racehorsewilly
Well-known member
Does anyone have an update on Blaine? Hope he's doing well, but would like to know his progress.
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Blaine Taylor
- Thread starter racehorsewilly
- Start date
Potomac Griz
Well-known member
Looks like he coached the "D.C. Dobermans" in a semi-pro summer league last summer to a 3-1 record.
racehorsewilly
Well-known member
Blaine Taylor coaching ODU and VCU players at THE-BALL
by ODUBleedBlue Posted on August 4, 2013
B. Taylor
A noticeably thinner and rejuvenated Blaine Taylor was coaching former ODU, VCU and Richmond players last night at the Charles E Smith Center in DC.
This is really weird, and really awesome. This not only gets Taylor back into the game but he got to coach Frank Hassell (MVP) Keyon Carter, Bradford Burgess, Joey Rodriguez, Jamie Skeen, Brandon Rozzell and Darrien Brothers.
The DC Dobermans defeated Taylor’s Virginia Ball Stars 98-94 and move to 3-0. The Dobermans feature plenty of familiar faces in Austin Freeman, Henry Sims, Chris Wright, Jai Lewis and Folarin Campbell.
This is a great concept. THE-BALL attempts to bring innovative rule changes and tweaks to cut down on the down time and eliminate rules that clutter the game.
Here are the rules.
Some of the highlights are a 4 point line, 24 second shot clock, penalty at 16 team fouls and on-the-fly substitutions. Check out the above link for all the rules.
I hope to bring some more highlights regarding this event.
by ODUBleedBlue Posted on August 4, 2013
B. Taylor
A noticeably thinner and rejuvenated Blaine Taylor was coaching former ODU, VCU and Richmond players last night at the Charles E Smith Center in DC.
This is really weird, and really awesome. This not only gets Taylor back into the game but he got to coach Frank Hassell (MVP) Keyon Carter, Bradford Burgess, Joey Rodriguez, Jamie Skeen, Brandon Rozzell and Darrien Brothers.
The DC Dobermans defeated Taylor’s Virginia Ball Stars 98-94 and move to 3-0. The Dobermans feature plenty of familiar faces in Austin Freeman, Henry Sims, Chris Wright, Jai Lewis and Folarin Campbell.
This is a great concept. THE-BALL attempts to bring innovative rule changes and tweaks to cut down on the down time and eliminate rules that clutter the game.
Here are the rules.
Some of the highlights are a 4 point line, 24 second shot clock, penalty at 16 team fouls and on-the-fly substitutions. Check out the above link for all the rules.
I hope to bring some more highlights regarding this event.
Glad to hear about the "thinner and rejuvenated." Blaine's a good guy.
New look, new role, new outlook for old ODU coach
Former Old Dominion basketball coach Blaine Taylor, right, and broadcast partner Al Koken do their pregame segment before the start of the James Madison-William & Mary game Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014 in Williamsburg. (Jason Hirschfeld | For the Virginian-Pilot)
By Ed Miller
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 29, 2014
Game-ready in a pinstriped suit, crisply knotted tie and tasseled loafers, Blaine Taylor stepped once again onto a Colonial Athletic Association basketball court.
It was a walk he'd made a couple of hundred times in 12 seasons as Old Dominion's head coach, but this time was different. Instead of heading toward the benches, he continued around the floor to the opposite side, sat down at a table at midcourt and donned a headset.
With his trademark moustache replaced by a trim goatee, and with both some extra pounds and his dark hair coloring gone, Taylor doesn't much resemble the folksy and fiery presence who became ODU's all-time winningest coach before being fired last Feb. 5.
An editor looking for a current photo of Taylor in an online archive passed right over his picture. A photographer assigned to shoot him before a recent game stood nearby and didn't recognize him.
"That's him?" he mouthed when Taylor was pointed out.
It was. After nearly a year out of the public eye, Taylor, who recently turned 56, is edging back in, working as an analyst on a handful of CAA telecasts while pondering his next career move.
"My thoughts on the last year is I just tried to step away quietly with as much class as I could have," he said. "And then on a personal and professional basis really mind my own business.
"Just kind of stay away. What the last year has offered me is something I've never had in my career: a chance to examine where I've been and all the things that have occurred and be able to really focus on me."
Taylor was fired with eight games left last season. ODU's record was 2-20, but wins and losses were not the sole or even the primary reason for his dismissal. In announcing his firing, school officials made vague reference to the importance of "mentorship, leadership and guidance" for the program's players and the administration's need for "confidence in our leadership." They declined to comment further, leaving people to speculate on what went on behind the scenes.
Taylor and the school reached a financial settlement in July, paying him his regular salary and benefits through the end of the last fiscal year, as well as an additional $37,580.
School officials didn't say how they arrived at that figure.
For his part, Taylor has also remained publicly silent, other than a brief phone interview last March. He spoke more extensively in a recent interview, but again declined to elaborate on the reasons for his dismissal cited by school officials.
"Anytime you lose that much, a lot of factors will come into play," he said. "I really think about whatever I say on any subject is going to be misconstrued, maybe turned into something that's not my intention."
Taylor said he's mostly looking forward, and that his makeover has been more than physical.
"I think the word 'healthy' - I'm physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually in such a better place than maybe I've been in my whole life," he said. "Part of that comes from being reflective and gaining some of the wisdom from experiences."
Both good and bad experiences, he said. The highs included three CAA championships, four NCAA tournament appearances and an NIT semifinal run in a seven-year stretch from 2004-11. The Monarchs also won the CIT championship in 2009, appeared in the CBI in 2008 and the CIT again in 2012.
For all the winning, Taylor said he's proudest of the fact that ODU had no NCAA violations during his tenure, and he says every player he coached who exhausted his eligibility at the school graduated.
A collapse like last year's was unimaginable for such a consistent program. Even in rebuilding year, the Monarchs were expected to win their share. Instead, the losses snowballed, and at one point, ODU lost 10 in a row.
"About everything that could go wrong did go wrong," he said. "Obviously, it was time. The shelf life was up and it was time to move on."
Doing so wasn't easy. Taylor said he was in an "extremely dark spot."
But however unplanned, the first sabbatical of a 30-plus-year coaching career did him good. He visited coaching friends, spent time with family, slowed down.
"I find myself a year later with a lot of peace of mind, very content," he said. "I do have a daily awareness that there's just a lot of things beyond my control. I think I've been able to be very centered. The simplest of relationships, the simplest of needs has been something that I've kind of embraced - just a simpler life."
If he's found personal contentment, Taylor is at a professional crossroads. He's unsure whether he wants to return to coaching, but points out that he's "still at a really relevant age" in a profession where titans such as Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim - a decade or more older - remain on top of their games.
Working as a TV analyst keeps him close to the game and allows him to test drive a possible new career. He's done two games so far. Veteran play-by-play announcer Al Koken, Taylor's partner on a recent broadcast, called him a natural.
"He obviously knows the sport, but that doesn't translate if you don't approach it with some passion, some humor," Koken said. "Blaine does. The guys who are going to be good at it are the guys who want to work. Right off the bat, I think his attitude was that he wanted to learn and get better."
Taylor said he's been surprised how closely his game-day routine as an analyst resembles that of a coach. In his first assignment, at James Madison, he attended the afternoon shootaround at the invitation of Dukes' coach Matt Brady. Then he returned to his hotel room to rest before heading to the arena about the same time he would have as a visiting coach.
His second assignment again found him on familiar turf - at William & Mary. Again, it felt a lot like coaching, at least until Koken signed off and Taylor doffed his headset.
They talked for a while, then Taylor stood up, done for the day. Unlike when he was coaching, he was neither drained, nor amped up. The game had made no emotional impact. He wouldn't be replaying it in his mind. It was simply over.
It was strange feeling, Taylor said. It's too soon to say whether he could get used to it.
Ed Miller, 757-446-2372, [email protected]
Former Old Dominion basketball coach Blaine Taylor, right, and broadcast partner Al Koken do their pregame segment before the start of the James Madison-William & Mary game Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014 in Williamsburg. (Jason Hirschfeld | For the Virginian-Pilot)
By Ed Miller
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 29, 2014
Game-ready in a pinstriped suit, crisply knotted tie and tasseled loafers, Blaine Taylor stepped once again onto a Colonial Athletic Association basketball court.
It was a walk he'd made a couple of hundred times in 12 seasons as Old Dominion's head coach, but this time was different. Instead of heading toward the benches, he continued around the floor to the opposite side, sat down at a table at midcourt and donned a headset.
With his trademark moustache replaced by a trim goatee, and with both some extra pounds and his dark hair coloring gone, Taylor doesn't much resemble the folksy and fiery presence who became ODU's all-time winningest coach before being fired last Feb. 5.
An editor looking for a current photo of Taylor in an online archive passed right over his picture. A photographer assigned to shoot him before a recent game stood nearby and didn't recognize him.
"That's him?" he mouthed when Taylor was pointed out.
It was. After nearly a year out of the public eye, Taylor, who recently turned 56, is edging back in, working as an analyst on a handful of CAA telecasts while pondering his next career move.
"My thoughts on the last year is I just tried to step away quietly with as much class as I could have," he said. "And then on a personal and professional basis really mind my own business.
"Just kind of stay away. What the last year has offered me is something I've never had in my career: a chance to examine where I've been and all the things that have occurred and be able to really focus on me."
Taylor was fired with eight games left last season. ODU's record was 2-20, but wins and losses were not the sole or even the primary reason for his dismissal. In announcing his firing, school officials made vague reference to the importance of "mentorship, leadership and guidance" for the program's players and the administration's need for "confidence in our leadership." They declined to comment further, leaving people to speculate on what went on behind the scenes.
Taylor and the school reached a financial settlement in July, paying him his regular salary and benefits through the end of the last fiscal year, as well as an additional $37,580.
School officials didn't say how they arrived at that figure.
For his part, Taylor has also remained publicly silent, other than a brief phone interview last March. He spoke more extensively in a recent interview, but again declined to elaborate on the reasons for his dismissal cited by school officials.
"Anytime you lose that much, a lot of factors will come into play," he said. "I really think about whatever I say on any subject is going to be misconstrued, maybe turned into something that's not my intention."
Taylor said he's mostly looking forward, and that his makeover has been more than physical.
"I think the word 'healthy' - I'm physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually in such a better place than maybe I've been in my whole life," he said. "Part of that comes from being reflective and gaining some of the wisdom from experiences."
Both good and bad experiences, he said. The highs included three CAA championships, four NCAA tournament appearances and an NIT semifinal run in a seven-year stretch from 2004-11. The Monarchs also won the CIT championship in 2009, appeared in the CBI in 2008 and the CIT again in 2012.
For all the winning, Taylor said he's proudest of the fact that ODU had no NCAA violations during his tenure, and he says every player he coached who exhausted his eligibility at the school graduated.
A collapse like last year's was unimaginable for such a consistent program. Even in rebuilding year, the Monarchs were expected to win their share. Instead, the losses snowballed, and at one point, ODU lost 10 in a row.
"About everything that could go wrong did go wrong," he said. "Obviously, it was time. The shelf life was up and it was time to move on."
Doing so wasn't easy. Taylor said he was in an "extremely dark spot."
But however unplanned, the first sabbatical of a 30-plus-year coaching career did him good. He visited coaching friends, spent time with family, slowed down.
"I find myself a year later with a lot of peace of mind, very content," he said. "I do have a daily awareness that there's just a lot of things beyond my control. I think I've been able to be very centered. The simplest of relationships, the simplest of needs has been something that I've kind of embraced - just a simpler life."
If he's found personal contentment, Taylor is at a professional crossroads. He's unsure whether he wants to return to coaching, but points out that he's "still at a really relevant age" in a profession where titans such as Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim - a decade or more older - remain on top of their games.
Working as a TV analyst keeps him close to the game and allows him to test drive a possible new career. He's done two games so far. Veteran play-by-play announcer Al Koken, Taylor's partner on a recent broadcast, called him a natural.
"He obviously knows the sport, but that doesn't translate if you don't approach it with some passion, some humor," Koken said. "Blaine does. The guys who are going to be good at it are the guys who want to work. Right off the bat, I think his attitude was that he wanted to learn and get better."
Taylor said he's been surprised how closely his game-day routine as an analyst resembles that of a coach. In his first assignment, at James Madison, he attended the afternoon shootaround at the invitation of Dukes' coach Matt Brady. Then he returned to his hotel room to rest before heading to the arena about the same time he would have as a visiting coach.
His second assignment again found him on familiar turf - at William & Mary. Again, it felt a lot like coaching, at least until Koken signed off and Taylor doffed his headset.
They talked for a while, then Taylor stood up, done for the day. Unlike when he was coaching, he was neither drained, nor amped up. The game had made no emotional impact. He wouldn't be replaying it in his mind. It was simply over.
It was strange feeling, Taylor said. It's too soon to say whether he could get used to it.
Ed Miller, 757-446-2372, [email protected]
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