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was apparently considered so potentially controversial that the board directed high school principal Robert Chappel to call the parents of players to a special meeting to hear the announcement.
The controversy has never materialized, probably due to the impressive record of six wins versus two losses that Gehringer's boys have tallied to date. “There’s always going to be coaches in the stands but I’d had no discipline problems with the team, no negative responses from the fans or the players,” she said.
Gehringer wanted the job for experience. “I’d eventually like to coach — not teach — as a career,” said the RCHS English and drivers’ education instructor. At Longwood College, she majored in the fields she now teaches, not in physical education. "But I always liked basketball— all kinds of basketball — high school, college, pro. I’ve sat in the bleachers for hundreds of games."
The summer she graduated from Longwood, she took the first step towards a coaching career, attending a special course at Virginia Tech. Since then, she’s taken additional classes at Madison and enrolled in several coaching clinics, collecting nine of the 15 credit hours she needs for certification. This summer, she plans to get the final six hours she must have to be certified as a coach.
In her first coaching job, Val has received assistance from Doyle Dawson, who directs Rappahannock’s varsity basketball team. But Gehringer makes the decisions as to who plays and what strategy her boys will use on the court. She attributes the success of her squad to the talents of the players, however. “When they get right down to playing, they never ever give up. And they’re coachable. They listen.”
The nucleus of the JV team worked together as eighth graders, compiling seven wins and only a single loss. Forward Rob Brown, who averages around 15 points per game, is the team leader. "Anything I have to send in goes through Rob,”
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