Biloxi

[David]

18 hours ago, Admiral4Life said:

Why should a highly successful sport like basketball be sacrificed and reduce itself to mediocre just so football can be more successful? 

Maybe a school like Biloxi, with multiple state championships shouldn’t take away from that basketball team in any way just to beef up the football side of things. Summer time AAU round ball requires a kid to decide between the two sports, and the coaches become recruiters in the hallways. It seems like most of Harrison county schools are that way, with only Gulfport really committed to the gridiron team. 

[Bulldogs4]

For 7A schools, there should plenty of students to fill out your various teams and still excel at all of them. I get it that today is all about specialization. But even with kids not playing multiple sports, there should be plenty of kids to fill the void in the bigger schools. 

[Admiral4Life]

5 hours ago, David said:

Maybe a school like Biloxi, with multiple state championships shouldn’t take away from that basketball team in any way just to beef up the football side of things. Summer time AAU round ball requires a kid to decide between the two sports, and the coaches become recruiters in the hallways. It seems like most of Harrison county schools are that way, with only Gulfport really committed to the gridiron team. 

No kid should be forced to choose between sports.  There are COUNTLESS examples of athletes who have been good at both.  LAZY kids or LAZY coaches preach specialization because it means less work for them.  If you truly love a sport you play it.  Kids and teams can be good at both if the kids and coaches are willing to put in the work.  It's a myth that you have to specialize.  Countless studies have proven that there are advantages to playing multiple sports - leading to greater agility and muscular development as you use some different movements and similar movements in each sport, greater camaraderie amongst the student body as there is more likely to be greater cross sport support rather than everyone being in their own clique, there's more excitement going into each season as the kids are moving from one thing to another allowing for fresher mental experiences rather than the same tedious grind every day with months and months before the singular season, kids aren't putting all their hopes and dreams in one source of disappointment/happiness...

 

Plus, AAU has nothing to do with school ball.  It's travel rec league for the majority of kids who play it.  And anyone who tries to get a kid to specialize, whether it be basketball or football, isn't thinking of the kid's best interest.

[David]

19 hours ago, Admiral4Life said:

No kid should be forced to choose between sports.  There are COUNTLESS examples of athletes who have been good at both.  LAZY kids or LAZY coaches preach specialization because it means less work for them.  If you truly love a sport you play it.  Kids and teams can be good at both if the kids and coaches are willing to put in the work.  It's a myth that you have to specialize.  Countless studies have proven that there are advantages to playing multiple sports - leading to greater agility and muscular development as you use some different movements and similar movements in each sport, greater camaraderie amongst the student body as there is more likely to be greater cross sport support rather than everyone being in their own clique, there's more excitement going into each season as the kids are moving from one thing to another allowing for fresher mental experiences rather than the same tedious grind every day with months and months before the singular season, kids aren't putting all their hopes and dreams in one source of disappointment/happiness...

 

Plus, AAU has nothing to do with school ball.  It's travel rec league for the majority of kids who play it.  And anyone who tries to get a kid to specialize, whether it be basketball or football, isn't thinking of the kid's best interest.

I certainly agree with most of your points, including encouraging kids to be all around athletes whenever possible. Most college coaches look for a diverse background when recruiting. Still, it’s hard to blame the basketball coach for trying to hold on to his players for year round training when everyone else is doing it. Maybe the athletic director has a bigger role to play. You may have more experience than I do with AAU, but I’m seeing teams showing up in the summer with almost their exact lineup expected to play at one school in the fall, including either the head coach or some of the assistants leading them. Is that not how things are these days? I think we both wish for schools like Biloxi to take advantage of their obvious strengths and talents, but I don’t think firing the football coach every few years is the right way to bring that about. 
 

 

[RUNNINGMAN67]

Crickets**

[coastfootballfanman]

I am hearing they are holding out for 1 certain candidate, but after that it is not looking good. 

[maroontide06]

2 minutes ago, coastfootballfanman said:

I am hearing they are holding out for 1 certain candidate, but after that it is not looking good. 

The fact that you are having to hold out for someone isn't very encouraging at all.

[coastfootballfanman]

Just now, maroontide06 said:

The fact that you are having to hold out for someone isn't very encouraging at all.

I agree 100%. I was told they set a hire bar and whiffed and are now on back up options and after that, it is barren. They should have kept French in my opinion. Unless the school/district is going to really go all in with football, I do not see anyone having anymore success than French has. 

[maroontide06]

[maroontide06]

They'll need to find an Oasis quickly LOL!

[Admiral4Life]

3 hours ago, coastfootballfanman said:

I agree 100%. I was told they set a hire bar and whiffed and are now on back up options and after that, it is barren. They should have kept French in my opinion. Unless the school/district is going to really go all in with football, I do not see anyone having anymore success than French has. 

How does a school district go "all in" for football any more than they already do?  They have a great weight room and facility there.  What they have lacked has been talent.  No coach wins without talent.

[maroontide06]

On 10/12/2023 at 4:48 PM, Archer said:

As the decades passed and the town of Biloxi was reshaped from a blue-collar, fishing and shrimping work force to a tourist/entertainment driven economy, so went the identity of those hard-nosed teams sixty years ago.

 

Biloxi has been an afterthought for most of post integration Mississippi.

 

27 minutes ago, Admiral4Life said:

How does a school district go "all in" for football any more than they already do?  They have a great weight room and facility there.  What they have lacked has been talent.  No coach wins without talent.

Here's your answer.

[Archer]

23 minutes ago, Admiral4Life said:

How does a school district go "all in" for football any more than they already do?  They have a great weight room and facility there.  What they have lacked has been talent.  No coach wins without talent.

 

I understand his sentiment but that line of thinking is why most coast football programs are underachieving abominations.  I'd rather my administration pivot and take a swing and miss than maintain the status quo of mediocrity.

[positiveyard33]

Biloxi posted new coach to be announced tomorrow.

[coastfootballfanman]

Jamey DuBose is the hire. 

[coastfootballfanman]

4 hours ago, Admiral4Life said:

How does a school district go "all in" for football any more than they already do?  They have a great weight room and facility there.  What they have lacked has been talent.  No coach wins without talent.

There is so much more to it than facilities. Coaches hired, their workload in the classrooms, the scheduling of athletes, the sharing (or lack thereof in some cases) of athletes, are all things that play roles in the equation. Talent retention - the coast is a few years away from being like a lot of the Jackson metro and Mobile area when it comes to recruiting other schools. Having nice facilities just means you there some money at it, there is more to it than that to be a successful high school program. 

[coachfball87]

16 minutes ago, coastfootballfanman said:

Jamey DuBose is the hire. 

Who?

[HammerDown74]

Homerun hire.

[maroontide06]

10 minutes ago, coachfball87 said:

Who?

He’s the one from Alabama that was at Orange Beach last.

[maroontide06]

He has 3 Alabama State Titles total.  Two with Prattville and one with Central Phoenix City.  Not a bad hire.

[Archer]

Some of you need better sources, btw.

[coastfootballfanman]

53 minutes ago, maroontide06 said:

He has 3 Alabama State Titles total.  Two with Prattville and one with Central Phoenix City.  Not a bad hire.

Not bad at all. Seems like a solid coach. I am always weary of retirees from other states and how committed to building something they may be, but it is still a good hire I believe. 

[maroontide06]

57 minutes ago, coastfootballfanman said:

Not bad at all. Seems like a solid coach. I am always weary of retirees from other states and how committed to building something they may be, but it is still a good hire I believe. 

That Central Phenix City is a juggernaut and just won a State Title this year.  They were good long before he got there and he was winning at a high level there.  He then went to Georgia and coached a couple of years over there in 2020 & 2021 before taking the Orange Beach job in 2022.  This past season was his worst, but Orange Beach is a brand new high school as well, so they may have to build it up.  This coach has been highly successful his entire career, so hopefully he can inject that high level of success into Biloxi.  He’ll get thrown to the fire real quick here in Mississippi and there will be some hurdles in the way, but if you’re Biloxi this is hire to be excited about.

[JagsFan77]

Odd to think about but French, Pennock, and Bramlett were all Madison Central assistants over the years.

Edited December 13, 2023 by JagsFan77

[Vice004]

He’s 166-56 in his 18 year career as head coach. His teams have made the playoffs 16 of those 18 years. With 6 State championship appearances and 3 Titles. His teams have won at least one playoff game in 13 of those 16 years. He’s also won at least 7 games in 13 of those 18 years. This years team at Orange Beach was his worst team is his career, after making the playoffs in his first season there. As someone else has said, this is a homerun hire for Biloxi. If Gulfport can keep improving under BP and Ocean Springs can keep it going under JB then the coast region might actually win more than one playoff game every few years lol. In all seriousness I want the coast region to be good, bc it makes for some great playoff football. This is a step in the right direction for Biloxi.