So this is what Tiger Basketball has become?

This is what, in a matter of just four years, the once-great Tiger Basketball program has become?

Mediocre.

Fewer and fewer fans in the stands.

Season-ticket holders not renewing.

And maybe most noticeable is the fact that the Tigers aren't winning as often these days.

Plain and simple, the boys basketball program at Warsaw Community High School is a far cry from what it was a short time ago.

Why is that?

I've lived in Warsaw for 27 years, followed the program closely while attending school here and now while covering games for the Times-Union.

It was my opinion the program was solidly in place because former coach Al Rhodes had arguably the best feeder system in the state and the instruction trickled down to the elementary school level.

I guess thinking the program would remain strong when long-time junior varsity coach Doug Ogle took over the head coaching duties prior to the 2002-2003 season was wrong on my part, as well as anyone else who may have thought the same thing.

When Rhodes left the program four years ago, Tiger Basketball was what Rhodes called the "No. 1 program in the state of Indiana."

Rhodes coached the Tigers for 22 years, posting a 405-133 record. His teams won 14 sectional championships, seven regional crowns, four semistate titles and the 1984 state championship.

Unless you were born yesterday or don't follow high school basketball at all, you're probably aware of at least some of the successes of the WCHS boys basketball program, both before Rhodes and with Rhodes.

But why hasn't the program maintained that level of winning since Ogle took over?

Why has the program fallen off the way it seems to have?

Ogle inherited a program that owned a 258-61 record the previous 13 years, a winning percentage of 80.1.

From 1989-2002, no varsity boys program in the state won a higher percentage of games than Warsaw.

Not Jeffersonville, not Ben Davis, Marion, Plymouth or any other state power.

In the last four years, however, the program seems to have gone a different direction.

Under Ogle, the Tigers are 53-35, a winning percentage of 60.2.

To his credit, Ogle does have a winning record as a varsity coach, as well as a Northern Lakes Conference championship (2004) and a sectional championship (2006), but is that enough to please those in basketball-crazy Warsaw, where the standards are high and the tradition rich and deep?

Crowd response at games this past season and current talk around town says no.

In the 20 seasons prior to Ogle taking over as varsity coach, the Tigers won fewer than 15 games four times. Two of them were 14-win seasons.

In Ogle's four years as head coach, the Tigers are yet to win 15 games in a season.

Under Ogle, Warsaw has posted season records of 14-7, 14-8, 14-8 and 11-12.

Is that good enough here in Tiger town?

This season's losing record was the program's first since 1988.

The Tigers have had losing records in conference play the past two seasons. Last year's sub-.500 conference mark was the first since 1988, and having a second consecutive losing conference record marked a first for the program since the NLC was established during the 1964-65 season.

So what is wrong with Tiger Basketball?

Why is the program headed in the other direction after so many years of success?

Is it the players, is there a drop off in talent?

I don't think so.

Think about this. This year's seniors, the first group to pass through four years of high school with Ogle as the coach, were 20-0 as freshmen and 17-3 as sophomores on the junior varsity team.

Many of them were varsity players as juniors and the Tigers posted a 14-8 record.

See the pattern here? They won three fewer games each year and ended their careers with an 11-12 season.

Why?

How could they have been so successful in middle school, on the freshman team and on the junior varsity squad, and then fall the way they did at the varsity level under Ogle?

Are the players not as prepared as former players were?

Something has to be wrong.

How can one explain the fact that Warsaw is just 5-9 in conference play the past two seasons?

How can one explain that of the Tigers' nine wins in the regular season, only four came against teams with winning records?

Ogle talked all season long about how tough his team's schedule was with the likes of Penn, Elkhart Memorial, NorthWood, Marion, Plymouth and Huntington North. That's fine and dandy, but the problem is, the Tigers didn't beat any of those teams.

What Warsaw did was beat Elkhart Central, a team that finished the season with three wins, by four points.

The Tigers beat Goshen, a team that posted two wins all season.

Against Whitko, a team that won three games this season, Warsaw led by 19 in the third quarter, and then by just two points with 20 seconds left.

Kudos, Warsaw did win at Tippecanoe Valley, which won a sectional championship for the second consecutive year and posted a 19-5 record.

It's only fair to Valley, though, to point out the fact that Valley had a senior starter out with a broken leg and its sixth-man out for disciplinary problems.

It begs the question, who would win if things were a little more even?

While winning games this year was a problem for Ogle's Tigers, Warsaw's problem next year may be getting this year's underclassmen to return to the team.

Rumors are running rampant through Warsaw that a number of players are moving or just won't play for the current coach.

Why?

Is it the coaching? Are the players being mistreated or lied to?

There has to be some sort of explanation.

After starting on the varsity team as a sophomore and junior, point guard Michael Moore transferred to 'oncord to play as a senior in the 2004-2005 season.

Concord got the better end of the deal, as Moore put up strong numbers for a Concord team that beat Warsaw in the Tiger Den and put together a 22-2 season. He now plays college basketball at Depauw in Greencastle.

Once again, there are players that are talking about leaving.

Six-foot-7 brothers Miles and Mason Plumlee (Miles a junior, Mason a freshman) will spend their spring break in North Carolina applying for prep schools, according to their father, Perky Plumlee.

In losing the Plumlees, the Tigers lose two players that have received major Division I attention.

Both were offered full-ride scholarships to play guard for the Tennessee Volunteers. Yeah, the same Tennessee that is a No. 2 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament.

Under Ogle, however, the Plumlees were forced to play out of position and they were used as backup centers.

Both brothers also took unofficial visits to Michigan State, Louisville and Purdue.

I think NCAA Division I coaches like Bruce Pearl and Tom Izzo know what they're talking about when they say a player has talent.

They said the Plumlees have that talent.

So why didn't Warsaw's fans get to see these two talented players run up and down the court, shoot and dunk like they did so well last summer for their AAU teams? And why have so many people told me Ogle doesn't like AAU basketball?

It's the AAU basketball tour in the summer where players draw college attention, not playing for a high school team that is 11-12 and looks out of synch the majority of the time.

With four starters returning from last year's varsity team, as well as the Plumlees and players like Tommy Reinholt and Steve Lemasters from the junior varsity team, Warsaw had plenty of talent and experience to work with this year, yet the Tigers suffered through their first losing season since 1988.

Let me put it like this, the Tigers didn't lose 12 games this year because of a lack of talent.

So what is the explanation for the Plumlees, and any of the others that are rumored to not be playing next year, to step away from the program?

"It is important for kids in high school sports to be in a positive environment where they are allowed to work hard, develop their potential and have some fun in the process," said Plumlee.

He also said he wanted his kids to have the opportunities and coaching they deserve.

Is that so wrong for a father to want the best for his kids?

Did they or any of the other players really get those opportunities or proper coaching from Ogle?

It's time to do the right thing and make sure these players get the opportunities they deserve.

And it's time to make sure they don't have to leave the school corporation to get those opportunities. [[In-content Ad]]