Ballantyne Ridge HC Opening
- Thread starter BlackAndYellowFellow
- Start date
He's going to coach in college, he wasn't let go.
I know he is going to college, but the fact remains that he didn't make it to end of year one.
I am sure that he told the administration what they wanted to hear about building a program, so he could get the job. And now he leaves during the first year. Maybe the school will now be able to get someone that truly wants to build a program and will stick around for a while. For the kids' sake, I hope so. There is a lot of room for improvement with the program.
I suspect Coach had every intention of doing the things he said in his interview. He then made the best decision, with the information available at that time. My guess is he did not know there would be an opportunity to coach in college so soon after he took the BR job.
Great. Just don't have a million threads on why players shouldn't transfer schools or how the NCAA portal is bad. Or the players aren't loyal or the game has changed. Really wished he had stayed at Berry. He had them going in a great direction and had a bunch coming back in 24. Wish him well in his new coaching endeavor.
Comparing college player movement to a HS teacher / coach changing jobs is apples and oranges. Now if you are talking college coaches, ok yeah, I get it. Do you think a HS Coach in a similar situation should turn down that opportunity? Do they sign multi-year contracts to coach in HS?
It's definitely the same or at least very similar. He did what he thought was best for HIM and HIS family. We see these boards crucify HS player movement when they are doing what's best for THEM and THEIR family. We see it with the transfer portal and players so called not being loyal and chasing money/better opportunities.
No one signs multi year contracts to coach HS, but if you make a commitment to a school; especially a year 1 school it would be great to at least make it a full year or minimum 3 years. If you cant see the hypocrisy or how it puts the school in a bad position so be it. Pretty sure if BR knew he'd bolt after half a year they would have hired someone else to establish the program.
How is it hypocritical of him to leave? He fulfilled his obligation. CMS coaches are paid for their season and that’s it. No one is paid for off-season. Therefore he didn’t “bolt after half a year.” He fulfilled his commitment. Had they had the opportunity to redo their hire, with the benefit of hindsight, sure, BR would more than likely go a different route. Problem is you want the coaches to be committed without the benefit of having a commitment from their employers. Now THAT, to me, is hypocritical.
Tyson Fernandez is a former head coach (Rocky River) currently on staff. I would think he would get a look. Haven’t really heard anyone else’s name attached to it yet though.
Did he apply? I heard he wasn't interested in the job. I do know some coaches from a Union County school applied.
He may not be hypocritical but every day I see coaches and fans rail against the player movement and " recruiting " that goes on but feel this gentleman is doing what's right for his career. God bless but it's no different than the kid who transfers to a new school. Coaches should be allowed the freedom of movement but the freedom should exist for the players as well.
Coaches bemoaning the fact that kids leave their schools have only themselves to blame. Make YOUR program more attractive and kids won’t be looking to leave. Instead of blaming the kids, look in the mirror and ask, “why do they want to leave?”
There are high school coaches with multi-year contracts. I know the head coach at Spartanburg signed a 3 year contract a few years ago when he first accepted the job. There may be others in South Carolina and other states, but I would guess that it doesn't happen in NC though unless it's one of the private schools.
Plenty of high school coaches turn down college coaching jobs, especially the ones that pay less than high school jobs. I believe the BR Coach had one of those extremely low-paying college jobs before he went to Berry.
I don't think high school coaches blame kids when they leave. I think what makes the coaches mad is when players are given false information or encouraged to transfer (illegal recruiting) by coaches at other schools.
Fans and coaches get upset when players leave. Some players leave when the coach is doing his best to turn a program around and it only gets worse when players leave. No fault on the coach. You cant have it both ways. Just like a coach leaving his team after one year. You go blame the players?
Curious, do you think Greiner wrong for leaving HR, as you put it, "halfway through the year"?
-Great question. NO. He wasn't wanted at HR and it was an obvious bad fit. After they were banned from the playoffs it was obvious him and admin didn't see the same vision. Yes he was there 1 year. School built in 2007 vs school built 2024. Its different so hopefully u see the difference. Coach Griener is doing very well at WC. This 2025 team may rival those old Indy/MC teams.
-It was like Brand at WC just one year. Bad fit. Maurice Flowers 1 year. Deangelo Lloyd One year at Garinger. Mike Helms One year. All different situations. Greg Lloyd Starmount One year. Nick Mata one year at West Meck. None were hired to build a program from scratch. And most it was mutual to part ways.
There's a lot to process here. Look for Ballantyne Ridge to go for a seasoned coach is what I understand/have heard so far. No specific names have been floated as they are still going through applications.
Old BR coach took a college job that pays well and is closer to his family. Did not think the opportunity would present itself and he had every intention to be there long term. For those that know, he was a former Ardrey Kell assistant so he had some familiarity in that area of Charlotte.
Most people in Charlotte at least have accepted the reality of player movement. I agree with what Matthews guy says about the look has to be inward at your own program to assess why players want to leave.
Until something changes with the enforcement process with breaking "recruiting" rules, it's going to continue. Don't hold your breath on that either - the state pushes allegations to the local jurisdiction to enforce the vast majority of the time, and most of the local jurisdictions aren't bothered with the level of involvement it takes to clean it up. Hence, the environment we have today.
Old BR coach took a college job that pays well and is closer to his family. Did not think the opportunity would present itself and he had every intention to be there long term. For those that know, he was a former Ardrey Kell assistant so he had some familiarity in that area of Charlotte.
Most people in Charlotte at least have accepted the reality of player movement. I agree with what Matthews guy says about the look has to be inward at your own program to assess why players want to leave.
Until something changes with the enforcement process with breaking "recruiting" rules, it's going to continue. Don't hold your breath on that either - the state pushes allegations to the local jurisdiction to enforce the vast majority of the time, and most of the local jurisdictions aren't bothered with the level of involvement it takes to clean it up. Hence, the environment we have today.
Why wasn’t he wanted? And I have a few questions about “fit,” but I think I’m going to start a separate thread for that. And yes, he is doing well at WC. But I think you may want to pump the breaks on those comparisons. WC is a defending 3A champ. You’re comparing them to some of the most dominant 4AA teams NC has seen in the last 30 years?
Why do you think Brand and Flowers weren’t good fits at WC?
I’m with you that people are starting to accept that this is the new normal. You can probably tell what generation someone grew up with when you hear their feelings on player movement. But that’s an ENTIRELY different soapbox.
IMHO the local ADs don’t really want to stop it. A hugely successful football and or basketball team goes a long way to bringing notoriety and accolades to your district. And that makes them look good. To me it’s a “don’t cut off your nose to spite your face” situation. They may give it lip service, but they don’t want to kneecap these teams. I will say that even if they wanted to stop it, they just don’t have resources.
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-WC was a top 5 football team regardless of classification to end the season last year. Sans Grimsley, Weddington, and Hough no other team in the state would have beaten them in the playoffs. They beat an undefeated Dudley, Hickory, Ervin, and 71st. All ranked top 10 in the state except Ervin. In 2025 they will be much better and playing in a lesser playoffs in the big 32/8A. So yes they could be as good as those teams next season without a doubt.
-Class doesn't matter as much as some think. Next season 7A will be considerably the best class in the state in football whereas 8A will be lights years above any class in basketball.
-Brand wasn't a good fit at WC. Brand today would be an excellent fit, but at that time he was not a good fit. Flowers was one and done nothing about fit. 2007 season was best WC offense ever including Knotts teams. Just ran into Knotts 2x.
All 3 Mallard Creek State Championship teams would have mauled this 2025 team. They were 2 big, with better athletes across the board. No rival in sight during Palmieri's time. Coach P, would've stop coaching for good, if Griener beat him. LOL! The loaded State Championship team he had at Harding only lost was to Creek 30-9. WC team this year, would not beat them. I also adamantly disagree about them being a top 5 team regardless of classification. Top 10, Yes.
| 1 |
| 16-0 | 28.3 | -- |
| 2 | 
| 12-2 | 27.9 | -- |
| 3 | 
| 14-2 | 22.3 | -- |
| 4 | 
| 11-2 | 23.2 | -- |
| 5 | 
| 13-1 | 25.9 | -- |
| 6 | 
| 10-3 | 31.1 | -- |
| 7 | 
| 13-2 | 19.1 | +2 |
| 8 | 
| 13-1 | 19.7 | -- |
| 9 | 
| 12-2 |
Watching the Cardinal Gibbons vs Rolesville. I would put them at 7 or 8, with EF over WC also. Throw Rabun Gap out, and move everybody up.
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I understood when you said AB wasn’t a good fit - the question was WHY wasn’t he a good
That 2017 MC team should have won the state IMHO. Also Harding caught a big break with Zamir not playing. The 2024 WC and 2025 WC would beat Harding 17 but not MC 17 IMHO. Still baffles me how they lost to WF.
8A comes down to 3 teams. Hough, MC, and WC. I'd be willing to say 95% chance it's one of those 3. What's crazy is
The problem here for WC, what is their record against those two? I’m assuming sub-.500. I’m also too lazy to look it up.
I wonder what Greiner would say about 2017 Harding vs 2024 WC. The closest comparison would be Mallard Creek because of their run-based attack. It would be a heck of a game.
You could say 2024 WC caught a break playing an injured QB also.
71st was a running team and the QB played in the game and did fairly well. No offense to 71st qb but Zamir White is a top 5 NC tailback of all time and he didn't play at all. Harding 17 got a HUGE break. Zamir is an NFL starter and played on a national title team. Nance may not play in college at all.
The difference IMHO is WC 24 is deeper on defense and more explosive on offense with more ways to attack you. However Harding 17 had maybe the best two way player ever in NC in Crouch. Think the lack of passing game would hurt 17 Harding IMHO and seeing both. Wonder what Coach would say too.
I attended the game when they played Hough. Crouch running behind Jovaughn Gwyn who plays for the Atlanta Falcons and the QB Braheam Murphy who went to West Point. That would've been a tall order. They had the luxury of not having to pass often. They had the big safety Malik Dunlap who went to Texas Tech, they were pretty stacked.
Think WC 24 has more D1 and college talent. Hough 2017 was good but not elite, Think they lost to Providence and MC badly that year too. That's why these debates are always good year over year. We will see this year, MC 25 will be lethal. Think Hough will be down some.
They went 14-1, their only loss was to Mallard Creek. They beat Providence 46-23. I just don't believe they could tackle Crouch or even want to tackle him. He was a load. Mid 2nd quarter, it became a business decision if you wanted to have any form of contact with him. They probably had about 6 or 7 D1 guys on that team.
Creek will be really young this year, the next 2 years afterwards will be lethal.
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