Rosman Coaching Freddie Whitman dismissed as Coaching today..
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/...16/rosman-changing-football-coaches/97985390/
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/...16/rosman-changing-football-coaches/97985390/
Rosman in search of a Football Coach
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As a long time friend of Coach Whitman, I wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors....Freddie bleeds Orange and Black, and has given a lot of his time and energy to the Tiger Football Program...Freddie was a great player for the Tigers back in the early 80's, was a long time Assistant Coach under Dan Essenberg, Jim Fox and Bailey before taking over as the Head Coach of his Alma-mater back in 2010 with the team mired in a 17 game losing streak at the time, which was the longest in program history....He did not have the full backing from all the Tiger fans from the outset because many wanted Brett Chappel, or someone else from outside the program, but make No mistake, he loved the Tigers,, was dedicated, and worked his tail off to make the team stronger and more competitive when he took over, and he done just that ending the losing streak with a victory at Asheville School in 2010....Freddie's Tiger team in 2013 was the first to ever beat County rival Brevard, and his teams did that 3 years in a row until this past season which was one of Brevard's better teams in quite a few years....
The last couple of years the unrest from fans who expected a state championship caliber team in 2015 grew louder, and I know it had to be even tougher for him to Coach as several kids chose not to play this year which affected the JV program about midseason as the numbers decreased to the point that the remaining players were moved to the varsity....
I have not been to as many games the last couple years as I was in need of a Left Hip Replacement, and could not travel to watch the team play, and even missed the home playoff game with Alleghany a couple seasons ago due to the pain....Fortunately, I had my left hip replaced on the 14th of December, and am thankfully pain free now, so I will be going to games in the future...
The Rosman community is hungry for a winner, and there is quite a few talented youngsters from last year's team remaining, so the next Coach will have some talent to work with, but question is will that next coach be as dedicated as Freddie was in keeping the kids working-out in the weightroom in the offseason?...Will the next coach have the motivational skills to motivate a student body that has NOT embraced the sport of football like they should have the last couple years?....Will the next Coach be able to bring an exciting brand of football that the whole community will get behind and support?
Football is important in this little town of Rosman, and fans will show up to watch a winner or competitive team as they did a couple years ago when the Tigers were as talented as they've been in a very long time, losing 4 games by single digits, including the 1 point loss at Murphy in the 2nd round of the playoffs when the 2pt conversion attempt in the final seconds failed...
It will be interesting to see who will be the next Head Coach for the Tigers?
Hope those that make the choice will find the perfect match for the Tiger faithful and the student body!
Once again, thanks for your dedication, and good luck Freddie!
Roar Tigers Roar!
If everything works out....I think you'll be very pleased. Great weight room guy. Knows both sides of the ball very well and has been part of several state title teams. The best thing I can tell you about him is the kids will love to play for him (and in his system) and his attention to detail is phenomenal. IF....it all works...it will be standing room only at tiger town for a long time.
Wow, Ado, this sounds great! Didn't realize we were this far in the process...thought we were still sorting through applications. Had heard that we had contacted several very well qualified coaches, but didn't know that it had been narrowed down. Whoever is hired, I just hope that the administration gives him the leeway to bring an assistant with him.
That really sounds encouraging for sure....Is he a current Head Coach in N.C., or is he a Coach from another State?
Sounds like someone that the student body, and the fans would definitely be excited about, and sounds like he fits the mold of a Coach that the Tigers need, moving forward....
Hope his interview with the administration goes well, and hope that his commitment matches his resume, which appears to be very impressive based on your summary of him....
Roar Tigers Roar!
He already interviewed.... I guess I'm trying to put the cat back in the bag, but I really can't/won't say any more out of respect for him and his family. I just thought that you deserved to know that your program (In my opinion) is heading in the right direction.
Just some info for the potential 12th Head Coach of the Tigers:
The Previous Head Coaches were in order since 1959: Bill Cathy, James "Tiny" Rollins, Lee Powell, Mark Manuel, Jim Fox, Franklin Cecil, Marty Griffin, Dan Essenburg, Jim Fox, Brian Bailey and Freddie Whitman.... Both Lee Powell and Freddie Whitman played, and coached Varsity Football at Rosman.... Franklin Cecil and Jim Fox led Tiger teams to state title appearances, and Jim Fox still resides in the area after retiring in 2006.... Former coaches Cathy, Powell,Griffin,Essenburg and Whitman also still reside in Transylvania County...Proving that once you live here, It's hard to leave here even if you're not coaching football....
Rosman has played for the state title twice in it's history(1984 & 1997)....A history that began in 1959 when Rosman hired a young coach from Bakersfield(Current day Mitchell County) to start a football program at Rosman....That coach Bill Cathy has the field named in his honor, and is seen jogging or walking nowadays up the new highway above Rosman from time to time where he picks up trash along the highway....Bill still lives in Rosman and is approaching 90yrs old now....He is man of great character and integrity, and has been a fixture in this town since his arrival....His last team in 1968 was the first Rosman team to win a playoff game, beating Robbinsville on a neutral field in Cherokee in the snow....The Tigers didn't have their own football field until that 68' season, and they beat his former school Bakersfield in the first contest played in Rosman in that 68' season...A season that ended in Brevard as the Tigers lost to Boone Trail in the mud after leading at halftime....
Rosman is a member of the premier 1A conference in the state, and joined the Smoky Mountain Conference for 2 years in 1973 and 74' before becoming a member of the old Appalachian Conference beginning in 1975 and running until 1993 when the Tigers again joined the Smoky Mountain Conference as a member where they are today....
Rosman's all time leading rusher is Brett Chappel who is the current coach at Pisgah High School in Canton after serving as Coach for East Henderson in his first stint...
Rosman has been a predominate running team through the years, but has a young man who will be a junior next season that has the "Potential" to be a good passing QB....His father and uncle were players at Rosman back in the day, and I know them both....
Rosman did not have many seniors on last year's team, so they will return quite a few talented kids who are hungry for success, and are strong young men thanks to former Head Coach Freddie Whitman who kept the kids working out during the off season in the weightroom...
Rosman's youth football program is among the best year in and year out in the 17 team WNC youth association that includes teams from Transylvania, Henderson,Buncombe,Haywood and Madison County, especially the Rosman Midget team coached by long time coach Weldon Whitmire who played for the Rosman Tigers back in the early 70's....Weldon has always had the ability to take a team, and mold that team around the talent that it has, and his teams through the years have played in many youth championship games, winning quite a few times....He still lives in the Rosman area, and would be one of the first contacts that ANY new varsity coach should have if he truly wants to build a winner at Rosman....This Blueprint is something that Brett Chappel has followed in successful stints at East Henderson and now at Pisgah as the youth teams generally run what his varsity team does.....
As for the town of Rosman, it's still a little town of roughly 500 or so mostly Blue Collar folk, and has 2 Redlights and a cafe'....Many of the residents have lived here and went to school here in Rosman....The town is bordered on the west side of town by the French Broad river which is the head waters of the Tennessee River, and is surrounded by Parks and beautiful scenery....Pickens S.C. is 25 miles to the south of Rosman and the county seat of Brevard is 9 miles to the North/Northeast of Rosman....The Blue Ridge Parkway is roughly 20 miles to the North/Northwest of town up highway 215.....The town of Rosman holds its Heritage Day every October with the History and Pictures of it's current and former residents prominently featured in the town hall of Rosman for all to learn about the town, and it's residents....Current Rosman mayor Brian Shelton went to school in Rosman , and played for the Tigers back in the late 1980's , and was a member of the Rosman team of 1987 that won 9 games in a row which is still a school record to this day....That team lost to Carl Pickens and Murphy in the playoffs in Pickens' final season that ended with a 2nd consecutive state 1A title, and preceded the rise of QB Heath Shuler who led Swain County to 3 consecutive state 1A titles from 88-90'....The Smoky Mountain Conference is also home of the Robbinsville Black Knights who have won more state 1A titles than any other team...Other SMC members are Andrews, Cherokee and Hayesville....Needless to say, the Smoky Mountain Conference brand of football is the most respected small school conference in the state, and every friday night is a battle that is enjoyed by all the football fans from this part of the state...
Football friday nights in Rosman is quite the treat as Joshua Mountain sits prominently to the South of the stadium which is located in the middle of town....The Football Stadium is named for one of Transylvania County's first Industrialist Joseph Silversteen who ran a tanning extract mill in Rosman through the early to mid part of the 1900s, and donated the land on which the Stadium sits...My grandfather worked at that mill, and bought a house and land from Silversteen for $5,000 dollars in 1941 that still stands today....A house my mother and her 12 siblings were raised in, and a house that I and my brother were raised in, and I still own to this day...
I hope that this info will be helpful to the new Head Coach and as one of Rosman's long time residents....I would like to be the first one to welcome him and his family to this little piece of Heaven that I call home.....
Roar Tigers Roar!
The Previous Head Coaches were in order since 1959: Bill Cathy, James "Tiny" Rollins, Lee Powell, Mark Manuel, Jim Fox, Franklin Cecil, Marty Griffin, Dan Essenburg, Jim Fox, Brian Bailey and Freddie Whitman.... Both Lee Powell and Freddie Whitman played, and coached Varsity Football at Rosman.... Franklin Cecil and Jim Fox led Tiger teams to state title appearances, and Jim Fox still resides in the area after retiring in 2006.... Former coaches Cathy, Powell,Griffin,Essenburg and Whitman also still reside in Transylvania County...Proving that once you live here, It's hard to leave here even if you're not coaching football....
Rosman has played for the state title twice in it's history(1984 & 1997)....A history that began in 1959 when Rosman hired a young coach from Bakersfield(Current day Mitchell County) to start a football program at Rosman....That coach Bill Cathy has the field named in his honor, and is seen jogging or walking nowadays up the new highway above Rosman from time to time where he picks up trash along the highway....Bill still lives in Rosman and is approaching 90yrs old now....He is man of great character and integrity, and has been a fixture in this town since his arrival....His last team in 1968 was the first Rosman team to win a playoff game, beating Robbinsville on a neutral field in Cherokee in the snow....The Tigers didn't have their own football field until that 68' season, and they beat his former school Bakersfield in the first contest played in Rosman in that 68' season...A season that ended in Brevard as the Tigers lost to Boone Trail in the mud after leading at halftime....
Rosman is a member of the premier 1A conference in the state, and joined the Smoky Mountain Conference for 2 years in 1973 and 74' before becoming a member of the old Appalachian Conference beginning in 1975 and running until 1993 when the Tigers again joined the Smoky Mountain Conference as a member where they are today....
Rosman's all time leading rusher is Brett Chappel who is the current coach at Pisgah High School in Canton after serving as Coach for East Henderson in his first stint...
Rosman has been a predominate running team through the years, but has a young man who will be a junior next season that has the "Potential" to be a good passing QB....His father and uncle were players at Rosman back in the day, and I know them both....
Rosman did not have many seniors on last year's team, so they will return quite a few talented kids who are hungry for success, and are strong young men thanks to former Head Coach Freddie Whitman who kept the kids working out during the off season in the weightroom...
Rosman's youth football program is among the best year in and year out in the 17 team WNC youth association that includes teams from Transylvania, Henderson,Buncombe,Haywood and Madison County, especially the Rosman Midget team coached by long time coach Weldon Whitmire who played for the Rosman Tigers back in the early 70's....Weldon has always had the ability to take a team, and mold that team around the talent that it has, and his teams through the years have played in many youth championship games, winning quite a few times....He still lives in the Rosman area, and would be one of the first contacts that ANY new varsity coach should have if he truly wants to build a winner at Rosman....This Blueprint is something that Brett Chappel has followed in successful stints at East Henderson and now at Pisgah as the youth teams generally run what his varsity team does.....
As for the town of Rosman, it's still a little town of roughly 500 or so mostly Blue Collar folk, and has 2 Redlights and a cafe'....Many of the residents have lived here and went to school here in Rosman....The town is bordered on the west side of town by the French Broad river which is the head waters of the Tennessee River, and is surrounded by Parks and beautiful scenery....Pickens S.C. is 25 miles to the south of Rosman and the county seat of Brevard is 9 miles to the North/Northeast of Rosman....The Blue Ridge Parkway is roughly 20 miles to the North/Northwest of town up highway 215.....The town of Rosman holds its Heritage Day every October with the History and Pictures of it's current and former residents prominently featured in the town hall of Rosman for all to learn about the town, and it's residents....Current Rosman mayor Brian Shelton went to school in Rosman , and played for the Tigers back in the late 1980's , and was a member of the Rosman team of 1987 that won 9 games in a row which is still a school record to this day....That team lost to Carl Pickens and Murphy in the playoffs in Pickens' final season that ended with a 2nd consecutive state 1A title, and preceded the rise of QB Heath Shuler who led Swain County to 3 consecutive state 1A titles from 88-90'....The Smoky Mountain Conference is also home of the Robbinsville Black Knights who have won more state 1A titles than any other team...Other SMC members are Andrews, Cherokee and Hayesville....Needless to say, the Smoky Mountain Conference brand of football is the most respected small school conference in the state, and every friday night is a battle that is enjoyed by all the football fans from this part of the state...
Football friday nights in Rosman is quite the treat as Joshua Mountain sits prominently to the South of the stadium which is located in the middle of town....The Football Stadium is named for one of Transylvania County's first Industrialist Joseph Silversteen who ran a tanning extract mill in Rosman through the early to mid part of the 1900s, and donated the land on which the Stadium sits...My grandfather worked at that mill, and bought a house and land from Silversteen for $5,000 dollars in 1941 that still stands today....A house my mother and her 12 siblings were raised in, and a house that I and my brother were raised in, and I still own to this day...
I hope that this info will be helpful to the new Head Coach and as one of Rosman's long time residents....I would like to be the first one to welcome him and his family to this little piece of Heaven that I call home.....
Roar Tigers Roar!
So how do you fit into the equation? Someone with this much passion and knowledge of the program is surely more than just a " guy in the crowd".
Just a long time fan really, but I have broadcast Tiger Football games in the past on WSQL radio for 8 years total with 4 years as a broadcaster for both Coach Fox and Coach Whitman's teams beginning in 2001 and ending a couple years ago...I have always supported the Tigers at home and on the road when possible through the years during the regular season and playoffs...Although not as much the last couple of years, due to my mother's declining health, along with my wife and my own health issues, which are resolved thankfully at the moment with the exception of my persistent A-Fib which I take Xarelto for on a daily basis..... I personally know, and have known a lot of the former Tiger Assistants, and I also played for Coach Mark Manuel in his first year as Coach back in 1976 when our Tiger team won the Appalachian Conference for the first time, and made the playoffs for the first time in the modern era, which the NCHSAA recognizes as 1972....I have always been passionate about Tiger Football probably since I was about 10 years old, and could hear the Roar of the Tiger fans from my back porch in Rosman when the Tigers began playing their home football games in Tigertown, back in 1968....The sound of fans cheering for either the Tigers or the oppositon reverberates through the valley and off the hills around this little town, and is quite loud on friday nights when the Tigers play at home, and it's a sound you never forget, and will always remember if you live in, or near this little town of Rosman...It's one of the things that makes High School Football special in this part of Transylvania County....
Roar Tigers Roar!
Rick, thanks for all the info and your knowledge. I hope it works out for the best for the Tiger football program and wish you well with your health issues!
Muchado, Other than being the "Voice of the Tigers" for many years, he is the "voice of reason" on Preps. Rick is not only knowledgeable and passionate about his Tigers, but about all SMC football. His posts are so well written, they are a pleasure to read. He never lowers himself to get in the gutter with the rest of us ... no name calling, never disrespectful to other teams or fans, and uses his unbiased views and knowledge to make his points. I imagine, with all that goes on in his world, he keeps this board in it's proper perspective .. my hat is off to Rick and his easygoing manner.
I didn't mean any undo stress gentlemen. I shouldn't have said anything at all. I just thought Rick deserved to know that there was a "great" candidate in line. I have no wish nor desire to display "breaking news". I can tell you that both parties are still involved in the process of making this a reality. Once, it is official I'll be more than glad to expound his virtues.
Hey muchado how did your guy do in his interview today? What did he think about the upper end of Transylvania county?
I haven't spoken to him. I'll talk to him sometime soon. If, it is "my guy" it wasn't his first interview. How did you hear that he did since you appear to be "in the know"? Any team would be lucky to get him and, anyone would be lucky to live in that area. I really hope it all works out!
I have no idea how he did in his interview. I hope he did well because from the sound of it he must be a top notch candidate and person.
and for the record, Tigertown is the man on Rosman and SMC sports. He loves Rosman and loves the game. I had the privilege of working with him on the radio for a few years. He came to the game prepared and was passionate about the game and his team. It was fun to work with him. And as Forest Gump said "...that is all I have to say about that...."
I can't say that I bleed "black & orange" like some of you. What can say is you guys got yourselves a great coach... the Tigers are now my favorite team.... GO TIGERS!!!!!
1. Kids love him (father figure to many)
2. Great work ethic (first to arrive last to leave)
3. Faith, Family, and Football
4. Will never put wins and loses over teaching a kid a life lesson
5. Best weight room guy I've ever seen (better then my college S&C guy)
6. Very detailed. Practice is lied out to the minute. Game day schedule starts a 5:30 am Friday morning
7. Knows both sides of the ball very well. Unlike many coaches, that just know one side and rely on someone else for the other side. He will be very actively involved in the game plan for O & D and special teams.
8. Has been a part of several state championship teams.
9. Has coached at some of the best programs in NC high school football
10. Great community guy
11. Started a youth football league at his last school
12. Rosman will never be, out coached, out schemed, out conditioned, or out prepared. Congratulations, you have just hired the best coach under 35 in the state.
13. Get your popcorn ready, mountain football is about to get very interesting. I hope you are going to put new lights in your scoreboard because you're gonna need them.
2. Great work ethic (first to arrive last to leave)
3. Faith, Family, and Football
4. Will never put wins and loses over teaching a kid a life lesson
5. Best weight room guy I've ever seen (better then my college S&C guy)
6. Very detailed. Practice is lied out to the minute. Game day schedule starts a 5:30 am Friday morning
7. Knows both sides of the ball very well. Unlike many coaches, that just know one side and rely on someone else for the other side. He will be very actively involved in the game plan for O & D and special teams.
8. Has been a part of several state championship teams.
9. Has coached at some of the best programs in NC high school football
10. Great community guy
11. Started a youth football league at his last school
12. Rosman will never be, out coached, out schemed, out conditioned, or out prepared. Congratulations, you have just hired the best coach under 35 in the state.
13. Get your popcorn ready, mountain football is about to get very interesting. I hope you are going to put new lights in your scoreboard because you're gonna need them.
Is still there working and coaching... Trust me, they don't want him to leave.
Seems like a interesting hire, I know Stack was in the running for Western Guilford. I am just wondering why did he want to leave McMicheal so bad. He was supposed to have a great season this year. Seems like a backwards step
I mean not downing rosman but it's not the 90s rosman and there isn't much in the town. Seems like a backwards step for sure
Sure glad you aren't downing us, I would hate to hear what that would sound like.
Wow Muchado,....those are some strong words considering the company he will have in the SMC. Gentry and Walsh are both very proven coaches with state championships (Gentry with more wins than any wnc coach). A former D1 coach at Cherokee, and a Swain coach with state championships also...Not to mention non-conference coaches like Robinson and the new Bevard coach coming off conference championships. In the past 7 years a SMC member has represented 1a/1aa in state finals, and sometimes both classifications in the same year. He might not out coach, prepare, scheme condition etc his opponent as much as you think. Better not tick off these ole mountain boys now haha. Congrats to Coach Stack though and best of luck.
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