GBHS hopes Beck brings some of the Webb affect to Great Bend
The tree rooted in Claflin has dropped some fruit in Great Bend. Specifically the Gregg Webb tree. Coach Webb dominated small town high school football during his run at Claflin – winning five state titles and four more runner-up finishes from 1987-2002.
A disciple is now looking to bring some of that success to Great Bend High. Erin Beck takes over as the new football coach for the Panthers. He was on that last team Webb coached at Claflin. He spent the past three seasons with Webb at Truman High School in Kansas City area – Missouri side of the river – as his defensive coordinator. Between that time Beck played college football for Washburn and spent three years as an assistant under Bo Black at GBHS.
What has Webb done since leaving Claflin? He took a Eudora team in the Lawrence area that had struggled to a pair of state championship games in his 10 years. Since taking over at Truman three years ago, he led it to its first winning season in 10 years and the school’s first ever playoff win. He was the Missouri Coach of the Year in 2014.
Yeah, he can coach. Here’s to Coach Beck having taken some good notes.
Prep thoughts
Congratulations to the Great Bend girls’ bowling team. The Panthers wrapped up a pretty darn good season. Great Bend finished as runner-up in the state tournament this past weekend. The Panther were just 16 pins from a state title.
The Panthers rode the strong bowling of junior captain Allie Brodrick much of the season but received some great efforts from others down the stretch. Sophomore Jordan Vsetecka tossed a career-high 619. How about that, career best at state. Bet she keeps that memory for a while. In fact she hadn’t had a 500 series all year, let alone a 600. Brodrick also reached 600 with a 606 as the two placed sixth and ninth.
All six bowlers had series of 500. Hannah Pfeifer rolled a 539, Kylynn Keeler 532, Elsi Miller 524 and McKenzy Black a 503.
Former Athlete/Coach update
Coach Steve Forbes just about made it. One game short. His East Tennessee State team lost in the championship game of the Southern Conference tournament, 73-67, to Chattanooga. His inaugural season as an NCAA DI coach was a good one. His Buccaneers finished second in the regular season as well as runner-up in the conference tournament.
Now ETSU will wait and see what its post-season fate may be. The Bucs are 23-11. The NCAA tournament is obviously not calling. But the Bucs will likely snag a lesser tournament. The hope is the NIT. Chances are the CBI or maybe even the CIT. Yes, there are that many post season tournaments.
It took a while for Forbes to get that DI head gig. If the first season is any indication, he is going to stay around a while.
Around campus
Spring Break is about here for the College. The upcoming week will be quiet around campus. In fact, the campus will be closed Thursday and Friday. The smiling kids will be back for the stretch run March 21 for the sprint to finals in May.
And Finally
Selection Sunday is this weekend. It is one of those unmarked holidays on the calendar.
It is the prelude to one of the most exciting times in sports – the NCAA basketball tournament. Those first two days – Thursday and Friday’s first round game – are probably some of the least productive work days in the American. Even more so since streaming video. For those that don’t take vacation or call in sick, there is streaming video of the games to watch at work.
It is a time when no one should schedule any major events. No one.
Guess what? My nephew Brady went and scheduled one of those major events. Like wedding-major on that first Saturday. Who does this? A K-State fan does this.
He is actually a twin. His twin Chase is a KU fan. That makes for some fun times. I bet he wouldn’t schedule a March wedding. Maybe during football season, but not March. Come on.
To take it a step further, it looks like KU will be heading to Des Moines for its first and second round games. Those games are Thursday and Saturday. I hope they have good reception at this wedding in case the Jayhawk are playing during the ‘I dos’.
If they are playing I hope I don’t have a loud reaction during the ‘anyone know why these two shouldn’t wed’ portion of the ceremony.
Oh well, as long as it isn’t the last game of the season for Kansas I should survive. I guess KU in the NCAA tournament comes along every year. My nephew getting married only comes along once.