Re: Coach Manuel at Matoaca
Danny raises a good point. I stopped going to MBK games this year because parents were brutal in the stands. It's one thing if they had a clue. But, the pure idiocy they would be spewing that was linked to very personal attacks was just too much. Fans always complain, and they are always loud. It was way over the top the last couple of years, and the things they were saying just exposed pure ignorance about the game.
There's a part to coaching at the high school level that I think separates the good technical coaches from the great coaches. What made Coach Taylor great was his off the field work. The MBK strength and conditioning program was far ahead of others for years. More importantly, Coach Taylor's tireless work in trying to place kids at the next level has been under appreciated by many. If any kid playing ball wanted to play at the next level, Coach Taylor put everything into it, be it D1, D2 or D3. I can think of a number of kids who are succeeding because Coach Taylor worked to get them into a D3 school. They are playing football and, even though they aren't under scholarship, it's a life changing experience. These efforts date back to his days as an assistant. Of course, there are also the kids that he was successful in placing into scholarship situations. He will be missed.