From the Bench: Bridgeport High School's Mount Rushmore of Coaching - Who Would You Put on It?
By Jeff Toquinto on October 11, 2015 from Sports Blog
By Jeff Toquinto on October 11, 2015 from Sports Blog
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Freddy "Sure Hands" Wilhelm could be in the mix with the talent that has played under him on the Links at Bridgeport Country Club. I am not sure on the W's or the Titles but golf at BHS has been SOLID under his tenure and is a great addition.
Posted by Doug Comer
Oct. 16, 2015 at 12:31 PM EST
I would go with Bill Kerns and also Randy Thorton who was head football coach when I played QB for the Tribe. You might also include O.D. Williams who was a great plus for the coaching staff.
Posted by Steve Sandefur
Oct. 13, 2015 at 12:57 PM EST
You set your own criteria. As mentioned, this is for fun and entertainment purposes and has zero bearing on any type of monument honoring coaches. If you want to put down a coach that spent 3 years or 30 at the school and never won a ball game, that's great - even though I think a minimum of 10 years should be required, if you think less, by all means go ahead and list that coach. If you want to put a volunteer coach down who did wonders for kids, that's fine too. If you want a youth coach that had an impact on generations of individuals, certainly if you believe that person is someone you want on a Mount Rushmore type of recognition, have at it. Since the blog is my opinion, I put out my thoughts on how I would judge. As for making a qualified assessment, my opinion is my own so it's certainly qualified. Being a coach or a player may be of benefit, but Wayne Jamison proved that you don't ever have to play a down of football to understand the game and be pretty successful. As I stated at the end, it's up to you to pick your choices for who should be on it or a candidate. If the school ever decides to do an actual "Mount Rushmore" type of coaching selection, I would imagine some hardcore criteria would be set. And I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be the one establishing it. This is simply for fun - nothing more and nothing less. Please feel free to put down whoever you would like with whatever criteria you would prescribe. Thanks for the feedback and if we're fortunate enough to be around in a few more years, you'll probably see the blog back and it again will be for fun only. Best to you and thanks for taking the time to respond. It is appreciated.
Posted by Jeff Toquinto
Oct. 11, 2015 at 8:42 PM EST
I guess I would start with a question. What are the consequential criteria? Is it a win loss record, or perhaps post season presences? Does it have anything to do with the number of athletes who go on to Division 1 athletics or perhaps ANY post HS athletics? I would suggest that "successful" coaching at the HS school level requires abilities that are defined not simply by the athletic performance of the team or even the player, but the ability of a coach to draw the best out of every athletic participant from the bench to the starters even if the end result of the season is not a state championship. To this end I would argue that there are very few people aside from the athletes and coaching staff able to make a qualified assessment of such a result since few others are so intimately involved in the process. It may be easier for people to offer quality suggestions if we knew what criteria we should be considering in the assessment.
Posted by Robert Gray
Oct. 11, 2015 at 4:55 PM EST
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