Greg Sessions won't return as Red Mountain boys hoops coach
Red Mountain Basketball
Red Mountain coach Greg Sessions talks to his team between quarters while playing Mountain Ridge, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 in Mesa.
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redmtn posted at 9:53 pm on Thu, Mar 7, 2013.
Bottom line programs like Corona, Pinnacle, Mesa, Desert Mountain, and Brophy are getting exposure and getting their kids seen.
No program is going to have D1 athletes every season but these programs continue to develop and compete in top tournaments, team camps and pack their gyms with fans.
To develop a program you have to be accessible, active in the community, active in the school, knowledgeable and energized. It was time for Red Mtn to pass the torch bottom line. Sometimes change is a good thing.
No blame here just time for change.
Lov4sports posted at 9:31 pm on Thu, Mar 7, 2013.
Sorry Grif but your facts are wrong. Kevin Torres was in the program more than one year. Jordan McDougald lived in Arizona for many years not DC.
Careful talking down about the football players who are athletes. There are alot of schools where basketball players play multiple sports and are successful Andres Peat Corona Jalen Brown Mountain Pointe to name a couple.
No one said a thing about who was a good coach the comment was about developing players.
Hope all the coaches who lost their jobs find other jobs not a good time to be looking for a job.
Grif posted at 10:39 pm on Tue, Mar 5, 2013.
Oh, you mean all the football meatheads who were told by their coaches they needed to play football all year and keep up their football weight. Yeah, every basketball coach has a whole lot of control over them.
Pratt was a good player, but he was also two or was it three years younger than Newendyke, and if I recall that team, led by him beat number one Highland twice that year. Besides, Pratt was hurt a good portion of his career with Osgood–Schlatter disease, told it is excruciatingly painful. And Newendyke did get a scholarship to Grand Canyon, he kept it for a year then decided to give up basketball for other pursuits.
Keven Torres was in the program for one year, he was a good player, but how much can you do in that short time, and what can college programs really do with that?
Justin Park, turned seventeen years old, more than half way through his senior year. He grew over his junior year, he was extremely young. Hard worker, developed as much as possible for a kid whose talent was limited by his growth.
McDougal spent his formative years basketball years in Washington DC, he had a difficult family situation, it was hard to keep him in the program.
Newendkye was a big part of the Crusaders, helped kids through that, never heard him say he had great college connections. And I know for sure that my father never had or claimed any great college connections. That's coaches like Mesa's Burkhart, who had no kids start who lived within his district this year, ironic that you consider a man who blatantly cheats as a great coach.
Lov4sports posted at 7:29 pm on Tue, Mar 5, 2013.
ATHLETES who were told not to tryout stick with football all are D1 athletes and played basketball through their freshman year. Colin Marquez 6ft 4in 210 lbs Airforce Academy played like Andres Peat former stud from Corona...LJ Bradford Columbia University...Drake Pierre U Of Arizona all solid multi sport athletes told not to try out.
TRANSFERS Jonathan Sims 6ft5 starter Skyline Matthew Eisenmayer 6ft 2In starter Skyline CJ Adams 6ft3in start Perry HS Dan Richards 6ft 3in starter Mesa HS
Jordan Pratt one of the best athletes to come through Red Mtn benched so Coach Newendykes son could get stats who to clear the record did not receive a scholarship to GCU was a walk on.
Kevin Torres no reason he shouldnt have gotten a scholarship. Wheres Neweys connections?
Justin Parks should have received higher D1 scholarship if he would have been developed.
Jordan Mc Dougald one of the best pure shooters in the valley no scholarship.
Where are all these college contacts Sessions and Newey claim to have? Ive been going to games for 6 years. Where are all these contacts? Alot of hot air.
How about the two bigs I saw sitting the bench the beginning of the year one red head 6ft 5 and the other a senior 6ft 6.....why did they not develop these two? Have you seen how far Isaac Allen has come with some development from the Mesa coach. He couldnt even make a free throw a few years back let alone stuff it.
This years team had some talent but was not utilized one of the quickest guards I have seen in a long time looks like his sole purpose was to drive and dish to the coaches son. Would have love to see how far they went if he would have developed and utilized this team. Travis Meeker congrats the only kid to get a D! Scholarship under Sessions in 14 years nice job kid. SAD coach 14 years SAD.
dad23 posted at 12:54 pm on Mon, Feb 25, 2013.
Knew it was you because you won't find anyone else who isn't related to him defending him here. Next good thing I see posted about him will be the first. I appreciate that it's your dad and that you want to go to bat for him but at some point you kinda have to step back and realize that the long standing perception of him must have some merit. He's earned his reputation and I don't believe for a a minute that that is what Ernst would say about him. Quite the opposite IMO.
bball posted at 11:56 am on Sat, Feb 23, 2013.
I WILL FINESH THIS UP WITH THAT RED MOUNTAIN I BELIEVE IS THE BIGGEST 5A SCHOOL IN AZ AND NO ONE WANTED TO COME PLAY BASKETBALL THEIR. JUST TAKE A LOOK AT MT. VIEW WHERE PEOPLE MOVE INTO THEIR AREA OR GET EXCEPTIONS.DOBSON IS A NOTHER ONE, THAT ALONE SAYS ALOT. AND DONT SAY ITS BECAUSE HE DID NOT RECUIT OUT SIDE HIS SCHOOL DIST BECAUSE I KNOW THATS NOT TRUE. ITS JUST NO ONE WANTED TO COME AND BE NONCOACHED BY HIM. AND WITH THAT I AM DONE
bball posted at 11:39 am on Sat, Feb 23, 2013.
talk about laughable he still did not get past first round for 14 years except when newy coached. and for bunker he was the money man and he bought his kids spot you now it and so does eveyone else. he walks around that gym like he owns it . for andy he is a good player but not that good, having your dad as a coach has it benifets. you can not be bais and your sticking up for your dad wich any good son will do but your head is cloued. believe me when i say alot of people are very happy about him gone. maybe when you can really be objective you can see the light but you cant because its family and i understand that
Grif posted at 4:35 pm on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
He would have been on almost any varsity team last year, maybe a select few exceptions, and he would have started on any varsity team this year, I can think of very few exceptions. He is just too basketball smart and makes too many plays for that not to be the case.
Grif posted at 4:34 pm on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
Obviously you didn't watch too many games too closely, in just two instances, the games against Gilbert at home and the game versus the Kentucky team in the MVT tournament, he caused turnovers against two solid, if not the best player on the other team, which directly lead to victories.
Grif posted at 4:33 pm on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
And in terms of Andy, don't be foolish. As a sophomore he was the 7th or 8th man on a good team, but one that wasn't very deep. And per the six quarter rule, he played quiet a few minutes for the JV. And this year as a junior, he was the second best player on the team behind their D-1 kid of course. Andy often covered the other team's best offensive player, made all the tough plays.
Grif posted at 4:32 pm on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
And the two Bunker kids that made the team both averaged about 10 points on teams that went to the state tournament. The eldest's son's team lost by one. And the second son's team advanced to quarterfinals of the state tournament. And they both contributed solidly to those teams.
Grif posted at 4:32 pm on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
And if I recall, you didn't figure out I was his son. Yes my Dad worked for Mr Bunker, but not a job of necessity, and if my father's arrogance, I believe that is what you are trying to say, is as profound as you claim, why would he care about what Mr. Bunker says? And his record? That's laughable, he was more than 30 games over .500 at a school that for the decade prior had never made the state tournament, maybe 30 over wouldn't be acceptable at Mountain, but hardly anywhere else.
bball posted at 2:26 pm on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
bunkers kid should not of even made the team and some one that was close should have but his kid took his place and you say nothing wrong with that its not how good you are at red mnt but how good you kiss up to the coaches. and his older son would not have played varsity the last 2 years he is not that good but because of his dad he did
bball posted at 2:19 pm on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
you could tell by the way you talked about him. if it was not for the president of the buster club that by the way employes sessions and all the parents that wanted their kids to play on the team even though they would not make the team any where else.and support him because he let them on the team. he would have been fired along time ago. no other school would have put up with his record and aragents
Grif posted at 4:07 am on Thu, Feb 21, 2013.
Out of curiosity, who figured out it was me?
Grif posted at 2:36 pm on Wed, Feb 20, 2013.
I wasn't particularly trying to hide it, though to be fair I haven't been around the program as much as when I was a little boy, though mine is a unique name. And of course mine isn't an unbiased opinion, but very few peoples are in any situation, really it's more about recognizing your biases. I thought my own father should have retired 3 years ago, but much ado about nothing. And in terms of the last coach at Red Mountain, I was under the impression that he had resigned, of course I was nine and it could have been a forced resignation, I'm sorry if he was fired. I met him once or twice the summer of '99, he seemed like a nice fellow.
OldMan posted at 1:34 pm on Wed, Feb 20, 2013.
In 1999, they removed a very good coach to bring in Coach Sessions. The thinking was, he won at Mt. View, so he can bring that to RM.
Call it the cycle of life in coaching.
Dadonly posted at 12:38 pm on Wed, Feb 20, 2013.
Grif, you are a good son to your dad.
mesa_luv posted at 10:20 am on Wed, Feb 20, 2013.
Grif,
I appreciate that you support and love your father, but that doesn't really create an unbiased view of the situation.
Grif posted at 7:06 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
And lastly, if Sessions really didn't love coaching anymore, which I would understand, the man is going on 60 with 35 plus years of coaching, why not just retire???? He was already retired from teaching, and it's not like his sons needed him to make a team, both his sons could play anywhere they wanted in the East Valley, they weren't twelfth men or anything. It's not like a coaching contract and one hour of PE is worth any money. You could make more mowing lawns
Grif posted at 7:06 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
And I bet you every penny to my name that if you talk to Ernst off the record with no chance of Sessions ever hearing what he said to you, he would say that Sessions was one of the best coaches he ever knew and continues to be so to this very day.
Grif posted at 7:05 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
And I wasn't saying Gary Ernst is a bad coach, I know him personally, he is a great man and a great coach, the point I was making was that everyone should be more flexible, especially in the public school setting, you're not always going to have "your guys" working for you.
Grif posted at 7:04 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
I've grown up around high school basketball since the day I was born and you know as well as I do that those parents who kids don't play like to whine about the coach, and you know what, the mothers are the worst of it. I've known Red Mountain's roster well for the past few years and I can think of several players who weren't well off at all that played, and kids whose parents ran the booster club that didn't play. Last year Zunega and Torres, both nice boys, good players, they didn't come from any money. And yes a Bunker did play last year, but the youngest Bunker, he's a sophomore this year, maybe even a junior doesn't play on the JV. Yes sadly high school basketball has more money involved in it, but that's because school administrators don't give a rip about any program but God Almighty football, so to pay for uniforms and shoes, and basketballs and tournaments and buses, the programs need money.
Grif posted at 7:04 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
If Gawdy really wanted to fire him at the start of the year, he very well could have. Sessions has been signing one year contracts for the past three years. In the athletic programs, coaches can be fired without cause, the memo only says that the program needed to go in another direction. Maybe Gawdy didn't fire him because the school was coming off its best season in school history?
Grif posted at 7:00 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
I just think you're getting some of your information for those who are sour grapes. I suppose your opinion has been formed from conversations from people and from your own personal thoughts, so I can't fault you for them, but I still think you are dead wrong. I'm sure coach Sessions felt like he earned the power he had, you don't go through life paying your dues just to be treated like you are twenty-five years old all over again.
Dadonly posted at 6:06 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
Grif...... You raise some good questions. Sessions probably did love coaching at some time but not for the past 3-4 years in my opinion. Parents and student body would tell you he was "as And, Sessions probably was a "good ole boy in the best of ways" at one time, but not for the 3-4 years in my opinion. I knew Sessions, Newdyke, and Krieg "from a distance", I knew a lot of parents who were on the team at one time or another and they did not like him and did not think he was a good coach they were stuck with him. Sessions was lazy in the past 3-4 years, went through the motions as was extremely rude to parents especially the moms. In talking to some recently, he was arrogant and disrespectful..... lately (last 3-4 years) he abused his power. He recruited, problem was that no kids wanted to play for him to come over to Red Mountain, he refused to be a "lapdog" because he was arrogant..... felt he "earned" his power and yes, depending on the dollar amount of the contribution to the booster club did "insure" positions. Gawdy would have fired him before the season but did needed to build his case. Now..... Ernst is a great coach, and always has been...... truly cares for the kids, and parents and kids want to play for him. Sessions son will hopefully go to Mountain View. Sessions had a great career and the last 3-4 years does not represent his entire career. He deserves respect as a coach, a father, and a man. I formed my opinions from parents and students and I am repeating what parents and students told me.
Grif posted at 1:06 pm on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
Obviously Sessions wasn't biding his time until retirement, he's been retired for 4 years from teaching, coaches don't make any money, unless he loved coaching and had passion for the kids, why would he continue to coach? Obviously you new these men from a distance, but I doubt you actually know them. And Sessions was a good ol' boy, in the best of ways. He refused to be the administrations lapdog, he never recruited kids, well except maybe his own son, I hardly thing that counts (go over some of the great kids in high school basketball over the years, several of them, for example Gerald Wallace, lived in Red Mountain's district, but Sessions refused to guarantee insured positions.) And Waznewski is Gawdy's hire, his type of people, someone who will do exactly what they say. And if every AD went and hired "his team", Sessions would have been fired something like 5 times at Red Mountain because apparently that job is so great that everyone keeps finding better ones. If every AD went fired coaches who weren't "his team" we wouldn't have great coaches like Gary Ernst, who if I recall has gone through three if not four ADs since being a Mountain View. Neither of the McConnels, father or son would have the records they do now under that argument. Mark my words, Red Mountain won't make the state tournament for the next decade, if they're lucky, unless maybe Sessions' son stays for his senior year, but I'm rooting for him to go to Mountain View to play with the big kid, so he can beat Red Mountain
Dadonly posted at 11:16 am on Tue, Feb 19, 2013.
Sessions, NewDyke and Krieg needed to go. Sessions lost his passion for the kids years ago and was not improving himself as a coach.... he was buying time until retirement. NewDyke was coaching for his next son coming up, and Krieg is a terrible coach with a chip on his shoulder, he should not be coaching until he grows up. It was a good ole boys club, and the coaches knew it and were doing "just enough" to keep their jobs. Actually, NewDyke was a good guy........ but Sessions and Krieg stunk. The parents are scared now and PO'ed because the "country club" is over paying money to the booster club is no longer going to get their kid playing time. Gawdy is firing all the coaches to bring in his "team" which is his right. Hopefully he keeps Pagel, Hamilton, Grantham as they are coaches with character who do great things for the kids. Grantham should be head football coach and get rid of Waznewski he is a O coordinator at best. The firing of Sessions is a good thing for Red Mountain.
Grif posted at 3:03 pm on Mon, Feb 18, 2013.
It wasn't the booster club at Red Mountain that was firmly calling the shots, they were firmly in coach Sessions' corner. This decision lies exclusively with the administration and Mr. Gawdy. If you look at the coaches at the school you will see in the last few years that there as been a purging of coaches and now most of whom are now men hired by this current AD. Mr. Gawdy is a young man, young enough to be Coach Sessions' son, who believes that there is only one way to do things, his way. And in terms of coaching the lot of you calling coach Sessions a bad coach and unprofessional, must either have your heads in the sand or you are kids who got cut. Red Mountain was a program that had never been above a 500 record before coach Sessions arrived, and I suspect they won't be making the state tournament any time soon because all of those "talented kids" will be leaving because they were coach Sessions' kids. And in terms of only one state tournament win, you all must not be old enough to remember the AIA's format for state tournaments before something like 2004, only 2 teams from each region could make the small, I believe 8, but it could have been 16, tournament. Red Mountain had years were they had 18 plus wins and didn't make the tournament. In fact, I remember a year where they had 22 wins, but had to play Mesa High for a play in game and lost in over time. Those were the years where regions were still the cities and teams like Mountain View, Mesa, and Dobson were all excellent during that time. In terms of coaching ability, any man with 500 plus wins over 3 sports and has 3 state championships in two of them is a good coach, plain and simple.
Grif posted at 2:12 pm on Mon, Feb 18, 2013.
It wasn't the booster club at Red Mountain that was firmly calling the shots, they were firmly in coach Sessions' corner. This decision lies exclusively with the administration and Mr. Gawdy. If you look at the coaches at the school you will see in the last few years that there as been a purging of coaches and now most of whom are now men hired by this current AD. Mr. Gawdy is a young man, young enough to be Coach Sessions' son, who believes that there is only one way to do things, his way. And in terms of coaching the lot of you calling coach Sessions a bad coach and unprofessional, must either have your heads in the sand or you are kids who got cut for being little jackasses. Red Mountain was a program that had never been above a 500 record before coach Sessions arrived, and I suspect they won't be making the state tournament any time soon because all of those "talented kids" will be leaving because they were coach Sessions' kids. And in terms of only one state tournament win, you all must not be old enough to remember the AIA's format for state tournaments before something like 2004, only 2 teams from each region could make the small, I believe 8, but it could have been 16, tournament. Red Mountain had years were they had 18 plus wins and didn't make the tournament. In fact, I remember a year where they had 22 wins, but had to play Mesa High for a play in game and lost in over time. Those were the years where regions were still the cities and teams like Mountain View, Mesa, and Dobson were all excellent during that time. In terms of coaching ability, any man with 500 plus wins over 3 sports and has 3 state championships in two of them is a good coach, plain and simple.
Irons1 posted at 11:45 am on Sun, Feb 17, 2013.
This stinks of another parent group/booster club problem. Parents are calling the shots, because administration is too weak to stand up to them. You have a successful coach being fired because some well connected parent is upset. This is the problem with high school sports in Mesa and administration all the way up to the top will not back their coaches. Who would want to coach in this atmosphere.
bball posted at 5:22 am on Sun, Feb 17, 2013.
and dont forget siting in that chair, and expecting the parents to kiss his ------. looks like those parents are allready woried about their kids playing now. sounds like alot of the incomeing parents are not sending their kids to red mountain probly because maybe they wont make the team.
mesateacher posted at 5:16 pm on Sat, Feb 16, 2013.
"The school will likely form a committee of teachers, coaches and district administration to help conduct a search for a new coach."
Do you think they do this to hire a new physics, math, or German teacher? Shows where our priorities are. Sports still is the primary reason for our public schools to exist. And we wonder why American kids are as dumb as rocks.
Wooj posted at 12:37 pm on Sat, Feb 16, 2013.
No one has coached Red Mountain as long as I've been watching. Coaches eat pizza and drink 44oz Big Gulps. While the players do shoot arounds. Most of these players learned what they know from pre teen city leagues. Red Mountain has some really talented players, it'll be fun to see what happens when someone actually coaches them. He's, (Sessions), been confused for quite some time now.
bball posted at 10:31 pm on Fri, Feb 15, 2013.
its a great day for red mountain basketball no more good old boy network, he should have gotten fired along time ago. Sorry to see Newendyke leave.
mustang69 posted at 8:50 pm on Fri, Feb 15, 2013.
Red Mt won only one playoff game in 14 years under coach Sessions. Actually he didn't even coach that game last year, coach Newendyke did. I think a change was due.