Magic football return to the top.

[aj_444]

There is a lot that goes into developing a football "PROGRAM'; youth programs, Jr hi & frosh, weight room & fitness, coaching & assistant coaching, scouting, motivation & PRIDE, program history. use of available talent, backing, administration support, boosters club, and others... How do we get the numbers up? How do we get the magics back to competitive then up to league champions & and playoff capable? Can anyone discuss any of these areas without just ranting.
A coach is just one important area. first question; Whats wrong?

[blac200790]

There is a lot that goes into developing a football "PROGRAM'; youth programs, Jr hi & frosh, weight room & fitness, coaching & assistant coaching, scouting, motivation & PRIDE, program history. use of available talent, backing, administration support, boosters club, and others... How do we get the numbers up? How do we get the magics back to competitive then up to league champions & and playoff capable? Can anyone discuss any of these areas without just ranting.
A coach is just one important area. first question; Whats wrong?
the easiest way to get this program back to par standards is to get a coach that is enthuestiastic about wanting to coach. a coach that the players like.

that by itself will solve everything. barberton has talent enough to win games. if barberton pulls off a sl win it will light some lightbulbs in the community and will get people active and in a sense the rest will eventually be worked on. as long as they get a new coach it will be a better program.

[frecriss]

I agree. A good coach who wants to be the Barberton coach, understands what is expected and respects the history and tradition and teaches that history and tradition to the players is what is needed. A coach like this will get results by keeping kids interested in the football program and will inspire the booster club to start doing things they need to do such as raising money to renovate the football stadium.

Most importantly is convincing the players that they can win. These players need to know that Barberton has produced All-Americans at Notre Dame and Michigan, they need to know about Barbertons wins over teams like Massillon and McKinley.

When you get a coach who will teach these things, things such as community support, etc...will fall right in.

[magicsilb]

I'm tired of ragging on Glaze so I won't but coaching makes a much bigger difference than people think. Here are some examples.

Thom McDaniel - Warren Harding - had a powerhouse at McKinley and brought Harding back to the top.

Brian Cross - McKinley - Hodakavic nearly ran that program into the ground and Miller was bottoming it out.

Joe Vassolotti - Tallmadge - Can't spell him name but he knows how to coach, took Norton to the playoffs (now that is a feat)

Tim Flossie - Firestone - Say what you want (I know you will) but we all saw a much more organized team this year than when Procter was running it.

The list goes on and on - Greg Dennison, John Nemic, Jim France, Don Ross.

The point is, these guys make a difference, in more ways than one. Offseason training, confidence of Friday nights, work ethic. Game planning and game calling are only a small part of it.

On a side note. There is a candiate people might want to think about. He's not a Barberton guy, but he's been at Barberton before and the players thought alot of him - Eric Mitchell. He's been a head coach, knows what he's doing, and had a good feel for the kids when he was here before. Just a thought, no rumors or anything.

[frecriss]

Mitchell is an interesting thought. The next coach does not have to be from Barberton, but he must understand Barberton football.

The only good coach we ever had that was from Barberton was Jimmy Price. However, Karl Harter, Harry Strobel, Junie Ferrell, Tom Phillips and Rudy Sharkey all understood Barberton football and did what was needed to keep the winning tradition.

[magicsilb]

I agree. I'm not sure Mitchell would be interested either, just a thought.

[aj_444]

it seems to be understood that all or at least most want a new coach... that is an AD - Supt. - BOE choice. There is not much confidence in them at this time. Are the youth programs elem thru frosh bringing enough players up to the varsity? Where are we losing players and Why? It certainly must be more than just jay Glaze... If we should get a new coach how can we assist him to get this program back on the upgrade. Vassolotti(sp) is a good coach... but remember he failed badly at Kent (a good football town) Mitchell's team got tore up in the pre season scrimmage vs the Magics.. Flossi is a good coach... but he failed badly here while he has won everyplace else he has been, he appeared to be a good fit but turned out to be a very bad fit in the Magic City. I too believe that there is talent but is there enough and would not better numbers give us a better shot?? your opinions???`

[frecriss]

The drop-off comes in high school. We always have 20-25 freshman but only 7 or 8 seniors. This is the pattern that has emerged during the Glaze era. If Glaze is replaced, the new coach must also build a structured program from youth to middle school to high school. If a structured program is built, Barberton will become very competitive again. Barberton has talent and always has, its just a matter of finding a coach who knows what to do with it.

[magicsilb]

aj, You have some very good points. It's not all the coach. I don't have the answer to those questions, I wish I did. I will say this - The people of Barberton (parents, fans, admin., teachers, students) refuse to look in the mirror. I will give you an example later. They do, they want a quick fix and someone to blame. Most of the loss of players shouldn't be blamed on the coach (he's not their parent). Video games, bad grades, trouble outside of school, trouble inside of school all add up to loss of numbers which equals loss of talent which equals losses on Friday. A coach has players for a couple hours a night 4 months a year. The majority is on the parents, period. No coach is going to change that, Barberton has to.

[buckfan1017]

How are parents mostly to blame for kids not showing up for football? If kids don't want to play are the parents supposed to force them to go out anyways? A coach most certainly can change turnout. A coach who can build a winning program is going to get kids to want to play for them.

[frecriss]

How are parents mostly to blame for kids not showing up for football? If kids don't want to play are the parents supposed to force them to go out anyways? A coach most certainly can change turnout. A coach who can build a winning program is going to get kids to want to play for them.

Exactly!! The drop off in participation started immediatly with Glaze. A coach who knows Barberton could get us back to respectibility within 3 seasons.

[Coach1968]

the drop off occured with Glaze because all the transfers who came in to play for Flossie left when he did. Dont get me wrong I'm glad he's gone but thats the reason for a drop off. In order to dramatically change turnout you must do it at the middle school level. When Hodakivic was here the middle school teams had 50 players each and they practiced and played at the high school. They felt like they belonged to the program and they wanted to be part of it. While you may say they should earn the right to play on the "big field" bottom line, it worked and Coach Brown had a heck of a winning program at the middle school level... you dont need a coach who knows Barberton, you dont need a coach who runs a certain offense or defense. You need a coach who understands that building a winning program begins with a strong foundation and that foundation is a strong middle school, not coached by a dad, but by qualified coaches who know what the heck they are doing!

[frecriss]

Coach-You make some good points, but the dropoff I am talking about takes place after the freshman year. We always have 20-25 freshman, but that number dwindles to less than 10 by the time they are seniors.

[OLDMAGICIAN]

Coach-You make some good points, but the dropoff I am talking about takes place after the freshman year. We always have 20-25 freshman, but that number dwindles to less than 10 by the time they are seniors.

You are right, there does seem to be alot of kids who quit/transfer after their freshman season.

Now, to answer the questions of the thread.

You need a coach who knows what he is doing and will work with Middle School and Youth teams. That will generate more interest and gain community support.

I also agree with frecriss that the players need to know the history and traditions of Barberton football. I doubt there is one player on the current team that could tell you anything about Billy Taylor, Larry Ricks or Marcus McKinnie.

[magicsilb]

Anyone looking for my example? Here it is - Barberton people get so offended when you mention it being their problem not the coach. Parents are suppose to get their kids out. Get their butts off the couch when they're 7 and teach them a love for the game. When they want to quit, find out why and teach them to make a commitment, Stop giving kids a way to be lazy.

Coach1968, you make some good points, but - only two transfers left after Flossie left - Pittman and the young Linebacker (Can't remember his name). That is not the issue of the numbers dropping, but you're right Hodakavic did alot with the Middle School the last coaches didn't. They had Players of the Week that traveled with the Varsity and ate with them. Mike Brown is overmatched as a varsity coach but he and Pat Herald did a nice, nice job involving kids at the middle school. This staff has coaches that aren't qualified at the Varsity level, how are they going to staff the middle school with good coaches?

The drop off after 9th grade always has to do with distractions outside the scope of the coach! Grades, trouble in and out of school, ect - How is that the fault of the coach? These men are paid a small amout of money or none at all to COACH these kids, not RAISE these kids. When you can show me that 15 to 20 kids a class refuse to play because of the coach I'll believe you, but not until then.

Old Magician, you're asking them to remember people before they were born, how about recent greats, Loeffler, Ries, McNulty, Jensen, Watkins, Harris-- they won't remember any of them. Not one could name a Ken Sennet or Albie Litwak award winner from the 90's. Bet frecriss could. Infact, that maybe a challenge to frecriss (Barberton Football's foremost historian) - I say you could do it.

[frecriss]

You want me to name all the Sennett and Litwak award winners? I will get back to you in about a week, I am sure that information is in the BOTTOM of my closet. It will take me a while to get to it.....lol. just from memory i can tell you that Anthoney Medzi won the Litwak award last year and Steve Kaisk won the Sennett award in 1986. Steve is a nephew of Ken Sennett. I will dig in my closet and find the rest.

I think that history and tradition are very important and most successful programs honor theirs. We used to, I dont know why we dont any longer.

I think there is plenty of blame to go around for our downfall in football, but I think it starts with the last two head coaches. As you said, Hodakavic did alot with the Middle School programs and I remember Robinson coming to some youth events. He came to our sign ups in 1995 and talked at length to the kids who signed up and their parents. That is the type of involvment the head coach must have.

[magicsilb]

In Flossie's defense - did he really know what to do with a middle school program? There aren't any in the city and he'd had no experience with it. I remember him going to the games at Highland field but that all I knew about. It's not an excuse, but I'm not sure if anyone explained that to him. Wasn't Jon Hance the middle school coach then? We all know he's in it for the check, though.

[purpleprincess]

I'm sure that the drop off after 9th grade might also have to do with the fact that alot of kids have to go and get part time jobs to help pay for their car insurance, gas, clothes, etc...

[tallmadge H2 dad]

I'm sure that the drop off after 9th grade might also have to do with the fact that alot of kids have to go and get part time jobs to help pay for their car insurance, gas, clothes, etc...

Right. Because Barberton is the only city where that happens.:wallbang:

Are you serious, or is this post a joke:shrug:

[footballnum1]

yea seriously, most kids dont quit just for a job. If they had heart and determination they would stick with it. i think the kids that are using that as anexcuse arent ready for the year long commitment it takes to play football (winter,spring, summer lifting and conditioning, camps, two-a-days, then the 10 weeks of guarenteed football where u can jack someone you dont even know or care about on friday nights

[buckfan1017]

Plus most jobs that 15/16 year old kids can get are going to work around sports schedules.

[magicsilb]

If you ask anyone who ever played, they will tell you that they always lost a few kids to what purple princess indicated. Maybe today it's even more different that 20 years ago. Kids like to have stuff more than ever before. My wardrobe in my teenage years was mostly Barberton Magics Football gear. You don't see that as much.

[purpleprincess]

I'm not saying that this only happens in Barberton!
And NO this isn't a joke!

When I was in high school (at Barberton) I knew quite a few kids that HAD to get jobs if they wanted a car, new clothes, etc. I would venture a guess and say that it probobly happens more often in Barberton, than say in Hudson- but it probobly happens there, too!

Yes, some jobs DO work around school and sports, but then the kids also have to find time to do homework. That's when the parents step in and tell them to make a decision- sports or work.

Does this happen all the time, maybe not, but YES, it does happen.

[frankie]

if players learn to love the game and have fun doing it in the younger programs they will opt to continue playing when the demands on their time and energy increase. Even in a great programs some youngsters will drop off after they reach a level where they can not be competitive with their peers and that is not wrong. If their friends remain on a team many times they will too. Sports should be that way. Some of the SL teams have more than one JV or 9th or 8th grade team and they are developing more than just one QB or receiver or any other position. A way to keep the young ones interested is to let them play. You are never sure which young tike may become a future star. The best way to be successful is to develop talent and then to use that talent to its best advantage. But even a tallented player needs to be challanged to improve and taught to work toward goals.

[magicsilb]

Frankie - Good Point, You Do Never Know Who Will Blossom. How Many D1 College Programs Passed On Charlie Frye Only To See Him Develope Into An Excellent College Qb. The Other Part Of It Has To Do With Role Players. At Many Schools Kids Love To Be Part Of The Program, Starter Or Not. Barberton Kids (even When I Played) Felt It Was Their God Given Right To Play On Friday Night. When They Weren't Going To, They Quit. You Don't See That In Basketball, The Same Kids That Got Cut Last Years Still Try Out. Don't Know Why.

[aj_444]

well, accorging to the posters: we need a new coach 2. we need more players 3 there is talent here 4 our linemen do no measure up.. 5 our defense is horrid. --------------------------------------
How do you win fotball games? A. with DEFENSE B. WITH SPECIAL TEAMS C. WITH OFFENSE YOU DO NOT WIN WITHOUT LINENEN.... THE QUESTION REMAINS WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE UPON IT.. WE HAD A LOT OF PLAYERS BACK FROM A LOSING TEAM A YEAR AGO... ARE WE BETTER THAN LAST YEAR.. GAMES OF 30 TO 75 POINTS BEING SCORED ON US SAY NO NO NO NO ////// JUST HAVING PLAYERS BACK IN 07 WILL NOT MAKE US A WINNER... THOSE PLAYERS HAVE TO IMPROVE AND GET BETTER,,, A FINAL GAME WIN COULD PROPELL US IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION... GO MAGICS BEAT HIGHLAND FO SL WIN # ONE..