Boilernation Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 Darren Rodriguez will not be returning to the sideline next year at The Warpath. Portage went from a 5A Title appearance in '94 and an annual threat to win Sectionals (couldn't get over the Penn hump in Regionals) under Craig Buzea to capping out at 6 wins a few times in the post Buzea era with multiple coaches. Due to demographic shifts eastward from Lake County, Portage arguably now has more talent to work with then Buzea was ever dealt. This job should attract a handful of applicants from Northern Indiana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DT Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Boilernation said: Darren Rodriguez will not be returning to the sideline next year at The Warpath. Portage went from a 5A Title appearance in '94 and an annual threat to win Sectionals (couldn't get over the Penn hump in Regionals) under Craig Buzea to capping out at 6 wins a few times in the post Buzea era with multiple coaches. Due to demographic shifts eastward from Lake County, Portage arguably now has more talent to work with then Buzea was ever dealt. This job should attract a handful of applicants from Northern Indiana. Unfortunately, Coach Rodriguez just didnt get the job done. Portage has been undersized for a long time. Lots of hispanics in the area. They need a good strength and conditioning coach to assist the HC and develop bodies for varsity football. The football culture at Portage is gone. Portage has not had a D1 kid in years. This is a tough job. Maybe the toughest in The DAC. They may have some difficulty finding good applicants. Edited December 11, 2019 by DT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boilernation Posted December 11, 2019 Author Share Posted December 11, 2019 3 minutes ago, DT said: Unfortunately, Coach Rodriguez just didnt get the job done. Portage has been undersized for a long time. Lots of hispanics in the area. They need a good strength and conditioning coach to assist the HC and develop bodies for varsity football. Portage has not had a D1 kid in years. This is a tough job. Maybe the toughest in The DAC. They may have some difficulty finding good applicants. They’ve had far more D1 and lower level college talent the past 5 or so years than Buzea ever had. Bigger kids too. Portage has always had a Hispanic population. Not sure that’s an issue. That population pumped out some darn good football players over the years. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DT Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 I cant remember seeing a Portage kid go D1 in some time. Talking primarily P5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boilernation Posted December 11, 2019 Author Share Posted December 11, 2019 How many do you think went P5 in all of Buzea’s years? All I can think of is Albert Evans to Purdue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DT Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 Just now, Boilernation said: How many do you think went P5 in all of Buzea’s years? All I can think of is Albert Evans to Purdue. They had a lot of MAC kids in those years. I havent seen that in a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobref Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 (edited) Portage’s athletic department has been a mess ever since Larry Casbon and Les Klein retired. Multiple sports have experienced a coaching carousel with little to no continuity in the programs. The problem is not confined to the football program. It goes deeper than that. Edited December 11, 2019 by Bobref Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boilernation Posted December 11, 2019 Author Share Posted December 11, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, Bobref said: Portage’s athletic department has been a mess ever since Larry Casbon and Les Klein retired. Multiple sports have experienced a coaching carousel with little to no continuity in the programs. The problem is not confined to the football program. It goes deeper than that. Yep. That was Buzea's downfall as he warned a potential basketball coach not to get involved in that mess and it went public. They lost a very good baseball coach in Tim Pirowski as well. I did see in the article announcing Darren's departure that former wrestling great Fred Joseph is now the Athletic Director. Maybe things have changed for the better since the old AD was in the building. I'm out of the loop though. I haven't lived in Portage since the late '90's. There's no reason Portage can't be a contender for DAC and Sectional Championships at the very minimum on a yearly basis. It would be nice to see someone turn the program around. Edited December 11, 2019 by Boilernation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 5 minutes ago, Boilernation said: Yep. That was Buzea's downfall as he warned a potential basketball coach not to get involved in that mess and it went public. They lost a very good baseball coach in Tim Pirowski as well. I did see in the article announcing Darren's departure that former wrestling great Fred Joseph is now the Athletic Director. Maybe things have changed for the better since the old AD was in the building. I'm out of the loop though. I haven't lived in Portage since the late '90's. There's no reason Portage can't be a contender for DAC and Sectional Championships at the very minimum on a yearly basis. It would be nice to see someone turn the program around. I taught at Portage that year. I am friends w/ the hoops coach you are talking about. It was UGLY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 18 hours ago, DT said: I cant remember seeing a Portage kid go D1 in some time. Talking primarily P5. 18 hours ago, DT said: They had a lot of MAC kids in those years. I havent seen that in a while 19 hours ago, DT said: Unfortunately, Coach Rodriguez just didnt get the job done. Portage has been undersized for a long time. Lots of hispanics in the area. They need a good strength and conditioning coach to assist the HC and develop bodies for varsity football. The football culture at Portage is gone. Portage has not had a D1 kid in years. This is a tough job. Maybe the toughest in The DAC. They may have some difficulty finding good applicants. I didn't catch that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 This position is now posted on the Portage Township Schools website, I really like the job description: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Nowlin Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 minus the misspellings encouragaged Foodball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARRYOSAMA Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Coach Nowlin said: Foodball Ive seen some coaches at Manchester team camp try to coach this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Nowlin Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 1 hour ago, BARRYOSAMA said: Ive seen some coaches at Manchester team camp try to coach this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbat Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 4 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said: minus the misspellings encouragaged Foodball Is that like "foosball?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 That would be a good thread topic, "Write a job description for your football program." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Nowlin Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Tommy said: That would be a good thread topic, "Write a job description for your football program." give it a go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 14 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said: give it a go I did that once for Michigan City. A lot of exciting things have happened since then and have been thinking oeif updating it. It would be scenario where you are the head coach at Hooterville High School for the past 8 seasons and have moved up into administration have been promoted to athletic director (which is very common) after no internal candidates have applied to be the new football coach you are being tasked to write a job description about your program to seek out the best external candidate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, Tommy said: I did that once for Michigan City. A lot of exciting things have happened since then and have been thinking oeif updating it. It would be scenario where you are the head coach at Hooterville High School for the past 8 seasons and have moved up into administration have been promoted to athletic director (which is very common) after no internal candidates have applied to be the new football coach you are being tasked to write a job description about your program to seek out the best external candidate. Don't see a soul ever leaving that High School. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Al Hamnik (a guy that has been covering the high school sports scene longer that most people reading this has been alive) is reporting that Russ Radtke is leaving New Prairie and taking over at Portage. The DAC and 6A north might get a lot more interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Nowlin Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 retired Al Hamnik for the record Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 3 hours ago, Tommy said: Al Hamnik (a guy that has been covering the high school sports scene longer than most people reading this has been alive) is reporting that Russ Radtke is leaving New Prairie and taking over at Portage. The DAC and 6A north might get a lot more interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 19 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said: retired Al Hamnik for the record Radtke needs to go in there and kick some butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wedgebuster Posted February 3, 2020 Share Posted February 3, 2020 Would all the 6A fans heads explode with a Portage vs Warsaw Semi-State in 2025 with the over/under passing attempts for the game being set at 3? I for one would LOVE IT! Hard to picture Russ Leaving NP, but this has kind of been par for the course if you look at his career. Show up, push everyone and everything to its limit, and then move on when he feels like the limit has been reached or people around the program start to push back or question the pushing, and he is on to the next place. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boilernation Posted February 3, 2020 Author Share Posted February 3, 2020 37 minutes ago, Wedgebuster said: Would all the 6A fans heads explode with a Portage vs Warsaw Semi-State in 2025 with the over/under passing attempts for the game being set at 3? I for one would LOVE IT! Hard to picture Russ Leaving NP, but this has kind of been par for the course if you look at his career. Show up, push everyone and everything to its limit, and then move on when he feels like the limit has been reached or people around the program start to push back or question the pushing, and he is on to the next place. Has the New Prairie community actually started to question his methods? IMO, this would be a home run hire for Portage. He'll instill discipline and toughness, he can out-coach most coaches in the Region, and he can develop an offense that scores. Hope this rumor comes to fruition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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