Blackford girls – Departing Coach Jack Norton
Hartford City, Ind. – (Updated 3/26) Confirmed that Blackford is officially open. No deadline to fill just asap. Coach Norton was 46-89 during his six seasons there. Varsity Club member from Hartford City reports last season was just a disaster for Blackford. Going just 1-22, the Bruins failed to reach 20 points in twelve different contests. Three games they didn’t even reach double digits on the scoreboard. Consequently the talent-starved squad loses very little and returns.. very little. Report states two seniors were on last season’s roster, but they combined for less than a bucket a contest. Varsity Clubber went so far as to say that rather than sending names of specific player returning, it only needs to be said that no one playing varsity basketball last season for Blackford was able to average even two baskets a game. One would think that with so many misses, there would be rebounds to be had. Probably, but according to report they must have all been falling into opposition hands. Only two girls pulled down three a game, the rest even less than that. Report states nearly every opponent pressed from the outset and most games were over before quarter or halftime. Turnovers were crazy as ball handling simply isn’t there. Varsity Clubber emphasizes that there are some hard workers on the roster, but just almost zero varsity talent. Frankly, report continues, Coach Norton really couldn’t even game plan. Every possession simply became survival to not turn ball over. If one is an optimist, you could point to a frosh PG from last season that had on the job training or an 8 win JV team. One name mentioned as a possible is current JV Coach Kristi Shipley. Another good Varsity Club member reports he has heard of possible strength/weight training teaching position.
