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The Ridley Coaching Rumor Thread

Wood did not have that job locked up. He didn't even interview until last week. Connor actually was very well in the mix. Bonner is not a very enticing job so I'm guessing that is why Connor chose AC.

I don't think the scenario of Waller is likely. I'm sure he would be willing to assist in any way but not take over again. Thompson seems to be the redheaded step child of the group. Bell would put the work in and do a great job. Bonner is an Oline coach with very little experience with coordinating so he would not be something the Ridley would "hope" for. Batty didn't have any desire picking up Decker's slack when he was a no-show for practices, so I don't see him being a head coach. Out of that group Bell would be the best option.

Looking within might not be the best option for Ridley. Tradition is a huge part of that program but it could ultimately hurt them in the long run when it comes to this hire.
 
Def: I do not know if Bell applied or not. But as Free so adequately summed it up, Bell is viewed by many as" a loyal soldier" but not so much as a respected General.

The sinking feeling most people are getting is that there is the right move to be made from a purely football point of view, but the AD/Administration/School Board are going to look the other way and make the wrong decision. Same thing happened 7 years ago. Anyone who knew Decker and the baggage he brought with him could have predicted exactly how his regime was going to end. But since certain memebers of the school board went to school with Decker's dad, Decker got the job over several more qualified candidates. Fast forward to today and the same thing is going to happen, although Wood is way more credentialed than Decker.
 
I really don't see what the problem is if Wood get the job?He is a great coach!! He will give 100%
 
SPEED&JUMP DR. said:
Def: I do not know if Bell applied or not. But as Free so adequately summed it up, Bell is viewed by many as" a loyal soldier" but not so much as a respected General.

The sinking feeling most people are getting is that there is the right move to be made from a purely football point of view, but the AD/Administration/School Board are going to look the other way and make the wrong decision. Same thing happened 7 years ago. Anyone who knew Decker and the baggage he brought with him could have predicted exactly how his regime was going to end. But since certain memebers of the school board went to school with Decker's dad, Decker got the job over several more qualified candidates. Fast forward to today and the same thing is going to happen, although Wood is way more credentialed than Decker.
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Speed, I think you have done a great job at protecting your anonymity in the board, so why don't you ever tell all the details of what you know. You always manage to keep a sort of vagueness with all your posts. I don't think anyone knows who you are, so why not just say what you know.

Or, allow me to read into you statement an attempt a guess. I know you won't confirm or probably comment, but here goes:

you say there is a move to be made from a football standpoint that won't be, and that they had the same choice a few years ago. I am going to assume you mean that it's the same person. So, you are saying that you want Brian Thompson to get the job, since he will bring back batty and all the old coaching regime. But, Thompson wants the Waller deal of a 90k a year pool monitor job, which is what he wanted last time as well, and that the admin won't give him that type of package, which was the same reason he was passed over last time. And Thompson, who has a bit of an ego, won't accept the job without that deal.

How's my aim?
 
Delco : I have no idea how Woods credentials compare to anyone else who applied since I'm not privy to who applied. He may in fact have the best resume , but nothing I've seen so far has him being a 'great ' coach. As Jeff Lurie would say, his coaching history does not exactly have a great trajectory.

Defcon: your aim is pretty good , except instead of just Thompson , add Bell and Vosheski to the mix. They would all be good hires in my opinion and all would be looking for a little extra commitment from the school to coach at a school like Ridley and bring it back to prominence. Whether it's Thompson looking to cut back on teaching and be a pool monitor , Visheski wanting to be assistant AD, or Bell wanting a job in the school, they all want to be able to focus on being in the school and being a full time football coach This is how it's done at most big time programs even at the high school level and this is how they got both Waller and Decker Instead now they pretty much told those guys from the get go if you're looking for anything over and above just a coaching job, don't even bother applying. It's not that they are being looked over for the position , it's that they aren't even encouraged to apply for the position. So the administration already has a built in excuse because they can just put the word out they would have loved to hire Vosheski for the job ( or Bell or Thompson) but he never applied for the job. And I have no real idea who ends up with the job , but you take any combination of Vosheski , Bell, Thompson, Batty , Waller , Bowden , Randolph and that staff coaches circles around the staff they had last year and most of the staffs in the central league. Now is that a guarantee the win the league? Of course not. But I can guarantee they won't rack up 100 yards in Penalties week in week out , or give up a school record number of points , or have kids consistently miss pre season workouts and still play , etc.
 
Spee
SPEED&JUMP DR. said:
Delco : I have no idea how Woods credentials compare to anyone else who applied since I'm not privy to who applied. He may in fact have the best resume , but nothing I've seen so far has him being a 'great ' coach. As Jeff Lurie would say, his coaching history does not exactly have a great trajectory.

Defcon: your aim is pretty good , except instead of just Thompson , add Bell and Vosheski to the mix. They would all be good hires in my opinion and all would be looking for a little extra commitment from the school to coach at a school like Ridley and bring it back to prominence. Whether it's Thompson looking to cut back on teaching and be a pool monitor , Visheski wanting to be assistant AD, or Bell wanting a job in the school, they all want to be able to focus on being in the school and being a full time football coach This is how it's done at most big time programs even at the high school level and this is how they got both Waller and Decker Instead now they pretty much told those guys from the get go if you're looking for anything over and above just a coaching job, don't even bother applying. It's not that they are being looked over for the position , it's that they aren't even encouraged to apply for the position. So the administration already has a built in excuse because they can just put the word out they would have loved to hire Vosheski for the job ( or Bell or Thompson) but he never applied for the job. And I have no real idea who ends up with the job , but you take any combination of Vosheski , Bell, Thompson, Batty , Waller , Bowden , Randolph and that staff coaches circles around the staff they had last year and most of the staffs in the central league. Now is that a guarantee the win the league? Of course not. But I can guarantee they won't rack up 100 yards in Penalties week in week out , or give up a school record number of points , or have kids consistently miss pre season workouts and still play , etc.
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d

Thanks for the detail. I have always respected your view on Ridley. I would love Joe Kane to chime in, and Cuck, who has been curiously quiet during this whole thing.

The only thing that I think you sometimes fall into, as do a lot of Ridley people, is the need to look towards the Ridley candidates first and giving them automatic priority. Someone above had mentioned that the Ridley pre-disposition to always look for "Ridley" guy first as the answer I think could hurt Ridley this time around. It didn't help them last time. For example, look at the Eagles. Do you think they would even attempt to go after a up tempo college coach again with zero people skills? Or did Chip Kelly poison that water? Not taking anything away from the names you mentioned. Just making a point.

I have, however, heard a rumored list of Non-Ridley applicants for the job (besides Wood). Since it is rumored, I wont attach names.

A sitting Delco Head coach, but not in the Central, Del Val league
A Coordinator from AP
A coordinator from Springfield
2 Coaches from GV, one coordinator one not
A position coach from Upper Darby
A former position coach/coordinator from local colleges/trade schools

Again, rumor but from a good source.
 
One dark horse candidate I would keep an eye on is the defensive coordinator from The Haverford School. I believe he is a St. James guy from Ridley area. Been running one of the best defenses in Delco for the past several years. The fact that Haverford has been an incredibly successful program and top team in Delco past few years should carry some weight.
 
Speed - you seem to either be very much in the know or very much set in your beliefs and against change. You have been rather critical of Wood and his lack of a resume or luster. NCAA coach with DC and HC expierence. Won championships as a both. Defenses led conference, D3, and a few times entire NCAA in sacks, rushing yards allowed, and points allowed.

How many head coaching victories does Thompson have? What was Bell's record at his last two head coaching stops? Remind me, what were the circumstances around Randolph's departure from Stoga? If I recall Batty was a great DC but the HC experiment left a lot to be desired.
Sometimes changes is a good thing.
 
If you would look at many of my prior posts here, I have said I think the job should be open to everyone-even those outside of Ridley. Im just not wowed by Woods resume. He won one championship as a head coach-and that was 9 years ago. I hear he is a very solid football guy with long time roots in Delaware county. If he is the best man for the job and wows them in the interviews, then he should get the job and I will support him %150! But if he gets the job because he is buddies with the AD and they can save money by hiring him because he is not looking for anything in the school, then they are not getting the best guy for the job. Just my opinion. Nothing personal against Wood. I'm not wowed by Doug Pedersons resume either , but looks like he's getting a head coaching job.

The administration is subtly putting restrictions on the job-and as a result on the pool of applicants. So my fear is with the administration and its attempt to cut corners, and not necessarily with any potential coach. If I heard that Wood wanted the job and wanted a job in the school as hall monitor and also wanted to bring on another coach as offensive coordinator, and that guy also wanted a job in the school I would be elated since it would show me the administration is %100 committed to the program if Wood got hired.
 
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If Vosheski wants to keep his sanity, he'll get out of that garbage dump, Academy Park.
No teaching responsibilities or not, dealing with lousy facilities, a lousy staff & administration, a violent and lousy student body (most with criminal records) would be like watching your career go right down the toilet. Who wants to pour all of their efforts into a vacuum every, single day? If you think you're good enough to get onto the big stage, like at a school like Ridley and the Central League, it would be a mistake not to pursue it.
 
Angry Al- you should change your name to ignorant Al or maybe jackass Al. Comments are way off base and unnecessary. Guessing you were just leaving the milmont around midnight?
 
He waited so long for his first post and that's what he came up,with. Can hardly wAit for his second post.
 
I apologize for stereotyping Ridley people with that moron. However, I do hear interviews have begun- just wondering who is conducting the interviews? Is there a committee or is the school board or what?
 
Well? What are the real names? If this thing is under way, figure two rounds of interviews, there could be a final name by end of the week. Isn't someone camped outside the high school taking pictures as candidates enter the building? Haha
 
It does not appear that any Ridley guys are scheduled for interviews. So that leaves a non-Ridley applicant , at least for the first set of interviews. See Defcon post above for a good outline of thos non-Ridley applicants. With a little bit of work you can match the name. Also two candidates from NJ as well.

Now it's entirely possible they start the process with non-Ridley to see if anyone knocks their socks off, and if not , go back to Ridley applicants. It appears that both Signor and Maiers will be the main people conducting the interviews, with any recommendations being brought before the school board for final approval.
 
Good luck to Ridley with this exercise as I'd like to see a continuation of the Green Raiders as a very solid and long-time Philadelphia area public school team that shines a very positive light on its community and school district.
 
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I heard interviewing started Friday, and had some yesterday and finishing today. Anything interesting out there in rumor land?
 
Heard from a faculty member they are convinced that Dave Wood will get the job. I'm not 100% sure they have "inside" info, but no reason to believe they are leading me on. They said the kids should know by Friday?

Just adding to the rumor thread.

Cheers,

Busch
 
Dave Wood's biggest asset is his relationship with the AD, but this decision is going to be made way above him. This will be made by Super/ Asst Super/ School Board. Connection with AD may be enough to get him out of round 1, but he will have to "win" rounds after that.
 
Most people thought Wood was the Ad's choice from the beginning. The fact that many of the current staffers and other Ridley guys have started looking elsewhere for work would lead me to believe its his job to lose and they all know it.

But final say so has always been the school board,and they do not meet again until February, so I am not sure how the kids will know by Friday, unless trhe school board( Cappozoli) has already approved of the hiring.
 
I think current Ridley staffers went away because they were told in no uncertain terms that they wanted to go in a new direction. No one on staff had a great resume to put up against some of the candidates mentioned, other than that they coached at Ridley last year (during one of the most tumultuous years they've ever had.). Can't fire the HC then hire someone from the staff you had such a problem with
 
PA. The only guy on last years staff even remotely qualified was Bell. Other Ridley names mentioned were Vosheski , Thompson , Randolph , and the Waller /Batty conglomerate. When you say they were told they were going in another direction , you aren't kidding since no one from that group even bothered applying - either because they didn't want the job , were told don't bother applying for the job or decided to look elsewhere for jobs outside Ridley. The only Ridley guys known to have tossed their hat in the ring are Dave Vosheski, Jason's younger brother and on the staff at AP, Mike Ewing, also on the AP staff and from a long family tree of high school coaches , and Andrew Pidgieon , currently on the staff at Lower Merion. All three are probably all too young and/ or inexperienced to be head coaches , although maybe they become part of the staff.

The actual pool of applicants is actually underwhelming. Many qualified coaches apparently assumed the job would go to one of the more experienced ex Ridley guys , so they didn't apply. The ex Ridley guys were told not to bother applying as well. So you have a list of around only 15 or so applicants , most of which have little or no head coaching experience or have been coaching forever bouncing from job to job. When those types were whittled away , you are left with only 4-5 legitimate candidates.
 
Speed-
I am confused. You continually bashed Decker and called for a change. Now, you continue to take shots at the lack of a process, school administration, other candidates, and Wood. Oh and you always reference Bell as being qualified. Please explain why Bell is so qualified?
 
I was told that the group included at least 7- 8 coaches with NCAA exp, 6 - 8 with HC exp, and at least all the remaining had been OC or DC previously. Also, heard many were on staff with teams that won league championships and were in District Playoffs over the last 2 seasons. Sounds like a decent pool to me.
 
I'm not sure Bell is qualified to actually get the job. But he is a Ridley grad , has head coaching experience , coordinator experience , and has been coaching for 20 years. He is certainly qualified to get an interview. Thompson has been a 9th grade head coach , JV head coach , college coach and at Ridley for over 20 years. He is certainly qualified to get an interview. Instead , a three year offensive coordinator from a school that won 4 games in 3 years gets an interview. a head coach from a team that hasn't had a winning record in who knows how long gets an interview. Not only did they not get interviews , they were basically told not even apply for the job. Even the Eagles, in their limited job search has the common courtesy to interview Shumur and Staley. It's just the right thing to do even if they thought Pederson(Wood) was their guy all along.

Worse case scenario , you bring Bell in fir an interview, pick his brain as to,what went wrong in the past few years , and use that information to help hire a coach that won't make the same mistakes. You have nothing to lose by interviewing people that know the program and might have solutions to fix the problems.
 
Honestly, the great head coaches of Ridley past all got their start somewhere, right? Weren't some of them rather young? The notion that a younger coach with little or no head coaching experience couldn't be successful is silly. The more important thing the new head coach is gonna have to do is build a strong staff. Sure the head coach is important but building a staff that will stay in tact, share the same philosophy as the hc, include the community and alumni, and be willing to start a new tradition at Ridley are in some ways more important than a new HC. If what speed is saying is true regarding former Ridley coaches not applying/not being asked to apply I wonder if they will be childish and make it difficult on the new guy, especially if it's not a Ridley guy. If the new guy goes 6-4 this year are they gonna send him to the guillotine or are they gonna let the new staff work and support them?
 
Speed -
Are you positive that those coaches were told not to apply. My understanding is that the entire process was open to all candidates. Now if the candidates that you continue to mention decided that they shouldn't apply because they were not personally asked or courted to feel special, shame on them. This is a good job and if someone can not find the time to apply, or have the fortitude to go through the process without being courted. Shame on them, and if your green colored glasses are preventing you from seeing that shame on you.

I do know Bell might have received an interview despite his horrible HC record at two separate locations, but if he failed to apply he made that unable to occur. And Thompson's prowess as a HC at the JV level and on the sidelines as a HC at the 9th grade level may have been enough, but if he did not apply and let his ego and personal agenda get in the way again, shame on him.

As for your reference to some of the younger candidates. Is it possible that unlike yourself the committee is thinking outside the box and using time to gather information about the status or view of the program from the outside, look at what is working in other programs, and gage the interest of some candidates to help put together a staff. And as for the HC you mentioned that has not won many games in his past few seasons, my understanding is he has won an awful lot of games in his coaching career at a few different places. Even won some Phl. Cath. Championships along the way. Might not have won many at his last stop but he has a lot more HC victories then many of the men you continue to vent about.
 
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I was told that Thompson was introduced at Springfield's OC yesterday. I also heard that he was waiting for Ridley to reach out to him to gauge his interest. When they didn't, he moved on. So, if the DC from Springfield gets the job, Thompson wont be his OC. Ha! Good hire for Springfield.

Speed, I find it hard to believe that anyone would have been told to not apply. How does that conversation happen?

Candidate: hey AD, I would like to apply for the job
AD: Don't bother.

Using Bell as an example, are you saying that he contacted the AD or another member of the administration, and they expressly told him not to apply? I just find it extremely hard to believe that type of conversation went down. Every other candidate had to sent in a resume or whatever the process was. If Bell wanted the job, why not send his stuff in just like every other applicant. It would be more believable that he did that and then was told he wasn't getting an interview. But a person being told "don't even bother applying" by someone directly involved with the process just doesn't wash. In both Bell and Thompsons case, maybe because they were both passed over for the job in the past led to a perception that they shouldn't apply. But I highly doubt that anyone involved with the hiring process directly told either one don't bother applying.

As far as the "many qualified coaches assumed it would go to one of the more experienced ex-Ridley guys" comment, my questions there are:

1. who are the more experienced ex-Ridley guys you are referring to? Aside from Bell, Randolph, and Vosheski (who everyone knows wasn't applying) no ex-Ridley guys that I can think of have more experience then some of the current list of candidates that applied.
2. More importantly, who were the qualified coaches who didn't apply? It seems the applicant pool as a bunch of coordinators, a few head coaches or former head coaches.

Again, always have respected your ridley opinions. But it seems like you, and maybe some other Ridley folks, think the admin should look for Ridley first, quality second.
 
So 2 gv asst, local coordinators- some with Ridley connections , 2 cmont coaches and a college coach seem to be candidates. Principal has interboro (garnet dc is int. guy) and garnet ties, ad has widener ties- That gives a picture of who is really in mix.
 
Folsom Pride seems to have the final 4 or 5 accurate. One other name I heard was former Harriton head coach Matt Barr. That would be an interesting candidate. He never really had much to work with there, but always put the ball in his QB's hands and his offense there always put up numbers and moved the ball. I think his style of play would fit offensively with the Ridley history.
 
How come people are being vague when it comes to posting candidate's names, and making readers have to almost decipher a code?
2 gv asst
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2 cmont coaches
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a three year offensive coordinator from a school that won 4 games in 3 years
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a head coach from a team that hasn't had a winning record in who knows how long
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I think most readers know that everything is just a rumor at this point. No one is going to take your word as gospel and hold you to it, why not just post the info instead of being cryptic?
 
Im not opposed to the younger guys getting interviews, but I am opposed to them getting interviews over the "ridley" guys. Im not going to apologize for my support of Ridley first, outsiders second. Ive never hid behind that. But I also said numerous times that the job should be open to anyone Ridley or non_ridley and I would support whoever gets the job. I just get the sense that the administration went so far in the other direction that it discouraged any Ridley guys from being part of the process.

So how would that conversation take place:

CB: If im interested in the job, do I need to get a resume together or can I just tell you im interested?
AD: Ill put your name in if youre interested.
CB: Does the job include a job in the school like Decker got, because it would be hard for me to get from my current teaching job to ridley everyday before 3:30 and I think its really important to be in the school.
AD: We have other guys applying who are not looking for a job in the school so we really don't need to have the coaching job tied to a job in the school. So if you are looking for a job in the school as well, save your time and don't bother applying.

OR

AD: BT, are you going to apply for the job?
BT: Im teaching 5 classes a day, I would need some time off during the day or a decreased teaching load in order to really to the job right. Maybe something like Waller got where im still in the school but I don't have to teach 6 hours a day. That's how most of the big schools run their football programs today.
AD: Well, if we do that, then we'd have to hire a new teacher to cover your class load and we have other guys applying who are not looking for any kind of teaching job. So if you are looking for that type of arrangement, save your time and don't bother applying.

Now there are 3 sides to every story. The coaches side, the administration side and what really happened most likely in between. So the coaches are going to say they were told not to apply, the administration is going to say they would have loved to interview them, but they never applied. And you end up with a group of about 4-5 guys with decent credentials most with some ties to ridley, but no true ridley guys in the mix.

And if the new hire is a non ridley guy and they go 6-4 with many skill positions returning( Including an athletic QB and 1,000 yrd rusher) plus a handful of defensive starters returning and the 4 losses are to GV, Stoga, Haverford and UD then the heat would be on him right away as most believe this should be better than a 6-4 program.
 
I think Barr and Wood are in the mix at both Ridley & Bonner. With all due respect to Bonner, I would guess both would want Ridley before Bonner. So maybe if one gets the Ridley job. the other gets Bonner? Im not really plugged in to the Bonner situation.

I sent the various posts out to CSI to decode the cryptic language here and this is what they came up with:

Ray Gionta-he is the head coach who won lots of games going back to ST James and the PCL and has years of head coaching experience. He also fits the bill as current head coach of a DELCO team that's NOT in the DELVAL or Central League (Sun Valley),which is also a ChestMont team that hasn't had a winning season in forever. So he covers a lot of the variables and clues from earlier posts.

Jeff Allison-current GV Defensive Coordinator. Interboro grad ( With Acker-current Ridley principal) and played at Widener ( with Signor-Current Ridley AD). Teaches at Interboro and not looking for a job in the school.

Scott Green-GV Coach-not sure if he is the actual Offensive Coordinator-but he has certainly been involved in GV for years. Also head a stint as head coach in the ChestMont at Kennet with limited success. Was thought to have been brought back to GV to be groomed as Ricci's replacement, but his applying at ridley would seem to put that rumor to rest or he figured Ricci is not close to retiring. Big proponent of the hurry up Wishbone offense, curious as to how the Ridley faithful would react to 3-5 passes a game on a good day.

Matt Barr-see above

Dave Wood-see info on him throughout.
 
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