Ah. Buster Douglass. The truth is that Mike Tyson lost his edge as soon as he signed with Don King and left his original circle of poeple who made him what he was IMO. That would have been after he flattened Spinks. He was wobbled by Frank Bruno the second fight after the Spinks fight and didn't look the same. He lost the fire. Buster was motivated and in great shape for him. I still maintain that version of Buster would have had a chance against any heavyweight in history. Of course we all know that was the only fight where Buster was in shape and motivated. The Tyson pre Don King version was the most destructive force I had seen in the heavyweight division. George Foreman back in the early 70's was comparable. As far as Brian White becoming the head coach at Coffman, I certainly do not see that although I've lived long enough to never say never. On a side note, after 22 years in Hilliard and living across the street from Davidson High School, I have moved away from Franklin County. My days at Davidson stadium will be scarce going forward. It was a great run while it lasted with some wonderful memories. It will never be the same. That's life.
Hope all is well TA, Good luck in your new locale. Tyson was razor sharp when Cus was alive, and he had his full team of trainers including Teddy Atlas who was great. Douglas never had the discipline and while he suddenly got it for that fight's preparation , it wasn't in his nature to sustain it . Happens to a lot of boxers. Many come from dysfunction and have some deep seated issues. As it is with many people and teams and businesses, handling success can be as hard as handling failure.
Yes all runs and great times and eras eventually come to an end and that exact experience is never duplicated. Not to say that say some years down the road these runs of success can't com back to an extant at Davidson or other places where great runs end . Coffman coach leaves and this era ends and the first year is as big a rebuild as there has been in a while and one of the couple biggest ones in 20 odd years ?
I have likened Davidson's run as a shorter version of Odessa Permian's { FNL} Permian opened in 1959 , they won first title in 1965 and had a 30 year run of pretty much uninterrupted excellence . Made last final appearance in 1995 and haven't been back to as far as the Semi round at all and haven't been to a quarterfinal in over 20 years .{ 6 state titles in 30 years and 11 appearances in the final } Davidson under White had an incredible run . Timing was good for White as Davidson had great numbers before Bradley opened and always had most of the good kids in the building come out. Just getting to the finals twice would have bene a huge accomplishment , but wining both times? Wow. Multiple final 4's , having a good record against their main rival Coffman who had some really good teams during their run, and dominated UA their second rival in conference.
Parallels with Permian besides the success was the fact that they often achieved with players who didn't always look the part , was undersized at times and not a ton of D-1 players which many schools who win at the big school level in many states have. Tradition , work ethic , and the fact that play for play no one gave more effort than they did were staples of both programs . When you are a bit short on talent and playing a team bigger than you ? Great effort , going full bore on as many plays as possible , being in better condition, being more disciplined and executing better equalizes things a bit.
I don't know if White specifically took things from Permian and their most successful coach John Wilkins {1972-85 148-16 - 7 and two state titles } but if I ever interviewed White I would certainly point out the similarities. Aside from the above examples , Wilkins was a huge believer in discipline , practicing hard , featured the run game { they ran Wing T and threw the ball more than Davidson } controlling the ball , playing really good defense often with units that were greater than the sum of their parts, and a big emphasis on special teams and the kicking game. Making fewer mistakes than their opponent , winning the turnover battle a good majority of the time . Wilkins interviews on the keys to success always stressed these things. One of the maddening things about being a fan of a team who was playing Davidson was aside from the obvious 4 yards a play and treating the clock like a stuck pig , was there consistency in the kicking game and winning the field position battle .
And the one thing that Wilkins often said and preached to his players was ' Good things happen to good people ", and White as many know also subscribed to that life dynamic . White and Davidson were always a program that reached out to other schools in their time's of crisis{ Student misfortune death etc} and he really believed in the program being good people first, work hard , max effort, be coachable, and practice and prepare relentlessly . Both were hard on players and put some pressure on themselves to achieve. Wilkins left the HC position to become the AD of the districts 2 High schools { Odessa and Permian} White left when he thought it was just time to leave much like Coach Crabtree . White has another coaching run in him IMO . Don't think it will be Coffman , but whoever it is will be getting a great coach obviously but they better be ready to work .