I have to say after viewing your response I was moved to give Coach Hall a call last night. Your statement: “for the second year in a row neither the coach or the AD having time to show up for the TCIS coaches meeting” is false. Coach Hall did attend the meeting last year, his first year coaching. Therefore your statement is incorrect. As far as this year Coach Hall was apparently called out of the state on business the evening before the meeting however he was able to submit his nominations/votes electronically. So to state that none of the Catholic players had an advocate working for them again appears to also be false. On the subject of Max-Preps, which I addressed with Coach Hall as well, he stated that he entered exactly what he has recorded in the book. Now the interesting part about max-preps (comprised of my own deductions)...I know year before last a father of a player (who graduated that year) kept the book religiously and in general appeared to be a great help to the coach; despite complaints from a specific parent about another parent keeping the book. This past season Coach Hall had no such help and in turn the book and stat coverage suffered greatly. Here is my question to you.....How in the world is a coach supposed to keep track of a game, his players, pitches (without an assistant), coach third and KEEP THE BOOK? I am sure the stats in Max preps are not completely accurate because the book apparently was not completely accurate but from what I have calculated, after researching (although I have not seen the physical book), they are not as far off as you claim. Nonetheless, when you have a montage of supporters/fans keeping the book or a student keeping the book because parents have complaints about each other and the game is not accurately recorded; then what could the coach possibly do? How is anyone supposed to know how the players did? Are you affiliated with the program? You sound as if you are pretty knowledgeable, maybe you should volunteer to keep the book if no one complains about it. I am glad that we agree on the fact that the school and AD have tied the hands of the baseball program. In reference to my statement you quoted in your reply let me clarify. "The pathetic program" statement was specifically aimed at what I feel is the lack of support from the school and AD for the baseball program, which could if supported, be easily successful. As I understand it Coach Hall and others have lobbied for fall ball, fund-raising, winter workout times, as well as a summer legion team for the boys and each and every time he has been turned down/shut-down. The "un-committed" player’s portion of the statement refers to the times when I personally witnessed the late arrival of players to their practices which began at the same time for the entire year and the coach’s inability to enact any type of reprimand thanks to his clearly limited roster and the seriously lacking support of the school administration/ AD. I witnessed a physical altercation before a game between two of the "true baseball players” you mentioned (at which point I believe they were benched by the coach but no repercussions from the AD were enacted, however had they been removed from the team Catholic would not have a team to field so what more can anyone do)…interesting. I even witnessed a pitcher yelling at an umpire... I need not go on. The topper though is when I witnessed a player ejected from a crucial game and benched for the next game but instead of serving out the punishment the coach handed down to the player for his bad behavior the player was allowed by the AD to go to a track meet instead. This is UNBELIEVABLE...and embarrassing for Catholic. Moreover in reference to the “uncommitted players” portion which again is a direct result of the schools lack of support many of the players have had to go elsewhere for off-season training and conditioning as you mentioned. This means that when Coach Hall has requested participation (I’ve seen the emails) in what little off-season training he is allowed to provide the kids, they are already committed to other programs, which in itself is a problem. I have to say the practices I witnessed last year were pretty routine and while they were short in instances it was not helped by the late arrival of the “true baseball players” you speak of. I watched Coach Hall carry out BP and Fielding, so I do not know where your information is coming from but it is either slanted or incorrect. I am aware that when practice was canceled due to weather (which was quite a bit this year and an annoyance for everyone) Coach Hall attempted to take indoor practices however he was often denied access because other sports had already staked a claim in the limited gym space. I do not know where these Dads with coaching experience were last year. I know I saw several standing around and talking during games while Coach Hall was on the field with no support but I never once heard anyone volunteer to help. I believe the one father who did volunteer towards the end of the season, Coach Hall took on immediately, who from what I understand was a JV parent at that. As far as your statement that Coach Hall said he did not go to an All-conference meeting because it was all political anyway that I am assured is completely false. Although he explained to me that the boys were upset about specific things pertaining to the all-conference voting and the issue of politics in baseball did arise in a conversation he assured me that he never made such a statement. That is quite an accusation though. I hope you do not fault me for going directly to the source as such implications/statements can have quite a negative impact on a program which is already working against some pretty heavy odds. I will say you appear to be passionate about the subject though I believe some of your accusations misguided. If you were to work with some of the concerned parents involved with the program and advocate for more support from the school maybe you could help enact some changes!