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Show New Coach Sports Comment myIKcith Duncan Buchanan Wood Brings A Sense Of Ureencv! Gets Nod As Layton Cage Coach LAYTON Journal Sports Surely the next man over Layton Highs football program would have to respect the fine virtue of patience. LAYTON After five years as an assistant to Mike Hall at Bountiful High School, Stan Buchanan has accepted the head basketball position at Layton High School. AFTF.RALL, the school hasnt enjoyed any kind of real football success in nearly half of a decade under two quality coaches in Gary Hansen and Brad Hawkins. in line to take By KEITH DUNCAN THAT ANNOUNCEMENT was made official last week by Layton principal Paul Smith. I believe in going from the Buchanan was quite elated about his selection as the man to replace the retired Doug Moon. outhouse to the penthouse in just COMING TO Layton High and working the basketball program one wont be anything like building a program from scratch. They had a good thing going here for many years and Im confident I can keep things progressing, said the new head coach. Buchanan played his high school basketball at Ogden High School and continued on at Utah State under LaDell Anderson. He later transferred to Weber State College Winners of the Central California Interclub Association Skating Championships held recently in Fresno, Calif., are Holly Cook, front, first in Senior Ladies; and standing left to right. Heather Sniteman, first Intermediate Ladies; Kirsten Novak, second Junior Ladies; and Clay Sniteman, first Juvenile Men. Well, if you are wondering if Joe Wood is a patient man, let me say he is. But not too patient. WOOD RESPECTS the valued virtue of being patient but as he said last week, there is a sense of urgency of putting things together Locals Do Well quickly." Wood explained further, saying, last year and Layton went without even looking at them, I where he played basketball under Phil Johnson and baseball for Blaine Sylvester. BUCHANAN will bring a coaching philosophy to Layton that includes a genuine concern for young people. I feel high school coaches probably get closer to high school kids than any other teacher in the school, its just that way, said Buchanan. But at the same time, discipline is critical. Ill demand that my kids attend their classes and are on the basketball team because they want to be. We wont have kids on the team that believe they are someones gift to us. THATS THE kind of philosophy we .worked under while at Bountiful. We may not have had the most talented kids, but the kids we did have wanted to be there with every amount of sincerity they could muster. Buchanan says hell bring many of the teachings he learned under Hall, who has been successful the past few years in leading Bountiful to their share of region titles and two trips to the state finals, one of which they cashed in on successfully. WELL PUT the kids on the court that have paid the price to be there, said Buchanan. Stan and Liz have one son whose name is Bryan. They make their home in the South Weber area. In California The Central California Interclub IN NOVICE Ladies Nikki GarAssociation Skating Championrett of Bountiful finished 11th in ships were held June 22 and 23 in figures, 7th in freestyle and 8th Fresno, Calif. This competition is overall. Christine Adams of Bounonly for high test skaters and those tiful did slightly better finishing 7th from the Central region. This in figures, 8th in freestyle and 7th means the Utah Figure Skating overall. Club skaters faced other skaters In 6th Test Ladies, a group that they will vie against on their road to will probably skate Junior Ladies Nationals this year in Long Island, later in the competitive season. New York. Lisa Herzog of Salt Lake finished IN JUVENILE Ladies, Bethany 6th in figures, 6th in freestyle and Yeates of Bountiful placed 2nd in 6th overall. figures, 6th in freestyle and 4th overall. In Juvenile Men, Clay JUNIOR Ladies brought the enSniteman of Farmington placed 1st try of two Utah Figure Skating in figure, 3rd in freestyle and 1st Club members who had just moved overall. to Junior Ladies from Novice In Intermediate Ladies, Heather Ladies. Sniteman of Farmington finished Miss Novak showed her strength 2nd in figures, 1st in freestyle and finishing 1st in figures, 2nd in short 1st overall. FOR THE rest of the skaters in program, 3rd in long program and the upper divisions, they would be 2nd overall. Kenna Bailey was 3rd 3rd in short program, 4th competing against these skaters at in figures, and 4th overall. in long program the Central Pacific Championships to be held in this same rink in November. FOR HOLLY Cook of Bountiful, This was the first view of how last years bronze medalist in tough the competition would be. In Junior Ladies at Nationals, this Novice Ladies and 6th test ladies it was her first competition in Senior was tough, but for Holly Cook in Ladies. Miss Cook proved to be Senior Ladies and Kirsten Novak too much for her two opponents in Junior Ladies, they showed their placing 1st in figures, 2nd in short strength as they came away with program, 1st in long program and medals. 1st overall. All-Spor- By DAVE WIGHAM A couple of weeks ago a Salt Lake newspaper came out with their annual for each classification ranks. ts champion the prep in BRIGHTON and Alta finished o in this evertf and its no accident that they also happen to be the number one and two one-tw- ts schools in terms of numbers enrolled. Alta has 2647 students while has 1991. The highest WHAT THE paper does is award Brighton a local school was ninth by of place in finishes state points for high of Viewmont and events. A school winning a state the Vikings have an enrollment by of contrast they 10 crown in a sport earns points 1276. with the second place team earning Look at the winning Brighton 8 and so on down to one point. The boys won state titles in school. There are ten boys sports and swimming, wrestling and a second seven girls sports that go into comin basketball. The effort place puting the overall this up is that all of reason bring champs. Skyline boys had a better these take place at the same sports record than the Alta boys but the numbers time. my dear Simple Alta females outdid the Skyline The more you have to Watson. and Alta finished of so ahead gals choose from the better off you are. the all-spor- ts 1 Eagles. BUT FINISHING ahead of everyone for the fifth straight year was Brighton which brings me to the point of this column. Why is everyone so surprised that Brighton keeps winning this title. The Bengals should be right i JUST FOR the record the third school is I lillcrcst and biggest the Huskies weren't far behind as they were fourth in this competition. 4-- doesn't stop there either. In 3A the overall champion was Orem, who just happens to have It the largest enrollment in this classification at 1843. Thats correct, they are 3A yet have about 600 more students than Viewmont. In fact the top six schools in 3A all have more students than Viewmont, Bountiful or Woods Cross. EVEN IN the lower 2 A and 1A the largest school in those classifications are right near the top if not on top. Its interesting to note that the only other school to win the 4A title other than Brighton was Skyline which won the event the first two years it ran. Interesting because at that time the Eagles had the largest studentbody in Utah. SURE ITS a great tribute to Brighton to build up strong prog- rams in sports but lets keep year when everything comes together that will allow us to bring our championship trophy home. Consistency is the key, he said. THIS IS Wood's first crack at being a head coach, something that has been a goal of his for many years now. Hes stashed away plenty of experience as a player, as a high e school assistant and as a college assistant. The last 18 years have also had their share of adversity as hes moved from Oregon, to California, to Utah, to Arizona, back to California and back again full-tim- to ts up there every year. Why do you ask? Its a simple numbers game. strongly believe Layton High has a better football team than MAYBE YOU could say that I strongly believe in the saying that says you can go from the outhouse to she penthouse in just one year and back again just as fast. Simply said, Wood wants to get on with the business of winning as soon as possible. Hes a football man, having spent plenty of time on both high school and college levels. During his football travels he's had a chance to mold together his own philosophy, a philosophy with an approach to win consistently year in and year out. THATS IT, said Wood, My approach will be to build a foundation for the school, the community and our team that will produce wins consistently. We may not go to the playoffs every year, but we will win every year. We may not win championships every year, but like I said, we will have our share of victories. He did insert something though. "We will be ready though, for that 8. Is Anyone Really Surprised Title Bengals Win Clipper Sports year in mind they also have the numbers to do it. Coaches in this area drool over the number of students that these bigger schools have but they cant do anything about it. The coaches in this area have enough troubles but now you realize they are fighting the numbers game as well. Utah. IN ACCEPTING the Layton job. Im looking forward to sticking around awhile. "I love to camp, fish and generally just love the outdoors. Layton makes it affordable to do that. BUT PERHAPS the main reason I chose Layton was the tremendous respect Ive had of its athletic program. Gary Hansen had quite a thing going here and the school and community deserves a chance to get back on top again, said the new Layton coach. And the respect Wood has of Layton football is genuine. He joined the Utah State football staff in 1978, the same year Hansen was turning out a state championship football team at Layton High. OUR JOB at Utah State was to never lose a player in our recruiting from Layton High. Even though we did, we tried hard to lure them to Logan. Needless to say, we all had a lot of respect for Hansen and his teams. During that span Layton was the name to respect when it came to high school football north of Salt Lake City, COACH JOE WOOD SAID WOOD of Turner, "My feeling of respect for Layton football only enhanced itself when Turner came along. My feeling today is that theres plenty more of those types of kids still waiting to come to Layton High." It would be an understatement to say Wood has mingled with the best minds in football today. AT GRANTS Pass High School in Oregon he played three highly successful years under a coach w'ho had 20 consecutive years of winning football. During Wood's three seasons the school reached the state's quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Athletics played an important role in the community I grew' up in, saidWood, I acquired a great knowledge of just how important the two could go together. ID REALLY like to see that same kind of thing happen in Layton. From Grants Pass he went on to the University of Oregon w here he played under John Robinson, now the head coach of the L.A. Rams. As a defensive star. Wood worked directly with George Seifert w ho is now' the defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. Bruce Snyder was also at Oregon, the same man w ho later became head coach at Utah State and who Joe coached the running backs for four years (78-82). IN LEAVING Oregon. Wood went out on his first real coaching assignment at Kenyon High School in Southern California. He w orked under another very respected football man in Chuck Fcrrco who today is the head coach at Valley Junior College. After Snyder and Utah State. Wood worked a short stint at Arizona Western College in Yuma, Ariz. as the offensive coordinator to Ray Butcher, an old Aggie himself. continued Wood. One player the Aggies did land was Maurice Turner who Wood coached for three years. HIS MOST recent w ork w as with the University of California and Joe Kapp. "Its been people like this that have helped to give me a good look at competitive athletics and the details it takes to win," said Wood. WOOD LOVES the sport and claims the reason he stays in it is the challenge it gives that he believes is unique to itself. "No other profession gives you the opportunity to display your product every Friday or Saturday and to either reap the rewards or sorrows that come with it. Then it's back to the draw ing board again on Monday to begin preparations for another big Friday or Saturday." he said. As Wood attempts to build the program at Layton, he claims he will put an equal emphasis on offensive and defensive skills. OFTENSE OR defense alone, won't do it." he said. You've got to have balanced attack. But I will say this. When peo- ple come to play Layton High School, they are going to face the mev ihysical football team they will cet in their schedule. They'll come out of our game, saying, "they hit us." AND WELL be good at running too I don't mean running w ith the ball. I'm talking about pursuing on both offense and defense, really getting after it." Wood's thoughts on offense is that of having a balanced attack. He claims his offense will be simple, but efficient. On defense the goal will be to stop the other team's strength and force the opposition into an offense they are unfamiliar with. JOE ANI) his wife Inge have five daughters in their family. The one significant thing Wood could say about his wife is that she has ported him 100 percent." I'm a sup- competitive peison whose been moving around for a few years, trying to meet some of the goals that are important to me. Having the strength and perseverance helps, but having a supportive spouse is equally important. W ERE BOTH just really cited to be here in Layton. ex- |