The gods are miffed, hit the refresh button, we have alot to get off our chest. We are now providing the answers to the test. For all the frauds masquerading in District 1, read closely. We had to go to District IV to find it, but here is the coaching manual and formula, complements of Jim Roth, Southern Columbia (SCA). Smells similar to CB West and Berwick in the 80's and 90's.
Success = Players + Competitive Moat + Infrastructure + Coaching
1986-2016 Coach Roth's 33 year record at Southern Columbia (District 4, 2A) is 396-63-2
30 of 33 season with double digit wins
24 District IV Championships (including record 16 consecutive)
15 Eastern PA Championships
7 PIAA State Hub Caps
Never a losing season, 1986 was worst year @ 6-5-1
Youngest coach in PA history to reach 300 wins
Since PIAA playoffs began in 1988, SCA has made state finals 15/29 times
Was A but moved up to AA in 2015 (barely)
4 Undefeated seasons: 1994, 2004, 2006, 2015
Field Dedicated to him during the 2016 season
Does this look like success to you? 4 parts contributing to his achievements: players, competitve moat (isolation), infrastructure and most importantly, coaching. Allow us to briefly review each.
PLAYERS: The SCA Tiger roster is typically about 50 kids. The 2016 state runner up had 11 freshman on the squad. The leading rusher, receiver, and top two tacklers were 9th graders. About 155 boys. Roughly 1/3 on the football team. Unheard of participation level. These are very tough kids whose families grew up laboring in the mines of the Coal Region. Scrapes with the Molly Maguires are recorded in the Columbia County website. Could be a demographic time warp, even Knoebel's the amusement park in nearby Elysburg, is a rewind to a different era. These young men are just hungrier. Columbia County Median Household Income is $45k/year. PA Average is $53k. Catawissa (where high school is located), median home price is $92k vs. PA average of $164k. 24% of the high school students are "economically disadvantaged". These families are the underdogs that continually do more with less. And they make ZERO excuses. Not many kids hit the big time, but they will be succesful in life. Henry Hynoksi just ran someone over reading this.
COMPETITIVE MOAT: This is a rural area. There is not a private school playing football for miles within the SCA campus. There is no threat of being poached or picked clean. This tradition has been been quietly built in the shadows of Berwick and the late great George Curry, who is the all-time wins leader in PA with 455. Mount Carmel is also in the county, no slouch of a program itself. The Red Tornado has been overtaken by Roth and his staff, methodically over the years. The real distraction is the annual Bloomsburg State Fair.
INFRASTRUCTURE: The facilities are not great, but are far from horrible. The school administration is very supportive--they named the damn field after him, after all! Roth also serves as the athletic director, so he has considerable sway. Academically, SCA is 99/674 on SchoolDigger rankings, more than respectable. The building blocks are all there to be successful. However, the critical element is coaching.
COACHING: This is a program. It has consistency of coaching tenure. Roth for 33 years as head coach and a few more an an assistant. Other staff members on hand for 37, 24, 21, 20, 17 and 15 years. Even the junior high coach has been in place for 15 seasons. These kids learn the Wing-T and 4-4 in 6th grade and grow up running that system to breed familiarity.
A rival coach says: "We all knew we had better get our kids to work because the Southern kids are working their tails off, and in turn, I think it has dramatically improved the level of football in the district."
Former player: "We were always prepared--he advocated watching film and was a great teacher in practice. Secondly, I always appreciated how he coached us to attack and never back down."
So tell us, Jim, why have you been so succesful?
"Early on, we instilled some structure and continuity and it paid off pretty quickly."
Ah, Jim, you are just winning with better players.....
"No matter what your talent level is in your system, if your program is run with a lot of structure and discipline, that carries over."
Jim, you have been running that Wing-T and 4-4 for years, is that the answer?
"Lots of systems work, its about having kids that will compete and execute. I don't care what you are running, what scheme you are using, I think training is more important than the X's and O's, by far. We have had a very good weight training and speed training program for years."
LOOK IN THE MIRROR COACHES!! Stop making excuses. Roth does not get huge numbers, but he coaches them up, prepares them for life and gets results. Imagine if he had the job at Pennridge, Souderton, Boyertown, Methacton, Upper Darby, OJR, CB East/West/South, Conestoga.
"The scales of Divine Justice always balance--if not here, then hereafter."
Success = Players + Competitive Moat + Infrastructure + Coaching
1986-2016 Coach Roth's 33 year record at Southern Columbia (District 4, 2A) is 396-63-2
30 of 33 season with double digit wins
24 District IV Championships (including record 16 consecutive)
15 Eastern PA Championships
7 PIAA State Hub Caps
Never a losing season, 1986 was worst year @ 6-5-1
Youngest coach in PA history to reach 300 wins
Since PIAA playoffs began in 1988, SCA has made state finals 15/29 times
Was A but moved up to AA in 2015 (barely)
4 Undefeated seasons: 1994, 2004, 2006, 2015
Field Dedicated to him during the 2016 season
Does this look like success to you? 4 parts contributing to his achievements: players, competitve moat (isolation), infrastructure and most importantly, coaching. Allow us to briefly review each.
PLAYERS: The SCA Tiger roster is typically about 50 kids. The 2016 state runner up had 11 freshman on the squad. The leading rusher, receiver, and top two tacklers were 9th graders. About 155 boys. Roughly 1/3 on the football team. Unheard of participation level. These are very tough kids whose families grew up laboring in the mines of the Coal Region. Scrapes with the Molly Maguires are recorded in the Columbia County website. Could be a demographic time warp, even Knoebel's the amusement park in nearby Elysburg, is a rewind to a different era. These young men are just hungrier. Columbia County Median Household Income is $45k/year. PA Average is $53k. Catawissa (where high school is located), median home price is $92k vs. PA average of $164k. 24% of the high school students are "economically disadvantaged". These families are the underdogs that continually do more with less. And they make ZERO excuses. Not many kids hit the big time, but they will be succesful in life. Henry Hynoksi just ran someone over reading this.
COMPETITIVE MOAT: This is a rural area. There is not a private school playing football for miles within the SCA campus. There is no threat of being poached or picked clean. This tradition has been been quietly built in the shadows of Berwick and the late great George Curry, who is the all-time wins leader in PA with 455. Mount Carmel is also in the county, no slouch of a program itself. The Red Tornado has been overtaken by Roth and his staff, methodically over the years. The real distraction is the annual Bloomsburg State Fair.
INFRASTRUCTURE: The facilities are not great, but are far from horrible. The school administration is very supportive--they named the damn field after him, after all! Roth also serves as the athletic director, so he has considerable sway. Academically, SCA is 99/674 on SchoolDigger rankings, more than respectable. The building blocks are all there to be successful. However, the critical element is coaching.
COACHING: This is a program. It has consistency of coaching tenure. Roth for 33 years as head coach and a few more an an assistant. Other staff members on hand for 37, 24, 21, 20, 17 and 15 years. Even the junior high coach has been in place for 15 seasons. These kids learn the Wing-T and 4-4 in 6th grade and grow up running that system to breed familiarity.
A rival coach says: "We all knew we had better get our kids to work because the Southern kids are working their tails off, and in turn, I think it has dramatically improved the level of football in the district."
Former player: "We were always prepared--he advocated watching film and was a great teacher in practice. Secondly, I always appreciated how he coached us to attack and never back down."
So tell us, Jim, why have you been so succesful?
"Early on, we instilled some structure and continuity and it paid off pretty quickly."
Ah, Jim, you are just winning with better players.....
"No matter what your talent level is in your system, if your program is run with a lot of structure and discipline, that carries over."
Jim, you have been running that Wing-T and 4-4 for years, is that the answer?
"Lots of systems work, its about having kids that will compete and execute. I don't care what you are running, what scheme you are using, I think training is more important than the X's and O's, by far. We have had a very good weight training and speed training program for years."
LOOK IN THE MIRROR COACHES!! Stop making excuses. Roth does not get huge numbers, but he coaches them up, prepares them for life and gets results. Imagine if he had the job at Pennridge, Souderton, Boyertown, Methacton, Upper Darby, OJR, CB East/West/South, Conestoga.
"The scales of Divine Justice always balance--if not here, then hereafter."
