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Ortiz resigns at La Porte


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5 hours ago, Boilernation said:

That's debatable. I'm sure there's the potential that schools will pass on him due to the proven false allegations regarding his exit from Morton; however, I would wager he has been approached for openings. I would wager these openings have been better than LaPorte based on the following: 

  1. LaPorte is not a talent hotbed and they are on the verge of now having more difficult of a Sectional
  2. Is the LaPorte school board a problem for coaches? They recently gave into parent complaints and ran off a good basketball coach in Tom Wells.

RR was the beneficiary of Hammond's open enrollment policy.  He was in the right place at the right time.  Nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't necessarily make him an elite level coach.  

Has he ever won anything outside of the friendly confines of The Region?

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1 hour ago, HHF said:

RR was the beneficiary of Hammond's open enrollment policy.  He was in the right place at the right time.  Nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't necessarily make him an elite level coach.  

Has he ever won anything outside of the friendly confines of The Region?

That’s why Morton was terrible before him and has been terrible since he left right? Not to say open enrollment didn’t help him, but to say that he was just ‘in the right place at the right time’ is laughable. 

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2 hours ago, HHF said:

RR was the beneficiary of Hammond's open enrollment policy.  He was in the right place at the right time.  Nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't necessarily make him an elite level coach.  

Has he ever won anything outside of the friendly confines of The Region?

He was the reason Hammond football players went to Morton. Open enrollment was successful in rebuilding the Morton football program because of him. Not the other way around.

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10 hours ago, Bobref said:

He was the reason Hammond football players went to Morton. Open enrollment was successful in rebuilding the Morton football program because of him. Not the other way around.

Agree  Without the advantage of open enrollment, RR is a "good" coach, certainly not elite.  

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I know this is probably not the social media platform to get on my soapbox, but has the IHSAA ever thought about making rules and regulations to ban and punish schools who openly or clandestinely recruit student athletes from other school districts?  Yes I realize we are in a world of win at all costs, but is that the message we as educators/coaches want to portray instead of character, integrity, and good sportsmanship?

All this nonsense whether it is true or not of recruiting in the past or the present or in the future; is plain selfishness...

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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, Boilernation said:

LaPorte’s school board voted 4-3 against the hiring of Bon James. That’ll create some more angst in LaPorte.

I find that very puzzling, since Coach James has been with that program forever. He is very highly regarded in the coaching ranks. To someone on the outside looking in, sounds like local politics at work to me.

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Laporte admin is a disgrace.....schoolboard had run out the previous head basketball coach....now rejected Coach James who is the heart and soul of Laporte Football...they are going into the summer with no coach....no prospects....nothing....good luck next season with no coaching staff

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First they ran Tom Wells out of town and now this? WTF is happening in LaPorte? Wells is going to stick it to Laporte for as long as he’s coaching City. New Prairie has to be licking their chops for week 1. The amount of people within the coaching and ex Slicer community I’ve seen criticize LaPorte for not hiring James is damning. 

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6 hours ago, Boilernation said:

First they ran Tom Wells out of town and now this? WTF is happening in LaPorte? Wells is going to stick it to Laporte for as long as he’s coaching City. New Prairie has to be licking their chops for week 1. The amount of people within the coaching and ex Slicer community I’ve seen criticize LaPorte for not hiring James is damning. 

I’m shocked. My question is did coach James actively pursue the HC position or was his name just brought to the board? Either way I’m surprised they wouldn’t want a loyal, well respected man to lead the program that others have left year after year. 

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42 minutes ago, WolvesOnTheProwl said:

I’m shocked. My question is did coach James actively pursue the HC position or was his name just brought to the board? Either way I’m surprised they wouldn’t want a loyal, well respected man to lead the program that others have left year after year. 

Hard to believe it would come to a school board vote if Coach James were not really interested. In all my years I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about Coach James. He has been a fixture in that program for years.

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31 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Hard to believe it would come to a school board vote if Coach James were not really interested. In all my years I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about Coach James. He has been a fixture in that program for years.

Too bad Eric Schreiber took the OC position at Hobart.  He could have been a good long term fit at Laporte and wouldn't have to deal with all the unrealistic expectations and ghosts of Don Howell in Brickieland.  Another terrific young coach in The Region is Brian Parker at Hanover Central.  

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what is so sad is that in this day and age of parents trying to live their lives through their kids, our world has become so selfish and yet these adults do not have a clue what it takes to build a football program much less continue with a successful program; those kids at lp deserve better and all the parents, school board members, the new ad and asst ad, as well as the supt should be ashamed of themselves; the lp community deserves better...

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Anyone who ever watched the Laporte O-line play.....no matter what offense they were in......had to be impressed with the handiwork of Coach James.  

Dumb.....they will probably hire some Twitter Guru who has maybe 10% of Coach James's experience.  

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4 hours ago, Coach Morales said:

what is so sad is that in this day and age of parents trying to live their lives through their kids, our world has become so selfish and yet these adults do not have a clue what it takes to build a football program much less continue with a successful program; those kids at lp deserve better and all the parents, school board members, the new ad and asst ad, as well as the supt should be ashamed of themselves; the lp community deserves better...

There are ONLY FOUR PEOPLE TO BLAME for this terrible decision & unfathomable disrespect to a man who has dedicated most of his adult life to teaching & coaching the young people of LaPorte. Blame the 4 (out of 7) school board members who voted NO to the recommendation from AD/Principal/Super to hire Bob James as HC.

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58 minutes ago, slice60 said:

There are ONLY FOUR PEOPLE TO BLAME for this terrible decision & unfathomable disrespect to a man who has dedicated most of his adult life to teaching & coaching the young people of LaPorte. Blame the 4 (out of 7) school board members who voted NO to the recommendation from AD/Principal/Super to hire Bob James as HC.

With all due respect, Laporte has been in the Duneland Conference for 45 years, winning 3 DAC titles along with 2 sectionals and one state finals appearance.

Perhaps the 4 school board voters who rejected the old guard are looking for something new and different, a new way forward.  The DAC is now a 5A conference.  Laporte should be able to compete against the other four 5A schools in the league (Cheese/MV/VPO/MC) 

I think they will make a strong hire and are taking their time and doing their due diligence.  Take a look at what Columbus North just did as a guide to where big football schools are trending in terms of new leadership.  

 

https://twitter.com/search?q=columbus north&src=typed_query

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1 hour ago, slice60 said:

There are ONLY FOUR PEOPLE TO BLAME for this terrible decision & unfathomable disrespect to a man who has dedicated most of his adult life to teaching & coaching the young people of LaPorte. Blame the 4 (out of 7) school board members who voted NO to the recommendation from AD/Principal/Super to hire Bob James as HC.

The AD, Super, and Principal recommended the hire? Unreal. Who is running sports for the paper in Michigan City. Seems like a good story to pursue on why the four voted no.

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1 hour ago, slice60 said:

There are ONLY FOUR PEOPLE TO BLAME for this terrible decision & unfathomable disrespect to a man who has dedicated most of his adult life to teaching & coaching the young people of LaPorte. Blame the 4 (out of 7) school board members who voted NO to the recommendation from AD/Principal/Super to hire Bob James as HC.

Has there been any rationale made public for the decision? Is Coach James going to continue on staff? This could really be a devastating blow to an already struggling program.

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5 minutes ago, HHF said:

With all due respect, Laporte has been in the Duneland Conference for 45 years, winning 3 DAC titles along with 2 sectionals and one state finals appearance.

Perhaps the 4 school board voters who rejected the old guard are looking for something new and different, a new way forward.  The DAC is now a 5A conference.  Laporte should be able to compete against the other four 5A schools in the league (Cheese/MV/VPO/MC) 

I think they will make a strong hire and are taking their time and doing their due diligence.  Take a look at what Columbus North just did as a guide to where big football schools are trending in terms of new leadership.  

 

https://twitter.com/search?q=columbus north&src=typed_query

I suppose anything is possible.

But if they bring in a complete outsider, I can foresee an outcome where that program takes a severe hit for a while, both in terms of numbers and staff.

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1 minute ago, HHF said:

With all due respect, Laporte has been in the Duneland Conference for 45 years, winning 3 DAC titles along with 2 sectionals and one state finals appearance.

Perhaps the 4 school board voters who rejected the old guard are looking for something new and different, a new way forward.  The DAC is now a 5A conference.  Laporte should be able to compete against the other four 5A schools in the league (Cheese/MV/VPO/MC) 

I think they will make a strong hire and are taking their time and doing their due diligence.  Take a look at what Columbus North just did as a guide to where big football schools are trending in terms of new leadership.  

 

https://twitter.com/search?q=columbus north&src=typed_query

Schellinger retired in 2014 after the state runner-upas the winningest coach in LP history at 110-122. In other words, LP is a REALLY TOUGH JOB.

Sharpe (2015-18) - previously HC at John Glenn, overall winning record at LP including 9-2 in '16, Sharpe left for family reasons to move to Indy area & his now the HC at Noblesville.

Lowery (2019-20) - previously HC at Paoli, 7-15 at LP, left for West Washington HC job.

Ortiz (2021) - asst at LP for several years before getting the HC job, went 2-8, left to be asst in Crown Point under his old HS coach. Said HC job was too much time & effort for him with a young family.

LP has hired 3 young guys in less than a decade & no one has stuck with it. We have no idea who applied for the job this year. But, to me, the recommendation to hire a loyal man like Bob James (LP asst coach/teacher since the '90s) to give the program some stability makes a ton of sense. The AD/Principal/Super (I don't know who is involved in the interview process) DID THEIR DUE DILIGENCE & those 4 school board members rejected their recommendation. The elected school board members have shown disrespect to Bob James & also to the career-educators who recommended him. If those 4 school board members know better, then they can beat the bushes & somehow attract a "strong hire" to LaPorte.

 

 

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29 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Has there been any rationale made public for the decision? Is Coach James going to continue on staff? This could really be a devastating blow to an already struggling program.

The School Board Meeting is on Youtube but there was no discussion during that public meeting. The board voted 7-0 for all of the other coaching/principal hires & then voted 4-3 against "Motion 6". No names of those hired or rejected were mentioned by the Board during the meeting.

If Coach James continues to coach at LP, then he is a much better man than I would ever dream to be.

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1 hour ago, Bobref said:

Agreed. That’s why this could be such a devastating blow to the program.

Hasn't the program already experienced its share of "devastating blows?"  Maybe its time for the dysfunctional, toxic administration to create an environment where young coaches can have some success and remain in the community for the long term.  That does not seem to be the case in the current environment.  Time for the Slicers to put on their big boy pants, get their shit together and get competitive on the ball fields.  They have complete control to make that happen.  

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