>> [SAHS Fan] This is a joke and has reduced being selected as an All Region recipient to nothing more than a trophy.
R1C, you know these players you play against like your own or you wouldn't (or shouldn't) be a coach. Why is it that coaches seem to know who to mark when they play each other.<<
I think this really comes down to what the job of the all-region selection meeting "group." Is the "group" a team with a unifying objective to pick the best 11-12 players in the region? Or is the "group" a committee of individuals who have no unifying objective but only an individual objective to get as many girls on the team as possible from their team? I don't know the answer -- is there a defined answer -- or do the coaches just have to make up the rules as they go along? If it's the latter, which I would assume given what I've read, then the issue here is more process than participant.
>>I would be embarrassed to have been a part of the voting members. I do not know the WN coach but I can tell you that there is no way Bridget Dutcher should not have been coach of the year.
31-6 in 2 years.<<
Statistics are the "facts" with which we all try to build the "truth." The statistic you cite _might_ absolutely argue for Coach Dutcher being the region coach of the two years of 2004-2005. Here's one in favor of Lexington's coach for coach of the one year of 2005 [note: I am not criticizing the WK coach's selection, just demonstrating how coach selection is arguable]: Lexington at the end of the 2004 season was unranked. They entered this season unranked. They currently appear as if they'll end the season ranked #9. South Aiken at the end of the 2004 season was ranked #7. They entered the season ranked #11. They currently appear as if they'll end the season ranked #7. Typically, these awards are given out for single season accomplishments and improvement of a group by a coach is the overriding factor -- which is why sometimes the most winning coach isn't selected.
>>THis is no surprise though. Columbia based teams get the nod any time there is an opportunity.<<
It might seem that way to you; over here in Lexington we feel the same way except for us "Columbia based teams" are those more near metropolitan Columbia -- and I'm sure that they have a gripe about some other set of teams as well.
>>Congratulations to the girls that were seleted to receive "a trophy"!<<
Look...do I believe South Aiken should have more players on this? Yes. Do I believe that there are players that are on this that shouldn't be? Yes. Do I believe that there are players who are not on this that should be? Yes.
Do I believe, however, that there is rampant bias? No. I believe that there are a number of factors: the probable lack of a unifying goal, coaches missing meetings, coaches disciplining players through the all-region process, old fashioned "good old boy" politics, and just good old fashioned differences of opinion. I doubt, very seriously, that any of these factors are limited to region IV. How do you make it better? Typically in this type of situation, you look to the process, not the participants.
