Monday, April 12, 2010

Coaching hires and city county

I have tried my best to stay on top of the three head-coaching openings for football in Forsyth County, and here’s where they stand now to the best of my knowledge.

GLENN: One person, who I will fail to mention by name, has long been rumored to be the heir-apparent to take over for Dickie Cline. Interviews started yesterday and I was told there’s potential for a coach to be named by the end of the week (but not holding my breath on that one).

REYNOLDS: I have been told that that after a long interview process, the job of replacing Mike Propst has been offered to a coach from way outside of this area, but from within North Carolina. I would be surprised if there isn’t an announcement sometime this week.

ATKINS: Late last week, a couple of sources told me that administrators had decided on their choice and even gave me a name — it was a guy that’s been an assistant coach at several schools in the county with a strong reputation. This morning, AD Linwood Gerald of Atkins told me three interviews would take place today. Who knows?

Basketball-wise, it sounds like Glenn has a quality list of applicants to take over its boys coaching job. I would expect them to make a very solid, if not splashy, hire eventually.

On to the city-county tournaments, which in my opinion — as well as the opinion of many coaches and ADs in the system — have outlived their usefulness. The good thing for this week is a forecast that looks clear of foul weather.
One interesting thing I found while going through the pairings is that Forsyth Country Day is the No. 4 seed in the baseball tournament behind No. 1 West Forsyth, No. 2 Mount Tabor, and No. 3 East Forsyth.
The only reason this surprises me is because FCD’s program has become much more talented since Andy Partin became the head coach last year, and he has several players that have transferred out of schools like West and Reagan playing on the roster.
I’ll be interested to see how that tournament (at Mount Tabor and Reagan) plays out.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Tyler Lewis gets offers from Baylor, Wake Forest

Two weekends ago, Coach Craig Dawson of Forsyth Country Day was driving back from Cary after watching Tyler Lewis, his sophomore point guard, compete quite successfully in the Carolina Challenge. He talked to Coach Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest on his way home.
Dawson said that Lewis had a standout performance in the Carolina Challenge — run by Dave Telep, the national basketball-recruiting director for Scout.com. And that Gaudio was also impressed.
“(Gaudio) said he really likes Tyler and his ability, and said anytime (Lewis) was ready to commit he could pick up the phone and call him,” Dawson, a former standout at Wake Forest, said.
“It makes me feel great as a Wake alum. I like to see them interested in his services. I think it would be fantastic to play close to home and I know his parents would love it. I know it’s a dream of his to play in the ACC and it would give him a chance to do that.”
Dawson said that Lewis, who is 5-10 and a Statesville native, has also received an offer from Baylor in the last couple of weeks, and that North Carolina wants Lewis to visit and watch a team workout. Dawson said that Arizona State, Maryland, South Carolina, Stanford and Virginia have also recently started recruiting Lewis.
Lewis already had offers from Virginia Tech, Auburn, UNC-Charlotte, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, Appalachian State, and High Point.
“He was absolutely phenomenal at the Carolina Challenge,” Dawson said. “They paired him against three of the other top point guards in the state and he really held his own and played well.”
Dawson said he didn’t think Lewis would make a college decision until during or after his junior season.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Tidbits

For those of you who have followed the blog this year, I apologize for the lack of postings lately. But I am trying to get it going again now that the warmer weather has awakened me from what seemed to be a long winter.
Here are a few things on my mind:

All-Northwest Basketball
The teams — top 15 girls and top-15 boys in the area — have been picked and we will run it in the April 11 paper. As usual, very strong teams. It’s getting harder and harder to make the boys team now that Quality Education Academy is around. This year, only one boy’s player west of Winston made the squad.

Football recruiting
Defensive linemen Chris Manns of Mount Tabor and linebacker Jared Barber of Davie County, both juniors, have the potential to be college teammates in a couple of years. Both have received offers from N.C. State, according to their coaches, and Barber also has an offer from Wake Forest.
I would expect more offers to come in. Manns is as good a defensive lineman as I ever remember seeing in Forsyth County, and Barber is a text-book college linebacker who is solid all the way around and who takes his football and his schoolwork very seriously.

Coaching moves
Shocked about Lee Reavis leaving Glenn to coach the boys basketball team at Northwest Guilford. Glad he isn’t going too far away. Lee is one of the good guys. Glenn has enjoyed quite a bit of stability with its programs in recent years, so it’s weird to see the school without a football or boys basketball coach.

I am hearing Reynolds is getting very close to naming a new football coach. I have heard they are down to the final three candidates. Also, Glenn is close to naming a new football coach, and Atkins is rumored to already have its new football coach selected, but no announcement yet.