About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2020)
SPORTS Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com Sftncs gainesvilletimes.com Midweek Edition - April 15-16, 2020 HIGH SCHOOL BASKCTBALL Eager for the challenge TOMMY YANCEY I For The Times George Walton Academy coach Tommy Yancey talks to players during a timeout during a 2020 game in Monroe. Yancey was named boys basketball coach April 9 at East Hall. New East Hall boys coach wants Vikings fans excited for program BY BILL MURPHY bmurphy@gainesvilletimes.com HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING Barr steps down as the coach at Chestatee On Monday, Chestatee’s Kyle Barr resigned his position as wrestling coach, which was made public in a press release from Hall County schools director of ath letics and communications Stan Lewis. During his time, the War Eagles tal lied 145 wins and produced 20 of 28 state qualifiers in program history. “Kyle has done a great job with the wrestling program at Chestatee High School,” Chestatee athletics director Matt Stowers said. “We wish him all the best in whatever come next in his career. “We will now begin the search for the candidate that best fits Chestatee High School and the needs of its wrestlers.” Compiled by Bill Murphy HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS Got a sports story you would love to tell readers? What’s your favorite story of a high school athlete, team or game that you wouldn’t mind sharing with our readers? We got time for telling great stories of the past. Contact editor Bill Murphy at 770- 718-3415 or bmurphy@gainesvilletimes. com. Do you know a high school senior who has college sports plans impacted? Do you know a high school senior from Hall County playing sports who has found the college recruiting process hard to navigate due to the impact coronavirus had on our country? Reach out to editor Bill Murphy 770-718-3415 or bmurphy@ gainesvilletimes.com. Compiled by Bill Murphy NFL DRAFT Executives are picturing virtual setup Associated Press Bill Polian ran many an NFL draft, making him the main man in the room for several successful franchises. Next week, the Pro Football Hall of Famer knows who the guys in demand will be for all 32 teams: the techs. “I would say simply, I-TI-TI-T,” Polian explains. “Make sure from the outset your communication is seamless and flawless. If you can get the name of the pick in on time and can effectuate trades, the rest of it is relatively easy. “If there are glitches in communica tions, for example as we saw in the early stages of the pandemic, with Zoom and other platforms, that is a problem. What happens if you can’t communicate and the clock is running out? It’s up to the I-T guys at both the club and league to make sure that everything works — and that they have a fail safe. “If I were running a club,” adds the man who built the Bills, Colts and Pan thers through the draft, “I’d take a little more time to make sure I rehearsed everything for the actual draft. We would always make sure all the communica tions work and everything lines up, but do it all in spades now. Don’t take for granted they will work.” The league and teams say they are ensuring that everything will run smoothly, and a mock draft will be held soon as a test. But really, this is uncharted territory. NFL teams are in a sea of uncertainty as they prepare for a draft like no other. The collection of information has been strong, but hardly as thorough as in nor mal times. Cancellations of pro days, in-person visits and workouts at team headquarters, and in-depth medical exams by team doctors adversely affect preparation for each franchise. That said, Polian and former NFL executive Pat Kirwan point directly to team scouts who, like every other year, were on the road gathering data since last summer. So clubs with the strongest personnel staffs, who usually have an edge heading into the draft, could have an even bigger advantage now. But as Kirwan points out, the logistical limitations caused by the coronavirus pandemic could outweigh some of that diligence — particularly in attempting to make trades. “Trading, which has become a big ger part of the draft than ever, becomes problematic,” says Kirwan, who like Polian is an analyst for SiriusXM, which will cover every selection in the seven rounds on April 23-25. “Say we are all in a room and three guys are working phones, trying to get the best deal. The decision maker, he is not going to have the visual contact with them that he usually has. “Take Pete Carroll and John Schnei der (in Seattle). They’re in separate rooms and they have three guys making phone calls in other places and a salary cap guy in their ear. There’s a lot of pres sure that goes into that when we had a system when we were under normal circumstances. Tommy Yancey learned a lot about coaching from the legendary Ron Bradley during their 40-minute daily commute to Piedmont Academy in the late 1990s. As a player, the new East Hall High boys basketball coach was a sponge for every bit of advice and strategy offered up from the National Hall of Fame Coach. Yancey’s ride to school from his home near Walnut Grove to the private school in Monticello was Bradley. In his first game, Yancey made his debut for the man who he followed from Logan- ville High, scoring a less-than-impressive 7 seven points and going 1 of 10 shooting from the field, he recalls. Yancey was bracing for the car to stop the next day with Bradley in the driver’s seat for the ride south to school. However, it wasn’t the tongue lashing the eventual All-State selection thought he might receive. “Coach just said, ‘boy you sure shot the ball bad last night; let’s not do that again,” Yancey said, laughing about the exchange. That firm but caring guidance helped steer Yancey to learn from one of the best to coach, a man who combined to win a state-record 1,372 games as a boys and girls basketball coach over 50 years. Even before that, Yancey knew he wanted to be a coach as an adult. Playing for a legend was the icing on the cake. Now, Yancey wants to bring some of that passion for the game to East Hall, where on April 9 he was named its new boys basketball coach. The Vikings’ new coach couldn’t be more excited for the new position. “East Hall has a basketball tradition unrivaled by anyone in the state,” said Yancey, who spent the past three years coaching at George Walton Academy in Monroe. “(East Hall) is the dream job. ” Yancey takes over for Seth Thompson, who served as interim coach after Seth Vining retired early last season. Thomp son was also head coach at East Hall the season before Vining came out of retire ment for a brief stint. During these unprecedented times with sports at a complete halt due to the coro navirus, the new Vikings coach is eager to get a feel for his new program, using game tape from last season’s games as a guide. Yancey also wants to build a relation ship with Vining, a four-time state cham pion at East Hall, and Collins Hill’s Joe Dix, who guided the Vikings boys to a 2005 state title. East Hall went 6-18 and 13-15, respec tively, the past two seasons. “I want to bring East Hall basketball back to where it was with the entire stands filled every night,” Yancey said. East Hall’s new coach has already identified a few points of emphasis for his new school. He wants to cut down on the 19 turnovers a night and improve on the 37-percent shooting from the field in 2019-20. He’s excited about the returning nucleus for the Vikings, which includes senior Imre Earls, juniors Clete Cooper and Christian Torres, and sophomore Levi Holtzclaw, among others. Yancey thinks his high-energy approach will jell right away in Valhalla. “I’m so excited to be coaching at East Hall,” said Yancey, who also coached in high school at Brookstone, Schley County and Grace Christian Academy. “We want to be an Elite 8 team every season at East Hall.” Yancey’s also coached at the College of Coastal Georgia, in Brunswick, and St. John’s River State (Fla.). Now at East Hall, Yancey believes he has a great cast of assistant coaches, which includes former East Hall standouts Trevor Bishop and Brody Langston. Working with high school kids in the digital information age, the new man in charge for the Vikings wants to create an exciting culture for the program. “You can’t come in boring,” Yancey said. Yancey’s familiarity with the East Hall tradition runs deep. Playing for Loganville his first two years of high school in 1996 and 1997, he remembers some battles against Vikings teams with Chezley Watson and Antoine Whelchel. As a sophomore, Yancey recalls being on the Loganville team that dropped the subregion championship at East Hall. Yancey also had the experience of going head-to-head against Watson, who went on to play at Virginia. “I could show you the exact spot in the (East Hall) gym where (Watson) threw me into the bleachers,” said Yancey, who laughingly described his experience trying to box out one of the best to ever play for East Hall. Yancey said he’s always marveled at the atmosphere the East Hall community generates for basketball. He wants it to be that way, once again. “We want to bring the swagger back,” Yancey said. ATLANTA HAWKS Schlenk remains flexible as draft gets closer Remainder of season a mystery with 15 games left Atlanta Journal Constitution The NBA has been on hiatus since March 11 because of the coronavirus, and it’s not clear if the Hawks will get to play their final 15 regular-season games or what the league’s postseason could look like. With all that up in the air, though, the team still has to prepare for the draft and free agency, even if the dates (the draft is scheduled for June 25, with free agency set to begin June 30) get pushed back. After a disappointing, clipped season, marred by John Collins’ 25-game suspension, injuries to Kevin Huerter and minimal con tributions from now-departed veterans, the Hawks are looking to add depth in free agency and likely are committed to their first- and second-round picks in the draft, according to general manager Travis Schlenk. At the time of the season’s suspension, the Hawks had the fourth-worst record in the league at 20-47, ahead of Minnesota (19-45), Cleveland (19-46) and Golden State (15-50). Anything can happen, if the right offer comes along, but those conver sations aren’t happen ing yet, Schlenk said. “I think we’re com mitted to it,” Schlenk said. “Obviously our pick is going to be a top-10 pick, so obviously we’ll keep that, unless some great offer came our way, something we couldn’t turn down. But as of right now, those dialogues aren’t taking place. And then the (pick No.) 52, to be completely frank, the pick doesn’t have a lot of value, so even if we wanted to move it, we wouldn’t really get anything for it, so we’ll keep that, and we’ll do the best we can with it.” A lot of the Hawks’ draft strat egy will depend on how the lottery shakes out and where they end up picking (the 14 teams that don’t make the post season are eligible for the lottery, which deter mines the order). But according to Schlenk, they’ll look for the best player available and not focus as much on fit. “We could be anywhere between 1 and 8,” Schlenk said. “Last year, we were going in at fifth and we end up at 8 because three teams jump in front of us, so a lot of that is just going to depend on where we end up picking. But we’re going to take who we feel like is the best player there. We’re not going to position it. “When you start picking that high in the draft, I think it’s a mistake to draft on need, unless the talent is equal, but you look for the best talent when you start drafting that high.” Regarding free agency, the Hawks’ front office is meeting via Zoom and going through dif ferent teams and players they have their eye on, assessing team and player options and doing their best to project and gauge the market. They were projecting to have around $50 million in cap space. However, the situation is fluid because of financial losses related to the coronavirus, which could bring about a big drop in the league’s salary cap. The cap was $109,140,000 for the 2019-20 season, and it’s based on league-wide revenue from the previous season. The league hasn’t announced plans for the final portion of the regular season or the playoffs, so it’s difficult to model exactly how much revenue will be lost. Schlenk
