Recruiting Students for Athletics in High School

[tx6man4life]

I would like to give kudos to Coach Bigham for his courage to discuss something many people are seeing, but lack the desire to expose.
It is tough to compete with a culture that will use every tool in the box to build a successful program. Hey, I was there for six years and saw it every summer and winter. Most of it was pure hustle and vision. Some was stretching the ethical boundaries. Much is luck.
The year I took Follett to state I had two move-ins appear from nowhere. Without them we don't defeat Grandfalls-Royalty in the semis.

But everyone knows things are happening on the edge.
The UIL doesn't care or is impotent to respond. Why would they. A school must admit a wrongdoing before the League will pay attention.

Men, I like an underdog to outrun the champion, sometimes. And if you have any competitive bone marrow you have a burning desire to knock off the studs like RS, Strawn and the Patriots
I plan to be in such a position again someday. It's why I coach and why I dearly enjoy competition. I am the guy running through the corridor screaming,"where is Gable, no Dan Gable, I must fight Dan Gable".

It’s stuff like this that makes you my favorite EX Coach!! The Rigdon situation was IMO the worst decision a school could make. It’s not because they replaced him with their hometown hero it’s the way they
Went about it and how the community pack of rabid coyotes treated the entire family and the message it sends to the kids in the hallway!!!! But I’m with you coach if UIL is gonna let them flirt with the line of legality and do nothing then someone just has to find a way to stand in there and knock them off. Sure hope Rigdon finds a way to meet up with JB and RS In a game of importance next year.!! God Bless you and your family Coach, Merry Christmas

I thought BE was Coaching again. Earlier in the season I mentioned seeing he was The coach at Leaky. I was corrected by it being pointed out he is an assistant there.
Regarding the whole RS Rigdon's milieu I only know what I read on here and didn't know they were planning on moving. Can't blame them if they do. I guess the man was boxed in regarding his sons playing elsewhere or him finding another coaching job at that late date. Likely mixed emotions but he's probably happy to see is kid's get a ring.
The part that perplexes me, if this is true from reading on this site is his being paid to stay at home, not rock the boat. How many sixman districts can afford to do that?

Another thing that might perplex you would be the amount that coach got paid to sit at home and not rock the boat, week 1- The handing out of the Medals in Arlington!! He was asked to do absolutely no work by the school!! Talk about a great gig!! Also add that money to the amount they are paying the “legendary coaches” and the rest of the coaches for other sports. Then add in that big fancy bus with the new custom graphics and televisions onboard and yes it’s all very perplexing.

 

[Deleted member 21909]

While you know more about Stanton Football than I will ever know and my intention is not to put the Buffalos down, I have a problem with one of your statements:

I totally agree on the protection of his kid but they overreacted and used it as an excuse to get out of town when things weren’t going their way.

#1: Are you 1000% sure about that? You aren't going to be the ones dealing with an unthinkable crisis, having to bury a child, if you are wrong about that. You said something about culture differences between Stanton and Richland Springs; I bet the kid gets in more trouble at Richland than he did at Stanton because many of those bigger school districts are more worried about having butts in seats than safety.

#2: I've made this analogy before, but some kids in New Orleans used Hurricane Katrina as an excuse to move to Texas schools for athletic reasons. Friday Night Lights (the TV Show) did a parody of this in season 1 when the Dillion Panthers tried to recruit Ray "Voodoo" Tatum, a talented QB from a school underwater as a result of Katrina, to play for them.While I feel for people displaced by Katrina, most of them were not threatened by violence. Who is to judge this situation as more or less deserving of "an exception" than kids displaced by Katrina? If that kid threatened to shoot Landon, then no one can blame the Burkharts from getting him out of there.

#3: To quote the man himself when Stanton hired him "one day I told my wife (Bonnie) I was ready to get back to the challenge of coaching 11-man." Do you really think he thought he would walk in there, go 15-0, and win the state title in year 1?! Do you think maybe the situation with his son affected his ability to do his job effectively? Source: https://www.mrt.com/sports/highschool/a ... 629016.php

Unless you can see inside people's minds and hearts, I simply do not think you can judge the Burkharts. In fact, you sound like a conspiracy theorist.

God, the Burkharts, and the kid that threatened Landon are the only ones that know the 1000% truth about the safety matter.

1. The school and communities aren’t much different. Stanton has about 270 students. It’s not a huge school. I’ve lived in the Texas panhandle for the previous nearly twenty years before coming to Midland. It’s different but not in expectations of students and behavior. I have had one on one conversations with the administrators of SISD about the JB issue and they definitely had his back and were giving him the tools that he would need to be successful. Great administration with the kids’ best at heart.

2. I’ve seen the episodes of FNL with Voodoo. I agree on them uprooting him if that’s the case. Let me ask this question then and it’s one that there is zero reasonable answer for outside of mine and many others’ conclusions. Why did Jerry and Bonnie wait six weeks to pull Landon out of school if he was as greatly threatened as they claim? The incident happened Labor Day weekend. I know that they claim that they didn’t like the way that the police handled it but that would be much more believable if they weren’t 1-4 and many hadn’t watched their tirades with fans, parents, players, and emotional breakdowns through the process. I don’t buy it and neither did the UIL.

3. I don’t think it affected his ability to coach eleven man football. I think he lacked in that ability from the start because of the differences in the two types of football.

Also, you stated earlier about me bringing the Stanton situation onto a six man football page. He brought Stanton into the six man football talk when he left Stanton in an emotional uproar. Had he ever addressed his team in Stanton instead of walking out in the middle of the night, he would have more credibility. I get the Landon being threatened argument, but it loses much credibility when JB isn’t even man enough as a HC to address the kids who has preached for six months to them that they have to be “All In” if they want to achieve their goals. Turns out that our kids were “All In” but JB wasn’t. He should have completed the season and did not fulfill his responsibility.

#1: Richland has 60 something students in high school; trust me when I say it different as I have taught and attended school close to Richland 's size and Stanton's size. Those little sixman school are really really old school like Burkhart himself. Honestly, he probably should have gone to a 2A first and then worked his way up. The oil field also brings a lit of people from outside the community with different values.

#2: I think that's a good question that I don't know the answer to. My main focus has been defending Landon against the UIL, and I can see where you are coming from. If they did make it up, Jerry is one smart PE teacher!

#3: Stuff happens and things don't work out, that's life. I don't think Jerry brought Stanton into sixman at all. Just out of curiosity, since you are already here, what offense did Jerry run at Stanton? His teams at Richland always blocked and tackled so well that I hoped he would not run spread in favor of a more traditional offense (Wing-T, I, Off-Set I, Veer) and hit those spread teams in the mouth. Although I tried to keep up with Stanton that year, geography and the stuff that happened later made it hard to do.

 

[MA1984]

Tebow Time are you a history teacher? Why the name Tebow Time? Just curious.

 

[LBK6manFan]

Tebow Time are you a history teacher? Why the name Tebow Time? Just curious.

Lol, exactly what I was thinking.

 

[MA1984]

Tebow Time are you a history teacher? Why the name Tebow Time? Just curious.

Lol, exactly what I was thinking.

There are a few people in this thread that make good points. It’s way to far over my head to contribute so I just go off topic.