Crawfordsville girls - Departing Coach Tyler Smith
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- (Updated 3/14) Athenians will have a new leader after AD announced they were not renewing Coach Smith’s contract after four seasons. Crawfordsville has been up against it in terms of talent for some time, and every coach that has been there has dealt with this as best they could. Cville has managed a .500 record only a handful of times in the past decade and a few of those seasons have been downright dismal. It hasn’t been since 2010 that the girls had enough talent to truly make some noise. Beyond that, it has been a struggle to be competitive. County schools and rivals 2A Southmont and (barely) 3A North Montgomery have caught and, in many instances, surpassed the once king of Montgomery County. One Varsity Club member emails that this is at the heart of much of the angst. This report alleges Crawfordsville still sees itself, in traditional county seat style, as superior to these small county schools. Trouble is they simply aren’t that much smaller anymore, and in some cases simply have better athletes. Still the unwritten standard of beating these schools applies. In an interview with the Crawfordsville Journal-Review, Coach Smith stated, “While I am still confused by this sudden decision…One of my goals was to bring some respectability back to the program, and I believe we did that.” Getting back to the roster, though, this most recent batch of Athenians (7-16) doesn’t lose a great deal. 5-10 sr-2-b post Taylor Abston (First team all-conference) is the only letterwinner that managed to hit double figures on a consistent basis (12ppg.) Four other underclassmen were regular varsity players, and that should help. Guard play will be an area that will need extra attention. JV will reportedly provide very little support as they were routinely blasted last go round. Not much better news on the feeder school front either. 8th grade was held scoreless in at least one game last year and 7th grade was routed several times as well.
