• The Green Phone was created so the fans could voice their
opinions. Give us a call and let us know what’s on your mind.
CALLER 1:I just want to talk about last Friday’s baseball game
between Gilroy and Live Oak. I’m just really sick of Coach Wheeler
not knowing when to pull a pitcher when he’s struggling and having
a bad time.
• The Green Phone was created so the fans could voice their opinions. Give us a call and let us know what’s on your mind.
CALLER 1:I just want to talk about last Friday’s baseball game between Gilroy and Live Oak. I’m just really sick of Coach Wheeler not knowing when to pull a pitcher when he’s struggling and having a bad time. It’s a shame Gilroy lost the way they lost, but sometimes the coach needs to know when to say when. Unfortunately, our coach doesn’t. So I’m just kind of tired of him being stuck on certain players and feeding the rest to the dogs. That’s my beef. That’s my gripe. Thanks.
GREEN PHONE: Caller 1, the loss to Live Oak last Friday was indeed a heartbreaker. Not in small part because the Mustangs went into the game – which, if they had won it, would have put them in first place in TCAL – with a very thin pitching staff after some academic ineligibility problems. Of course, it’s your right to criticize the coach for leaving his starter in too long. But we spoke with Coach Wheeler after a 2-0 win over Salinas Wednesday and he seems pretty happy with the pitching solution he found for that game – which was to start regular shortstop Drew Andersen on the mound and bring Peter Mickartz (the starter against Live Oak) on in relief. When you lose key players in the course of the season, it seems to us that you try to come up with solutions to the problems that creates … sometimes it works out well, sometimes it doesn’t. Hopefully, Gilroy has figured out how to deal with its pitching situation in time for the CCS playoffs, which kick off Wednesday.
CALLER 2: Glad to see that you are keeping everyone informed regarding these guys playing in the minors, but Gil Barry didn’t graduate from Santa Clara. I am pretty sure that he never attended Santa Clara.
GREEN PHONE: Thanks for the correction, Caller 2. We turn to Damon Poeter for an explanation for how he got this wrong in his story, ‘A dream endured’ about local minor league baseball players. And Damon informs the Green Phone that it was Jack Headley, a Gilroy native and Bellarmine grad now playing with the Washington Wild Things, who attended Santa Clara – not Gilroy High grad Gil Barry. Damon reckons he mixed the two players up in his notes and apologizes for the error.
CALLER 3: I just read this morning that Coach Webb resigned from Live Oak and I just wanted to say I’m very sorry that this has to happen. He coached my son in high school and they still have quite a great relationship. He’s not only a football coach but he leads a fine example for these young men as far as their academics and basically just about life. So I’m very sad to hear that he has resigned. He was a big asset to San Francisco 49er Jeff Ulbrich and so we’re sorry to see him leave.
GREEN PHONE: Thanks, Caller 3. The theme of this week’s Green Phone seems to be coaches. We had a few more callers voice their opinion on Webb’s situation. Read on …
CALLER 4: I’d just like to say I’m really disappointed that Glen Webb was forced to resign. It kind of makes me wonder if he was targeted because he always voices his opinion. He puts himself on the line for the students and Live Oak and I know he always has the best interest of the students in mind. I think the CCS commission kind of has their priorities mixed up. I’d really like to know where they were last year when we had a coach using profanity and attacking another coach in front of students and parents and athletes involved in the match. In that incident, students were hurt and the letters were written and phone calls made. There was no response. So I’d really like to know how you get a hold of the CCS commission when a coach really crosses the line. That would be good to know how to do that. Anyway, just glad that Webb is still going to be an assistant and he’ll always be Coach Webb to us.
GREEN PHONE: Caller 4, it’s never acceptable for coaches to cross that line of ‘acceptable’ behavior and begin attacking, verbally or physically, other coaches, especially when their athletes are present. The CCS really should have jumped on that situation right away, considering it concerned the safety of student–athletes. As for the CCS contact information you requested, the section’s San Jose office number is 441–9505. You can also visit the CCS web Site at www.cifccs.org for more information. Now we do have an anti–Webb caller….
CALLER 5: The question posed is ‘Should Glen Webb have resigned as Live Oak’s head football coach?’ and absolutely, we believe he should. In fact, we’re sorry to hear he’s still going to be affiliated with the team as an assistant coach. The way that he has publicly ridiculed Sobrato and the lack of support he’s had for the district, we’re surprised he is still teaching. I’m very glad that he’s resigned as head coach and would hope very much that the team could go on with Rick Booth and that Glen Webb would not be affiliated at all with the team.
GREEN PHONE: Folks, whether you’re in the pro- or anti-Webb camp, we hope we can agree that the situation at Live Oak has at least been handled with the appearance of amicability by both sides. Imagine if this whole thing became a legal matter. Now on to more coaches …
CALLER 6: I just wanted to say thanks for pointing out that Gavilan softball just finished one of its most successful seasons in school history and that coach Tim Kenworthy was named Central Coast South Division Coach of the Year. Too bad he didn’t get rehired for next year. It’s a terrible shame.
GREEN PHONE: No question, it’s an interesting development that gives Kenworthy’s supporters a big argument in their favor. There is a lot of uncertainty with the softball program right now but we will all see how things unfold for it in the coming months. In the meantime, congratulations to Kenworthy and the four Gavilan All–Conference players.
