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Highlands Today

Dragons Feeling Burned

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: July 18, 2008

LAKE PLACID - Sitting against the wall outside of the Lake Placid Middle School gym, Travalier Scholtz just shook his head and rolled his eyes when the subject of former Green Dragon head football coach Tim Grant came up.

"I was so upset when I heard that he'd quit," Scholtz said. "I just couldn't believe that he'd do something like this so close to training camp.

"But I had a feeling that this was going to happen. It just happened later than sooner."

After one year on the sidelines for Lake Placid, Grant abruptly tendered his resignation last Friday.

As players went through summer workouts on Wednesday afternoon, there was a mixed reaction from many of Grant's former players about his leaving - some glad and some upset - but all were in unison when they said the change couldn't have come at a worse time.

"He shouldn't have done it like that," said LP's Logan Smith. "Some of the kids are excited about getting a new coach, and some are really upset with the way things went down."

Green Dragon assistant coach Donald Ridgeway has been one of the guiding forces behind the summer workout program for the football players, and he, too, was blind-sided by the news.

"My first reaction was disappointment for the kids," Ridgeway said. "These players were excited at the end of last season, and I know the seniors wanted a chance to turn things around at Lake Placid.

"They're feeling let down right now."

Scholtz, a senior and four-year varsity player, is all too accustomed to the coaching carousel at Lake Placid. Whoever takes over the Green Dragons will make the third head coach that he's played for in the past four years.

"That's three offensive and three defensive systems we've had to learn, and after a while, it's just crazy," Scholtz said. "It really makes you wonder if you want to play for this team, or what's wrong with Lake Placid. "

Scholtz said he knew Grant wasn't going to stay in Lake Placid for long when he learned Grant backed out of buying a house in Sebring in the spring.

"Grant told me about a house he was going to buy in Sebring and was excited because it's less of a drive from Fort Meade," Scholtz said. "But later on, I heard that he didn't buy the house, and I knew that he wasn't planning on staying."

In his only year as Lake Placid head coach, Grant led the Green Dragons to a 2-8 record. Lake Placid was shut out four times and has won just nine games in seven years.

Ridgeway believes that the next head coach should understand what he's undertaking with the Green Dragons.

"This isn't a big city, but that doesn't mean our football can't be big," Ridgeway said. "Whoever they bring in has to know that if he coaches Lake Placid football that makes him a Lake Placid guy.

"This team deserves to have a Lake Placid guy. I know that Principal Michael Haley is a good man that didn't deserve this mess, but I have faith in him that he'll make the right decision."

But what's happened to Scholtz is happening many of the Green Dragon players.

The trust factor has plummeted and the waiting game has fostered thoughts of what to expect from LP football this season.

"You put your faith in the guy and buy into what he was teaching us because some of us felt that he was leading us in the right direction," Scholtz said. "Then the rug gets pulled out from underneath before we even get started."

"I remember Grant telling kids after last season to not quit and not give up on Lake Placid football," Ridgeway said. "Then he turns around and quits on them. What kind of message does that send?"

The search for a new Green Dragon head football coach has begun and training camp begins Aug. 4

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or at choffman@highlandstoday.com.

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