Hiland's Dave Schlabach gets 400th win

• Mr. 300

  

  Of the girls currently playing on the 09-10 HHS girls team, how many play multiple sports???? What other sports are they that they participate in??
• tigerfan82

  hahaha, don't even try whatever..................
• tfloangel

  they don't... Jess hardly even plays basketball except on game days... Hil played vball in Jr Hi, not sure about Noelle... these girls have chosen to stick to one, as did Karli last year, but many of the underclassmen are on the soccer team as well as one who played volleyball. I'm not sure if any play softball but a few run track as well I think
• Pariah

  Of the varsity players: Hannah Stoneman, Reagan Miller, and Ashley Weaver play soccer and Arrianna plays VB. Several other JV players do soccer. Maybe half of the total play one other sport.
  
  Whatever, I think the point is that these things exist in this one sport for Hiland because some extraordinary coaches cared enough about kids to make it happen. They inspired others to support the kids. So those extraordinary people created some extraordinary programs - and the bells and whistles came later. The tremendous resources came as a result of that, not, as you seem to be implying, that the resources made the program.
  
  Coach Reese influenced Coach Schlabach and he has built the program and made those resources possible. A focus on the resources they made possible, diminishes what they did to get them. So, Dave deserves full credit for all he has accomplished. If you look at where girls basketball was 25 years ago at Hiland and anywhere else, somebody has worked really hard to get it where it is today. Beyond the Hiland program, he has helped every girl who plays basketball in the state by elevating the profile of the sport and creating a venue in which they can be seen by scouts. Nothing on the scale of the Classic existed just a few years ago. So, let's give credit where it is due. This is not an example of a coach or program that was born on 3rd base.
• HHfan

  Pariah.......well said.
• Whatever

  Pariah, if you want to believe that, fine. It's why Hiland is seen as a big fish in a tiny pond. 99% of D4 schools simply can not do what they do. Their athletic departments can not limit sports opportunities like Hiland does (thus expenses). They don't have a coach with his own gym. That is the point people are trying to make. That is why people will always ask of his numbers: would have been nice to see him try to win in leagues/post season at (and therefore against) bigger schools with similiar resources.
  
  Also, the Classic is AWESOME. It is great for girls basketball. Let's not get carried away. It is not at the level of the Pickerington Classic which has been having nationally ranked teams compete long before the Classic was thought of! Though to be fair, that tourney has dropped back some since the glory days of the 1980s and 1990s. (Which is why it's particuarly out in left field to say nothing like that exisisted before the Classic!)
  

  profm wrote: If other teams worked as hard as the HIland girls team, I'm sure that they would be competitive with Hiland. I don't think anything else would make a large difference. The 'extra resources' would be pretty marginal, and if they worked that hard, they would soon also acquire some of the extra resources too.

  I will be interested to hear how little resources matter and how it's all about hard work come January 17th.
• tfloangel

  whatever... I think you missed Pariah's initial point... Yes, the facilities and resources obviously help the program a great deal...
  
  But the part you've ignored is that these possibilities were not handed to a struggling program, correspondingly enabling them to improve by drastic measures.
  
  These resources have come about due to a coaching staff who commited to taking the extra steps when they saw they had some players (I'm especially thinking 96 after several years of losing tough games early in tournaments) who had the potential to do something special. With that first state trip under Dave in '97, he had some freshmen in Jill Yoder and Erin Hostetler who got a taste of what it could be, and a couple of twins by the name of Hochstetler who got to be out there as managers a few years later when they brought it home in 2000. And it really wasn't until that point when things really got rolling...
  
  But its not a chicken and the egg thing... the coaching came first, the players caught on, and the resources that have helped to elevate individual levels of play and opportunities came only after those things were established.
  
  Most importantly... the coaching came first, and its still the difference maker when it comes down to it. All the resources in the world don't mean jack if you don't have the motivation. and in the mid 90's those girls who ended up winning it a few years later got stuck playing outside on the asphalt (incidently where the Reese Center is now) because there wasn't enough room to play in the 90+ degree Hawks Nest with the high schoolers. The coaching came first, the players second, and the opportunities followed behind.