If you're a Swain or SMC fan, and maybe even if you're not, this is a pretty interesting hour and a half of the last four Swain head coaches talking about their teams and coaching over the last 40 years. Coaches Deitz, White, Pattillo, and Blankenship go through some of the highlights of the Swain program.
40 years of coaching excellence (Swain head coaches interview)
- Thread starter OldMaroonDevil
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Some funny stories about squirrel tails, devils' horns, and cat food. And good discussion on what expectations do for a football program, not to mention some talk about the Veer and defensive schemes.
This was some great stuff listening to these great coaches. I had the pleasure of playing against Coach Dietz and Denny Rochester and Coach Patillo. I also got to meet Coach White at a church in Robbinsville and of course still get to see Coach Blankenship. 4 great men. Being from Andrews and growing up with the Maennle boys I already knew what great guys they were. Thank you for sharing this ! I enjoyed every minute of it
Thanks for sharing....Had the pleasure through the years to meet, and talk with all 4 Coaches, and it's easy to see why Swain County has had the success that they have had though the years!
I loved the video and listening to the stories.There's so much pride in the program and these fellows know how to keep it going. I love old school football and there aren't many small schools left that can perform at the level of the Maroon Devils. Thanks for the post.
I am fortunate to be from Glen Alpine, a small town in Western Burke County, that had a similar program before consolidating into Freedom High School. The Green Wave was known to many programs and coaches from the Western part of the state during the 60's. Coach Dietz was on Howell's staff for the last game GA ever played in 1972 at Sylva-Webster. Bryson City/Swain actually ended 2 long winning streaks of the Green Wave in '63 @ 25 games and '65 @ 18 games. I have a game film of Swain and GA from '66 converted to DVD played at GA. The luster of Friday Nights gets lost, sometimes, outside of small communities but the memories are priceless.
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My dad was the band director at Swain during the 60s, and I was very young, but I remember talk of (and maybe seeing one or two) games with Glen Alpine then, back in the days when Pee Wee Jones and Carroll Wright were coaching at Swain. Glen Alpine usually had a good team.
Great show......much respect to those coaches.........as a Murphy fan I guess you could take it as a compliment such legendary coaches like Dietz and White admit they placed the top priority on beating the Bulldogs...