10 years later

[mountainman]

Team players are are what separate the good players from the great players and what builds great teams. I believe one of the most difficult tasks a coach has is to develop and have the players buy into the idea of team. It's often times difficult for the high school 'hot shots' to get a hold on that concept.

Here's an example of one the Mountaineers are currently dealing with:

Greg 'Hollywood' Davis, widely regarded as the Mountaineers' top recruit coming in this season was expelled from high school school (private all boy's school) this week for fighting. The school's Headmaster said, "I think Greg Davis is basically a good person. I think this is a case where a good young man, because of who he is athletically, became a big fish in a little pond, got overwhelmed and didn't know how to cope." The Headmaster reports that Davis had no problems last year or this year until this spring after he was pursued by college coaches, hounded by Internet recruitniks and quizzed by reporters. The Headmaster also said, "I told Greg when we had to let him go that I thought he was a good young man who had just made some bad choices. I think he started believing his own press clippings."

After speaking to the Headmaster and making other calls, Coach Rodriguez said, "I made some calls to really find out whether (Davis) is a bad kid, or did he just get himself into a situation where he had a fight, the school has rules, and that's it. Greg knows what he needs and what we want. We want him here, but he's going to have to do it our way .... anybody that comes here is going to conform to what we want, we do not conform to them."

The kid will graduate, provided he completes his work, and be a Mountaineer this fall ..... let's hope Greg Davis shows up and the "Hollywood" part gets lost along the way.