Can Johnstown Be Beaten

[LHAC Titan]

I would have to say a sign of a good coach is consistency. You will have some really talented teams and you will have some teams with not so much talent, but good coach’s find away to keep their teams consistent and competitive. That being said I will disagree on the statements of Fascino at Johnstown, and Kochute.

Fascino took the Trojans to a state title game and brought back the same team and loss early and the states then barely went 500 the next year and then only won 11 games his final year. That is a constant decline while the program is in your hands. That is not a sign of a good coach. I will say in a different situation he may be able to show his talents but it just wasn’t a good fit.

Kochute had a great run while at BM, but know I can't remember when the last time Richland has been competitive in the LHAC. It's sad; he is holding that program hostage. The same style you used 20 years ago is not going to work now a days. To be considered a good coach you have to change through out every year because personal changes, team makeup, opponents. All of those things have to be considered. A constant decline or just in ability to be competitive will cause me to X you off my top coaches list. Nothing against them as people, it just is what it is!

[JTown]

I agree that yearly consistancy is important, I also think that team improvement throughout the season is important too when debating if a coach is good or not. I dont think Fuschino has ever won less than 10 games in a season and his teams always improved from the beginning of the year to the end. Take a couple years ago when they started out poorly and beat Somerset to reach the district championship game. One of the problems I see with Kochute is when he was at McCort he had a feeder program and at Richland he does not. Also, If Richland was in the Westpac, we would have seen many more wins. Finally, it's Richland. Have they ever been good in football or basketball?
Roman and Hollern are good coaches but they both had talent at one time or another, Westmont 29-1 and McCort beat johnstown the year they went to States. Are they bad coaches for not going farther into the playoffs? Are they great coaches for getting as far as they did? I think you have to be a good coach to get your team to the state finals even if you have great players. I have seen a few teams with great players, even better than the Johnstown and McCort team not go to Hershey.

[LHAC Titan]

Jtown you make some good points on specific occasions and I agree with most of them. But when judging a coach stent you have to look at the big picture. Johnstown made it to the state finals game and that is a great accomplishment. After that year however the decline in discipline, developing of talent, and game planning started to show. A good example is the year they won 11 games and made it to the D6 finals game. Two things Somerset was good but was very beatable. Second they got embarrassed in the championship game. And three the first round of the state playoffs they lost by I believe 46 pts. Now no team with the talent that the Trojans had should lose by that many points. I don’t care if you have to run a stall offense but you come into the game with game plan not to allow that to happen.

Kochute still has a feeder program it’s called Jr high. If he feels he is not getting players that are ready then a good coach would put his stamp on it and start developing players at a younger age. Elementary leagues 6th grade basketball program, that’s what good coaches do. You can't sit back and wait for great team to fall into your hands; you have to develop those teams. Consistency, that's why you have to give a nod to Hollern and Roman.

With that being said hopefully Kochute will make me look like an idiot this year and surprise some teams and the LHAC i believe they have enough talent to get some work done this year. They are definitely better than 10 or 11 wins. Let's see what Kochute can do, good luck to all the teams and coaches this year in the LHAC.

[pats39]

He(TK) has no concept of player development, has no concept of coaching strategy. offenses he runs do not fit personal. Sure does not have mccort talent, but especially the last few years(2-3) has definitely had enough talent to having winning seasons, hands down. Yet his teams are inconsistent and lack any type of discapline. The westpac thing does not even make sense.

[Bendover12]

You all are forgetting one thing the coaches can only do so much if the players show up and dont want to play or are in the right mind set any team can fall when things like this happen

[nrawhjtwnfhfan]

He(TK) has no concept of player development, has no concept of coaching strategy. offenses he runs do not fit personal. Sure does not have mccort talent, but especially the last few years(2-3) has definitely had enough talent to having winning seasons, hands down. Yet his teams are inconsistent and lack any type of discapline. The westpac thing does not even make sense.

Just 2 years ago he had 2 MCCort transfers (for athletic reasons) who were the best players on the team and they still sucked :shock:

[pats39]

well i dont know if anyone has ever transferred to richland for athletic reasons, but EXACTLY my point, he has had some talent but consistently fails to have his teams utilize this TALENT and underachieves

[jtfan48]

These boys certainly have a lot of talent, but sorry to say without the right attitude and dedication they WILL be beaten.

[I wear stripes]

They will have double digit losses this year. They still haven’t even had an open gym. What kind of program is that? They just have a basketball team they don't have a program, no offseason work, not youth leagues for development. That is the difference why Johnstown has not been able to capture LHAC championships in any sports consistently. They need someone to build the program, and sorry to say N.Cobaugh and staff is not going to do it.

[pats39]

same is pretty obvious for the former legendary mccort now Richland coach Tim Koshute