04/18/24
August 26, 2002
The last time De La Salle lost, the first George Bush was president. : A great profile of Bob Ladouceur, the football coach at De La Salle High School in Concord, CA. Have you ever heard of another coach with such success (non-professional level, any sport, anywhere)?
Anson Dorrance, women's soccer coach at the University of North Carolina. Sixteen titles in twenty years and runners-up three of the remaining four. Plus an eight-year winning streak.
posted by Mookieproof at 04:27 PM on August 26, 2002
Note that Dorrance coached the US women's national team during most of that period, and it was (apparently) widely understood that if you were a HS women's soccer player and you ever wanted to play on the national team, saying no to Dorrance when he recruited you was a very bad idea. To say that was a bit of a recruiting edge is an understatement. That doesn't make him a less talented coach or anything- many coaches have taken talented teams and run them into the ground. But it's not that much of a stretch from praising Dorrance to saying Rudy Tomjanovich is the greatest basketball coach in the world because he's coaching the US basketball team in the World Championships.
posted by tieguy at 08:15 PM on August 26, 2002
saying no to Dorrance when he recruited you was a very bad idea tieguy, are you referring to tough-driving practices, or alleged sexual harassment by Dorrance?
posted by msacheson at 10:38 PM on August 26, 2002
How about the Edmonton Grads women's basketball team? Led by Percy Page, they were world champions 1924-1940 and amassed a 502-20 record.
posted by alex_reno at 11:42 PM on August 26, 2002
Agreed on your caveats about Dorrance. Having gone to Duke, I would never lightly praise anything about UNC. Nevertheless, his teams have shown remarkable consistency--even keeping in mind that he's routinely had the best players (and some who were simply on another level).
posted by Mookieproof at 09:21 AM on August 27, 2002
msacheson: in a discussion purely about 'coaching success', I sort of deliberately sidestepped the extracurricular question. Mookieproof: Class of 2001 here. I should have made it more clear- it's still damn impressive, and basically unequalled in modern Div. 1 sports except by UCLA. But that's the thing for me- IMHO, it puts Dorrance (as a coach) right up there with, say, Bobby Bowden and Pat Summitt. Despite the numeric impressiveness, though, the recruiting caveat means Dorrance isn't on the same pedestal as the Wizard of Westwood and otherwise it would be.
posted by tieguy at 01:40 PM on August 27, 2002
I went to Jenks High School where the nation's #2 Trojans (behind De La Salle) have won 6 straight state Championships, and are carrying a 38 game winning streak into next season. These guys are dominant too. Nobody finished within 10 points of them last season. Coach Allan Trimbell has done one hell of a job with the program, turning what used to be major rivalries into mere formalities, especially during playoffs. It would be nice to have some kind of High School National Championship. Hell, it'd be nice to have a valid college one too. And a pony.