The WCAL 2017

• Oldest Rider2

  I'm guessing Waynedale will have a new coach. Orrville could have one if they lose to the lowly Titans. Loudonville will have one. Heard rumors about Thut calling it a career. That would be 4 jobs. I doubt Smithville gets rid of their coach.
  
  Could we see 5 jobs open up this year? I would imagine Dial at Dalton gets some interest after this season. Could be a crazy off-season.
• green machine

  TheWizard;1878137 wrote:Well, you've had a solid/above average football team for the last decade+. Let's not look at just the last 6 years. Yes, from the 90's and early 2000's you had your run of 10-0/9-1 teams, but it looks like that cycle has passed. It's what happens at every small school. Four consecutive winning seasons in the WCAL is nothing to hang your head about and say the program needs overhauled. The roster numbers are solid and the kids play hard and are successful.
  
  Smithville
  2007 3-7
  2008 6-4
  2009 4-6
  2010 2-8
  2011 8-2* (playoffs)
  
  
  2012 5-5
  2013 1-9
  2014 6-4
  2015 7-3* (playoffs)
  2016 6-4
  2017 6-4/7-3

  We are losing a lot of talent at the skilled positions. One would think that would make next year a very down year. But one of my biggest questions for next year has been the quarterback. And I believe that has been answered this year with Riley smucker going down our backup has played very well. Are O-line that had no varsity experience this year will be coming back with three returning players two of which are probably our best lineman this year. But the biggest news could be at running back. I hear we have a freshman that has been tearing up on the JV team. Most think he is the next great Smithville back. He has been a starter on varsity defense for most of this year and has done outstanding he is a great athlete this could Bidwell for our running game which was not the greatest this year. On the defensive line we are returning two of three starters and again the two are probably our best defensive lineman. Trent Kaufman will be missed in the middle but we have some capable people coming up. The biggest concern will be in the secondary where everyone is a senior but again I have seen some pretty good talent on the JV team but this one would be my biggest concern about next year. I do think our coach will return one more year.
• O-Trap

  

  ppaw1999;1878179 wrote:For some of us old timers we can remember Smithville football before Coach Schrock. For the most part it wasn't pretty. Coaching does make a difference. It is easy to become spoiled when things are going your way. I remember the times when Orrville, Dalton and Waynedale were the gold standards for the area year after year. The one thing they had in common was outstanding and pretty much stable coaching staffs.

  Coaching does make a difference, for sure. However, the current coach does have a track record of putting historically struggling teams into the tier of being respectable.
  
  One thing that nobody has talked about as much is that there is only one school left in the WCAL that (to my knowledge, anyway) still doesn't have a soccer team, and they appear to be running away with the league.
  
  I'm not anti-soccer, but I do think that a program is just bound to be better if any of the athletes wishing to take part in athletics during the fall are concentrated into a particular sport, for better or worse.
  

  Paul;1878260 wrote:Well boys guess I have to tell you look out for the (BOBCAT STALK) next year, Nuff said.

  Wait, what about this year? Aren't they in the playoffs? Won't they stalk then?
  

  green machine;1878299 wrote:We are losing a lot of talent at the skilled positions. One would think that would make next year a very down year. But one of my biggest questions for next year has been the quarterback. And I believe that has been answered this year with Riley smucker going down our backup has played very well. Are O-line that had no varsity experience this year will be coming back with three returning players two of which are probably our best lineman this year. But the biggest news could be at running back. I hear we have a freshman that has been tearing up on the JV team. Most think he is the next great Smithville back. He has been a starter on varsity defense for most of this year and has done outstanding he is a great athlete this could Bidwell for our running game which was not the greatest this year. On the defensive line we are returning two of three starters and again the two are probably our best defensive lineman. Trent Kaufman will be missed in the middle but we have some capable people coming up. The biggest concern will be in the secondary where everyone is a senior but again I have seen some pretty good talent on the JV team but this one would be my biggest concern about next year. I do think our coach will return one more year.

  Running game lives and dies with a line that can block for it. Naturally, a good runner can take a running game from great to special, but a lack of size and/or speed in a runner can be made up for by a better quality line.
  
  Also, is the young runner a fullback style runner? If so, I may have to go to a few games next year. I love watching a bull with a head of steam run the ball. Reminds me of Schrock's teams.
• oldsmithie

  I guess maybe I was spoiled with all of coach Schrocks success, I played football for Smithville in the 70's during the down years!! back then Schrock was an assistant and Atchison was head coach. I watched first hand as Schrock built the Smithies into a Champion. Smithville had one WCAL title (1962 and coach Schrocks senior year!), as head coach he added 15 more. The current head coach was an assistant at Smithville and had head coaching jobs at New London and Rittman, he made both programs better but NOT Champions.
• O-Trap

  

  oldsmithie;1878379 wrote:I guess maybe I was spoiled with all of coach Schrocks success, I played football for Smithville in the 70's during the down years!! back then Schrock was an assistant and Atchison was head coach. I watched first hand as Schrock built the Smithies into a Champion. Smithville had one WCAL title (1962 and coach Schrocks senior year!), as head coach he added 15 more. The current head coach was an assistant at Smithville and had head coaching jobs at New London and Rittman, he made both programs better but NOT Champions.

  Quite so. And maybe I'm biased in his favor. I played for Schrock while he was an assistant, and a very good one (during the height of Schrock's tenure). He always seemed to buy into Schrock's style and his program (admittedly, he wasn't my position coach), so I've always seem him as the sort who still believes in the effectiveness of Schrock's style.
• ppaw1999

  One thing that nobody has talked about as much is that there is only one school left in the WCAL that (to my knowledge, anyway) still doesn't have a soccer team, and they appear to be running away with the league.
  
  How do you explain the last few years at Dalton?
  
• O-Trap

  

  ppaw1999;1878406 wrote:One thing that nobody has talked about as much is that there is only one school left in the WCAL that (to my knowledge, anyway) still doesn't have a soccer team, and they appear to be running away with the league.
  
  How do you explain the last few years at Dalton?
  

  Rebuilding? It IS a small school, even without athletes being dispersed across more fall sports.
• Oldest Rider2

  ppaw1999;1878406 wrote:One thing that nobody has talked about as much is that there is only one school left in the WCAL that (to my knowledge, anyway) still doesn't have a soccer team, and they appear to be running away with the league.
  
  How do you explain the last few years at Dalton?
  

  Wheels will fall off next two years.
• oldsmithie

  Oldest Rider2, I think you already know the answer but want someone else to say it! Dalton had a turn around in the program because of a head coaching change! the same story is true at Norwayne!! Harbour did a great job and the same with their current head coach. The soccer situation is an old one as most schools have had programs for several years and Smithville had very good numbers in football til this year. Word to the wise..... get a coach that teaches in the School!!!!! it is more important than you think!!
• Oldest Rider2

  oldsmithie;1878669 wrote:Oldest Rider2, I think you already know the answer but want someone else to say it! Dalton had a turn around in the program because of a head coaching change! the same story is true at Norwayne!! Harbour did a great job and the same with their current head coach. The soccer situation is an old one as most schools have had programs for several years and Smithville had very good numbers in football til this year. Word to the wise..... get a coach that teaches in the School!!!!! it is more important than you think!!

  I don't disagree with coaches in schools. I think that is important. Smithville's numbers would probably get a small hike in numbers with that. I don't think you can make the assumption that soccer has ruined football programs. Plenty of schools have had success in both sports, including those in this area. If I'm not mistaken, Norwayne added soccer and football had it's revival at the same time. Waynedale still had success with both. Orrville. It's a lazy excuse for a school being bad or good like ppaw made.
  
  
  I don't disagree with Dial coming in as positive for Dalton. Doty couldn't get it done. They were clearly under performing. I'm just not sold on putting all this on Dial though. The kids are the reason for success and anyone who follows football in this area knew that Dalton was primed for two big years. I'll give credit to Dial for getting them to 9-0, because I'm not sure the last coach would have them at this record. The next two years will be rough for Dalton. They will recover shortly after that. I've heard nothing but good things about their Freshman and the next two years of kids. I'm not sure he'll be around though. I could be wrong and hope that I am.
• O-Trap

  

  I didn't mean to indicate that soccer ruins a football program. Merely that more sports can, and sometimes does, divide up the talent pool that might have otherwise been more concentrated. It's certainly not exclusive to soccer, and it certainly doesn't doom a program.
  
  For the record, I don't give Harbour as much credit as the rest mentioned (I think you'd have to throw in Thut at Northwestern and Williams at Hillsdale, as well), only because he came into a system with some REALLY unorthodox talent to work with. He did a good job with it, to be sure, but that Norwayne team had the kind of raw athletic ability we won't see in the WCAL again for at least ten years or so.
• oldsmithie

  I think some of you need to realize what a head coaches job is all about! A school can have all the talent in the world but if the head man does not know what to do with it, they will be mediocre!! I have read all the posts and still have to disagree with alot of what is being said!! Harbour came in at Norwayne and installed a new offensive scheme!!! I am very old school and being "respectable" in a sport is NOT good enough!!! The head Coach needs to hand pick his assistants, When Smithville got rid of Schrock, the entire "crew" of long time assistants left too! I have tried to give the current Smithville coach time to build a Champion, but here we are 6 seasons later and no Championship! It is not like Bescanson inherited a bad program and needed to turn things around, he came into a winning program at Smithville.
• green machine

  oldsmithie;1878723 wrote:I think some of you need to realize what a head coaches job is all about! A school can have all the talent in the world but if the head man does not know what to do with it, they will be mediocre!! I have read all the posts and still have to disagree with alot of what is being said!! Harbour came in at Norwayne and installed a new offensive scheme!!! I am very old school and being "respectable" in a sport is NOT good enough!!! The head Coach needs to hand pick his assistants, When Smithville got rid of Schrock, the entire "crew" of long time assistants left too! I have tried to give the current Smithville coach time to build a Champion, but here we are 6 seasons later and no Championship! It is not like Bescanson inherited a bad program and needed to turn things around, he came into a winning program at Smithville.

  There has been a lot of talk that Coach B will be resigning at the end of the year. Not sure how true it is but you never know. If he does it will sure give us a lot to talk about in the off season.
• O-Trap

  

  oldsmithie;1878723 wrote:I think some of you need to realize what a head coaches job is all about! A school can have all the talent in the world but if the head man does not know what to do with it, they will be mediocre!! I have read all the posts and still have to disagree with alot of what is being said!! Harbour came in at Norwayne and installed a new offensive scheme!!! I am very old school and being "respectable" in a sport is NOT good enough!!! The head Coach needs to hand pick his assistants, When Smithville got rid of Schrock, the entire "crew" of long time assistants left too! I have tried to give the current Smithville coach time to build a Champion, but here we are 6 seasons later and no Championship! It is not like Bescanson inherited a bad program and needed to turn things around, he came into a winning program at Smithville.

  Eh, I've seen decent (not great) coaches win titles if they're working with generational talent.
  
  I certainly agree that you can't be a terrible coach and succeed, no matter the talent. Just as the best coach in the world cannot win with kids who don't care enough or won't buy into the program. There's a sum total of quality between the players and the coach that has to exist, and there's some wiggle room between each.
  
  Make no mistake, I'm not discrediting the value of a truly great head coach. A great coach can take a team with less than elite athletic talent (but a good work ethic and a commitment to the program) and win underdog games. I've seen that first-hand plenty of times, and experienced it a few myself.
  
  All I'm saying is that an elite level coach can make up for a team that is less than great, athletically, as long as the two are on the same page and that an elite athletic team can make up for a coach who is talented but inexperienced or less than elite, as long as the two are on the same page.
  
  I'm not saying Harbour came in as a sub-par coach at all. I think he was a good, solid coach that had exceptional, generational athletes to work with.
  
  As for Coach B, you're correct that he inherited a decent program at Smithville, but not a consistently good one by that point.
  
  To my knowledge, Schrock only had one conference title in the first six years (which I believe came with a conference loss). I can certainly say the Smithies had a worse record in his first six than they have under Besancon, and yet, Schrock did turn out to be far and away the best HC Smithville has had to date. Heck, one of the best the WCL/WCAL has ever seen.
  
  And let's be fair to Coach Besancon as well. It isn't as though they've not been in the hunt for the playoffs almost every year, and they did, in fact, win an underdog game during the season in which they did make the playoffs under Coach B.
  
  They've not had a title in the last six years, but they've been in the hunt, and they've been in the playoffs. Besancon has his own system, but I'd still venture to guess that much of it is informed by the Schrock system he played and coached in. I'd like to see more from him before bringing the axe down. I think the teams he's led on the field have done well enough to earn him a stay.
• 1486wd

  Dial definitely gets a chunk of the credit in Dalton. You watch them for one series and you can tell the are well coached, I couldn’t say that two years ago. The kids are a big part of that, for sure. But Dial ramped it up. I agree that the dawgs will be down next season, but I expect it to only be one year, the freshman and Soph’s will both be very good next year. The Jr’s have talent, just not enough of them.
• Oldest Rider2

  oldsmithie;1878723 wrote:I think some of you need to realize what a head coaches job is all about! A school can have all the talent in the world but if the head man does not know what to do with it, they will be mediocre!! I have read all the posts and still have to disagree with alot of what is being said!! Harbour came in at Norwayne and installed a new offensive scheme!!! I am very old school and being "respectable" in a sport is NOT good enough!!! The head Coach needs to hand pick his assistants, When Smithville got rid of Schrock, the entire "crew" of long time assistants left too! I have tried to give the current Smithville coach time to build a Champion, but here we are 6 seasons later and no Championship! It is not like Bescanson inherited a bad program and needed to turn things around, he came into a winning program at Smithville.

  How is that system working at Northwest right now?
• O-Trap

  

  1486wd;1878782 wrote:Dial definitely gets a chunk of the credit in Dalton. You watch them for one series and you can tell the are well coached, I couldn’t say that two years ago. The kids are a big part of that, for sure. But Dial ramped it up. I agree that the dawgs will be down next season, but I expect it to only be one year, the freshman and Soph’s will both be very good next year. The Jr’s have talent, just not enough of them.

  I don't know enough about Dial to agree or disagree with the praise of him, but if he's as good as he sounds, don't count out next year's team just yet. That great a coach might be able to get more out of the kids than anyone expects.
• ppaw1999

  green machine;1878732 wrote:There has been a lot of talk that Coach B will be resigning at the end of the year. Not sure how true it is but you never know. If he does it will sure give us a lot to talk about in the off season.

  I would be willing to bet that Rittman wishes Coach Bescanson never left. The dumpster fire created by hiring Coach Dennis after Coach B leaving has set that program back to the stone ages. I went to the Norwayne vs. Rittman game last Friday night. I counted 25 players dressed on the Rittman squad. I admire Coach Nelson for his efforts.
• WooVader

  The Besancon family helped build the Smithville football program
• oldsmithie

  Ok I have argued enough and it is not good for my re-built heart! I will say one last thing on this subject: WooVader you are correct! the Besancon family had a lot to do with Smithville football...... does anyone recall how Coach B got the job??????? (sneaky dealings behind closed doors!)
• green machine

  oldsmithie;1878912 wrote:Ok I have argued enough and it is not good for my re-built heart! I will say one last thing on this subject: WooVader you are correct! the Besancon family had a lot to do with Smithville football...... does anyone recall how Coach B got the job??????? (sneaky dealings behind closed doors!)

  I can't seem to get any confirmation but I keep hearing that Coach B is resigning and that Smithville is looking at a coach off of the Wooster football staff and Mogadore staff? Has anyone else heard this? The people I talked to act like this is a definite but I cannot find any confirmation that any of this is true.
• green machine

  green machine;1878962 wrote:I can't seem to get any confirmation but I keep hearing that Coach B is resigning and that Smithville is looking at a coach off of the Wooster football staff and Mogadore staff? Has anyone else heard this? The people I talked to act like this is a definite but I cannot find any confirmation that any of this is true.

  I may have answered my own question. I had a talk with a gentleman that is close to coach B and he said Coach B has never mentioned resigning and he would be shocked if it were to happen. So i guess only time will tell.
• ppaw1999

  I'm happy Dalton, Norwayne and Hillsdale are in the playoffs. Not too happy all the playoff games are on Friday night.:RpS_angry:
• O-Trap

  

  green machine;1879026 wrote:I may have answered my own question. I had a talk with a gentleman that is close to coach B and he said Coach B has never mentioned resigning and he would be shocked if it were to happen. So i guess only time will tell.

  Never trust a village rumor mill. It creates problems far more often than it gives reliable information.
• oldsmithie

  Well the season is over for most of the league! Congrats to Dalton, Norwayne and Hillsdale! all made the playoffs! I expect to see the Bulldogs and Bobcats win big as I know the schools they are playing, don't know much about the Hillsdale opponent.