I've looked for the last two days for some sort of reaction to the idiotic coaching decision made in Saturday's 47-46 Antigo win over Ashwaubenon in the WIAA girls sectional final. I haven't found any yet, so here goes.
Ashwaubenon had earlier knocked off unbeaten and top ranked De Pere and were one win away from a return trip to the state tournament, after winning the state title last year.
Down by one point with over a minute to play, Ashwaubenon had the ball and ran the clock down from 1:01 left to :19 remaining, then called a time out. With three seconds to go, the Jaguar's had to take a shot that wasn't the one they had drawn up in the huddle. It failed and so did the Jaguars.
Oops! The Jaguars (17-7) didn't fail, head coach Dave Herzog did. What coach in their right mind would hold for the last shot down by one point? Right, besides Herzog.
When you trail, you give your team as many chances to win as possible. You take the first good shot and if you miss you play the foul game.
These girls gave it their all for the entire season. Nobody knows for sure whether they would have prevailed in the manner that I described, but at least their chances would have been greater with more opportunity.
Yes, the Jaguars weren't expected to even be in this position, but the fact that they were, they deserved a better effort from their coach. The decision to play for the last shot not just isn't a real smart move.
Personally, if I were in administration at Ashwaubenon High School, I'd sit Herzog down and make him promise that he'll never pull such a stunt again, or his job will belong to someone else.