Though I have lived in the Tidewater area since 2002 and first starting working for VirginiaPreps.com as a football writer covering the Eastern Region, I transitioned to State Football Editor a number of years back and have since driven around the state on weekends taking in games from Chesapeake to Leesburg and West Point to Big Stone Gap.
I've been lucky enough to see some of Virginia's all-time great athletes, teams, coaches and programs in some of the most exciting Friday night action that one can find in the Commonwealth.
Unfortunately, this column is about the other end of the spectrum, because the bad aspects are starting to overpower the good.
Ground zero for problems right now is the Tidewater area.
On Thursday, Bill Stachelski was suspended from his duties as head football coach at Cox High School for the remainder of the regular season and the postseason. He marks the fourth Hampton Roads coach this season to be suspended or fired joining Ocean Lakes' Chris Scott, Great Bridge's Pete Gale, and Kings Forks' Joe Jones.
The reason vary for why these men were suspended or let go, but the reasons don't really matter here.
Hampton Roads, you have a problem and this is not the only one.
Three high school football games this season have been rescheduled because of "safety concerns".
A recent Booker T. Washington at Lake Taylor game was moved, on gameday, from Friday night to Saturday morning when safety concerns were raised.
A matchup between undefeated Phoebus and undefeated Hampton high schools was not only moved from Friday to Saturday, but also was policed, at least partially, by members of Hampton's gang unit.
Perhaps the most anticipated regular season game in the Hampton Roads area, Oscar Smith at Indian River, was not only rescheduled from Friday to Saturday and policed by members of the gang unit, but also moved to a completely different school as Hickory played host to the game. One which, by the way, may have been the most exciting game that I've seen played in well over a decade of attending games.
photo credit: Greg Bishop
Hampton Roads' most anticipated game of the season was rescheduled, moved and policed by gang units
Knowing that I live in the Tidewater area, several administrators, coaches and fans from around Virginia used to ask me about the great recruits and teams from the Hampton Roads area.
Over the course of the past half-decade, there's been more and more questions about recruiting, cheating, outside influences on programs, questionable ethics, and safety concerns among others.
I've always stood up for the area because I knew that the same types of things were happening around the rest of the state, as well. It usually takes less ten minutes of conversation with a football fanatic in any part of the state before I get told that " is only good because they cheat and recruit."
There have been instances from other parts of the state where coaches have been fired under questionable circumstances as happened earlier this year in Stafford County, so the problems are now wholly owned by just one section of Virginia.
However, with four coaches fired or suspended, three games moved under fear of gang-related activity, several recruiting allegations both founded and unfounded all emanating from the Hampton Roads area, I can't make a case anymore.
There are several things wrong with football in the Tidewater area and it's time to make some major changes with the way that things are being done.
What has been done is not working.
Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer to fix all the problems and I'm sure that not one person can make the changes. However, I do have a couple of suggestions that might help make things better.
First, the Tidewater area needs an active poster club like the Touchdown Club in Richmond, a group that brings together coaches, referees, media and other people around the sport who helps get everyone on the same page and pointed in the right direction. There are some individual groups in the area who support each of the seven cities, but nothing on the scale of what is done in Richmond.
Secondly, there needs to be a local coaches' association. In many areas of the state, local coaches get together to actively work with players from all schools at lineman camps and events of that nature. The camaraderie helps bring coaches together as friends (or at least respected colleagues) and keeps players from running to camps run by rec league guys and other outside influences who help to undermine the high school coaches.
Individual schools need booster clubs who work towards the betterment of their football program. Volunteers who help raise money, paint fields and get things done to show the players that they have community support. Failing that, it'd be great if more people just showed up at games as nowhere in the state are players performing in front of empty stadiums like they do in Tidewater.
People need to learn to be honest about a player's opportunity at the next level. I cannot begin to tell you how many times that I've been screamed down by a parent because I felt (and wrote) that little Jimmy was a D-2 prospect. While no one wants to step on the dreams of a young teenager, there are far too many voices in a player's ear these days "evaluating" players as Division I talents. The hype is hurting the attitude of players (and family members) who do not understand why college scholarships are not falling out of the sky for them.
Lastly, there needs to be a very serious conversation about players moving and transferring from school to school with far more investigation into the whys and hows of it happening and how to better legislate it. Either the rules need to be re-written in a way that makes it far more difficult or there needs to be a much higher level of scrutiny put into the investigations of changing addresses and zones.
The football scene is slowly dying in the Hampton Roads area and, if the culture around it is not changed, football itself will ultimately be a casualty of this failure to act.
Football Editor Rod Johnson first joined the staff at www.VirginiaPreps.com in 2003 reporting on prospects, programs and news from around the state since moving to the Commonwealth. To keep up with all the high school football action in the state, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook. He is also the regular host of the VirginiaPreps.com Podcast. To find a full archived list of podcast recordings, click on our Podcast Library. Additionally, Rod can be contacted via e-mail at vaprepsrod@cox.net.
I've been lucky enough to see some of Virginia's all-time great athletes, teams, coaches and programs in some of the most exciting Friday night action that one can find in the Commonwealth.
Unfortunately, this column is about the other end of the spectrum, because the bad aspects are starting to overpower the good.
Ground zero for problems right now is the Tidewater area.
On Thursday, Bill Stachelski was suspended from his duties as head football coach at Cox High School for the remainder of the regular season and the postseason. He marks the fourth Hampton Roads coach this season to be suspended or fired joining Ocean Lakes' Chris Scott, Great Bridge's Pete Gale, and Kings Forks' Joe Jones.
The reason vary for why these men were suspended or let go, but the reasons don't really matter here.
Hampton Roads, you have a problem and this is not the only one.
Three high school football games this season have been rescheduled because of "safety concerns".
A recent Booker T. Washington at Lake Taylor game was moved, on gameday, from Friday night to Saturday morning when safety concerns were raised.
A matchup between undefeated Phoebus and undefeated Hampton high schools was not only moved from Friday to Saturday, but also was policed, at least partially, by members of Hampton's gang unit.
Perhaps the most anticipated regular season game in the Hampton Roads area, Oscar Smith at Indian River, was not only rescheduled from Friday to Saturday and policed by members of the gang unit, but also moved to a completely different school as Hickory played host to the game. One which, by the way, may have been the most exciting game that I've seen played in well over a decade of attending games.
photo credit: Greg Bishop
Hampton Roads' most anticipated game of the season was rescheduled, moved and policed by gang units
Knowing that I live in the Tidewater area, several administrators, coaches and fans from around Virginia used to ask me about the great recruits and teams from the Hampton Roads area.
Over the course of the past half-decade, there's been more and more questions about recruiting, cheating, outside influences on programs, questionable ethics, and safety concerns among others.
I've always stood up for the area because I knew that the same types of things were happening around the rest of the state, as well. It usually takes less ten minutes of conversation with a football fanatic in any part of the state before I get told that " is only good because they cheat and recruit."
There have been instances from other parts of the state where coaches have been fired under questionable circumstances as happened earlier this year in Stafford County, so the problems are now wholly owned by just one section of Virginia.
However, with four coaches fired or suspended, three games moved under fear of gang-related activity, several recruiting allegations both founded and unfounded all emanating from the Hampton Roads area, I can't make a case anymore.
There are several things wrong with football in the Tidewater area and it's time to make some major changes with the way that things are being done.
What has been done is not working.
Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer to fix all the problems and I'm sure that not one person can make the changes. However, I do have a couple of suggestions that might help make things better.
First, the Tidewater area needs an active poster club like the Touchdown Club in Richmond, a group that brings together coaches, referees, media and other people around the sport who helps get everyone on the same page and pointed in the right direction. There are some individual groups in the area who support each of the seven cities, but nothing on the scale of what is done in Richmond.
Secondly, there needs to be a local coaches' association. In many areas of the state, local coaches get together to actively work with players from all schools at lineman camps and events of that nature. The camaraderie helps bring coaches together as friends (or at least respected colleagues) and keeps players from running to camps run by rec league guys and other outside influences who help to undermine the high school coaches.
Individual schools need booster clubs who work towards the betterment of their football program. Volunteers who help raise money, paint fields and get things done to show the players that they have community support. Failing that, it'd be great if more people just showed up at games as nowhere in the state are players performing in front of empty stadiums like they do in Tidewater.
People need to learn to be honest about a player's opportunity at the next level. I cannot begin to tell you how many times that I've been screamed down by a parent because I felt (and wrote) that little Jimmy was a D-2 prospect. While no one wants to step on the dreams of a young teenager, there are far too many voices in a player's ear these days "evaluating" players as Division I talents. The hype is hurting the attitude of players (and family members) who do not understand why college scholarships are not falling out of the sky for them.
Lastly, there needs to be a very serious conversation about players moving and transferring from school to school with far more investigation into the whys and hows of it happening and how to better legislate it. Either the rules need to be re-written in a way that makes it far more difficult or there needs to be a much higher level of scrutiny put into the investigations of changing addresses and zones.
The football scene is slowly dying in the Hampton Roads area and, if the culture around it is not changed, football itself will ultimately be a casualty of this failure to act.
Football Editor Rod Johnson first joined the staff at www.VirginiaPreps.com in 2003 reporting on prospects, programs and news from around the state since moving to the Commonwealth. To keep up with all the high school football action in the state, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook. He is also the regular host of the VirginiaPreps.com Podcast. To find a full archived list of podcast recordings, click on our Podcast Library. Additionally, Rod can be contacted via e-mail at vaprepsrod@cox.net.
