Jim Plummer

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  www.kokomoperspective.com/new/article.asp?6792 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/25/2004    Last Visited: 11/25/2004  

  Western football coach Jim Plummer dropped a bombshell on a large crowd of football players, cheerleaders, parents and coaches at the annual Panther football banquet.
  
  Plummer, who has been at the school for 35 years, told the crowd that the Western School board is preparing to fire him.His comments came at the end of the banquet and appeared to catch the entire crowd off guard.
  
  Plummer had harsh comments for the school after asking the crowd how many people had ever attended a school board meeting.The coach made his opinion of school boards clear.
  
  "When you go to a school board meeting, what you see is a carefully rehearsed performance," Plummer said."School boards have what they call executive board meetings.This is where all decisions are made, and when they come back to that public meeting, everything has been decided.So what you see is a rehearsed performance."
  
  Plummer told the crowd that he went to the school board in January and made a presentation to the board about his coaching performance.He asked the board to allow him to retire at the end of the 2003-2004 school year but coach for two additional seasons.
  
  "I made to them what I thought was a pretty good presentation," Plummer said."You know, they always talk about money.I pointed out where it could save them $70,000 because you know I am an expensive counselor at my age.And it would have afforded me and my coaching staff more time to prepare for those two seasons."
  
  Plummer said that shortly after the meeting he was contacted about his presentation.
  
  "After about a month the superintendent handed me a very short note that said it is not in the best interest of Western High School to have a head football coach or head basketball coach not in the system," Plummer said."Now, they had to say it that way because we have nine other coaching positions, nine other head coaching positions in this school that are filled by people who are lay coaches.They've never been in the school."
  
  Plummer pointed out that there were multiple coaches around the state who have continued to coach in retirement, most noticeably Basil Mawbey, who is the current head basketball coach at Lewis Cass after retiring from teaching at Kokomo High School.
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  Plummer was disappointed by the decision and decided not to retire but continue in his position as counselor and as football coach.
  
  "I was disappointed to say the least but I really wanted to coach this past year and I really wanted to coach this coming year with this group of juniors," he said." Now the board thought I would retire since I went in and asked.They thought I would retire at the end of last year since I had went and asked and that would be the end of it."
  
  When he didn't retire, Plummer said he was approached just before the start of the season.
  
  "Two weeks before the season was to begin I was summoned to the superintendent's office," Plummer said."He informed me that in the July Executive board meeting that the board would not extend me a contract for the 2005 year.My question was why?The answer was they wanted a change of leadership."
  
  Plummer contends the board hasn't made public its intentions because they were counting on him to retire.
  
  "They want me to gracefully bow out.They thought when they told me that I would announce my retirement or I would announce this year being my last year," Plummer said."Well, I am just not that kind of a person.They have chosen to fire me."
  
  Plummer pointed out the success of the football program at Western including a 22-5 record in the three years previous to this season.Overall, Western is 89th out of 311 schools in all-time winning percentage and has won more conference championships than any other MIC school.
  
  "The principal (Charles Wolf) and the athletic director (Larry Miller) are behind me 100 percent," Plummer said.
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  Plummer said if the majority of people want him gone he would live with that but if that is not the case, he was hoping that people would let the school board know.
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  I don't know," Plummer said.

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  www.kokomoperspective.com/new/article.asp?6822 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/1/2004    Last Visited: 12/1/2004  

  One part of the controversy at Western High School involving football coach Jim Plummer is his proposal to retire from teaching yet remain a coach.
  
  Plummer went to the Western school board in January and offered to retire at the end of the 2004 school year but continue to coach for two more seasons.Plummer's reasoning was that he wanted to coach, but the school system could save $70,000 per year.However, the school board rejected Plummer's plan.
  
  Plummer contends that it is a common practice for coaches to retire from teaching and continue to coach.

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  www.ktonline.com/sports/local_story_248220826.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/5/2008    Last Visited: 9/5/2008  

  The twin brothers are the sons of Ron Shepherd, a long-time assistant under former Western coach Jim Plummer.

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  www.kokomotribune.com/coverprepsports/local_story_10423 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/15/2007    Last Visited: 4/15/2007  

  Plummer gets a rich reward
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  Western High School football players from more than three decades will tell you that it wasn't often they would see a smile creep across the face of their gritty coach, Jim Plummer.
  
  Nowadays, he'll tell you his smile is almost a permanent fixture.
  
  "I'm leading a fairy-tale life these days," Plummer said from his winter home in Spring Hill, Fla., located an hour north of Tampa."It's warm, we live in a beautiful community and I'm surrounded by golf courses."
  
  But in Plummer's case the fairy tale has gotten even better.
  
  Plummer recently learned that 234 victories in 37 years of coaching will earn him an induction into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.His induction is set for June 15 at the Kokomo Country Club.
  
  That night, Plummer will join the likes of college greats Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian, Bill Mallory, Tony Hinkle and Jack Mollenkopf along with high school peers like Oak Hill's Jim Law as members of the hall of fame.
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  "I'm just very, very flattered and appreciative," Plummer said."All of us as coaches have egos and I won't say that I never thought about being in the hall of fame.But now that it's happened, I'm just very thrilled to be part of it."
  
  Plummer thanked area coaches Dan Robinson and Scott Mannering along with Ron Shepherd and Jim Watkins off his own Western staff for their support in helping support his nomination.
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  After coaching two seasons at Hamilton Heights, Plummer took over at Western in 1970 and began what would be the longest run of any Howard County football coach - 35 seasons - that ended in 2004.
  
  Over that stretch, Plummer's teams fashioned a 220-135 record and won outright or shared 13 Mid-Indiana Conference championships.
  
  "When I started coaching, there was no hall of fame, no state tournament," Plummer said."My goal every season was to finish unbeaten and we had four of them."
  
  Western athletic director Larry Miller said it was no surprise that Plummer was being inducted into his second hall of fame (he joined the elite wrestling group in 2000).
  
  "I coached against Jim when I was at Tri-Central," Miller said.
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  That was something Jim instilled in his players.
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  "Jim really allowed his assistants to coach. … He'd give you guidance if you asked, but he allowed you to develop on your own and it was a fantastic situation to work under," Watkins said.
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  Plummer said he owed a great deal to his coaches, who not surprisingly are hall of fame members as well.
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  Plummer notes several reasons for his program's success.
  
  "It came from a combination of things," Plummer said.
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  Plummer said he never intended to coach Western football for 35 years.
  
  "I never would have guessed that," he said with a laugh."In 1983, I had an offer to coach at Bloomington North, but there were some things we hadn't yet accomplished.And it was hard to leave the great kids we had."
  
  Plummer will tell you he made the right decision.What he hadn't accomplished yet was, of course, an unbeaten season.After turning down Bloomington North, Plummer enjoyed perfect regular seasons in '84, '85, '88 and '89.
  
  Every retired coach has the same answer when asked what he remembers most from his coaching days.
  
  "Oh, definitely the personal relationships with the kids and the coaches.That's what stands out most," he said."It's a nice feeling too, seeing former players now coaching.
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  HALL OF FAMER: Former Western football coach Jim Plummer is shown during a game against Northwestern in 2003.Plummer will take his place in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame during a June 15 ceremony.None/KT file photo (Click for larger image)

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  www.kokomoperspective.com/new/article.asp?6427 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/8/2004    Last Visited: 11/21/2004  

  The rivalry between Panther coach Jim Plummer and Tiger coach Dan Robinson is only exceeded by their admiration and friendship for each other.
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  Western coach Jim Plummer cited his team's lack of consistency as a factor in the game.

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  www.kokomoperspective.com/new/article.asp?6885 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/15/2004    Last Visited: 12/15/2004  

  Fans of Western Panthers football may have seen their last game coached by long-time coach Jim Plummer.According to the legendary coach the school board doesn't want him to return next season.The school board hasn't made a decision yet, so Plummer's future is left up in the air.
  
  After 35 years with Plummer at the helm, it is evident Western football will never be the same after he leaves.And it is clear that Plummer was meant to be a coach -- a coach at Western.Even if he didn't know it when he took the job in 1969.
  
  Rough waters"I really got the job late in the year, so it was a pretty rough start," Plummer said."And we won only two games the first year I was here."
  
  The second year started pretty much like the first, with the Panthers dropping four of the first five games.Plummer said he knew something would have to change if he wanted to return for a third year.
  
  "I think after that first year when we didn't win, it was kind of an unspoken thought that if we didn't go 5-5, I would be looking for a job," Plummer recalled.
  
  The last game of that season would prove to be the defining moment -- the sign that Plummer was in the right spot.
  
  The Panthers were 4-5, one game from the needed 5-5 record, with one game left against Indianapolis Wood, a now-defunct inner city school.
  
  "They played on a Saturday night early in the season.I went down and watched them," Plummer said."They were quick and big.They had several outstanding athletes.I told my guys ‘they are awful good.'"
  
  Plummer told how John Moses, then the coach at Tipton, recalled an encounter with the Wood coach shortly before the game with Western.
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  "John told them ‘They don't play bad ball up there,'" Plummer said.
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  So, that was a big game for us," Plummer said.
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  How Plummer became a coach is an interesting story in itself.Originally from Brazil, Ind., Plummer played football, basketball and ran track in high school.It was as a freshman basketball player that he got his first taste of coaching.
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  Plummer said he didn't know then, but that first coaching assignment would eventually lead down his career path.
  
  "I really didn't think that much about it then.I knew I enjoyed it," he said."It was a lot of fun, working with those young kids."
  
  After high school, Plummer headed to Franklin College on a half-scholarship to play football and run track -- and to work on a business degree.
  
  "It was pretty expensive.I decided the second year that I didn't have enough money," Plummer said."I went back home and went to Indiana State.I was only there a month or two, and after being away at college for year, it just wasn't the same."
  
  Plummer was taking accounting classes at ISU, but he really didn't like it.So he left the school and worked the rest of the year at a friend's family business.By the next year he had enough money to return to Franklin.
  
  "It was at that point that I decided that I wanted to be a coach," he said.
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  The next stop for Plummer was Decatur Central, where he was the varsity backfield coach for five years.He then grabbed his first head coaching job at Hamilton Heights.
  
  "I was head football coach and head wrestling coach for two years," he said.
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  Throughout the ‘70s, Western continued to win and Plummer moved up the list of winningest coaches.Plummer considers himself a career coach -- something that is rare these days.
  
  "I am a career coach -- a lot of guys come into coaching, spend a few years coaching, and then they move into administration.Coaching is all I ever wanted to do."
  
  When Plummer first started coaching, Indiana didn't have an state tournament for football.So the only measure of success for a coach and his program was its record.
  
  "The goal of a coach was to have an undefeated team," he said."I always felt like if somewhere along the line I would have an undefeated team, then I would have a pretty good career.I was fortunate enough to have four of them."
  
  Plummer's success also led to an opportunity to leave Western for a larger school.After the 1983 season, Plummer was offered the head coaching job at Bloomington North High School.
  
  "It was right at that point in which I felt we really ready to come into our own.And we did," Plummer said.
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  The ‘80s were good to Plummer and the Panthers, as a plethora of good athletes came through the school.
  
  "We had that great run of athletes, and right at the end of that, my was son was in high school," Plummer said."He played on an undefeated team.By that time, I felt like I had invested a lot of time, and I really didn't look to make a move after that.I decided I wanted to complete my career here."
  
  Over the years, Plummer has compiled a 220-135 record at Western.Overall, he is 234-141, which includes two seasons at Hamilton Heights.
  
  His Panthers teams have dominated the Mid Indiana Conference, winning 13 MIC championships in 35 years.
  
  Plummer recorded four unbeaten regular seasons, those being in 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989.
  
  "When it's all over, I hope that I will be remembered for impacting a lot of young men's lives in a positive manner," Plummer said.

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  www.kokomoperspective.com/new/article.asp?6943 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/29/2004    Last Visited: 12/29/2004  

  At the end of year, the big story was Western coach Jim Plummer possibly being forced to retire.

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  www.kokomoperspective.com/new/article.asp?6311 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/19/2004    Last Visited: 8/19/2004  

  Western coach Jim Plummer tends to have his team prepared better than most high school coaches.

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  www.kokomoperspective.com/article.asp?3626 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/3/2003    Last Visited: 4/3/2003  

  Those words from Western head football coach Jim Plummer could apply to any seasoned football player.
  
  But, in this case, he was talking about first-year walk-on player Jeff Carter.
  
  "His abilities allow you to think about what play you are going to run when you get down towards the end zone," continued Plummer."Instead of thinking about the first down, we might try for the touchdown."
  
  Plummer is thinking this way because Carter is a field goal kicker -- and a good one at that.
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  Plummer is happy to have that kind of distance from his kicker.
  
  "It just gives you more options knowing he can kick one from those distances," said Plummer."When you can put three on the board instead of coming up empty, that is big in high school."
  
  Plummer compared Carter to former kicker Billy Calhoun.
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  "Billy was a great kicker from 20 yards and in," said Plummer.

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  10/17/03 - Hungry Kings poised for Western battle - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/17/2003    Last Visited: 10/17/2003  

  Our biggest concern is how we're going to move the ball on them," said Western coach Jim Plummer, whose Panthers struggled offensively in a 32-20 loss to Hamilton Heights last week.
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  "Cass has a lot of depth in the backfield, and they have good speed and quickness," Plummer said.
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  Plummer thinks his Panthers match up a little better with Cass than they did against Hamilton Heights, which physically wore down the Panthers last week.
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  You take away those things last week and we beat Heights," Plummer said.

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