End of an Era at Valley.......

[VetteMan]

Congrats on an outstanding career at Valley.

[packers80]

Outstanding career by a great coach

[packers80]

Dunno what retirement plans he has but I'd love to hear him do some games next year on air with WNXT. I think he'd be very insightful and entertaining to say the least.

[Blitz]

I hope he joins Gary Bailey and Jeff Berry's officiating crew so he FINALLY show them how to properly call game. He has been telling them how wrong they have been for years... Now he can show them. He would be the Greatest ref of all time!!!

[Attack]

I hope he joins Gary Bailey and Jeff Berry's officiating crew so he FINALLY show them how to properly call game. He has been telling them how wrong they have been for years... Now he can show them. He would be the Greatest ref of all time!!!

It would be great to see him take up officiating so that he can show all those officials, and there are many, who he criticized heavily over the years how it should be done. LOL

[pmow3]

To Blitz and Attack….
Who I’m sure are either the same person or working closely on these threads


Darren had a close relationship with a great many referees, officials. He is good friends with a bunch of them. In the heat of games and after 32 years, you are gonna have some that you’ve said the wrong thing to or pissed off. But after the game or in a different setting, he is friendly, fun and a hell of guy to be around.
Most officials would agree.
If there are some officials that don’t agree with that, then so be it.
Nobody could go 32 years at any coaching job without having a few issues with ppl cropping up.
The positives of this man greatly outweigh any negative you could throw out there.
His kids loved playing for him.
He stayed involved as a friend of or mentor to many of them after they played. He’s just a really good guy. I’m just here to post about it because I watched it the entire time he was here. Even his playing days.

If you are the very officials you are speaking of in the first place? Then that would make sense to me. I don’t care if you are.
But if you are, I’m sorry you took so much grief.
You must have been the small handful of people he didn’t like or didn’t like him.

Prayers….

[Attack]

To Blitz and Attack….
Who I’m sure are either the same person or working closely on these threads


Darren had a close relationship with a great many referees, officials. He is good friends with a bunch of them. In the heat of games and after 32 years, you are gonna have some that you’ve said the wrong thing to or pissed off. But after the game or in a different setting, he is friendly, fun and a hell of guy to be around.
Most officials would agree.
If there are some officials that don’t agree with that, then so be it.
Nobody could go 32 years at any coaching job without having a few issues with ppl cropping up.
The positives of this man greatly outweigh any negative you could throw out there.
His kids loved playing for him.
He stayed involved as a friend of or mentor to many of them after they played. He’s just a really good guy. I’m just here to post about it because I watched it the entire time he was here. Even his playing days.

If you are the very officials you are speaking of in the first place? Then that would make sense to me. I don’t care if you are.
But if you are, I’m sorry you took so much grief.
You must have been the small handful of people he didn’t like or didn’t like him.

Prayers….

I have no idea who Blitz even is LOL. And yes I was on a crew that was chastised by coach Crabtree and we took it in stride. As a former coach who could out scream and out berate even him when it came to officials I was not offended by what he did. To me, it's part of the game. He's not the worst I've experienced, though if he officiated one of my games he probably could not say the same about me. He was one hell of a coach and has the utmost respect from me.

[BigBlueNation]

Dunno what retirement plans he has but I'd love to hear him do some games next year on air with WNXT. I think he'd be very insightful and entertaining to say the least.

It definitely would be.

[art_vandelay]

Crabtree was a great coach who will be missed for sure, but good to see him leave on his own terms. As far as officials, what decent coach doesn't work the officials? It's just part of the game and good officials understand it and don't take it personal (as long as the coaches not making it personal).

Will be interesting to see who Valley goes with as their next coach, but they have solid talent coming up again next couple of years that can do some damage in D6 or D7 playoffs.*

[Blitz]

To Blitz and Attack….
Who I’m sure are either the same person or working closely on these threads


Darren had a close relationship with a great many referees, officials. He is good friends with a bunch of them. In the heat of games and after 32 years, you are gonna have some that you’ve said the wrong thing to or pissed off. But after the game or in a different setting, he is friendly, fun and a hell of guy to be around.
Most officials would agree.
If there are some officials that don’t agree with that, then so be it.
Nobody could go 32 years at any coaching job without having a few issues with ppl cropping up.
The positives of this man greatly outweigh any negative you could throw out there.
His kids loved playing for him.
He stayed involved as a friend of or mentor to many of them after they played. He’s just a really good guy. I’m just here to post about it because I watched it the entire time he was here. Even his playing days.

If you are the very officials you are speaking of in the first place? Then that would make sense to me. I don’t care if you are.
But if you are, I’m sorry you took so much grief.
You must have been the small handful of people he didn’t like or didn’t like him.

Prayers….

You got me all WRONG. Darren was, is and always will be the BEST coach I've ever seen at ANY level at working the REFS!!! He could give seminars on it and make a fortune. I have caught myself watching him coach as much as I watched the games at times. Hell I almost sent my kids to Valley just to play for him!

[FIDO]

Great guy! Best wishes to him and his family going forward.

[vladimir]

Congrats to him as a career coach with Valley.

[Izladoom]

We all knew this day was coming but it still hurts. As someone who has followed valley since the early 90’s it will be strange to see someone else as coach. I have no clue who that next coach will be. I would like to see Keller as the next coach but I don’t think that is possible.

[FIDO]

We all knew this day was coming but it still hurts. As someone who has followed valley since the early 90’s it will be strange to see someone else as coach. I have no clue who that next coach will be. I would like to see Keller as the next coach but I don’t think that is possible.

Perhaps it'll be another crabtree, if they decide to stay in house.

[transplant]

Not sure he would want to do football and baseball. Def think he would stay on staff though, if the new HC would have him.

[SEO95]

Congrats to Coach Crabtree and Happy Retirement! Hell of a guy. he had some “special” referee’s at his home games.For real.

[oldschoolqb13]

Great career by an even greater guy…congratulations Darren!

[Valenth]

What a Great tenure at Valley. Darren did a great job with the Indians.. He now is ready for a well deserved rest!

[FIDO]

Not sure he would want to do football and baseball. Def think he would stay on staff though, if the new HC would have him.

True. It'll be interesting for sure.

[Burg_Grad_77]

Darren put his heart and soul in the Valley program. He also took the Indians to another level playing up every year! He was 2 boys from being D-VII and played in SOC II, playing D-IV, V schools. He had his team ready for playoff runs and beat Burg more then any conference team. Congratulations on 32 year at same school and helping young men become men for our future!! Now it’s time for relaxing and family time.

Not true about beating Burg. According the records on this site they have only beat the Burg 5 times while West and Waverly have 27 wins each.

http://www.burgfootball.com/uploads/1/1 ... d_2020.pdf