.

Oblong, Ill - 1-1, same story as the other two Illinois schools.

Covington - 1 victory vs. Covington. Took place in 2003 when Covington had a record of 0-10.

Turkey Run - Defeated them in 2005. They had a record that season of 0-10.

Wood Memorial - Defeated in 2005. They had a record of 0-10.

Monrovia - Defeated them in 2005. They finished with a record of 0-10.

North Daviess - Defeated ND in 2005 and 2006. ND had records of 1-9 and 3-7 respectively those seasons.

North Knox - Defeated them in 2005 and 2006. They had a record of 7-3 in 2005 and 4-7 in 2006.

-- Posted by dog@hrt on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 12:55 PM

Indiana Deaf - Union has a record of 11-0 against Indiana Deaf the past 12 seasons. IND has combined a record of 20-67 over this period with a best record of 4-6 (3 times).

North Central - By my count we have defeated North Central 9 times in the past 12 seasons. In the years we have beaten them they are a combined 8 -51, with a best season of 3-6.

Metro Lutheran (MO) - We have a record of 6-1 against this outfit with no data available on Metro's records the years we beat them.

Eastern (Greene) - We are 4-0 vs. Eastern with EG having a combined record of 2-38 during those seasons.

So far, we have accounted for 60% of the victories referenced by BIGRED. Without season record data for Metro Lutheran, we know the other teams making up this 60% have a combined record of 30-156, or winning % of 19.2 during the seasons in which they lost to Union.

Now on to the other 20 wins....

-- Posted by dog@hrt on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 12:30 PM

Not to get in a shoving match with you here U.A. but I couldn't disagree more. Yes, my 5-15 analogy might be a stretch, but if a team goes 18-5 in the regular season and loses the first game of the sectional, is that a successful year. To some extent maybe, but it sure wouldn't seem like it when those boys are walking off the floor. On the other hand if a team would go 8-13 and then win the sectional, I deem that great success. Everyone can play Holy Cross multiple times in a season, but strength of schedule has to be in the equation. All coaches have different ideas of what it takes to be productive in the win arena, but I would definitely trade 5 wins a year against weak competition in exchange for preparation and getting better against stronger comp.

But again, to get back to the point that started all of this. Dugger is without a coach. Where are these 6 players with college experience? Why haven't they stepped up to bail out their alma mater? I understand Joey. He's coaching and trying to build something. But where is everyone else? I can't imagine the school board turning down everyone. Where are all of these players that have attributed to your "success"? You don't have to be a teacher to be a Varsity coach anymore (Damon Rule). You seem to be proud of your program, but where is everyone else?

BigRed, I think the pride comment is right on. But no one seems to have enough pride to step up. Go Bulldogs.

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 12:21 PM

BIGRED

26 or 52% of the 50 wins you referenced for the football team are victories over Indiana Deaf, N.Central, and Metro Lutheran. Add Eastern's newly minted program in the mix and that # becomes 30 or 60% of the victories. I am trying to get the final records of all teams Union has beaten in the past 12 years on the Gridiron to see how many finished with winning records.

-- Posted by dog@hrt on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 12:08 PM

It is a shame it has came to this. I am not sure where to begin. As unionalum pointed out, basketball has always been the focal point of Union athletics. Our football team has had some decent seasons, but year in and year out they do not have #'s to consistently compete. BIG RED you posted that Unions Football team has won 50 and lost 76 over the last 12 years. How many of those 50 wins were against teams with a winning record? 1, 2, or 3 maybe? Most of those wins came against North Central, the Deaf School and Metro Lutheran. Look it up. Lets not forget that Sagarin ranks Union Football in the bottom 20 in the state every year. With the only exceptions to that maybe being the 1987, 1988 and 2005 teams. This is not to bash Union football because I know the kids that do play work very hard as does coach Gambill.

Union basketball has seen some bright days. Ranked in the top 20 in one class a couple of times by Sagarin, and the AP between 1984-1997. Dont think the UHS football has ever been at that level. Union, Bloomfield, WRV and Lyons all had those accalades in basketball in the last 25 years.

One more thing for BIGRED. You mentioned the record of Union basketball for the last 14 years is 148-160. I agree that is not very good. But, consider in the the seven years you gave data for that Hart coached (commencing with brody and clark graduating) Union was 117-48. I dont currently have data going back any farther but I would give an educated guess that 117-48 is much closer to what Union's teams were the 10-15 years prior to that, than the 31-122 they have been in the 7 years since.

The whole point of this post is Union is a basketball town first and foremost and if we are going to continue to have a high school, we need to get our program back to respectable. It is good for the town, school and kids when the basketball team is successful.

In my final thought, I will say the idea of combining with Linton is appealing, but the football team may have to move to 2A, meaning they would have no chance at postseason success and Linton has never had a basketball program that is considered equal to the Football program by administration. Until that happens, they will never have consistently good basketball teams. Ever wonder why they did not hire Ron McBride when he wanted the job? Maybe he would have demanded a little more out of the school and administration?

-- Posted by dog@hrt on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 12:02 PM

I just disagreed with the fact that you think union has a successful football program. Union does need a coach NOW, but who wants it is the question?

One player doesnt equal a history of basketball success, but Im not talking about just one player here. Im not stating anything but facts here.

-- Posted by unionalum on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 11:43 AM

Unionalum, Topic:Dugger still coachless! Translated, school starts in two weeks and your still without a coach for your successful basketball program. Surely it's not the past success of the program that's keeping the position from being filled. I suggested one of your own, Todd Gambill and you seemed to dismiss the idea, based on what you call the lack of success the football team has had in the past 10-15 years. I disagree.

As far as individual talent go's, yes Dugger has been the home of two or three of the states best. I'm even proud of that and I'm not a Unionalum. But I'm afraid your confusing Dugger Pride with basketball success.

Reality check. Larry Bird + I.S.U. does not = "a history of basketball success"

-- Posted by BIGRED on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 11:32 AM

How many teams can you name that have went 5-15 and win a sectional title?

I cant think of any.

Success = wininng games bottom line

And Yes we can claim Joey

-- Posted by unionalum on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 11:06 AM

Unionalum, I don't claim to know a lot about Dugger basketball history, but I do know this. One of the D-1 players you refer to is Joey Hart and he was a Bloomfield boy. Great player, yes. Dugger homegrown, no. He was there only to play for his Dad.

I think basketball success in this area is mainly judged by 1 thing. Sectional titles. A team can go 5-15 then win the sectional and it be viewed as a good year.

In the past 50 years, Dugger has won only 4 sectionals. That includes Hart and all of the Boyds!

Go BigRed!

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 9:58 AM

Lets define success here bigred, lets throw out the years since brody and hart left and then lets talk sucess. How many D1 football players have come out of Dugger? I cant name one. I can name 3 D1 basketball players from union, and 3 more that have played juco. And no I am not counting chambers twice since he played for both. I would say that is a pretty good standard for success for a school of that size. Has the football team been to the state championship game, been to semi state, or won regional. Remember in 97 Union got beat in the regional final by the future state champs, before class basketball. Could Union have won the state that year with class basketball?? We wont ever know, but I think the answer is yes. Lets get back to reality here you know nothing about Dugger Basketball!!

-- Posted by unionalum on Fri, Aug 3, 2007, at 8:15 AM

Success? Your 148 and 170 in the last 14 years. When you toss out the 4 Brody years, 83 and 17 you're looking at 65 and 153 with a winning percentage of 30. Calling that your "history of basketball success" is a stretch.

Your football program on the other hand, which is ran on a shoestring with barely enough kids to line up on both sides of the ball is 50 and 76 over the past 12 years with coach Gambill in charge.

-- Posted by BIGRED on Thu, Aug 2, 2007, at 12:43 PM

Unionalum... and there is the problem...

what coach has a chance of motivating students when they go home to parents that constantly undermine what the coach is trying to do...

motivation must come from all... and those that sit on the sideline need to support their kids by not bad-mouthing the coach.

-- Posted by Ethermuse on Thu, Aug 2, 2007, at 9:28 AM

Yeah Great idea since the football team has had SO much success in the past 10-15 years. Boys Basketball has always been the center ot the athletic program at Union. Someone needs to get these kids motivated to win some games and take some pride in their school and its history of basketball success.

-- Posted by unionalum on Thu, Aug 2, 2007, at 6:02 AM

Are the student numbers down again this year at Dugger? Compared to the previous years? I know coach Gambill has his hands full every season with the football program and with hard work and boys playing both sides, He's getting it done, .Poblem sollved, offer Todd Gambil the boys Varsity basketball position. He can handle them both. Pump his check up a bit. And let him get the basketball program back on line

-- Posted by BIGRED on Wed, Aug 1, 2007, at 9:50 PM

Now Simmons, all things relative, one need only take a trip to an IPS school and compare the overall quality to a small school to get a grasp as to what I'm talking about.

As for "reasons" given for a consolidation most, I will tell you, are not in the interest of the students in my humble opinion.

-- Posted by Ethermuse on Wed, Aug 1, 2007, at 3:10 PM

Now Ethermuse, better is relative, and research can be shown both ways. There are many more social, educational and athletic opportunities to found in a consolidation. I'm never into building dynasties, just creating opportunities. Where did that happen in Greene County already? Was that why it was done?

-- Posted by simmons on Wed, Aug 1, 2007, at 11:12 AM

Hey Simmons...

in education the research says

bigger is NOT better.

Now if you're talking a consolidation

based purely on building a football or

basketball dynasty I'd say.. that's already been tried here in Greene County and, ahem, it didn't work!

-- Posted by Ethermuse on Tue, Jul 31, 2007, at 7:46 PM

"The A.D. at Bloomfield left too? I heard the free press guy gave him a dirty look and the A.D knew it was time to go."

Now THAT's funny! Just about sums it up for Bloomfield right now.

-- Posted by anon on Tue, Jul 31, 2007, at 5:09 AM

Three way split, North enders to Shakamak, Southwest and West side to Sullivan, Southeast and East to Linton. Or yes, call Brady back, go old school and build a winner.

-- Posted by BIGRED on Mon, Jul 30, 2007, at 5:18 PM

It probably should have, but it isn't too late. If the pros and cons were evaluated with an unbiased mind, the result would be obvious. It isn't just the athletics involved, the complete financial situation with respect to the educational opportunities would dictate that it would be the smart decision. But that is just my opinion. and I doubt that too many Bulldogs would agree.

-- Posted by simmons on Mon, Jul 30, 2007, at 4:40 PM

If Linton and Dugger were to merge wouldn't it happen a long time ago?

-- Posted by meanjean23 on Mon, Jul 30, 2007, at 2:51 PM

Has anyone considered the return of Terry Brady? Maybe Max Price? My intuition says that whoever garners the position, will gain nothing but the firm rebuke of irate parents who are unsatisfied with losing. I merely suggested the possiblity of the Linton-Dugger consolidation as a means of bringing youngsters into a position of a strong competitive athletic environment. As long as Dugger remains such a small entity in the world of extracurricular activities, the possibility of losing is considerable to say the least. The merger (much like the consolidation of Midland, Jasonville and Coalmont in the early 60's) would provide a much more competitive atmosphere for all involved (even the parents). And like the previously mentioned merger, it could be accomplished across County lines. Sometimes it is best to step back and contemplate what is best for the children involved, which would also give the opportunity for the parents to quit acting like children and assume the true role of parenting. I have always believed that the role of extracurricular activities was to build character in the participants and not to satisfy the desires of the audience. Too many people become too infatuated with the activities of the young and try to relive their lives vicariously through their children. Unfortunately, this leads to situations where parents forget or neglect their parenting roles and become a hindrance to what should be the happiest times in the lives of their children.

-- Posted by simmons on Fri, Jul 27, 2007, at 9:54 PM

Simmons, It's called "Sarcasm".

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Fri, Jul 27, 2007, at 7:28 PM

I would postulate that a consolidation effort aimed at Dugger and Linton would be a brilliant stratagem, which, in the long run, would tremendously benefit the students of Union High. Maybe they could then be the Bull Miners? Hey CUBHATER... you are right, John Miller would be an excellent choice...but I'm not sure why he would do it.

-- Posted by simmons on Fri, Jul 27, 2007, at 4:12 PM

If the free press guy needs a story, there are plenty of them just waiting in the Bloomfield School, take your pick. By the time he would ever get done with the school, it would be "what Courthouse", "Tom and Eric who", and "a pool, where?"

-- Posted by Big Red1 on Fri, Jul 27, 2007, at 11:28 AM

How about John Miller, Girls coach from Shakamak?

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Thu, Jul 26, 2007, at 1:24 PM

The A.D. at Bloomfield left too? I heard the free press guy gave him a dirty look and the A.D knew it was time to go.

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Thu, Jul 26, 2007, at 1:11 PM

What happened to the A.D. at Bloomfield? I see where they are taking applications again.....

-- Posted by Bruther on Thu, Jul 26, 2007, at 12:30 PM

Joey's going to win some games at T.R. this year. How many would he win at Dugger. Alma Mater or not, it's at least partly about winning. Union needs rebuilt from the ground up. If not Brody, how about someone that just wants to coach like a Blackmore, J.V. Coach from WRV. From what I hear he is handling the J.V. plus handling a lot of the other stuff for Hall.

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Wed, Jul 25, 2007, at 12:47 PM

How about Joey Hart

-- Posted by unionalum on Wed, Jul 25, 2007, at 6:46 AM

We Want Brody!!!

-- Posted by CUBHATER on Tue, Jul 24, 2007, at 4:07 PM

i feel that it is a sad commentary. That the northeast school corp. in Hymera continues to let certain groups of parents dictate the hiring or firing of the coaching staff at this school ie

boyd and meurer. Everyone has a gripe.

But, no one wants to help. The kids are the only ones suffering. This exsists no only in the sports programs but the general condition of the high school building in Dugger. There needs to be a change in attitude of the school board towards Dugger all the way around.

thank you.

-- Posted by classmate on Mon, Jul 23, 2007, at 9:10 PM

Let the parents coach the team since they know so much about basketball, just ask them and they will tell you. its just too bad Pigg isnt coaching them

-- Posted by unionalum on Mon, Jul 23, 2007, at 10:35 AM

Who would want to coach over there and have to deal with those parents?

-- Posted by Big Red1 on Mon, Jul 23, 2007, at 9:19 AM

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