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They win, son, they win

Posted in coach chatter, tagged CHS Wolves, coach chatter, coaching wins, Cory Whitmore, Kevin McGranahan on May 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Kevin McGranahan, the win leader among active CHS coaches. (Parker Hammons photo)

Another season is in the books, and the win/loss marks are frozen until the fall.

While track and field and girls’ tennis still have trips to the state championships ahead of them next weekend, there are no more games for Coupeville High School sports teams during the 2023-2024 school year.

So, time for the stats hound in me to surface, as we take a look at where active Wolf varsity coaches sit on the ol’ win list.

As we do, remember several things.

Cross country and track don’t record team wins and losses.

Also, the pandemic cost softball an entire season, and sliced the number of games for volleyball and basketball over two campaigns.

Plus, this is a list for ACTIVE Wolf coaches, so don’t ask me where Ron Bagby or Willie Smith or Kyle Nelson or Ken Stange or Randy King are — they’re retired.

That being said, the chart:

Kevin McGranahan (softball) — 111 wins
Cory Whitmore (volleyball) — 88
Brad Sherman (boys’ basketball) — 70
Steve Hilborn (baseball) — 28
Megan Richter (girls’ basketball) — 26
Robert Wood (boys’ soccer) — 16
Bennett Richter (football) — 9

So now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

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Coupeville coaches, for the win

Posted in coach chatter, tagged Bobby Carr, CHS Wolves, CMS Wolves, Kristina Hooks, National Coaches Day, Richard Nixon on October 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Kristina Hooks and other Coupeville sports leaders are being honored on National Coaches Day. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

All across the USA, sports leaders are being honored today.

It’s National Coaches Day, continuing a tradition began in 1972.

President Richard Nixon, he of the infamous helicopter ride into oblivion, can count the creation of the event as one of his wins.

Tricky Dick believed “a coach can help build that moral fiber on which our future as a Nation depends.”

Therefore, it was “appropriate that our Nation join in according them the recognition and honor which they so richly deserve, for they represent the finest elements in the American character.”

The pics above and below capture a small sub-section of the men and women currently living up to those words while directing Coupeville teams.

Bobby Carr

Jennifer Morrell

Elizabeth Bitting

Cris Matochi

John Lo and Amber Wyman

Ashley Menges

Cory Whitmore

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Long hours, deep impact

Posted in coach chatter, tagged Bobby Carr, CHS Wolves, CMS Wolves, coaches, cross country, Elizabeth Bitting, football on September 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Wolf assistant football coach Tyler Casey eyeballs the gridiron action. (Jackie Saia photo)

It’s easy to sit in the stands and tell the world you know how things should be run.

But it’s a lot harder to get off your duff, go through the process, and emerge as a coach capable of actually shaping the destinies of high school and middle school athletes.

The pics above and below capture some of the men and women who have chosen the harder path.

Wolf Nation would not be the same without them, or their coaching counterparts.

It’s a package deal with Bennett and Megan Richter, plus hardwood sage Cherie Smith. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Amber Wyman (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Bobby Carr (Jackie Saia photo)

Elizabeth Bitting (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Alex Turner (Jackie Saia photo)

John Lo (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Brad Sherman (Thomas Studer photo)

Cory Whitmore (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

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Coaches calmly win, I put the hype in hyperventilate

Posted in coach chatter, tagged CHS Wolves, coaches, Cory Whitmore, Kevin McGranahan, wins on August 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“Hey, none of you tell Brad he’s exactly 900 wins away from passing Ed Pepple as the state’s winningest high school boys’ basketball coach!!” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

I probably care a lot more about the hype than they do.

Coupeville High School’s current coaches, while very competitive and always striving for wins on the playing field, don’t include any divas.

No matter the sport, they are focused on team success over personal accolades, and don’t seem to spend a lot of time tracking personal win/loss records or worrying about where they stand on the all-time ladder.

So, that’s where I come in.

With a lot of extra time on my hands, and an abiding interest in tracking stats of all kinds, I crunch the numbers — even if sometimes it’s just for my own entertainment.

As we head into the 2023-2024 school year, there are 11 active head coaches at CHS, with seven of them having recorded wins.

First-year girls’ soccer guru Kimberly Kisch is set to make her debut in the season opener, while Elizabeth Bitting (cross country/track), Jennifer Morrell (cheer), and Bob Martin (track) run programs which don’t collect conventional wins and losses.

At some point, we’ll pick up a 12th coach, once a replacement for Ken Stange is announced.

He retired this spring after two decades in charge of the Wolf tennis programs, leaving Coupeville AD Willie Smith with big shoes to fill.

So, as we head into 23-24, where do we stand? Whether you asked, or not, here we are:

Wins at CHS for active varsity head coaches:

Kevin McGranahan (Softball) — 97
Cory Whitmore (Volleyball) — 76
Brad Sherman (Boys Basketball) — 53
Megan Richter (Girls Basketball) — 19
Steve Hilborn (Baseball) — 17
Robert Wood (Boys Soccer) — 10
Bennett Richter (Football) — 7

In a side note, Richter (.777) edges Hilborn (.739) for best winning percentage, though, to be fair, each coach only has one season at the helm.

McGranahan, who has won at a .688 clip, enters his ninth season this spring — counting the Covid campaign of 2020.

The diamond kingpin tops all active Wolf coaches with 141 games, while Whitmore (112 games/.679 winning percentage) and Sherman (110 games) are the only other CHS leaders to crack triple digits.

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