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A view from the CROW'S NEST at RIDLEY

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NotChrisBell

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Sep 15, 2018
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Shocking that everyone wants to be quiet about this topic so I'll try to start a discussion.
To all the Ridley faithful do you now understand what a horrendous hire this was! I am talking about the AD!! It all started with him and the rest of the new administration. Brought in to restore Pride & Tradition to this once great program. Since he took over as AD he has gotten rid of several head coaches and their assistants in various sports. Brought in his people and they have very little to show for it! One Central League Tri Championship in football and a basketball crown. He thinks he is a coach on the football staff and has gotten more sideline penalties than anyone I have ever seen! He frequently mischedules buses for the other sports, especially the girls sports, because he simply doesn't care.

He got his choice for the football HC (Wood) because he was his college coach. What happened to the "Super Coaching Staff" that was supposed to be assembled? Did anyone stop to think why a college coach would take a high school job? He was obviously very qualified. But has he ever had to deal with 14 & 15 year olds? Their parents & unrealistic expectations? You can't treat them like college kids who can be replaced with the next recruiting class. You have to nurture and build these relationships. I fear he has lost he players, parents, & soon the community.

The principal (Another Dope) got his choice to be the OC & got him a job in the district! The principle came from Garnet Valley and wanted a Garnet Valley guy on the staff. News flash Garnet Valley isn't Ridley! You can't just take someone from another program that has resources and participation numbers like that and assume they'll be successful. If that was the case the principles from all the top achieve high schools would be able to just go in and turn around a poor district! The OC's (Green) conveluted bastardized Garnet Valley offense is run poorly. Maybe they don't have the horses? Maybe their just young? Regardless he won't adapt his scheme to fit the personnel to be succesful. Isn't that the sign of a good coach? Playing to your strengths? Bottom line. He is a backstabbing, conceited, arrogant A@$ who is starting to miss practices like the previous HC. Maybe that's why it's poorly run?

What do they have to show for it now? These are all of "their kids", they have only known their leadership and they look like they have no clue what is going on. Preparation falls on the coaching staff not the kids, you can't expect them do do things they've never been taught to do.

Does any of this sound familiar Ridley fans?

Looking back, maybe a head coach who bellied up to the bar at a local establishment wasn't the worst thing in the world. After all under his guidance they never lost to Radnor, gave up 42 points in a half or 63 points in a game! But then again he wasn't a defensive genius like they have now. I guess those other guys before weren't so bad after all. You reap what you sow.
 
That offense looks nothing like what GV is doing. GV doesn’t run the offense green even ran. They’ve evolved, Ridley devolved.
 
I guess everyone from before that demanded the Coaching change has either had their kid graduate, they joined the coaching staff or was an administrator. Oh well they can’t possibly lose to Lower Merion... can they?
 
The thing I find very disappointing is it seems the team has quit on the coaching staff. I’ve heard that multiple players have quit the team and none speak well of the staff.

After the Father Judge game one of the players admitted to “giving up” after Judge scored right before the half.
Then the coach is quoted “We didn’t block well at times, we didn’t run well at times, we didn’t cover well at times and that hurts when you’re playing a good football team”. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that the job of a coach to make sure that those things don’t happen and to have a team prepared to play the entire game.

After the Radnor game the coach is quoted as saying “Give all the credit in the world to Radnor,we just couldn’t match the emotion and the physicalness”.

Say what you want about Decker and his lack of preparation and personal issues but his players loved him and played hard the entire game. Also his teams never gave up an average of 35 points a game even when he replaced Ralph and everyone thought the world was ending.
 
Lower Merion not terrible. QB has some talent and they have nice group of receivers. Gave Haverford some real problems in second half last week. Ridley will need to pound it at LM.
 
Some people saw this coming 3 years ago, many more saw this coming this year. The big question : did the kids quit on the coaches , or did the coaches quit on the team ?
 
Any idea who Ridley passed up for the HC job for Wood? I would imagine that job attracted some decent coaches.
 
SPEED&JUMP DR. said:
Some people saw this coming 3 years ago, many more saw this coming this year. The big question : did the kids quit on the coaches , or did the coaches quit on the team ?
Click to expand...

It’s sounds like it it a combination of both, the kids quitting on a coaching staff they don’t like and the coaches giving up on kids who aren’t producing in practice or on game day
 
So what is the solution? Once the kids give up or the coaches for that matter, it’s time to move on.
 
SOL - you would think the job would be an attractive one and draw many applicants. This board had hundreds and hundreds of posts on the issue 3 years ago with the consensus being that It was a forgone conclusion that Wood was getting the job even before Decker was fired/ resigned. Once that became known , I believe many otherwise qualified coaches simply chose not to apply. So the pool wasn’t as deep as you’d think .

Chuck - I think it’s clear that a change has to,be made. The question is how is the change made and who ends up making it? I never thought Wood was a long term solution from day 1. I gave him 3 years. If he did well , he would use it as a stepping stone to jump back into college coaching. If it went bad , he would be gone. But he is not a Ridley guy and had no ties to the community. I think the administration kind of knew this as well which is why they made the big financial commitment to bring Green over from GV, sort of like an associate head coach. If in fact Green was being groomed for the job three years ago , I’m not sure after all I’ve heard they can go that route now.
 
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Another question is at this point have the Ridley faithful and alumni disassociated themselves from this staff?

It is long known that the Ridley faithful had another coach in mind when process of hiring Wood was started. Did the Ridley Faithful step away at that point? Did they not support the program as they had in the past? I am not sure of these answers, but I have seen this elsewhere and the I believe real success comes from the community/alumni support in todays environment.
 
SOL#1 said:
Any idea who Ridley passed up for the HC job for Wood? I would imagine that job attracted some decent coaches.
Click to expand...
I seem to remember that the pool was not as deep as you would have hoped as Speed had said. Does anyone remember who was speculated to be considered finalists other than Wood and Green? I think I remember Coach Thompson from Springfield was interested but something happened and he didn't apply. I might be wrong but I think that is what I remember hearing. Just curious as to what everyone thinks might be interested IF a change happens.
 
Sam-the faithful are staying away in droves. This is all unchartered territory for the community, but the last home game was like a ghost town over there. Where they once drew 5000-6000 per game, they maybe lucky to get 1500. At $5 a ticket for 5-6 home games, they are taking a big hit, especially when they count on that money to fund other sports programs.

HSF-When Green was hired, he was also given a teaching job in the school, much to the chagrin of the teachers union. Wood does not have a teaching degree so there was no job attached to his hiring. Although subsequent to his hiring, he was given some kind of para professional job in the school ( hall monitor, cafeteria attendance, etc) So they actually made more of a financial commitment to Green then Wood.
 
Interested in Job but did not apply due to a variety of reason both internal (New Administration) and external (Cleaning up the mess of the Beer Olympics/Decker).

Brian Thompson
Chris Bell

Applied
Various Coordinators from O'Hara (now at Penncrest), UD, Springfield (now at Malvern), 2 Del Val coaches, a current member of the Ridley Staff.

Rumored to have applied:
Two members of Decker's staff. Both no longer with the program currently. One is at Haverford School and the other went back to Shanahan.
 
Never got the Scott Green thing. He was OC on some good Garnet teams, but not offensive juggernauts by any stretch. Went to HC Kennett and had typical Kennett results, or worse. Then gets hired as “the Garnet guy”. He was there during the ascent at GV but hadn’t been there for years. I think this was as much his own sell job in the interview. “I’ll make us like Garnet with 100 kids, etc etc”. I’m sure he had the same sell at Kennett.

It sounds like once wood was anointed so early, they got no serious applicants. They hire wood. He has no staff in place as a non HS guy, and they kind of package in next best thing as OC. His past ties to GV made him more attractive from the “program” standpoint of having a ton of kids out etc.
 
guys who had multiple interviews- Wood, Green,Gionta, Clark, Rufenach, Pidgeon

central admin and board wanted new hs admin team to have freedom to choose. AD and principle each got their guy.
 
Not exactly a murderers row.
College coach out of the game.

Former GV coach that went to Kennett.

Multiple stop HC that runs wing T which would make Ridley people riot.

Clark is interesting as he’s had success at Unionville, and is from area, went to st James. I’d say he is most qualified on paper.

Ruffenach is a coordinator on a perennial middle of pack team at largest school in Delco, but they have different problems than most of central.

Pidgeon: former Ridley qb, not much experience, oversaw a good year at Ohara but no track record otherwise. Sounds a little like decker in that “lets Just hire one of our old QBs”

Not like there’s a very successful coach on that list like oh I don’t know: the former Ridley player who has built a 5a power down the street at AP. A current coordinator at a successful program like Springfield, Downingtown, GV or other Chester County or bucks county programs. Even a Job hopper like Dan Ellis who has made each team he’s had better. Someone from way outside, hired gun to win like Ortega at coatesville.

Just a weird list that has no jump to it. Feel like Clark was proven program builder who’s had success, rest is same list of applicants every other school gets. Just thought you’d get a little more from Ridley.


Also if I’m interviewing candidates, one of my first questions is “who do you see being on your staff?” Other than the AD, wood brought on no one it sounds like.
 
Great insight. I brought this up in a previous post and I will bring it up again. We (fans of high school football) do not bring up names of who are some guys on the rise to come into some of these jobs. A lot of the school administrators do not know who’s who believe it or not and the folks on this site do.

My point is, a proud program like Ridley could benefit from knowing who’s out there, same with any program looking for a HC. The last thing you want is a coach to resign and people are interviewing guys who nobody knows but they impress in an interview with a principle and they end up not being a good fit.

For example: In the NFL/College, the top coordinators are names to be mentioned for potential vacancies. Coordinators from successful schools seem to be most logical.
 
South Ave Sam said:
Another question is at this point have the Ridley faithful and alumni disassociated themselves from this staff?

It is long known that the Ridley faithful had another coach in mind when process of hiring Wood was started. Did the Ridley Faithful step away at that point? Did they not support the program as they had in the past? I am not sure of these answers, but I have seen this elsewhere and the I believe real success comes from the community/alumni support in todays environment.
Click to expand...

Sam, I think this post answers your question, it took until they were 0-4 before anybody posted on this board about the issues and problems going on with the program. In the past there would’ve been over 100 posts about the program after they lost the first game and several hundres after they lost the second game. There used to be dozens of members on this site from Ridley who would post often the only one I’ve seen recently that I recognize is Speed. I guess it’s gotten So bad and they are so disgusted nobody cares anymore.

As far as the blame I would put it squarely on the administration. The hiring of Wood was a joke, as far as the process of being hired goes. (I have no doubt he is a knowledgeable and capable coach) The hiring was done prior to Decker being fired because Wood and the AD played/coached together at Widener and he wanted his own guy in charge. Signor did not like Decker because he had no control over him or the football program due to Decker’s relationship with the superintendent.

Green was hired because he is connected to the principal through their time at GV.

You have a coach that was hired by the A.D. at an offensive coordinators/assistant head coach hired by the principal. Each one trying to get his guy in the position. You have two huge egos that feel they are in charge and anybody that couldn’t see that it was a disaster in the making has their head in the sand.
 
Then if the principal and AD have “their guys,” why is everyone so sure that they will be fired? I’d assume they still have faith in them.
 
HSFballFan19 said:
Then if the principal and AD have “their guys,” why is everyone so sure that they will be fired? I’d assume they still have faith in them.
Click to expand...

They lost by 40 to Radnor. Giving up 63 in the process. Historically a down year was 3 losses. They’re currently 0-4. Don’t give me times change. Even if they aren’t the Ridley of the 80s. They’re still second or third largest school in the central league, with a lot of talent no matter what some people say. Being this bad points to a serious problem.
 
SPEED&JUMP DR. said:
Sam-the faithful are staying away in droves. This is all unchartered territory for the community, but the last home game was like a ghost town over there. Where they once drew 5000-6000 per game, they maybe lucky to get 1500. At $5 a ticket for 5-6 home games, they are taking a big hit, especially when they count on that money to fund other sports programs.

HSF-When Green was hired, he was also given a teaching job in the school, much to the chagrin of the teachers union. Wood does not have a teaching degree so there was no job attached to his hiring. Although subsequent to his hiring, he was given some kind of para professional job in the school ( hall monitor, cafeteria attendance, etc) So they actually made more of a financial commitment to Green then Wood.
Click to expand...
Speed, at this point what does it take to get the faithful back on board?
 
HSFballFan19 said:
Then if the principal and AD have “their guys,” why is everyone so sure that they will be fired? I’d assume they still have faith in them.
Click to expand...

I don’t think either will be fired, they are tied to the administration and they will not admit that they made a mistake. Both will sink or swim with their choices even if it is obvious it was a bad fit
 
All this talk about coaches means nothing. This year is definitely a down year, and many saw it coming. I agree that Green is trying to put a square peg in a round hole, and he needs to get his priorities in order to be the OC in Ridley. The main thing you need to realize is that Chris Bell has a daughter in the school, and you are using his name on here. I’m sure the coaches are reading this. I find that to be a bit disrespectful to a guy who worked his ass off while a coach here in Ridley. Him or his daughter have nothing to do with this.
PAfootball2013 said:
They lost by 40 to Radnor. Giving up 63 in the process. Historically a down year was 3 losses. They’re currently 0-4. Don’t give me times change. Even if they aren’t the Ridley of the 80s. They’re still second or third largest school in the central league, with a lot of talent no matter what some people say. Being this bad points to a serious problem.
Click to expand...
What talent are we talking about here? The incapable lbs, rbs, qb, wrs, o-line, d-line, corners, safety? You must be talking about the MVP’s of the team so far this year, the punter and the kicker. Other than that, this team is 100% void of talent. This group of 12th and 11th graders went a combined 20-100 in the youth football leagues since 8 years old (roughly), 4-18 as freshman (12th graders were 0-11), and have been no better at JV the last 2 years. Anyone who thinks this team has any talent is badly informed. The 10th grade group is gonna be good, but they are a year away
 
Ridley lacks in talent. no if, ands, or buts about it. It was easy for the wood coaching staff to be successful in their first year because of the talented group they were GIVEN by coach decker. Knowing both coaching staffs very well, I can’t say that the players on the team like/liked the wood coaching staff as a whole during their time from rumors that others have posted. I strongly believe that school board just wanted to hire their buddy’s bc it was convienant for them. Signor on the other hand is whole different topic. He bashed decker from the start, bashed Kevin Ellers (ex boys lax coach) from the start while both were going through tough times in their life, but he decided that they were just best off without them and told them to beat it because of their personal issues. Signor brought this “dynasty” coaching staff, but could only produce one year of REAL success? Doesn’t seem to add up. Maybe it’s because the coaching staff walked into a stacked sr class who would’ve had the same, or better results with a different coaching staff.

@NotChrisBell
Theirs a select few that know that information. But I’m happy you stated it and brought attention to the fact that this isn’t the Ridley way.
 
Ridleyray4 said:
All this talk about coaches means nothing. This year is definitely a down year, and many saw it coming. I agree that Green is trying to put a square peg in a round hole, and he needs to get his priorities in order to be the OC in Ridley. The main thing you need to realize is that Chris Bell has a daughter in the school, and you are using his name on here. I’m sure the coaches are reading this. I find that to be a bit disrespectful to a guy who worked his ass off while a coach here in Ridley. Him or his daughter have nothing to do with this.

What talent are we talking about here? The incapable lbs, rbs, qb, wrs, o-line, d-line, corners, safety? You must be talking about the MVP’s of the team so far this year, the punter and the kicker. Other than that, this team is 100% void of talent. This group of 12th and 11th graders went a combined 20-100 in the youth football leagues since 8 years old (roughly), 4-18 as freshman (12th graders were 0-11), and have been no better at JV the last 2 years. Anyone who thinks this team has any talent is badly informed. The 10th grade group is gonna be good, but they are a year away
Click to expand...
 
No disrespect meant. If anything it’s a compliment. I don’t get upset that someone uses Joe Emmi as a screen name.
 
Greengoblin927 said:
Ridley lacks in talent. no if, ands, or buts about it. It was easy for the wood coaching staff to be successful in their first year because of the talented group they were GIVEN by coach decker. Knowing both coaching staffs very well, I can’t say that the players on the team like/liked the wood coaching staff as a whole during their time from rumors that others have posted. I strongly believe that school board just wanted to hire their buddy’s bc it was convienant for them. Signor on the other hand is whole different topic. He bashed decker from the start, bashed Kevin Ellers (ex boys lax coach) from the start while both were going through tough times in their life, but he decided that they were just best off without them and told them to beat it because of their personal issues. Signor brought this “dynasty” coaching staff, but could only produce one year of REAL success? Doesn’t seem to add up. Maybe it’s because the coaching staff walked into a stacked sr class who would’ve had the same, or better results with a different coaching staff.

@NotChrisBell
Theirs a select few that know that information. But I’m happy you stated it and brought attention to the fact that this isn’t the Ridley way.
Click to expand...
Wait, your talking about the same exact group that went 6-5 in the central league the year before with Decker and Co during 2015 season?? I get it, they were the previous staffs players, but you can’t say they weren’t coached that year. That makes no sense. Same players went 10-1 in 2016 under Wood and his staff. 6-5 to 10-1 is a pretty drastic difference. The Signor problem is a whole other can of worms that needs to be opened up wide. If your looking for the problem at this school, look no further than the current AD
 
NotChrisBell said:
No disrespect meant. If anything it’s a compliment. I don’t get upset that someone uses Joe Emmi as a screen name.
Click to expand...
I get you may think it’s a compliment, but I’m sure the coaches are on here. Intended or not, some of them are teachers at the school, and his daughter doesn’t need that kind of stuff. I know it’s not intended
 
Ridleyray4 said:
Wait, your talking about the same exact group that went 6-5 in the central league the year before with Decker and Co during 2015 season?? I get it, they were the previous staffs players, but you can’t say they weren’t coached that year. That makes no sense. Same players went 10-1 in 2016 under Wood and his staff. 6-5 to 10-1 is a pretty drastic difference. The Signor problem is a whole other can of worms that needs to be opened up wide. If your looking for the problem at this school, look no further than the current AD
Click to expand...
Agree on the AD 100%!!!! The AD even scheduled an extra game that year trying to get them to be the first losing team in history since the merger. All so he could bring in his guy with no real pushback. Took Admin from thanksgiving until right before Christmas break to bring out the hatchet.
As for the team that went 6-5 that junior class was getting their first year of Varsity experience except for the Anderson kid. Senior class lacked enough leaders ( see Beer Olympics ) so these 1st year guys were put in a position to lead and produce not only as juniors but as seniors as well.
 
Ridleyray4 said:
Wait, your talking about the same exact group that went 6-5 in the central league the year before with Decker and Co during 2015 season?? I get it, they were the previous staffs players, but you can’t say they weren’t coached that year. That makes no sense. Same players went 10-1 in 2016 under Wood and his staff. 6-5 to 10-1 is a pretty drastic difference. The Signor problem is a whole other can of worms that needs to be opened up wide. If your looking for the problem at this school, look no further than the current AD
Click to expand...

No, I didn’t say they weren’t coached at all. Decker and wood both coached their players. There’s no question about that. But do you think the Ridley class would have been better with their talent in the 2017 season with a spread or triple option offense? The answer was clear, but again the AD had to hire his friends to try and build a replica of Garnet valley. Not bring in someone familiar with the school, community, and tradition the town has is kind of disrespectful.
 
No question there is a dearth of talent, but it is clear to the naked eye that the kids are not well coached. They are giving up over 40 points a game, which are epic numbers even for talentless teams. Ridley was not succesful in the past because they had more talent than every team in the league, year in year out. The whole Green Mystique aura was based on big talented teams going into Ridley and leaving with a loss and wondering how they lost to THAT team? Well,they lost because the coaching staff figured out a way to coach their kids up, out coach and out scheme the opposition, and generally have their kids in the right position and ready to play. Is it easier to win with talent-absolutely. But does the more talented win every game-no. That's why they play the games.
 
Hey Speed:
Is it possible since Wood came from college coaching more mature players maybe he has trouble handling hs kids?

It reminds me of Chip Carroll coaching college and moving up to pros wasn't the right decision.
Coaches need to find where they fit.
 
Foot: I am not close enough to Wood or the program to make that call. I know it looks like the team is definitely playing hard for 48 minutes. I also know the kids have just flat out quit the team entirely. It could be the kids not wanting to work hard enough, it could be the coaching staff, it could be they want to focus on another sport, who knows?
 
No need to worry everyone the team is headed in the right direction now with a HUGE STATEMENT (Pres. Trump voice) against the LM Aces. “I know we’ve lost every game (to this point) but we knew we had to keep going, We want to keep everybody intense because we know we’ll be on top soon.”
 
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