rock falls job open

rock falls head varsity coaching position is open. according to news sources, steve disler, who coached one year at rock falls, has been hired at rockridge as their new head coach.

Don't know anything about the guy, but he seems to move a lot. I think this is his 4th HC job in 4 years.

Head Idiot wrote:Don't know anything about the guy, but he seems to move a lot. I think this is his 4th HC job in 4 years.

Maybe he married a Lorton girl?

Bighitter11 wrote:

Head Idiot wrote:Don't know anything about the guy, but he seems to move a lot. I think this is his 4th HC job in 4 years.

Maybe he married a Lorton girl?

No way that line produced anything but the finest of head football coaches.

Tough gig. The have won a grand total of 11 games since 2010. Only 2 winning seasons since 1992. Only 2 playoff wins in school history. Good luck to him. RF has always been a basketball and baseball school. Definitely an uphill battle.

19delta wrote:Tough gig. The have won a grand total of 11 games since 2010. Only 2 winning seasons since 1992. Only 2 playoff wins in school history. Good luck to him. RF has always been a basketball and baseball school. Definitely an uphill battle.

living in the area, i am aware of the issues that plague rock falls football. i'm not sure how they ever get it turned around. lack of success in high school football is embedded in the community. this is over 2-3 generations. i don't know how you fix that.

i honestly think the first step is for rock falls to play 8 man football and, if successful, see if they can drum up some enthusiasm to grow the program.

how many kids are in the hs program? jfl?

net wrote:how many kids are in the hs program? jfl?

not enough overall and not enough of the better athletes. having low numbers typically means nobody is fighting for playing time, so there's no urgency to get better in order to get on the field. the cycle seems to repeat itself year after year.

i'm told the jfl numbers are usually decent and their team(s) are competitive at that level.

A good deal of their really good kids end up across the river for HS football don't they?

I know when we saw Rock Falls frequently in wrestling around 2000, those kids were really, really rough individuals. That always has struck me as the impression of that school.

Head Idiot wrote:A good deal of their really good kids end up across the river for HS football don't they?

I know when we saw Rock Falls frequently in wrestling around 2000, those kids were really, really rough individuals. That always has struck me as the impression of that school.

a couple kids cross the river on occasion - to either sterling or newman. but it doesn't happen that often. and they seem to have enough good wrestlers and track athletes that would help on the gridiron. with 650 kids in the school, you would think the potential is there to find enough boys to field a competitive team.

The wrestlers I remember would have had a tough time operating within the team concept. I was surprised they could finish the wrestling season. 1 got in a fight every time he stepped on the mat, and at the Plano tournament when they wouldn't let him fight, his dad came out of the stands to fight someone for him.

Maybe that was a bad batch of kids, but the whole team kind of operated similarly. Fair or not, that's always been my impression of the school.

This is a tough gig. Rough place as you guys said. Ging has a real good perspective on it.

They actually had a little run of talent and numbers in 2016 and 2017 but could only get 3-6 each year. Lost a ton of close games.

Somehow need to find a way to get best athletes out. Literally every other sport is successful on the boys side. And they don’t offer soccer.

HI,
they have their share of ruffians, but that particular time frame sort of taints the bigger picture, if you know what i mean.

That's kinda what I wondered. That crew was an interesting group of people.

Being that was really the only time they ever made noise state level in wrestling, that became my impression of the place. Probably unfairly.

Had to kick the "Rock Falls kids" dad out of our gym twice in his career.

word is that RFHS will announce the new coach next week after a board meeting

So, I just read where Kevin Parker, who was the AD at LaSalle-Peru, will be named the new head coach at Rock Falls. He will be an alternative classroom teacher. I see where LP has now gone through 5 ADs in 6 years. And Parker left that gig to be a head coach at a historically losing school? Things must be pretty bad at LP...

eakaby wrote:So, I just read where Kevin Parker, who was the AD at LaSalle-Peru, will be named the new head coach at Rock Falls.  He will be an alternative classroom teacher.  I see where LP has now gone through 5 ADs in 6 years.  And Parker left that gig to be a head coach at a historically losing school?  Things must be pretty bad at LP...

LP kind of gets what it deserves here. Several years ago (2012) their superintendent did a house cleaning of coaches he did not like (some very successful) and the AD. Wanted to bring in coaches who were “player first coaches” and told people the winning would come.

Take a look at LP success and stability since those moves.

I taught and coached at LP for three years at the start of my career. It was a blast but I have never seen a school and community so hard on its head coaches as LP.

center wrote:
I have never seen a school and community so hard on its head coaches as LP.

i've heard this and witnessed it. LP is often their own worst enemy. if they could just get out of their own way...

Article from today's Daily Gazette. Sounds like a lot of bitterness over the former coach leaving:
https://www.fridaynightdrive.com/2019/08/16/more-summertime-blues-in-rock-falls/a2ygsk5/

Some quotes from the article:

“We had just got done with a practice the night before, and the next morning I woke up, went to work and came back,” junior two-way lineman Ben Blackburn said. “My parents asked me a question and I was like, ‘Wait, what are you guys talking about?’ I looked on Facebook for myself, and I was like, ‘Wow, he really just ditched us like that.’

“We were already so close to the season, and the man decided to give up on us. We were all freaking out. We were all pretty upset.”

“At the end of the [2018] season, people would talk about how [Disler] wanted to leave, but he would tell us the rumors weren’t true and he would never leave us,” Blackburn said. “He promised it, and then he went and broke his promise. It was a heartbreaking moment. We thought we had a coach who was going to be family for once, and then he left.”

Oof...that's pretty rough!

It sounds like Disler never told his players he was leaving. Basically was there one day and gone the next. I can see why the kids would be upset about that, but I also don't blame Disler for seeking a better opportunity. For those of you guys who have been in similar situations, how should it be handled?

First of all, you should not tell anyone (player, admin, whoever) that you are "never" leaving. Even if you do feel that way, there's no way of predicting what opportunities may come up to better yourself or when you may be fired. Now, that doesn't mean you have to tell players you are job hunting--you obviously shouldn't do that either. Then, simply meet with the team and tell them why you are leaving, as diplomatically as you can depending on circumstances.

I will say also, based on recent changes at our school, don't tell players you never applied for the job and that they sought you out. Even HS kids know that's crap 90% of the time.

19delta wrote:

It sounds like Disler never told his players he was leaving. Basically was there one day and gone the next.

IF that's what happened, that's a bad look. I wonder how accurate that is, though.

wolverine55 wrote:First of all, you should not tell anyone (player, admin, whoever) that you are "never" leaving.  Even if you do feel that way, there's no way of predicting what opportunities may come up to better yourself or when you may be fired.  

This is exactly what I have always told my players. At my previous job I went through 3 HC changes and I was the only coach still on staff for one of the changes. Now I am not the HC but Kids were always asking, "so when are you going to leave?" becuase every year we lost 2+ coaches and I always responded that I am not planning on leaving but you never know what opportunities lie ahead in life. When I left players were surprised but understanding but the teachers were very surprised as I didn't tell anyone beyond administration that I was looking.

Rock Falls has 40+ kids out from a very reliable source.