Ronald Bellamy: the only Laker I've liked since A.C. GreenFormer Michigan wide receiver Ronald Bellamy was hired recently as the new head coach at West Bloomfield High School. Bellamy played for the Wolverines from 1999-2002 and in his career, he had 67 receptions for 888 yards and 9 touchdowns.
Spinal Column Online recently conducted an interview with Bellamy, who spent a handful of years in the NFL before getting into coaching high school ball. He mentions Lloyd Carr as an inspiration and a mentor, which is one of the things about Carr that makes me admire him most. For the most part, he seems like a man who maintained positive relationships with his players after they left Michigan.
Additionally, Bellamy has hired Zia Combs, another former Michigan player, as his defensive backs coach. Combs was temporarily paralyzed during a 2002 game against Penn State, which ended his playing career. Luckily, he seems to be completely healthy now.
Take a look at Ronald Bellamy torching MSU (2:26 in the video below):
Does that school produce any Michigan caliber players?
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 7:26 p.m.
ReplyDeleteNot really. I checked a couple weeks ago, and if I recall correctly, I didn't find a single WBHS player who had earned a scholarship to Michigan (there have been a couple walk-ons). If there have been any, they played a long time ago.
They did have a player attend MSU several years ago (Kyle Brown).
WBHS has historically been a mediocre team, and there's not a great deal of talent in the area. I used to live near there and even interviewed for a job there a couple years ago.
I think with good coaching, there is certainly a possibility that West Bloomfield begins to produce more D1 players. Demographics seem to be changing in the area, so it might not be just a bunch of short nerdy white guys anymore.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't really a question as to the content, but to Thunder in general: why did you go w/ Thunder here but Magnus on mgoblog? I've wondered that for a while.
ReplyDelete@ MH20
ReplyDeleteThunder was just the screen name attached to my Google account/Blogger. Different account, different name. I probably should always choose the same name, because it's getting hard to keep track.
where Can I find Zia Combs?
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 7:09 p.m.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, Combs is still coaching at West Bloomfield High School.