Is it true that coach Appel is retiring?
- Thread starter Tony54
- Start date
If he's still with the team at this moment then he's too deep into this season to hang it up this year
He took the job coaching the Paw Paw tunnel defense. It's a 10-1 alignment.
It's actually a 9-1. The Pirates always play with 10 men in honor of Josh Delawder.
He makes more money than all the players he coaches combined. So, what happens to the young men who ride the bench.... thinking of a future.... going down those immortal steps..... getting bullshitted.
C'mon...same old song and dance. You have no idea how any FH football players over the past ten years, let's say, feel or think about their experiences
and the impact on their lives. You have your opinion....fine.....but there's no analysis of the facts on the ground to make it true. It's your supposition but it doesn't make it a fact for any of the individuals you seem to represent.
Keep writing it - that's your business, we'll keep reading it no problem, but it doesn't make it true.
"Let's try something"......Allegany folks cannot post anything about Allegany football but ,damn, Fort Hill is always right in the cross-hairs.
Lags is a Western Maryland football expert. He is up here every weekend, live and in person, to see each team he offers his opinion about. I did hear that WCBC, WTBO and commercial video slapped a copyright infringement law suit against him for repeating everything their announcers say. Then claiming their comments as his own opinion.
Lags is a Western Maryland football expert. He is up here every weekend, live and in person, to see each team he offers his opinion about. I did hear that WCBC, WTBO and commercial video slapped a copyright infringement law suit against him for repeating everything their announcers say. Then claiming their comments as his own opinion.
This may be the biggest off line Coach Appel ever had. They only lose 1 starter from last year and average about 250 lbs per man. They go 9 deep on the OL. Give Appel and his wing t set all this and that's all I need to know. Saw them doing agility drills the other day and was holy crap don't mess with any of these dudes. MAMMOTH. Let's roll!!!!
Really? A 1A size school that has college recruited talent riding the bench and this forum pretty much brags about it? Cumberland is a drug addicted maelstrom and this forum dog-talks teams that no longer want to play a school that should should have been scheduling up but doesn't because of the current coach's ego.
Well shit. What an embarrassment. In my day we had some dignity. Good Lord. Go find somebody to play. Or.... I tell you what. Just sell some fuggin' tickets and scrimmage yourself. That way maybe the uniforms can get scuffed.
I'm sorry. I thought was all about 'the making of the man' not the kicking the shit out of some little teams like a playground bully.
The last game I attended was Alco/Dunbar. When FH has the guts to schedule Dunbar during the regular season, I will show up for that game too. Hopefully, there will be a charity collection equal to the one that they had that day.... I will gladly dig deep again.
I'm gonna sound like an old-timer here (dinosaur) but an F Club member told me Apple doesn't schedule tough opponents because when he does step down he wants a higher winning pct. than FH legend Bill Hahn. He's a good coach but none of these current FH teams could beat a Coach Lattimer team from the 60's and 70's. FH was 3A equivalent in those days and never ducked anyone. If they had state playoffs during the Manges and Hare eras there would probably be 3 or 4 more banners. Not to mention Allegany was strong in those days as was LaSalle/BW.
FH is the big fish in a little pond these days. That statement is more a criticism of the decline of Allegany football than it is a slight on what Apple has built. FH is a 1A dynasty but the key there is 1A, not 2A like Allegany was in the 80's or 3A like FH was under Charlie Lattimer. So even if Apple goes out with the highest winning pct. he will still be the 3rd greatest coach in FH history (maybe 4th if you look at what Calhoun accomplished in 3A and 2A). Dang, FH has had some great coaches over the years.
FH is the big fish in a little pond these days. That statement is more a criticism of the decline of Allegany football than it is a slight on what Apple has built. FH is a 1A dynasty but the key there is 1A, not 2A like Allegany was in the 80's or 3A like FH was under Charlie Lattimer. So even if Apple goes out with the highest winning pct. he will still be the 3rd greatest coach in FH history (maybe 4th if you look at what Calhoun accomplished in 3A and 2A). Dang, FH has had some great coaches over the years.
Yes sir . I think you are absolutely correct. And.... even-though I moved to PA and downstate MD later.... corporate job and all.... I probably attended more games than most folks.... unless they were rabid fans.
I doubt if Appel retires any time soon but when he does he will go down in history as a good, not a great coach. He definitely gets credit for being well-organized, keeping the kids motivated and for beating the teams that he has to beat to win the 1A title. Of course it's not Appel's fault that 1A is really bad right now and Alco's program has declined. But when you look at his entire body of work it says good not great. He's never defeated Dunbar (Balt), and he's never even scheduled a top 25 Maryland school. The last two years with them backing out of the Friendship deal and obviously showing no interest in playing regular season games against Dunbar or Lackey have blown a gaping hole in the narrative that other schools don't want to play FH. Ending the Martinsburg series was also under his watch. And FH basically produces the same amount of scholarship players as Mt Ridge does.
Some good points made above by westernMD. The good side of Appel is he seems to hire good coaches, seems to really be able to rally his kids and keep them engaged, and like I've said before, blanket statement - the guy runs a very solid program from top to bottom. Weight program, having kids run track in the spring, academics, team-oriented events, etc. While I'd never say he's a Coach Lattimer or Coach Hahn, I will say that given today's game and standards, Appel has had a run so far that I doubt will ever be matched.
Downside is, like pretty much every other head coach in Cumberland history, promoting his kids to college coaches in an effort to help them get an education and improve their lives has not been high on his list. I don't know that he's ever said or done anything to directly hurt a kid's chances to get recruited by a D2 or higher program, and I'd like to doubt that he has. But when your kid is a freshman and at the initial players' parents meeting he stands in front of you and says that he will not promote your son to college coaches, you have to wonder why? What are his motives with that position, and why wouldn't he make more of an effort to help the kids that have worked their tails off for him, been very loyal to him, and brought him a ton of success?
I get that he's very focused on building and managing the FH program, which he's done an outstanding job of, no question. But one of the latest Bloomberg stats I read a few months back had Cumberland rated at around #305 out of roughly 317 measurable economies in the U.S. Helping your kids leverage football to get a free or reduced college degree would certainly be doing them a solid.
Downside is, like pretty much every other head coach in Cumberland history, promoting his kids to college coaches in an effort to help them get an education and improve their lives has not been high on his list. I don't know that he's ever said or done anything to directly hurt a kid's chances to get recruited by a D2 or higher program, and I'd like to doubt that he has. But when your kid is a freshman and at the initial players' parents meeting he stands in front of you and says that he will not promote your son to college coaches, you have to wonder why? What are his motives with that position, and why wouldn't he make more of an effort to help the kids that have worked their tails off for him, been very loyal to him, and brought him a ton of success?
I get that he's very focused on building and managing the FH program, which he's done an outstanding job of, no question. But one of the latest Bloomberg stats I read a few months back had Cumberland rated at around #305 out of roughly 317 measurable economies in the U.S. Helping your kids leverage football to get a free or reduced college degree would certainly be doing them a solid.
Just to clarify, FH is an average sized fish in a small pond. 30% of the teams in 1A are bigger schools. I understand the analogy is supposed to intend that they are a more successful program in the smallest class of schools, but they are what they are. We've been told ad nauseum by other posters that the size of the school doesnt always equal level of talent (i.e. 4A Walter Johnson) - but the fact remains that FH is fielding amazingly good teams with stellar coaching with the same if not fewer numbers than 1/3 of the teams in their own classification. Allegany only has 50 less students, and look what happened to their program.
You can't say that an apple (no pun intended) is more red than an orange and consider that a slight on the orange for not being red enough. Would FH with 617 kids be as competitive with FH when they had 1600 kids? Probably not. Because they were at the top of their game in both respects.That's like saying that the fastest four cylinder car isnt as fast as a supercharged V8. Well duh. But it is the fastest 4 cylinder car, and thats all it needs to be. Stop comparing completely irrelevant stats and scenarios as if there is some relation. What Coach Appel has accomplished as a 1A coach is completely separate and does not have any relationship to what Bill Hahn did with nearly 2000 kids in his school. Whats to say Coach Hahn or Todd Appel would be any more or less successful if they switched roles in history?
100% in agreement with FHHSAHS on this one.
How can one compare and/or contrast coaches/teams from different eras?
Furthermore, knowing how much time Coach Appel continues to put into the program, one would honestly be hard pressed to find any high school coach, past or present, who puts as much time into the program as Coach Appel. His commitment is contagious.
The game of the 50s, 60s, and 70s was a different game than it is today.
The previous is not to say one is better or worse than the other.
The weight program of today at FH is much different than the weight program using a Universal Machine in the 70s.
Players today are bigger and stronger than they were 40 - 60 years ago. Why? They have much better equipment and science to improve a player’s strength and agility.
One also needs to keep in mind that segregation was the reality for most of the time Coach Hahn was at FH. It was also pre-integration when AHS won most of its championships in basketball.
Should that era of high school sports throughout the country be forgotten due to the fact that schools segregated by race more often than not did not play each other? Absolutely not!
Does the previous make Coach Hahn and Coach Bowers any less as coaches? Absolutely not!
Just as Coach Appel has been dealt the hand to play in 1A, Coach Hahn and Coach Bowers were dealt similar but different hands during their era.
I know, too, that Coach Appel has put in copious amounts of time, regardless of the sports he has coached, and, as a result, has been extremely successful.
I’m really not certain why any person would question the success he, his fellow coaches, and his players have experienced over the last several years.
Yes, he is and has been a great coach and will continue to be until he makes the decision to step aside.
Is he perfect? No.
Were the coaches before him perfect? No.
Are any posters on this forum perfect? I think not.
For any person who has coached any sport at the high school level for several years, it is tiring, especially if the program is expected to perform at a top level year after year.
Finally, while FH is a 1A football program, it can easily compete with 80-85 percent of all football programs in MD on an annual basis...end of story.
How can one compare and/or contrast coaches/teams from different eras?
Furthermore, knowing how much time Coach Appel continues to put into the program, one would honestly be hard pressed to find any high school coach, past or present, who puts as much time into the program as Coach Appel. His commitment is contagious.
The game of the 50s, 60s, and 70s was a different game than it is today.
The previous is not to say one is better or worse than the other.
The weight program of today at FH is much different than the weight program using a Universal Machine in the 70s.
Players today are bigger and stronger than they were 40 - 60 years ago. Why? They have much better equipment and science to improve a player’s strength and agility.
One also needs to keep in mind that segregation was the reality for most of the time Coach Hahn was at FH. It was also pre-integration when AHS won most of its championships in basketball.
Should that era of high school sports throughout the country be forgotten due to the fact that schools segregated by race more often than not did not play each other? Absolutely not!
Does the previous make Coach Hahn and Coach Bowers any less as coaches? Absolutely not!
Just as Coach Appel has been dealt the hand to play in 1A, Coach Hahn and Coach Bowers were dealt similar but different hands during their era.
I know, too, that Coach Appel has put in copious amounts of time, regardless of the sports he has coached, and, as a result, has been extremely successful.
I’m really not certain why any person would question the success he, his fellow coaches, and his players have experienced over the last several years.
Yes, he is and has been a great coach and will continue to be until he makes the decision to step aside.
Is he perfect? No.
Were the coaches before him perfect? No.
Are any posters on this forum perfect? I think not.
For any person who has coached any sport at the high school level for several years, it is tiring, especially if the program is expected to perform at a top level year after year.
Finally, while FH is a 1A football program, it can easily compete with 80-85 percent of all football programs in MD on an annual basis...end of story.
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Considering the weight you put on a regular season closer that doesnt mean shit... that's funny.
Red is always trying to put down Alco, but they forget FH wouldn’t schedule Dunbar when Dunbar asked to play them. Dunbar was going come to the stadium and play FH, FH wouldn’t. Alco played Dunbar home/away. We don’t need to hear the thousand excuses of why the FH/Dunbar game didn’t happen we already heard them. The Dunbar Coach clearly said he didn’t get an answer from FH. How many other teams “don’t get answers from FH” when they ask to play them
As you noted, the size of the school doesn't always equal level of talent, but from my observation the level of commitment and resources a school has will ultimately result in success. FH is undoubtedly committed to football. Appel did a good job of continuing that legacy. FH has the F Club and then another booster club, The Red Huddle, solely focused on football. Many schools barely have one support organization. If you look around the state the schools that win every year - at every classification - have the best resources in terms of manpower or facilities: Wise, QO, DMass, Linganore, etc., it's no surprise why they win. FH may be an average sized team but in terms of resources they probably have the advantage over every other 1A school in the state. Other than win in a depleted 1A what has he accomplished to describe his coaching as "stellar"? What outstanding teams has FH defeated?
There are allot of teams I'd like to see FH play. But there's no use bitchng about it cause it ain't gonna happen. I not gonna act as if the season opener was championship either.
Of course we will never hear the truth, lol. But just on this message board representatives from Middletown and Lackey said they reached out to FH and didn't get a response, or the response came extremely late.
As you stated, “...we will never hear the truth.” However, you follow that up with “...representatives from Middletown and Lackey said...”
Based on anonymous posters, how do you know with 100% certainty their statements were accurate?
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