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Coaching matters. A lot! But having really good players matters more. It's been proven over and over again.

I've enjoyed reading this thread...there's so many factors involved....another common example pointed out is Todd Dodge...he won a ton at Southlake and Westlake...not so much at his other stops...its definitely a combination of many factors and I think "fit" as well

And that concludes the 2025-26 high school basketball season. Congrats to all the state champions and to all our coverage area teams that had fantastic seasons. Time for me to get some rest and relaxation. Probably won't see much of me around here after college basketball is over. Like the great Forest Gump said "I'm pretty tired, think I'll go home now".

That matters for sure.. but I think the way it matters is by way of households that are able to provide the tax revenue that contributes to those means of advertising (facilities, salaries, stipends, etc.). Here's a great article outlining the obvious differences in the financial situations of Austin High School and Austin Lake Travis High School: [Hidden Content] Two high schools not very far apart with similar(ish) enrollments. Austin High has roughly 2400 students.. which is much less than LT, but 2400 is plenty to field a decent football team in almost all cases. Vastly different average household incomes, though. You have kids from LT driving BMW's to planet fitness during the summers to meet an ex pro-athlete for a workout.. while Austin High kids might be sitting at home or working a summer job to help put food on the table. This applies at every classification across the state (country). There are always exceptions, but more times than not: High household income, 2 working parents, spending summers at strength/speed camps, not having to work summer jobs, having a reliable vehicle to make it to weight room/school, running with kids in similar situation, access to best facilities money can buy, personal trainer, personal tutor, etc. etc. etc.... A kid with access to the list I just gave will ALWAYS have a leg up on a kid that doesn't. Now multiply that by entire teams/programs. Start looking at the average household income of the schools that are habitually making deep runs. The income translates to living situation.. which translates to property taxes.. which is a huge contributor to how public schools pay for facilities and teachers/coaches/stipends.

Bryan Whitmire is top notch! He took a team with a first round playoff exit last year all the way to the State Championship Game this year. On top of that he is a great Christian Man that all of our boys can look up to. Excellent mentor and basketball coach that really cares about the kids and it shows. You couldn't ask for a better coach and family to be part of your community.

I've asked you this before and you have never given an explanation.. Why are there so many coaches that have won multiple state championships and then never got close again? How many players did SS have that went on to play major D1 football? How many did Phil D. have? Is coaching responsible for that? How many super bowls did Bill Belichick win without Tom Brady? How many state championships did Tom Westerberg win without Kyler Murray? How many NBA championships did Phil Jackson win without MJ or Kobe in the lineup? You're pro "coaching matters".. and I agree, it does. But you will never convince me that coaching matters more than the players on the team. Never. And I know that it could never be proven, but I'd bet that several coaches could reach your definition of elite if they'd had the right players.

[Hidden Content] Coverage area players 6A Adam Boyd Atascocita Jachai Cantave Atascocita 5A Josua Coleman Beaumont United Elijah Garrett Beaumont West Brook Christian Haskett Beaumont West Brook 'Payton Jones Beaumont United 4A Aaden Bush Bridge City 3A Patrick Roth Onalaska Jaden Scales Orangefield Devon Vienneau Onalaska Carson Willis Orangefield 2A Jamesly Flowers Big Sandy Michael Renfro San Augustine Joshua Roland San Augustine Garrett Sanford Chireno 1A Landon Smith Brookeland

Trump has been played by Putin. Iran has destroyed military bases because of intel from Russia and Japan. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel. The is a Epstein war.

[Hidden Content] Coverage Area 6A Adam Boyd Atascocita Jachai Cantave Atascocita Christian Gibson North Shore Jaequrian Lincoln Humble Reggie Rideau Summer Creek Zayson Salanoa Atascocita Da'Marcus Sloan North Shore 5A Gabe Childress Barbers Hill Josua Coleman Beaumont United Evan Egans Crosby Elijah Garrett Beaumont West Brook Christian Haskett Beaumont West Brook Payton Jones Beaumont United Koltan Lopez Kingwood Park Ephriam Moore Beaumont United Javen Nededog West Fork Dallas Rosette Nederland Austin Stewart Beaumont West Brook Kambrell Williams Dayton 4A Drake Barrett Huffman Aaden Bush Bridge City Calvin Ellington Tarkington Ziekus Garner Livingston Jacaleb Johnson Silsbee Cordell Lowe Hardin-Jefferson Kobe Prejean Hamshire-Fannett 3A Jason Anderson Huntington Gunner Carnes Pineywoods CA Ayden Debose Trinity Cam Dillard East Chambers AJ Emmons Diboll Grayson Johnson Huntington Jahkkeim McKnight Crosby Patrick Roth Onalaska Jaden Scales Orangefield Devon Vienneau Onalaska Dayvon Wallace East Chambers Carson Willis Orangefield 2A Destin Brittain Chireno Michael Renfro San Augustine Joshua Roland San Augustine Garrett Sanford Chireno Shudey Beene Big Sandy Brett Buckner Evadale Jamesly Flowers Big Sandy Devin Roberts Sabine Pass 1A Canyon Baker Spurger Zach Beatty Brookeland Kasen Citrano Chester Sam Ross Brookeland Landon Smith Brookeland

I spoke with family member (mom) of a candidate for Texas House Rep in ‘24. This was during early voting, and they were really, really hoping for a Trump endorsement. They’d reached out and been given the price, but just didn’t have the campaign funds to make it happen. Their opponent got the Trump endorsement during early voting and won the race, unseating an incumbent. Did the challenger pay the $400k? I don’t know. But I BELIEVE that Trump’s people asked the incumbent for that sum, based on my conversation with the incumbent’s family member. They also confirmed the story about the Rep receiving a handwritten letter from Gregg Abbott advising that if he, (incumbent, whose wife is a school teacher) voted against giving handouts to rich people who send their kids to private schools, aka “school choice,” they’d make sure that he wasn’t re-elected. Hence the well-funded challenger who could afford Trump’s endorsement. Fun fact… the challenger (now state Rep) that supported stripping money from public schools to subsidize wealthy kids going to private schools? She’s was the president of her local school board at the time, voting against the interest of the school of which she was the board trustee. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do if you want to make it to the top, I guess.

You are insulting my intelligence (and severely underestimating the powers of an admin and what I am privy to). You are not fooling anyone here, CB. You actually make it pretty obvious. (particularly the occasional shots made at Silsbee). You making a post in the basketball forum is evidence enough. Only CB would call himself genius and come up with the new username of TheMissingBand. But I digress.

My father taught me that kindness and graciousness won over anger and bitterness. My father was a pillar of our community. UT alum can attest to that. He was no push over either. Was Chief Umpire at Silsbee Little League for many many years. So he dealt with many a sour folk from time to time. I am certainly not trying to compare the two positions but just my way of saying we have a choice in our behaviors.

Spare me the fake outrage

it's nothing to do with Surratt and everything to do with Warren. In the 30 years before Surratt took over Carthage had 23 winning seasons, three .500 seasons and four losing seasons. They made it to at least the second round of the playoffs 13 times in those 30 years and even played for a state championship. It feels like you're under the illusion that Surratt took over a bad football program and turned them almost instantly into a winner. That couldn't be further from the truth. He took over a pretty good program with some really good talent and turned them into a great program that attracted even better talent. Now they're an elite program that attracts elite talent (which he certainly deserves credit for). On the flipside of that, Warren opened 75 years ago and has 4 playoff appearances in those 75 years. They had 1 playoff "win" in 1958 where they tied and advanced on penetrations. In the last 50 years they have 8 winning seasons, but only made the playoffs twice because they get most of their wins by finding even worse teams to schedule before district. Would Warren improve dramatically if Surratt came to town? Obviously. But they aren't winning district in 7 years, much less a state championship.

15-1 in my big money brackets.

I'm no expert in Warren , but there are factors at Warren that currently would prevent Surratt from winning a state title in 7 years. Now if He could have well paid assistant coaches in abundance, lavish facilities , unlimited funding, full Admin support, on everything he does, yes he might have a shot in 7 years. But those are big asks. In my opinion ,he is an Elite coach for sure, but being an Elite coach does not guarantee a State championship in 7 years. I think there are several Elite coaches around the state that never win a title or even play for one.

I think vastly the entire free world believes that Iran is either directly or indirectly a global threat. You already know this, but I'll continue because I like to "hear" myself talk. Iran poses a multifaceted threat to global stability, primarily through its sponsorship of terrorist proxies, expanding missile programs and advancements in nuclear technology. It threatens U.S. and allied interests in the Middle East via groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. One guy, however qualified he may be, ain't gonna change my mind on that one...

Didn't the great Cornel Thompson say something along the lines of "You can't win the kentucky derby with mules" ?

He said primaries, not midterms. Party heads historically don’t get in between their own members in primary contests. Don’t project disunity among the brethren. I think The Band took that round.

You are still wrong…. Research Bush’s endorsement of Arlen Specter. Trump did not invent this, he just does it better. If you are endorsed by Trump history has it you have a 94 - 96% of winning……

I don’t know of a fairer, kinder man. Always handled those crazy little league parents with grace.

I am not going to say that was wise on Trumps part to post that but considering the Mueller Investigation/Russia Hoax tried to destroy Trump, his family and anyone associated with Trump it doesn’t surprise me. The sad part about this is that it has been proven that the Russia Hoax was nothing more than manufactured bs to destroy Trump. It involved Obama,Hillary,Brennan, Clapper and many more and no one had been held accountable. The fact that this group of people tried to take down an incoming and sitting president and not anyone here on this forum from the left is outraged by that is mind boggling. So please spare us the sermon.

Surratt winning a state title at Warren over the next 7 years? No offense to Warren… but no it’s not happening

Surratt went to a school with good athletes already in place and got the most out of them. Won a couple of championships, got the backing of the community, got great facilities, and now many of the best players from all the surrounding communities find ways to play there. He's as elite as it gets, but now that the talent is funneling in and the community has the reputation as title town, another solid coach could step in there and keep winning. On the flipside, Surratt is not going to a place with no talent and no support and have them winning championships quickly without players moving in and better facilities. and he's not moving down to the valley and taking over a team and winning state championships in 7 or 70 years. He could dominate that area, but he's still going to lose with his teams when they face dallas and houston late in the playoffs.

Well i truly believe, the word elite can be used in several ways. Elite coaching can be a coach that takes average kids at an average program and has them buy in and over achieves with them. This will require the coach to adjust his coaching styles almost every year based on the talent that he has from yr to yr. I also believe elite can be defined as a coach that has a program that is winning several games each year in the playoffs and making deep runs, and can keep that program on top year in and year out. I believe it is easier to win at those programs because you do have kids coming into the program that typically wouldnt be there if the program wasnt as successful.

This may have been discussed before, but Kyle Westerberg won 4 state championships in 12 years at Allen and led them to another final. 3 of those were with Kyler Murray. After winning four state championships at the highest level and amassing a 134-16 record over 12 years at Allen, Westerberg moved (to an easier division, and an easier district). Hard to argue those numbers. He's clearly in the elite category. So what changed when he went to Barber's Hill? He still had good facilities, still had a supportive community, had players from good families with lots of opportunities, and I doubt he forgot how to coach. At Barbers hill he went 40-17 in 5 seasons and made the 3rd round of the playoffs once. The program still improved under him, but they didn't sniff a state championship. Then he went to Salado and went 5-15 in two years. Did he turn from elite to only good when he went from Allen to Barbers Hill, and then from good to bad when he went to Salado? The thing is, he didn't have the players to win a championship at Barbers Hill, and didn't have the players to even have a winning record at Salado. But you know who could've won a championship (or two or three) at Barbers Hill? The 2012-2014 Allen Eagles, led by Kyler Murray. It wouldn't even take the whole team. Probably only 5 kids from each side of the ball combined with whoever BH had at the time would be enough. And they wouldn't need Westerberg coaching them to get it done. Any competent coach would do.

There are over 1500 High school football teams, and only 12 champions a year. If a rule was made tomorrow that no coach and school can win more than one title it would take 125 years before every current Texas high school head football coach would win a championship. Of course that's not the case, and programs like Carthage are going to suck up extras. The ideas that A) a coach MUST win a state championship to be elite and B ) an elite coach should be able to do it in 7 years are both silly.

One of my favorites: "The flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year."

I asked Reagan the other day to post just a single instance in which he felt like Trump had made a mistake. For once he was silent. Not a single time has Trump been mistaken, lol.

SURGES PAST $39T!! Wow! But let’s do a quick Google/AI search. National Debt by year: 2020, the last full year Trump was in office. ND increased by $1.49T 2021 or Biden’s first year in office increases $2.45T in a single year or almost double Trump’s last year in office. 2022 it increased $2.24T. 2023 it increased $2.33T 2024 it increased $2T Now in the first year of Trump’s second term the ND increased $2,35T. So which year was this dramatic surge again? I think they all need to be reigned in but pointing out Trump seems disingenuous at best.

Glad I am subsidizing my income with poker and sports gambling.

A million great coaches in the area, and I think everyone is really good and most guys are good friends so I admit my biases. But if this was like the stock market and I am betting on guys futures (limiting to this to guys who haven't been HC's for long). Give me Keithan Hancock (HJ) and KJ Johnson (HF) over the next 15 or 20 years, those guys check every single box.

If you need to hear a little TXHSFB talk check out this month's TepAndStepp now FREE on YouTube!!

I would wager that a higher percentage of coaches know what they're dealing with in that regard.. than the percentage of parents that know that their kid is in this situation. Please note: I'm not being judgmental nor am I saying that those kind of obstacles are impossible to overcome.. just stating that statistically it can make quite a difference. Anyone that argues it doesn't is just ignorant on the subject.. or naive.

I believe there are numerous reasons for this threat being eliminated but a big one no one has mentioned or maybe they have cause I didn’t go back and read every post…..by eliminating Iran now then our forces won’t be spread out plus no distraction when China tries to take Taiwan or basically deter China from the thought….With Iran eliminated all focus on China. But I will say this. The gas pumps are hurting the pocket books. Stop dilly dallying and Let’s wrap this up quickly please.

No loss of MAGA support shown here!

Danaher was elite, IMO...

Break Out Another Thousand. Can you tell I was a boat owner many times over? 🤣

Higher gas prices are not a problem for those that can afford it.

Some of y'all really need to brush up on the Constitution.

Personally I don't think you need to speak for women. I work at a bank where names on DL's have to match account name. In my 23 years of banking, I have never had a woman complain they needed their divorce decree to change their name.....either to their married name or back to their maiden name. Why do you think poor people are dumb?

Looks like I'm late to the party. As some of you know, I used to be a regular contributor. And I've always been pretty quick to let my feelings be known when I agree/disagree with a comment. Years ago, I would often give little personal attacks - especially on the football forum (ironic, huh); however, I quit doing that quite a while back. Should've never done it in the first place. It was all in fun for me, but not everyone takes it that way. I quit posting as much because it doesn't feel like discussion or even a spirited argument anymore. It's continual bashing from both sides, and I don't think either side is changing any of the other side's minds. Kinda the way this entire country is going these days, really. I still like to get on and look and read from time to time. I may even comment. But it's lost some of the glow for me. And if I'm being honest AAW, for a while you really made me question whether or not I would ever login again. That was quite a few year's ago, but it's always stuck with me. I realize and understand that this is a privately held site that can do as they please and run it however they want, but I didn't feel right about commenting on this topic without saying this. No hard feelings and it's all good, but it was definitely a bothersome issue for me. All that being said, I'll end this post with this: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" -Proverbs 15:1 "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry..." -James 1:19

I really had a hard time with her doing that. Caused me to vote against her and she is my neighbor and goes to our church. Friends with my wife. I thought that was very telling like you have stated.

I expect my bracket to be properly burnt by Thursday afternoon. 🤷🏾‍♂️

All Tournament Teams [Hidden Content] Coverage Area players 6A D1 Anthony Key Soph. Atascocita 5A D1 Elijah Garrett Senior Beaumont West Brook Christian Haskett Senior Beaumont West Brook 5A D2 Payton Jones Junior Beaumont United Ephriam Moore Soph. Beaumont United 3A D1 Jaden Scales Senior Orangefield Carson Willis Senior Orangefield 2A D1 Max Renfro Junior San Augustine D'adrian Renfro Junior San Augustine

Other countries already have nuclear weapons capable of reaching the United States, including Russia, China, and North Korea. What is the cost of the defense systems designed to address those threats? Do we not already have and maintain defense systems such as the North American Aerospace Defense Command, along with missile defense networks, early-warning systems, and strategically deployed defense assets around the world? The United States spends billions of dollars each year on the military, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and defense contractors. The country has also monitored Iran for more than four decades. Yet the argument now being made is that the United States must assassinate Iranian leaders and seize Iranian oil because, if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, it could not be stopped—despite the fact that the United States has long deterred nuclear-armed adversaries such as Russia, China, and North Korea. If our systems are good enough to monitor Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un, aren't they good enough to monitor the mullahs in Iran?

Going next week for a few days but have to come back for my wife's surgery. Having rotator cuff surgery. So we will be in Silsbee for a couple of months, then the beach.

hi 5 to both BMT schools, proud of yall, outcome didn't go our way but thanks for a good season

Great season by Orangefield. One of the best coaches in the area, it’s nice to see success for him. Also great career by Scales. Dude came in to high school with tons of hype and most kids would crumble under that pressure. He flourished and improved every year.