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theprophet wrote:

dougkeklak wrote:

Crimson's Ghost wrote:The inner city dynamic of Johnstown High School may be unique to the District 5/6 region of the world, but it isn't different than anywhere else. If Aliquippa and New Castle can piece together good teams, so can Johnstown.

ding, ding, ding. I have been saying this for years (mostly falling on deaf ears). It's nothing unique and it should not be used as an excuse.

Exactly, That is the problem with Johnstown it seems, they lose or can’t control their kids and blame the parents and the kids. Not realizing the dynamics of the school hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years. So the questions to ask are, if Johnstown 20 years ago didn’t have disciplinary issues why do they have them now? Also if schools like Aliquippa ,Clariton, Jeannette, New Castle and many other schools with the same population dynamics can win and win with class why can’t Johnstown. The answer to that is they have no leadership IMO.

So you didn't see the Class A football championship game?! LOL. Just teasing.

It should be noted I did not attend a single Trojan basketball game this year. So I cannot speak to players being "out of control", etc. Listening to the playoff game on the radio it sounded like a game that was getting chippy on both sides. I was not aware of season long issues of discpline, etc. So I would take people's word for it that have seen that with their own eyes.

All I am saying is that for many years I was told how hard it is the coach at Johnstown and I'm not naive that there are certain challenges you don't have at other places. My only point was, again, not unlike situations you have at a Clairton or Aliquippa and being a AAA school with far superior facilities they can overcome is all.

From the football side of things I followed the program pretty intensely from '03-09 and to a much less extent '10 to present. I don't see any amount of on the field antics that would make me say things are different than in the 80s and 90s when I was in school and playing.

Good one Doug on Clariton, but I guess after many years of dominance your allowed one slip up. It’s tougher to tell antics in football because the distance away from the field and the physical nature of the game but when you talk to the other coaches you hear about players saying things to opposing coaches.
It’s becoming more of a norm instead of a one off scenario at Johnstown when it comes to antics especially in basketball. I was at the Hollidaysburg game and both teams were chippy the only difference is Hollidaysburg’s coach and players didn’t cost their team but the Johnstown players and coaches did.
Last if it is so hard to coach at Johnstown then why do these relative no names with resumes that couldn’t get them hired at any other high school keep taking the jobs? Better yet why does the administration keep hiring them? It’s time to bring in some good quality qualified experienced coaches with a track record of winning. Go out and get some proven talent in the school and stop hiring friends.

theprophet wrote:Good one Doug on Clariton, but I guess after many years of dominance your allowed one slip up. It’s tougher to tell antics in football because the distance away from the field and the physical nature of the game but when you talk to the other coaches you hear about players saying things to opposing coaches.
It’s becoming more of a norm instead of a one off scenario at Johnstown when it comes to antics especially in basketball. I was at the Hollidaysburg game and both teams were chippy the only difference is Hollidaysburg’s coach and players didn’t cost their team but the Johnstown players and coaches did.
Last if it is so hard to coach at Johnstown then why do these relative no names with resumes that couldn’t get them hired at any other high school keep taking the jobs? Better yet why does the administration keep hiring them? It’s time to bring in some good quality qualified experienced coaches with a track record of winning. Go out and get some proven talent in the school and stop hiring friends.

I hear you but only question one thing: relative no names that wouldn't get them hired elsewhere. Rich coached the Lady Trojans with limited success (moreso than the previous two coaches had) and coached previously at Windber I think. He has a long pedigree of coaching many sports, I actually played for him for Alberters in the old Junior League back in the 90s so I wouldn't call him a no name.

Fuschino coached somewhere else before JHS, but it's escaping me. Marabito coached football other places before and after his stint at Johnstown. While he's not my favorite coach/person in the world he won a district at Ferndale and had some pedigree obviously.

Sometimes we look at these jobs with a college or pro fan eye. We have to step back and remember, you have to apply for these positions and many of the people we look at that you might think would make a good candidate may have no interest in said job. It's high school athletics... for less that $10K.

My only wish is that it would be more public WHO applied for a coaching position after a hire is made official because it would be nice to know. Then again, are you going to ask school boards to do that for every teaching position, etc, etc? Probably not.

You guys are talking about these discipline problems and underacieving at Johnstown like they are long-running issues. There were no issues like this under Shipman, Fuschino, Roman, or Cobaugh. I don't remember any incidents of benches clearing or kids getting technicals under these coaches. And these coaches were very successful. Cobaugh won a few years back starting 4 guys under 5-8. They had plenty of talent this year. Including some kids that were academically ineligible last year, but amazingly were eligible this year. And oh yeah, the AD is coach Rich Price. They created some other job for Tony Penna.

Colonel Mustard wrote:You guys are talking about these discipline problems and underacieving at Johnstown like they are long-running issues. There were no issues like this under Shipman, Fuschino, Roman, or Cobaugh. I don't remember any incidents of benches clearing or kids getting technicals under these coaches. And these coaches were very successful. Cobaugh won a few years back starting 4 guys under 5-8. They had plenty of talent this year. Including some kids that were academically ineligible last year, but amazingly were eligible this year. And oh yeah, the AD is coach Rich Price. They created some other phony job for Tony Penna.

What a joke. I grew up watching and following Johnstown athletics and even though I did not attend the school you could always hang your hat on Johnstown teams competing with the big boys out of the area. I remember when Johnstown barely played teams from this state. Now it is just a joke and the city has allowed the powers that be to make a mockery of the tradition that used to be. That is a sinking ship headed to the bottom fast; I’m done commenting on them because they are not relevant in sports anymore.

Johnstown doesn't graduate 600 kids anymore. Times have changed.

They don't but we are not asking them to play AAAA or be in the WIPIAL any more either. They dropped class, results should not drop if you continue to move down. JMO

True, and I probably overstated when I said 'very' successful. But I think this year proved that they can't just show-up and win the LHAC and D6. There was some degree of coaching (and instilling discipline) going-on under the various former coaches.

Colonel Mustard wrote:You guys are talking about these discipline problems and underacieving at Johnstown like they are long-running issues. There were no issues like this under Shipman, Fuschino, Roman, or Cobaugh. I don't remember any incidents of benches clearing or kids getting technicals under these coaches. And these coaches were very successful. Cobaugh won a few years back starting 4 guys under 5-8. They had plenty of talent this year. Including some kids that were academically ineligible last year, but amazingly were eligible this year. And oh yeah, the AD is coach Rich Price. They created some other job for Tony Penna.

I can tell you this much, there was a LOT of behind the scenes stuff during Fuschino's time, especially the seasons right after the state runner-up team. Not stuff that would be publicly known and not stuff that would have happened in games like techs and stuff like that. I'd caution against equating good records, LHAC or district titles as teams that were necessarily well discplined. Not mutually exclusive.

Like how a starter was thrown off the team by Fuscino, and the school board overruled the decision.