Who isn't giving him a chance? I was replying more to the fact of "maybe he'll turn this around." From what I see, the turn around already happened, and they threw that coach under the bus.
Rosman isn't the only one to do this, this year even. I think Southeast Guilford is guilty as well. Look at their record before and after Hessenthaller. Same deal. Turn around, winning, playoffs, Thrown under the bus.
No one on this board knows the situation at Rosman better than I do.....Freddie was a long time Assistant Coach for the Tigers before becoming the Head Coach in 2010....He first team ended a long losing streak of 17 games which was the longest in school history, and the team was NOT competitive when he took over....Rosman did beat Brevard 3 straight years under his leadership....Not to diminish those wins for the Tigers, but Brevard was going through a down time, and losing streak of their own when Rosman beat them the first time or two, so they also made a coaching change themselves, and Coach Pritchett has done a great job in resurrecting the Blue Devil Football program as they were Co-Champions of the WNCAC last year with Tuscola and Pisgah which was the Bluedevils first conference football title in several years, and they counted on a large Senior Class to help make that happen....In 2015, Rosman also had a great Senior class, and one of the largest Senior classes the Tigers have had in a very long time, and they did finish with a winning record, but were unable to beat Swain County, Robbinsville or Murphy in the regular season or playoffs, and narrowly lost to a very good 2A Mountain Heritage team...All 4 of those teams were pretty darn good with Robbinsville playing for a state title later that season after winning it the year before in 2014....Murphy was also tough that year, and won the state title last year.....As I've recounted several times, the Smoky Mountain Conference is the toughest 1A conference in the state, especially since Freddie took over because Swain(2011 & 2012), Robbinsville(14' & 15') and Murphy(2010,11',12',13' & 16) have all won and lost state titles in Whitman's 6 years as Head Coach, and no other 1A conference in the state can make that claim....
As I related earlier in this thread, Coach Whitman DID NOT have the complete backing from all the Tiger fans from the first time he was hired in 2010, so Rosman has had a divided fan base for quite some time now....When Rosman fans are pulling together for the Coach and the team, Rosman is generally pretty tough to beat as evidenced when Jim Fox returned in 1997....Most felt then that Rosman's best days were behind them...Instead, Rosman played for the state title that season, and went on possibilly the toughest playoff run that any 1A school has ever had too do, beating former 2A schools Albemarle, Thomasville, Burlington Cummings and Starmount before losing to a veteran North Edgecombe team that had finished as the runnerup to Murphy the year before.....Starmount won the title the following year in 98', beating that same North Edgecombe team coached by Raymond Cobb that appeared in 3 straight 1A finals in the late 90's... Thomasville(95') won recent 2A title before moving down to the 1A class in 97', and Cummings won a 2A title in 2002 after losing the 2A title in 2001, so both those school were very tough 1A opponents back then....Rosman followed up that great 97' season with a Co-SMC Championship with Hendersonville in 1998 which is the ONLY SMC Football title to date for the Tigers, and again beat higher seeded Cummings on the road in Burlington later that season....This was before the Classes were subdivided in 2001....
To be truthful, many Rosman fans wanted a change from the Wishbone and run oriented offense when Coach Fox retired in 2006, and the next coach who was hired from a big program from Tennessee had a different approach, but was NOT as dedicated to the weightroom as the team needed, and thus the Tigers struggled to the point that the program dropped to levels that had never been seen by Tiger fans before....When Freddie was hired in 2010 he resurrected the weight room workouts, made the team stronger and more competitive, but many were still unhappy because they did not want a return to the old system that Fox had used, so the fan base was still divided when Freddie took over, so it has been difficult for the team to reach it's full potential when you've got parents pulling their kids out of Rosman and moving them to Brevard, or Parents and Fans criticizing the Coaching Staff throughout the entire time Freddie was coaching which obviously affected the kids who WERE playing, or those that WANTED to play for the Tigers, but chose not too because all of the criticism of the coaching staff....
I don't think Freddie was "Thrown under the Bus" as you have characterized it, but the grumbling and complaining from Tiger fans that didn't support him from the outset became louder when the most talented team Rosman has had since the late 90's fell short of expectations by losing in the 2nd round of the playoffs that season to Murphy, albeit by 1 point as you related....That team was riddled with injuries to key players for most of that 2015 season, but fans didn't really take that into consideration, and just wanted a change of direction in the program after the season which led to more defections and apathy from kids who chose not to play last year....Starting Sophomore LBer Ethan Shook transferred to Brevard after the 2015 season, and was named the defensive Player of the Year in the WNCAC for Bluedevils, last year....It's hard to lose kids like that, and stay competitive in the SMC, but that was the hand Freddie was dealt with, and had to live with in his final season at the helm of the Tigers....
Coach Stack is a young Coach who has been an assistant at one of the most respected 4A schools in the state, and has obviously helped to resurrect a football program at McMichael that had struggled to be competitive before he got there if I've read everything correctly from those that should know...The Rosman fan base seems excited that Coach Stack is here, and so does the kids from what I'm hearing, so it just seems that you or maybe others are just trying to once again divide a Tiger fan base that has seemingly been divided since the late 1990's...
I like Freddie, and he will always be a friend of mind, but it had gotten tougher and tougher for him to do his job as Head Coach of the Tigers, so maybe in some ways, he is relieved to finally have that pressure taken off his shoulders...At least, he can say that he coached all 4 of his boys at the same High School that he played at, and that I'm sure is a blessing, and a memory that he will carry with him for the rest of his life, and he can also say that he done his best to help restore some Tiger pride after Bailey left and at the very least, made the team competitive again in the SMC in spite of a divided fan base....
Again, I welcome Coach Stack, and hope that he can motivate the Tiger Student body and fans to come out, and play and support the Rosman Tigers, and help restore a tradition that was once admired around the state of N.C.
Roar Tigers Roar!
