Coaching Tenure in Class 4 Region B

[BleedingNavy]

With the constant turnover and the loss of Fisher (Louisa 2017) and Woodson (Powhatan 2018) I was a bit curious about the coaching tenures in Class 4 Region B and this is what I discovered:

Only four current coaches have been at their schools for more than 5 years and based on my research I now know why. Besides being consistent winners these four coaches have only suffered 5 losing seasons between them.

Hall: Starting his 17th year at Courtland. He has a regular season record of 112-47, playoff record of 14-14 and overall record of 126-61. Coach Hall has made the playoffs 14 of 16 years and the Cougars have qualified 9 straight years. Coach Hall's 2015 team made it to the state semi-final losing to Lake Taylor.

Mills: Starting his 15th year at Dinwiddie. He has a regular season record of 105-35, playoff record of 20-11, and an overall record of 125-46. Coach Mills has made the playoffs 12 of 14 seasons and the Generals have qualified 12 straight years. Coach Mills 2013 team won the Class 4 State Championship. His 2008 and 2016 teams lost in the State Finals. Under Mills the Generals have won 4 of 6 regional final games.

Hatfield: Starting his 12th year at Eastern View. He has a regular season record of 85-25, playoff record 10-7, and an overall record of 95-32. Coach Hatfield has made the playoffs 7 out of 11 years and the Cyclones have qualified 6 straight years. Coach Hatfield's 2018 team won Region B and lost in the state semi-final to Lake Taylor.

Henderson: Starting his 7th year at Monacan. He has a regular season record of 48-12, playoff record 6-6, and an overall record of 54-18. Coach Henderson has made the playoffs 6 of 6 years and as you can see Monacan has qualified 6 straight years. Coach Henderson's 2014 team made it to the state semi finals before losing to Lake Taylor.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Good stuff there Navy. Who are the longest tenured coaches in each of the other three Class 4 Regions?

Who is the longest tenured head coach across all classes across our state? I'm speaking still active and at the same school.

 

[Scalvinscaliwag]

I really liked this message from @BleedingNavy. Longest tenure in Region C?

 

[catchtds]

Good stuff there Navy. Who are the longest tenured coaches in each of the other three Class 4 Regions?

Who is the longest tenured head coach across all classes across our state? I'm speaking still active and at the same school.

My guess would be Coach Beale at Floyd County

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Do you know how many years he has been at it Catch?

 

[BleedingNavy]

My guess is Coach Smith at Hampton. He has been coaching since 1971. He has at least 561 wins. Since the Crabbers are now a Class 4 team I guess Smith would be the longest tenured coach in Region A. Coach Sawyer from Lake Taylor started in 1999.

Coach Hall from Sherando is the longest tenured coach from Region C. He started in 2003.

Region D is a crapshoot. My guess is Nick Anderson who has been at GW Danville for 6 seasons. Woody from EC Glass has 5 years. Christmas would be the leader, but he changed schools. Christmas was at JF from 1988-1996 and 2014-2018.

I will get the top coaches records in each region tomorrow. After looking at the other coaches my point is even more valid. Consistency equals success.

 

[BleedingNavy]

Do you know how many years he has been at it Catch?

Beal has been at Floyd County since 1981.

 

[catchtds]

Beal has been at Floyd County since 1981.

Thanks man, I didn't look it up but I knew he would be close.

 

[catchtds]

My guess is Coach Smith at Hampton. He has been coaching since 1971. He has at least 561 wins. Since the Crabbers are now a Class 4 team I guess Smith would be the longest tenured coach in Region A. Coach Sawyer from Lake Taylor started in 1999.

Coach Hall from Sherando is the longest tenured coach from Region C. He started in 2003.

Region D is a crapshoot. My guess is Nick Anderson who has been at GW Danville for 6 seasons. Woody from EC Glass has 5 years. Christmas would be the leader, but he changed schools. Christmas was at JF from 1988-1996 and 2014-2018.

I will get the top coaches records in each region tomorrow. After looking at the other coaches my point is even more valid. Consistency equals success.

I had no idea Smith had been coaching that long.

 

[757FridayNiteZ]

I had no idea Smith had been coaching that long.

Coach Smith retired but tried to come back under another capacity. Retirement mandated staying off school grounds for something like 30 days. He violated that requirement. I think he was still trying to coach.

Not sure if he's actually their true head Coach anymore. I'm sure Matt can add to this.

https://virginiapreps.rivals.com/news/danny-mitchell-steps-down-as-interim-football-coach

 

[BleedingNavy]

Thanks @757FridayNiteZ. Every website I reviewed still has Smith listed as the head coach. Based on the Coach Smiths recent move to Class 4 I will use Coach Sawyers stats for Region A.

Region A: Coach Sawyer is starting his 20 year as the head man at Lake Taylor. He has a regular season record of 154-35, playoff record of 26-15, and an overall record of 180-50. Coach Sawyer has made the playoffs 17 of 20 years and qualified for 14 straight years. Coach Sawyers has appeared in the state title game on 4 occasions (2012, 2014, 2015, 2018) and the Titans have won 2 state championships (2012 and 2014). Coach Sawyer has never suffered a losing season at Lake Taylor.

Region C: Coach Hall is starting his 17th year at Sherando. He has a regular season record of 125-33, playoff record of 15-12, and an overall record of 140-45. Coach Hall has made the playoffs 12 of 16 years and qualified for 2 straight years. Coach Hall's Sherando Warriors have made the final four on 3 occasions have appeared in 2 state championship games losing to Amherst (2007) and Dinwiddie (2013). Hall has never suffered a losing season at Sherando

Region D: Nick Anderson is starting his 7th year at GW Danville. He has a regular season record of 52-8, playoff record of 4-6, and an overall record of 58-14. Coach Anderson has made the playoffs 6 of 6 years and qualified 6 straight years. Anderson has never suffered a losing season at GW Danville.

Coach Christmas starts his first year at Amherst after being at JF for a combined 14 years. He had a regular season record of 97-43, playoff record of 14-10, and an overall record of 111-53. Coach Christmas made the playoffs 10 of 14 years and JF has qualified for the playoffs 2 straight years. Christmas suffered two losing seasons at JF (1988 and 2016).

 

[matthew328826]

Coach Smith retired but tried to come back under another capacity. Retirement mandated staying off school grounds for something like 30 days. He violated that requirement. I think he was still trying to coach.

Not sure if he's actually their true head Coach anymore. I'm sure Matt can add to this.

https://virginiapreps.rivals.com/news/danny-mitchell-steps-down-as-interim-football-coach

Yes - Mike Smith is still Head Coach. Gearing up for what I believe is his 49th season - remarkable feat that we may never see again - with the Crabbers. They should be better than last year's unexpected 4-6 finish. Bring up some talented pieces from a JV squad that I was told went undefeated. Wouldn't put it past them even getting a No. 2 seed for the Region 4A Playoffs. However, after Lake Taylor, there's a significant drop-off in Region 4A. Region 4B, 4C and 4D should be more competitive fields for the playoffs.

 

[DEVILSLB99]

Thanks @757FridayNiteZ. Every website I reviewed still has Smith listed as the head coach. Based on the Coach Smiths recent move to Class 4 I will use Coach Sawyers stats for Region A.

Region A: Coach Sawyer is starting his 20 year as the head man at Lake Taylor. He has a regular season record of 154-35, playoff record of 26-15, and an overall record of 180-50. Coach Sawyer has made the playoffs 17 of 20 years and qualified for 14 straight years. Coach Sawyers has appeared in the state title game on 4 occasions (2012, 2014, 2015, 2018) and the Titans have won 2 state championships (2012 and 2014). Coach Sawyer has never suffered a losing season at Lake Taylor.

One thing that's remarkable about Coach Sawyer's tenure he started off his career 0-6 in the playoffs losing to the eventual state champion 3 out of the six times in the first round. Phoebus 02, Hampton 05, Phoebus 06.. Of his 15 playoff losses he's lost to the state champion 9 times. Woodgrove 18, Salem 15, Dinwiddie 13, Phoebus 11,09,08,06,02 Hampton 05

 

[mike salem]

One thing that's remarkable about Coach Sawyer's tenure he started off his career 0-6 in the playoffs losing to the eventual state champion 3 out of the six times in the first round. Phoebus 02, Hampton 05, Phoebus 06.. Of his 15 playoff losses he's lost to the state champion 9 times. Woodgrove 18, Salem 15, Dinwiddie 13, Phoebus 11,09,08,06,02 Hampton 05

That's a pretty remarkable stat. Those Phoebus teams were everybody's thorn in the side.

 

[BleedingNavy]

One thing that's remarkable about Coach Sawyer's tenure he started off his career 0-6 in the playoffs losing to the eventual state champion 3 out of the six times in the first round. Phoebus 02, Hampton 05, Phoebus 06.. Of his 15 playoff losses he's lost to the state champion 9 times. Woodgrove 18, Salem 15, Dinwiddie 13, Phoebus 11,09,08,06,02 Hampton 05

@DEVILSLB99 , you are right on the money. Since those first six losses he has only lost in the first round on two occasions. I am most impressed by Lake Taylor's streak of 17 times qualifying for the playoffs. 11 came prior to realignment and we all know just how tough it was to qualify for the Division 5 playoffs back then. Like LT or not Coach Sawyer has earned his props.