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Another 4A head coach moving to 3A

LukeFeddersen

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Jun 14, 2001
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Marshalltown head football coach and special ed teacher Aaron Shipley stepping down to take over same gigs at Grinnell
 
Interesting, but not surprising. Both coaches, Zach Pfantz of Ottumwa and Aaron Shipley of Marshalltown, are West Marshall graduates. Played for Coach Winkler.
Another, Justin Penner, left Mason City last summer and took over at Western Dubuque. I believe that the socio-economic variability amongst 3A schools is not as great as those schools in 4A. There would be some tough 4A schools to win at and win consistently. Their ceiling of wins might be greater at the 3A jobs that they took than the 4A jobs that they left.
 
I could be wrong but I would think in 3A most coaches can live with the hand they are dealt from year to year because the competition isn't as tough as it can be in some districts in 4A. In 3A, the community probably supports their athletic programs a bit better win or lose as they are an important social event on a regular basis. In 4A it seems that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Either the community is behind a winning program and the coach gets what he wants in that process due to an abundance of resources or you don't have the resources and the community has a harder time getting behind a losing program and there's always plenty of other things to do on a Friday night in a metropolitan area.

In my opinion, 4A coaches in communities with few resources sometimes find that they aren't going to make any headway and are smarter for taking the path that these coaches have and can continue enjoying the coaching process vs hanging on in a losing program/community where the dividing line of success is much more dramatic.

I'm curious and I know many who frequent this site could offer some insight; What programs in 4A are always on the borderline where they could pop up and compete at a high level for a year or two and then disappear for a few years and then pop back up again? We always hear about the programs that are on both ends of the spectrum but the middle seems to never get any attention.
 
That's a weird hire for Grinnell in my opinion, what has Shipley done at Marshalltown to warrant a job like Grinnell. Yes I know that Marshalltown isn't an easy job by any means but they really tanked since he was hired.
 
I could be wrong but I would think in 3A most coaches can live with the hand they are dealt from year to year because the competition isn't as tough as it can be in some districts in 4A. In 3A, the community probably supports their athletic programs a bit better win or lose as they are an important social event on a regular basis. In 4A it seems that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Either the community is behind a winning program and the coach gets what he wants in that process due to an abundance of resources or you don't have the resources and the community has a harder time getting behind a losing program and there's always plenty of other things to do on a Friday night in a metropolitan area.

In my opinion, 4A coaches in communities with few resources sometimes find that they aren't going to make any headway and are smarter for taking the path that these coaches have and can continue enjoying the coaching process vs hanging on in a losing program/community where the dividing line of success is much more dramatic.

I'm curious and I know many who frequent this site could offer some insight; What programs in 4A are always on the borderline where they could pop up and compete at a high level for a year or two and then disappear for a few years and then pop back up again? We always hear about the programs that are on both ends of the spectrum but the middle seems to never get any attention.

Wings
That is a good question. What are the borderline programs. I'm going to do a little research and see if I can figure out who may be those programs.
 
That's a weird hire for Grinnell in my opinion, what has Shipley done at Marshalltown to warrant a job like Grinnell. Yes I know that Marshalltown isn't an easy job by any means but they really tanked since he was hired.
I think he arrived at the wrong time. The tank was empty and Marshalltown is going to get worse and worse from a demographic standpoint as far as athletes go.
 
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