Rumor has it

The A.D. was asked recently if they have decided on a coach .The answer was - mid January for announcement .

But no signs of who it might be.

Merrimack definitely has the potential to become a powerful football program, I agree. It is good to hear that the youth program will be moving up next season as well. Should be interesting to see how it all plays out. If I find anything more out about either that's got some credibility, I'll let you know.

Not sure what the wait is for the Alvirne announcement, unless the person they settled on rejected the offer. In which case, out of the 3 finalists: All 3 declined in one form or another. Which would be pretty crazy, but there's a lot of openings still in the area that people need to consider when looking at both Alvirne and Merrimack. Merrimack, in my opinion, is the best one. So once that opens up officially and is settled, may have a domino effect.

Tony Phillips would not last two years as head coach at any Public HS, the guy is not public school material

People used to say the same thing about Shubert at Central. I think they are both cut from the same cloth.

Meanwhile at the Telegraph

Knowing some people that coached with him at BG ( baseball) Great assistant coach under the right leader and he knows the game of football, but it is just my opinion.

Roger Brown has a story on the former Merrimack coach:

http://www.nhfootballreport.com/2012/12/battista_looking_forward_to_ne.html

I think it's funny that no matter what the "football news" is that is being discussed out here, it always somehow becomes about BG. I swear, Farmington-Newt could lose a mid-season game, and suddenly a thread devoted to that discussion will somehow start mentioning ToJo, Phillips, Cote, the triple option offense and Dan Prunier.

Odd....!

SofaKing my guess is you are from Merrimack?
Goldenbear maybe Merrimack but maybe Mars?

Think about what you are writing. Mark Phillips has a bad reputation outside of BG is what
you hear. Do you think there might be a little professional jealously! Have you herd the BG
community talking bad about the guy who has not been outside of BG for the last 17 years.

Who the hell likes BG outside of BG?

I have a question for all of you Merrimack Sports Fans. Why is it that the Football Program falls apart
when they loose to BG every year. What ever point in the season they loose to BG the Team crumbles
The town just can`t seem to get over it and move on to the next game.

So goldenbear you tell me why the conversation always comes back to BG?

Mark Phillips Not a head coach? Lets break that down a little. His resume if you will. Not that I really know Marks Resume but I will tell you what I do know.

BG was Merrimack or Alvirne when he arrived with TOJO 17-18 years ago. The two worked well together and the 2009 Team went down as one of the best teams ever in State History. The 2010 team repeated the state championship however it was due to pure coaching rather than talent.
Then the change with TOJO and the whole thing went down. Sure Cote repeated with a championship
however not his kids and lets face it the program is declining fast.

The Coaching Staff at BG wanted Mark to take over after TOJO left and anyone connected with
that School could tell you that.

Played College Ball at Colby College.......Try Getting in!!! Thats the league that Bellicheck came from and gets most of his assistant coaches from.

17 years BG as an assistant coach,ran the offense, spread,play action, Proset, Wildcat, Kitchen
Sink!!! Coached the D and O lines which is where the game is won, and again not that someone
from Merremack would know much about since you have very little experience with winning.

The Guy knows the game and has nothing to prove. I am sure he just misses the preperation,coaching relationships,as well as the player relationships. He left to watch his son play college ball and that is coming to a end soon.

He will build a program even if it would be at a Farmington/Newt....................the guy knows
how to do it and will excite a community.

Not a Head Coach but a great Assistant? Maybe your right but if Guys he coached with wanted Phillips to take over that tells me that his peers think your wrong. I also think that the way Mark
conducted himself as an assistant will not be the way he will conduct himself as a Head coach and
if you know anything about Phillips this guy is a strong personality that the kids respond too.

So I hope for your sake you aquire Phillips because you have had more than your fair share of the alternative. Also give him time to build a program, it does not happen overnight.

It was his peers, I am not from Merrimack and do not give a crap about Merrimack football and have zero connection to Merrimack sports.


And it is also from my own experiences dealing with his kids and the way he talked about me to other parents and made up stories about me.

But what I do know about him is that his kids are good kids and both have done well, so he must be an excellent father and I do know that he does know a great deal about the game of football and could have been a great coach if this was 1985. But it is not 1985 and he does not fit in public education this might not even be a bad thing from some people view point.

He might be better off being college coach then a High School coach.

And I know a lot about Colby football one of the best coaches in the history of the state of NH HS football that won 6 titles in an 8 year period and the best team in the state and went undefeated in back to back seasons a few times. This coach also sent number student athletes on to Colby to play all kinds of sports.

Thank you to the moderator for removing hurtful comments on this site, to all of you who muse in a reasonable fashion enjoy your holiday. However to those of you who choose to slam coaches because it somehow makes you feel good , its just not right. My only comment would be you should all coach and expose yourself to the public commentary that will follow. Funny, how it is so easy to slam people who practically volunteer their time to coach and second guess schools and administrations for their decisions. This forum should be about thoughtful constructive comments not a place to air your personal vendettas.

Coachintheblood. Well said however you do need to add hurtful comments about kids as well.

Goldenbear: Whats your baseline as I am not clear on your logic??...........change my mind!

Are you a coach...............are your kids at BG or Nashua North.....Are they still in school.
I respectfully want to understand why you said what you said.

You also said his peers..............be specific.......teachers at BG or Coaches at BG...or do
you mean coaches at other school? Honestly your all over the board.

Nothing from SOFAKING???

Um... isn't football one of those sports where "getting on the player" or being "loud and abrasive" is somewhat expected? It's a generalization - not every successful coach needs to be that way, but I think I've seen more that are than are not. No coach is "perfect" when it comes to any of their dealings from students, co-workers, teachers, administrators, other coaches, parents, officials, etc. Certain coaches are very polarizing. In the case of Mark Phillips - my personal experience has ranged good and bad; however, what I see from him is genuine and the kids respect him once they figure him out. His classes at BG are very popular. Lest we forget it was former players that urged him back on the field in Fall 2010. My oldest son had him for both football and baseball - he may have not always liked to hear what was said, but he knew Mark's comments were genuine and he respected that. Goldenbear you are right it's not 1985, but would you say kids in 1985 were better off for not having political correctness drilled at them all the time? Sometimes a little dose of "reality" would be preferable. Today as a coach you have to be very careful to not hurt your players feelings and you have to be careful what you say/do; otherwise, you end up on YouTube or you lose your job because some overzealous parent who thinks their child is the next superstar to get a full ride to college didn't get treated like the prima-donna that Mom/Dad has raised the child to be.

As for why threads always go back to BG - considering how many BG parents are active here it's somewhat natural. Finally, does it really matter "who" someone is? We all joined this site knowing there was a small amount of anonymity given to the moniker we chose as our "id" and as long as we can be civil to one another we can have productive discussions (whether we agree or agree to disagree). Attacking a poster for his/her views goes one of two ways - defend thyself or walk away. Others in "read only mode" probably will use the attacks as the reason to not join in on discussions.

JAF >>>>> I agree with everything you just wrote and I respectfully want Goldenbear
and SOFAKING to respond and defend their position. I dont think someone should trash
Phillips or anyone else and walk away.

My Guess is Goldenbear is a Nashua North Fan and they are all mad at Phillips taking away
athletes out of that School. He says Phillips Peers are trashing Phillips but assuming those
peers are not BG Coaches is a week argument. Again professional jealousey is a fact of life.
Nashua North has no love for Phillips and Merrimack is mad at the world if you go back a look
at Sofakings comments.

Anyone can say whatever they want in hear and thats fine and in fact alot of fun however they
need to be honest on what they represent....... or again.....( Whats their baseline). Coach,Parent,
town they love,Etc....

Sofaking said he was a Merrimack guy, I think a former coach , and when he jumped on Phillips
He gave his Baseline so I don`t agree with what he wrote however I respect his position
even though I can't find the logic.

I just herd Mark Phillpis is the new Head Football Coach at Alvirne High School.

I will bet he puts a great staff together in a few short weeks. Merrimack`s loss
again!!

Not just Merrimack's loss. If people thought poo was going to hit the fan and enrollment would drop with Johnson leaving, how does this look to have one of the more popular teachers at the school now coaching at Alvirne? Potential is there for Hudson parents to now keep their kids in town.
(By the way, sorry to "make this a BG story")

Looks like Alvirne football just took a MAJOR step in the right direction.

When I started this thread over 3,000 view ago Alvirne was one of the teams I mentioned along with BG and Merrimack.

Looks like I have a new team to pull for in NH high school football.

I can't wait till Pete and Dave have him as a guest on their radio show. COLORFUL would be an understatement.

I can only wonder what all the posters {you know who you are} that said only young coaches or coaches from Mass would take these dog jobs.

BG- even though he wasn't coaching , there was always the possibility that he was walking thru that door. That possibility is now gone. That is not a good thing if your a BG football fan.

Merrimack- I still like Raycraft. I don't even know if he applied. You can only do so much in Windham. He is limited by numbers. He already started a program from scratch at Windham. Going back and returning your father's team to prominence would certainly be a feather in this coaches cap.

I am making the under/over May.

They still haven't reported the Merrimack coach not being there. Remember I made that under/over Feb 14th.

I edited some of SofaKing's comments about Mark Phillips that were questionable and were in poor taste.

In reading through some of this thread I was struck by comments of one member which rings true. Jealousy of another successful program can fuel comments that are questionable and be dripping with poor taste. Please remember to choose your comments wisely. Once a member crosses the line from opinion to personal attack he/she will be edited. If that said member(s) continues to make unwarranted attacks on a coach then he/she will be suspended from the Forum.

Happy New Year

T & F

Good luck to him at Alvrine they are need of a big time hire and the man knows football

I am not a fan of North or South

I have coached at Elm St for 11 years numerous sports but mostly basketball all years I have worked there and follow the players and students that go to BG and wish them luck just like the ones that go to North or South or even move other places. Trevor Shaw was one I tried to follow at BG football but kids that play OL dont get to much press but he was smart kid in class and tried out for my basketball team. And I think he did end up playing for BG basektball latter on as senior.

This only personal interaction I had with him his I cut both of his boys in 7th grade and one of them I really liked as a player and wanted to go back out the next year so a few days before try outs when they were in 8th I asked them if they were coming out, they said maybe. They did not try out which is fine, but then it got back to me from numerous parents on my team and teachers at BG that he was saying his boys made the team and when I handed out jersey they quit and said they would never play for me and walked out of the gym.

The other stuff I got was from coaches and teachers at BG along with people I work with at Elm st who have had interactions with him along with interactions from BG recruiting of one of my players years back to play football over there and the parent coming to ask if he should report it and I said not worth it.

However I hold grudge to the man and I hope he does well I just do not think he is right for the school , however people grow and learn and perhaps he as changes over the last 8 years. Who am I to be judge I am just one person opinion but it is not made up info and it is not professional jealousy.

OK Goldenbear thats fine as a friend who spoke well of you told me who you are.
However this is Football and not Baseball or basketball or anyones kids or personal
vendettas that you admit to have with him.

You said Peers and that was misleading to say the least. I have asked you to spell it out twice
and you have not.To a reader his Peers are the guys who coached Football with him at BG period!


It will be interesting to watch what happens with his Football Peers in the up and coming weeks.

Well, Alvirne sure does like to take their time with this huh?
They had conducted interviews starting in the first week of December, I'm guessing Phillips may have weary of Merrimacks handling of their coaching situations as of late...In many sports, it seems there's been a lot of turnover there?

For what it's worth: Belliveau & Battista to coach @ Memorial this fall...

[quote="Tuesday and Friday"]I edited some of SofaKing's comments about Mark Phillips that were questionable and were in poor taste.

In reading through some of this thread I was struck by comments of one member which rings true. Jealousy of another successful program can fuel comments that are questionable and be dripping with poor taste. Please remember to choose your comments wisely. Once a member crosses the line from opinion to personal attack he/she will be edited. If that said member(s) continues to make unwarranted attacks on a coach then he/she will be suspended from the For

I look forward to my aforementioned suspension

Sofaking

I posted a rumor last month, we go back and forth on it. Redfox breaks the news before any media outlet. I check this forum everyday to see whats new. You want NH sports news. THIS IS THE PLACE.

Kudos to The Report. Your 2 for 2. A welcome addition.