Troubles from within

InDepth by Jack Long and Paul Wilson

Flathead High School — the biggest high school in the state, with a 9-12 grade student population of more than 2,300 students — hasn’t won a football championship in more than 28 years. Flathead’s boys basketball was 13-32 over the past two seasons. And a girls basketball team that celebrated its 25th anniversary last fall has never won a state title.

You’ve probably heard it all before. The question is, why?

The question is easy. The answers are far from simple. Speaking with FHS players, coaches and fans, several possible explanations emerge.

The attitude of FHS students is critical at best toward the state of their school’s athletics. And while some teams, like Flathead football, girls basketball and the soccer teams, have been successful in recent years, the last team championship at Flathead High was the 1996 boys tennis team. Athletic Director Gene Boyle believes that building a winning tradition is a trying task.

“You’ve got to have skill. You’ve got to be compatible with each other,” said Boyle. “The ability to discipline high school kids is probably the toughest thing that coaches have to do because they are criticized for it so much.”

To the people who run Flathead sports, there seem to be four general theories as about why Flathead teams have fallen behind the pack in recent years.

•The theory of the Unlucky 13

At the ninth grade level, students from Bissell, Cayuse Prairie, Ev-ergreen, Fairmont-Egan, Helena Flats, Lakeside, Marion, Pleas-ant Valley, Smith Valley, Somers and West Valley transfer to Kalispell Junior High, where they join the District 5 elementary students who transferred to KJHS from Linderman after seventh grade. In all, students from 13 junior high systems begin playing together at the ninth grade level, according to the KJHS guidance office. And that number, 13, may  be an unlucky number for Flathead sports. Nowhere else in the state of Montana do so many rural schools transfer into one AA high school.

“We have kids from Marion down to Lakeside,” said Boyle. “In sports, where you have close-knittedness, that’s important, and that’s where we’re hurt somewhat.”

Bob Applegate, head coach of the Braves football team, believes that talent coming from many far-flung areas takes away from the program.

“We get kids coming in from the junior high who have never played. I think that hinders us,” said Applegate. “When people see us as the biggest school, by rights when you look at the four or five city grade schools, the kids that have actually participated (in football) is a small percentage.”

According to students from outlying areas, the transition to FHS athletics can be difficult.

“The first day of ninth grade basketball tryouts I walked out of practice,” said senior Shanna Westphal, who attended junior high at West Valley. “I was really intimidated coming from a rural school.”

Senior Jake Cranney, from West Valley, tried out for boys basketball as a sophomore and junior and believes too much go politics into FHS sports.

“I thought the teams seemed pretty much predetermined,” said Cranney. “Kids coming from (city schools) seem to have a distinct advantage.”

In addition to the fact that some would-be athletes don’t get the chance to play some sports prior to high school, future teammates don’t get to play together until ninth grade. Bravette basketball head coach Dennis Latimer believes that future stars for the high school athletic programs don’t play together early enough, especially since junior players are divided in the hopes of creating equal teams.

“When you split those 40 kids up (in seventh grade), you’re looking at making all the teams even,” said Latimer. “But good and skilled players don’t get to play together. Day in and day out those kids should be competing.”

Another problem with the 13 schools is the different coaching styles the athletes see along the way. Former Brave basketball coach Doug Hashley, who believes a sense of family is the most important part in building a successful team, says this problem is unique to FHS.

“Kids coming from different schools have learned different coaching philosophies,” said Hashley. “That’s something other areas don’t have to deal with. The six best players are split up. Those best athletes should play together (and) develop a sense of teamwork.”

•Alternatives to high school athletics

Think about it. Would you rather spend every afternoon in a sweatygym or ski the Big Mountain? According to some coaches, the lure of the local outdoors takes away from Flathead’s team-sport success. Latimer, who previously coached girls basketball in Troy and Rygate, believes that schools with fewer activities for would-be athletes have better turnout for sports teams.

“I came from the eastern part of the state,” said Latimer. “There wasn’t a Flathead Lake and there wasn’t a Big Mountain. The focus was more on the community and in the gym. Around here, there’s other facets for kids to do with their time.”

On the other hand, former Braves basketball Bill Epperly, who retired after the 1992-93 season, believes that the alternatives to high school athletics don’t take away from athletic teams’ success as much as is believed.

“I don’t think it’s a factor,” said Epperly. “It does split interest a little bit. A sense of belonging is important. A school our size, doesn’t get that.”

•Bigger isn’t necessarily better

Could it be that because Flathead High School has such a large tal-ent pool, that the teams actually become water-downed? Does the sheer size of FHS actually intimidate would-be athletes, therefore decreasing the available talent? Football offensive coordinator Grady Bennett, who also coaches sophomore boys basketball and attended FHS as a student, believes that may be the case.

“I think sometimes (the size) actually has an adverse affect,” said Bennett. “We lose so many kids at the eighth and ninth grade level. Some kids are frustrated because of the amount of kids or some kids are frustrated coming in from rural schools.”

Junior Dyland McFarland, senior Luke Davey and senior T.J Johnson walk off the court at Flathead High gym after losing to Big Sky Jan. 10.

Flathead appearances in team sports title games since 1985

Football…………………………0

Girls basketball…………………4

Boys basketball…………………3

Volleyball……………………….1

Softball………………………….0

Of these teams, the only champion is the 1989 boys basketball team.

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•Too many coaching changes

In recent years, the sports world has placed more pressure on pro sports coaches. Where do high school coaches fit in? According to Boyle, public opinion has become too critical of high school coaches. 

“These guys go out after teaching a full day of school and they make $3,200 (coaching) for a season,” said Boyle. “People think that’s their job, when it’s really only about 10 percent of their real job.”

The basketball program has endured two coaching changes since Epperly’s retirement. Hashley coached the varsity team for three seasons before resigning after the 1995-96 season, when he turned the ranks over to then-Bravette coach Antonietti. Antonietti resigned after the completion of the 1997-98 season with the Braves, when the team went 6-14. After two years under scrutiny by the community, Antonietti believes that some Flathead coaches aren’t given enough control.

In a perfect world “the community would stay out of high school athletics,” said Antonietti. “Let the coaches coach, hold them accountable so there weren’t things like physical abuse going on, but allow coaches to coach and players to play.”

 Senior Nick Hanson tried out for basketball his sophomore year, but didn’t try out his junior or senior year due to coaching changes.

“It seemed like some of the spirit and pride toward basketball weren’t there,” said Hanson. “Nothing against  Antonietti, but it’s hard to build tradition when you change coaches every couple years.”

Hanson may have a point. Flathead programs with long-standing coaches have been more successful. Paul Jorgenson has coached the cross-country team for more than two decades, and the cross-country program is consistently at the top of the state. Flathead football has had eight years under Applegate. In 1996 Braves football reached the post season and was one win away in 1997. In contrast, Braves basketball, Bravette volleyball and Bravette softball — programs that have had coaching changes at least once in the ’90s — suffered through losing seasons in the past year. Boys track coach Dan Hodge believes that if coaches aren’t successful early on, they maynot get a chance.

“The only reason we’re long-standing is we’ve been successful,” said Hodge, who has coached track for more than 20 years. “If I’d been unsuccessful my first three, four or five years I’d have probably been fired or the parents would’ve come in and wanted to get rid of me.”

The current population at Flathead High School is 2,304 students, including the freshmen at KJHS. The walls of Flathead High en-compass 262,047 feet of space. But nowhere in that space is there a football championship banner from the past 20 years. And next season, FHS will have endured at least four different basketball coaches since 1993.

“One thing you need is talent,” said Epperly. “If you have five or six kids that come together, you do well. But look at the NBA. There are some very talented players who are on teams that have won 10 games.”

 Why did the softball team only win one game in 1997? Why was the volleyball team a combined 6-19, not counting tournaments, in the past two years? Senior Ryan Wardinsky started as a junior on the boys basketball team but didn’t try out his senior year, believing FHS athletes, for the most part, “have a bad work ethic.”

“Obviously it lies on the coaches’ shoulders,” said Wardinsky. “But just as much, the players need to make the change.”

Among the student body, Wardinsky is far from alone in his views. Some Flathead athletes feel alienated. Some Flathead coaches no longer feel secure. But maybe there’s a more fundamental reason behind the lack of winning results in some of our team sports. Maybe pride in Flathead athletics is so low that anymore, no one seems to care. Maybe, instead of examining the wins and losses, we should examine ourselves.

“I think that we have a problem,” said Hanson. “We, as a high school, should portray ourselves better as athletes and better as sportsmen. As far as sportsmanship and team morales, we struggle.”  

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Braves quarterback Bill Henderson crouches on one knee following the Braves’ playoff loss to CMR 28-27 Oct. 15, 1996.

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