Heard a few days ago that LC Bird has changed coaches? If true, what happened?

Don't know but hope for the rest of the district that he has moved on. Not one of the better in the dominion. His teams have been a constant under achievers, they have lacked structure and displine. The tail wagging the dog & didnot know baseball

Just got confirmation that he resigned and the position is open. Still haven't heard why he resigned, though

Flame,

The guy was only there for 1-2 years, don't blame him for what his predecessor did.

midlo
no blame being placed only observations, he had some very good talent there for a few years, the karrs, johnathan watson, andrew deal, jamie kendrick and a few others that i cannot think of there name, all of these were on the same team and were not a force in the district and these kids are playing college ball. They have had quite a few kids over the last few years move on to college ball. I think he tried to hard to be there friend. Not the most reserved parents either, they will speak there mind in a heart beat. I heard Doug Toombs might be interested in the position, he would be a great pick up, a great fit and knows baseball. He has been coaching at Manchester and has really improved there program.

He's had good players, no doubt. But, its tough to even get in the Dominion tournament much less advance to Regionals. IMO, he never had a frontline pitcher to get over the hump in the Dominion. I guess Deal was the closest to being that type of pitcher. But River, Manchester, Cosby etc had several "Deal's" pitching in their rotation and were just too talented. I'm not saying Spencer was a great coach or anything, but probably not as bad as some presume. Tough gig...

My observation has been that that particular team suffers from bad chemistry, and some of the guys you name as top players are the very guys at the root of that problem.

Since rosters turn over completely every couple of years, that can turn around quickly -- in either direction.

Wasn't that long ago that James River had a chemistry problem. A few problem attitudes graduated, and things soared. But before anyone pats themselves on the back, remember it can turn back south just as quickly, and as such things tend to run in cycles, no one is immune.

I would agree. Last year in particular, they had one nutcase on the field. I think he ended up getting kicked off the team later in the year

midlo this is not the H1N1. Do we have the guts to take a stand, make a change and risk winning? Not many do and it is so much eaiser to live with it as bird has done over the past several years. They need to clean house and not worry about winning but makesure they have the right attitude and then the wins will come.
Papelbon
Spencer has been consistanly pulling up the rear in the dominion district, not with wins but with attitude of his team and I firmly believe that is a reflection of him. He has been steadly influnced by the parents of a few that has risked the entire program. He had no business in the first place getting the position and bird will be better off in the future. Get someone in there that is not afraid to set the standard high and Iam not refering to playing ability. I do believe he slected the most talented players but as Midlo stated they were part of the problem.

There are many issues with the Bird program. I'm very familiar with it, and somewhat close to it. The coach was not part of the solution, but he took a lot of criticism for it. He is a young guy, and had difficulty competing with JR and Cosby players and coaches. THeir coaches and programs are established. I've watched many district games over the years, and he has been out coached. No question about it. I don't think he demands enough from his players in terms of off season work outs, practices, attitude and discipline. Bird needs to develop their program in almost all facets, but they do have talent. That talent has gotten them by in the past, competing with the top programs but losing in District semis the last two years. The talent is there, it just needs someone with a long term view to take it over, and develop it. If they put half the energy they have been in football, they will have a very good baseball program. Send me a PM if you want to chat offline.

My observations are very limited, so I'll have to defer to you guys as to the depth of the problem.

But one thing to remember, it wasn't that long ago that James River was the district's doormat. They've already come back to the pack a bit and may fall back still some more before the next strong group comes through again in 2011-12. The coaching there took a huge step up in 2007 and that will help prevent cellar dwelling, but talent runs in cycles no matter what you do.

The flip side of that is, don't despair too much. Lots can change from one year to the next.

The Coach's problems with discipline were pretty obvious and probably were the main factor for his demise but I'm not sure they have as much talent as some think. They've had some good ones for sure, but the realignment of the school zones when Matoaca opened as a AAA school hurt them. The Beach road area used to be in the Bird zone and produced many players for the Skyhawks. Now Matoaca gets those kids. IMO, the talent at Bird has gotten worse year by year from that realignment. Doesn't mean they werent any good, just weakened from what they could have been. On the other hand, the engineering program may grab them the occasional baseball player here and there (i.e the kid who just signed at Cornell)

I'm not familiar with the history, but you have a good point about the Matoaca players as no longer being a talent pool. The engineering students will be a new source of talent. The Bird JV team has many in the engineering program today, and the engineering program has doubled in 4 years. Bird had an all district catcher (in my opinion) leave for Trinity last year due to academic reasons. He is going to VMI next year. They would have done even better during the season, and the playoffs with him. They had another boy who stepped in who did a great job, but he was not the all around player that the the other boy was. The coach did not develop a backup catcher when he had the opportunity and it really bit them last year. Stuff like this continues to happen despite a good pool of talent, and it comes down to the coach and his decision making, and long term strategy for the program. Bird hasn't had that combination, and it is desperately needed.

Hawkins left for academic reasons? Hadn't heard that before. Saw him play and was impressed a few years back. Trinity must have some excellent teachers to have turned him into a VMI guy now

I think the young man did a good job of turning his life around.