Yoder Steps down. **Update** Justin Kropka MF New Head Coach

[KeepItSimple]

While this has been entertaining at times it is getting old. Clearly a 30+ years old vendetta between the families Bruney and their friends. Can't imagine what this thing was like in the 80's if its this heated all these years later. One thing that begs addressing though is the statement that it is "Toms turn". So this guy should just GET a turn? Why? Because his dad got a turn? I never just got a turn in my job. Pretty sure someone posted earlier about the issue of entitlement and there it is loud and clear.
Does anybody have any real news about this position?

[Marion Page]

Sounds like Anthony Reasbeck is the front runner

Kropka is interviewing for Bellaire job.

Wrong on both counts.

[Riverbottom Nightmare]

While this has been entertaining at times it is getting old. Clearly a 30+ years old vendetta between the families Bruney and their friends. Can't imagine what this thing was like in the 80's if its this heated all these years later. One thing that begs addressing though is the statement that it is "Toms turn". So this guy should just GET a turn? Why? Because his dad got a turn? I never just got a turn in my job. Pretty sure someone posted earlier about the issue of entitlement and there it is loud and clear.
Does anybody have any real news about this position?

i definitely don’t agree with the “his turn” comment, that’s crazy. His resume speaks for itself.

[cton]

I have strong feelings about TB's ability to coach and lead young men. He has proven himself time and again and I dont believe I or anyone else needs to defend his record on that front. having said that, my purpose isnt to advocate for his hiring, because nothing you or I or any of us write on here is going to make a spit of influence on that. He can have his day in an interview process that I would hope would be fair and transparent, but the success of that effort is up to him and those making the decisions. however, reading all this junk and hearsay and downright fabrications and character assassination on here, is more than I can abide without speaking up. I will tell you the things I know to be true based on going to the source.

I do not know for sure how TB made his way to AZ, but once he got there and got a HC job, he was a success. In the 2000s, he decided it was time to start looking for a position closer to his hometown due to a desire to spend time with his parents and other family in the valley. He spoke to me about a number of openings in NEO in which he was interested, which would more than likely be a stepping stone to getting closer to the valley. He got the job at Ashtabula Lakeside which was a newly formed consolidated high school whose previous schools had little to no success in football in at least the 20 years since I had lived in NEO. Unlike what we are used to in the valley and a lot of other places, through lack of success and less than enthusiastic community support, football was not a driving socio/economic force in the area. Therefore, the AD was not a "football guy" and did not view football through the same lens as TB or you or I would. however, the reason Tom left Ashtabula was not because of issues or run ins with administration and/or parents.

You may recall a fellow by the name of Charlie Keenan who was quite an athlete for Big Red in the mid 80s. Dr. Keenan is now the superintendent of schools in Maple Hts. and he heard about Tom and pursued him for their open HC position. having the opportunity to move to a program that had seen some success was a great opportunity, along with the chance to work for a person that had the same passion for football and what it can do for a school and community. in fact, the year after Tom left, MH made it to the state finals and lost to Winton Woods in DII.

Again, there were no issues or run ins which "drove" Tom from Maple Heights. The fact of the matter is that both Ashtabula and MH are both about a 3 hour drive from MF. The only reason Tom left AZ was his desire to be closer to his family, and a 4 hour flight or a 3 hour drive are not much different. When the position came open at Brooke, he applied and Brooke's desire to get back to football relevancy in the valley and in the state of WV were instantly realized. After an improbable trip to the state finals his first year and again in his second year, underlying politics and school board intrigue reared its head. I am not going to go into the specifics, but suffice it to say that if someone with enough power and a big enough platform from which to speak wants to get rid of you, they can find something, anything, and blow it out of proportion and make it an issue. when that someone is a member of the school board that didnt get their preferred candidate hired instead of TB, they are going to make problems.

Again, through his connections from his prior work in AZ, and the recognition of his history of success everywhere he coached, he was asked to make the move back to Glendale and become the OC for a friend/former rival. Im not sure you can get a higher compliment than being hired by a former rival who recognizes your skill and wants you to join his staff. The success Glendale has enjoyed for the past few seasons is in no small part due to TB's success at leading their offense.

So there you go. please dont talk about "all these issues" Tom has had at other schools, because you are just showing your gullibility to believe unfounded rumors.

[GoRiders1]

While this has been entertaining at times it is getting old. Clearly a 30+ years old vendetta between the families Bruney and their friends. Can't imagine what this thing was like in the 80's if its this heated all these years later. One thing that begs addressing though is the statement that it is "Toms turn". So this guy should just GET a turn? Why? Because his dad got a turn? I never just got a turn in my job. Pretty sure someone posted earlier about the issue of entitlement and there it is loud and clear.
Does anybody have any real news about this position?

I love hearing how Tom Bruney leaves everywhere he goes & abandons his teams. Kropka left Harrison who gave him everything. Kropka left Wheeling College for John Marshall & now he's possible leaving a JM team that is gonna be loaded next year????

It'll never happen because Dave Bruney got on school board for this reason... To pick the football coach. Kropka will be your next head coach, but nobody is more qualified than Tom Bruney.

[MarkJoseph]

I have strong feelings about TB's ability to coach and lead young men. He has proven himself time and again and I dont believe I or anyone else needs to defend his record on that front. having said that, my purpose isnt to advocate for his hiring, because nothing you or I or any of us write on here is going to make a spit of influence on that. He can have his day in an interview process that I would hope would be fair and transparent, but the success of that effort is up to him and those making the decisions. however, reading all this junk and hearsay and downright fabrications and character assassination on here, is more than I can abide without speaking up. I will tell you the things I know to be true based on going to the source.

I do not know for sure how TB made his way to AZ, but once he got there and got a HC job, he was a success. In the 2000s, he decided it was time to start looking for a position closer to his hometown due to a desire to spend time with his parents and other family in the valley. He spoke to me about a number of openings in NEO in which he was interested, which would more than likely be a stepping stone to getting closer to the valley. He got the job at Ashtabula Lakeside which was a newly formed consolidated high school whose previous schools had little to no success in football in at least the 20 years since I had lived in NEO. Unlike what we are used to in the valley and a lot of other places, through lack of success and less than enthusiastic community support, football was not a driving socio/economic force in the area. Therefore, the AD was not a "football guy" and did not view football through the same lens as TB or you or I would. however, the reason Tom left Ashtabula was not because of issues or run ins with administration and/or parents.

You may recall a fellow by the name of Charlie Keenan who was quite an athlete for Big Red in the mid 80s. Dr. Keenan is now the superintendent of schools in Maple Hts. and he heard about Tom and pursued him for their open HC position. having the opportunity to move to a program that had seen some success was a great opportunity, along with the chance to work for a person that had the same passion for football and what it can do for a school and community. in fact, the year after Tom left, MH made it to the state finals and lost to Winton Woods in DII.

Again, there were no issues or run ins which "drove" Tom from Maple Heights. The fact of the matter is that both Ashtabula and MH are both about a 3 hour drive from MF. The only reason Tom left AZ was his desire to be closer to his family, and a 4 hour flight or a 3 hour drive are not much different. When the position came open at Brooke, he applied and Brooke's desire to get back to football relevancy in the valley and in the state of WV were instantly realized. After an improbable trip to the state finals his first year and again in his second year, underlying politics and school board intrigue reared its head. I am not going to go into the specifics, but suffice it to say that if someone with enough power and a big enough platform from which to speak wants to get rid of you, they can find something, anything, and blow it out of proportion and make it an issue. when that someone is a member of the school board that didnt get their preferred candidate hired instead of TB, they are going to make problems.

Again, through his connections from his prior work in AZ, and the recognition of his history of success everywhere he coached, he was asked to make the move back to Glendale and become the OC for a friend/former rival. Im not sure you can get a higher compliment than being hired by a former rival who recognizes your skill and wants you to join his staff. The success Glendale has enjoyed for the past few seasons is in no small part due to TB's success at leading their offense.

So there you go. please dont talk about "all these issues" Tom has had at other schools, because you are just showing your gullibility to believe unfounded rumors.

-Mic Drop-

[KeepItSimple]

Wow and now there are manifestos. Hope whoever gets the MF job is somebody who can get them back on track as thankless a task as that could turn out to be. Dave Bruney poured his heart and soul into making that a respectable program and you see what he gets. I wouldn't mind seeing Kropka stay at JM. He's already turning that around. But if his alma mater comes a calling it might be pretty hard to turn his back on them. Best of luck to all the applicants.

[cton]

Wow and now there are manifestos. Hope whoever gets the MF job is somebody who can get them back on track as thankless a task as that could turn out to be. Dave Bruney poured his heart and soul into making that a respectable program and you see what he gets. I wouldn't mind seeing Kropka stay at JM. He's already turning that around. But if his alma mater comes a calling it might be pretty hard to turn his back on them. Best of luck to all the applicants.

. Please look back at my earlier post saying that I believe Dave has shown he cares about this school district, this city, and the kids a great deal. He has made sacrifices for them and therefore deserves the benefit of the doubt. I believe he is on the school board for the right reason. I like Kropka, I like Bruney. As I said in my “manifesto” (go back and reread it) I am not advocating for Tom. I simply could not stand to hear all the people who think they know something to continue lying about Tom. The rumors are that. They simply are not true and that was the entire motivation for my post. He doesn’t deserve it. If someone were posting character assassinations about any candidate and I knew it was a lie I would do the same thing whether I liked them or not. Again I said I was not advocating for Tom. I simply wanted the truth said

[Philip_Columbo]

. Please look back at my earlier post saying that I believe Dave has shown he cares about this school district, this city, and the kids a great deal. He has made sacrifices for them and therefore deserves the benefit of the doubt. I believe he is on the school board for the right reason. I like Kropka, I like Bruney. As I said in my “manifesto” (go back and reread it) I am not advocating for Tom. I simply could not stand to hear all the people who think they know something to continue lying about Tom. The rumors are that. They simply are not true and that was the entire motivation for my post. He doesn’t deserve it. If someone were posting character assassinations about any candidate and I knew it was a lie I would do the same thing whether I liked them or not. Again I said I was not advocating for Tom. I simply wanted the truth said

Cton, please point out the posts where TB's character was assassinated, I went through all 8 pages, and the closest thing that I can find is cbc64 saying there were issues when he decided to leave a school, which is most likely the case at Brooke since his record on the field was stellar. A couple of posters ( me included) were poking fun about his connection to Saban, but that was more joking with Ryders. Anyway point out the posts where posters were lying about him, and the rumors. It seems to me that you are protesting too much, and are being overly sensitive about nothing. Righty or wrongly coaches get criticized on this forum daily, TB should not be above criticism. I will whole heartedly admit that I am wrong if you can point out these posts too me..Thanks

[cton]

Look, rumors take on a life of their own. whether cbc64 was the only person who outright said it, several hinted at it and more asked questions about it which means that the rumors and innuendo were starting to take a foothold. I wanted to share with this forum the truth about the matter because its not right that there be a bunch of unfounded rumors floating around that sully a mans reputation. the bottom line is that in all cases if someone doesnt step up and confront rumors with truth, rumors become truth and they are near impossible to remove from the public mind. yes, I prefer to speak truth to rumors of all kinds because I am tired of people who get on these message boards and hide behind a screen name to anonymously spout lies about people for their hidden agenda. if that makes me overly sensitive, I confess: I dont like liars.

I havent gone back and read who posted what and I havent looked at your posts see what you said. I am not accusing anyone specific, yourself included, of spreading these lies. I am speaking to the general direction that the conversation about TB was taking and I intended to nip it in the bud before it got further legs. there is perception and there is reality. unfortunately, in the eye of the perceiver, perception is reality. my post was intended to give you all the reality of the situation with facts before the perception of the situation was hijacked by rumors and innuendo and that is all.

again, if you read what I posted in this thread regarding the current coaching opening, I have no animosity or axe to grind with anyone, least of all Dave Bruney. I respect Dave for all that he has done and all that he has sacrificed and I think he is deserving of his position on the school board. I never said I believed that he wont be fair and transparent in the dealings with this matter and that he wont have the best interests of the kids and the program and the community in mind. I never said anything about Justin Kropka not being qualified or not being a great candidate, in fact I believe he would be a great fit and would work tirelessly and give his heart and soul to return the Riders to the previous level of prominence they deserve. I believe in the process and I think we should all allow those folks with the authority to do their jobs and live with their decisions because that is why they were voted onto the board. if you dont like the outcome, do something about it, run yourself, vote them out, or support someone else when they run. but people should not get on a message board and start rumors about people just because they dont like their candidacy for the position or they dont like them personally.

[Philip_Columbo]

I get what you are saying Cton, anyone can say anything on a forum..What's the saying? A lie is half way around the world before the truth gets its shoes on. I don't see any of that on this thread, that's my only point....

[cton]

gotcha...maybe I was being a bit proactive before it got further along...putting my shoes on before the lie got running!

[Philip_Columbo]

gotcha...maybe I was being a bit proactive before it got further along...putting my shoes on before the lie got running!

C, I heard that there is a "facebook" petition to hire TB, obviously this would have no teeth, but have you seen/heard about it?

[RydersOnTheStorm]

C, I heard that there is a "facebook" petition to hire TB, obviously this would have no teeth, but have you seen/heard about it?

i think someone mentioned starting one but I don’t believe one was ever made.

[Philip_Columbo]

i think someone mentioned starting one but I don’t believe one was ever made.

Thanks, Ryder