Bulldogs play Salisbury at home Friday. After last Friday night struggles vs smith I’m sure their will be a running clock by the end of the first half🤣
Thomasville vs Salisbury
- Thread starter T-ville Bulldawgs07
- Start date
Sad to see Thomasville playing like this, it starts with the coaches. I’m sure there was a better candidate out there.
Nah, we been through about 4 coaches already since Brown. Even he couldn't get anything done those last few years from 08-10.
State champions in 2008 and conference championship during those years but brown didn’t do anything 🤣
I was living out of state in college during those years. Tend to get 07 and 08 years mixed up sometimes. Was shocked when my folks called telling me we got upset by Jordan Mathews.
Yeah, no state titles from 09 to 13 under Brown or even after he retired. He won 5 and 6 games his last two years. My post wasn't about conference championships.
My point was we haven't won a championship or made it to the west finals since 08 regardless of the coach. But whatever, you tried.🙃
Certainly most Thomasville fans are unrealistic in their expectations. If state championships are your only measuring stick, the vast majority of Thomasville’s seasons have been failures. My personal expectation is to win more than sixty percent of the games and be in the running for a conference championship. At least the 1A portion.
Doug Robertson won sixty seven percent of his games after taking over a team in disarray. Kevin Gillespie took the next step, and after a 3-3 COVID year, won seventy-six percent of his games. If the new coaching staff can attain either of those marks, I’ll be the first to congratulate them.
The biggest challenge for Thomasville in the last fifteen years has been numbers. Trying to be competitive with a varsity roster in the low to mid-twenties is very difficult. That is a direct product of the exodus of many families from TCS since Keith Tobin retired. Over the past fifty years, Thomasville High School has gone from 1,000 students to less than 600 with the same district lines. The current school board is only exacerbating the issues that created that. Discipline issues, teacher turnover and perceptions of an unsafe campus are mainly to blame.
For me, a successful season this year is a 6-4 regular season. To do that, we will likely have to beat Lexington and West Davidson, even if we lose to NR. We’ll see.
Doug Robertson won sixty seven percent of his games after taking over a team in disarray. Kevin Gillespie took the next step, and after a 3-3 COVID year, won seventy-six percent of his games. If the new coaching staff can attain either of those marks, I’ll be the first to congratulate them.
The biggest challenge for Thomasville in the last fifteen years has been numbers. Trying to be competitive with a varsity roster in the low to mid-twenties is very difficult. That is a direct product of the exodus of many families from TCS since Keith Tobin retired. Over the past fifty years, Thomasville High School has gone from 1,000 students to less than 600 with the same district lines. The current school board is only exacerbating the issues that created that. Discipline issues, teacher turnover and perceptions of an unsafe campus are mainly to blame.
For me, a successful season this year is a 6-4 regular season. To do that, we will likely have to beat Lexington and West Davidson, even if we lose to NR. We’ll see.
2011 we lost in the 2A west finals to Lincolnton. And 2012 we did have a bad year…we finished 6-8. But Brown had them in the 3rd round of the playoffs and lost a competitive game to the eventual state champions in East Lincoln. Yes the year after they won 5 games but they still made the playoffs and lost by only a touchdown to Lincolnton. The year after he left they won 2 games so don’t discredit what Brown did those last few years becasue it was obvious the talent level had dropped and he still had them competing. But like you said…you tried 🤷🏼♂️
Look at the schedule in 2011 and 2012. A 3,000 yard rusher one year and a different 3,500 yarder the second. The best totals in team history. Again, low numbers killed them. One of Thomasville’s strengths was always the ability to two platoon. That went away in Coach Brown’s last years. I personally feel that, after his retirement from teaching, it became increasingly difficult to recruit the talent in the halls and to keep players on task and out of trouble.
Bottom line, if the new coaching staff could come anywhere close to the success of the Browns, Robertson or Gillespie, we’ll be fine. My only point all along has been that, with the hiring process (if you can call it that), we will never know if the best coach available was hired. Not his fault nor that of the AD. I think we all know what created that.
Exactly! I didn’t even get into the scheduling of those last years. I still say that those last years was the best coaching job I’ve ever seen. Everyone in the stadium knew that Quanny Johnson and Gabe Brockett were getting the ball and they still couldn’t stop it. Not to mention the defense was stout as always.
What the heck happened to Thomasville? In the 90s and 2000s they were good!! Seems like they have fallen on hard times??
I didn't discredit coach Brown. The talent level dropped off since 08 and even Brown couldn't solve it. You got all in your feelings cause I mentioned Brown.
Again, regardless of the coach things have gone downhill. Since I moved back, all of our teams have been sloppy and inconsistent. However, some of you want to use the current coaches accountable like this is a new problem. This is more of the school system and community.
Nah, you tried while missing the whole point.🤦♂️
State titles aren't my only measuring stick. We were so good back then I expected titles nearly every year. Plus the 91 Thomasville-North Davidson game taught me conference titles weren't all everything.😜
But yeah, the factors you mentioned are the biggest problem. That's why I won't hold coaches accountable so early in the season. So far we lost to a undefeated RaNnElmAn team, Salisbury who hasn't lost a conference game since realignment and one bad lost a former 2A powerhouse. Can still make the playoffs with our 1A conference schedule. Plenty of other schools doing worse than us right now.
I wonder if Nick Sweitzer applied for the job, he was the defensive coordinator on Gillespie’s staff. He was also a former bulldog who played under coach brown. He’s currently the head football coach at South Davidson Middle.
Don’t know but I doubt it. He left for a variety of reasons and coming back as head varsity coach would be inconsistent with those. Nick is very much a family man.
I think he would have been a great head coach. I also heard south Davidson was closer to home, not sure if that is true
His kids will attend South. And I agree with your assessment of his ability. But agree more with his values.
What values could hold you back from coaching your alma mater when they desperately need a capable coach.
The consideration of what is best for your family. We tend to forget the toll that coaching takes on the people around the head coach.
Most people don’t even have any idea how powerful this statement is.
Nick Sweitzer would have been the best candidate for that job and I'm sure he would have taken it. then again with everything that's going on with the school maybe he did make the right choice to leave when all the other great coach's left.
I played with Nick, however, how do we know he would have done any better? We keep talking about "there had to be better candidates" we do realize that this hire was made in July, right? I can assure you there weren't any highly qualified well experienced coaches looking for anything at that point as everyone else was already deep into preparation for this season, this isnt little league or middle school when coaches just get started a day or so before. High school football is dang near a year round sport. For him to be hired when he was and not even having time to properly assemble a staff(not to mention he isn't even from here so the networking probably isnt there either), put together a playbook or even have an offseason as well as the amount of talent graduating last season, breaking even would be more than an accomplishment! I have always said our expectations have been very unrealistic and have learned to reel myself in. I try to follow these kids from youth ball all the way up and with that said who realistically thought we would have a chance to be a true championship contender this year anyway?
