1. Saturday, September 27, 2014
Walton Central School
Jim Hoover Field
Coach Jim Hoover
A celebration of 300 wins

2. Years coached: 39 (1976-present)
Career record: 301-79-1 (through Sept. 20,
2014)
State championships: 2 (1994, 2007)
New York State Regional championships: 9
Section Four championships: 14
Section Four Division championships: 19
The Daily Star Coach of the Year: 11
Press and Sun Bulletin Coach of the Year: 3
Jim Hoover: Looking back
First win: def. Afton, 40-0
50th win: def. Cazenovia, 34-6
100th win: def. Tioga, 12-0
150th win: def. Windsor, 22-15
200th win: def. O’Neill, 52-13
233rd win (Section Four record): def. Hancock
via forfeit
250th win: def. Sidney, 66-7
300th win: def. Harpursville/Afton, 20-6
First undefeated season: 1987
First Bowl championship: 1983
First Division championship: 1987
First Section Four championship: 1987
First New York Regional championship: 1989
First State championship: 1994
Through the years
Firsts
1976: 6-3
1977: 3-6
1978: 7-1
1979: 6-2
1980: 4-5
1981: 6-3
1982: 4-4
1983: 8-1
1984: 5-3-1
1985: 5-4
1986: 8-2
1987: 10-0
1988: 10-1
1989: 10-0
1990: 9-1
1991: 11-0
1992: 7-2
1993: 10-1
1994: 13-0
1995: 8-1
1996: 6-4
1997: 10-1
1998: 9-1
1999: 9-1
2000: 12-1
2001: 8-2
2002: 8-1
2003: 7-2
2004: 10-2
2005: 6-3
2006: 7-3
2007: 13-0
2008: 11-1
2009: 7-3
2010: 8-4
2011: 8-1
2012: 4-5
2013: 5-4
2014: 3-0 (through
Sept. 19)
Year-by-year record
Total: 301-79-1

3. It started on September 18, 1976.
It was a Saturday afternoon and football
was in the air – as Walton took on Afton in
the season opener. On Walton’s sidelines,
though, was a young, new coach – Jim
Hoover.
That day was a good one for Hoover as his
Warriors won, 40-0. Quite a nice welcome to
the Walton sidelines for the son of longtime
Vestal coach Dick Hoover.
Walton would go
on to finish 6-3 that
season and little
did anybody at the
time know, but the
Jim Hoover era was
only just beginning
at the school. Now
in his 39th season
on the sidelines
at Walton, Hoover
has reached a level
no other Section
Four coach ever
has – and only four
others in all of New
York State have ever done – by winning his
300th career game.
“I’ve been lucky,” Hoover said before this
season’s games had started. “I’ve had many
good people to work with. I’ve always had
good administrative support.”
The milestone victory came on a rainy and
chilly Saturday afternoon in Harpursville –
seemingly fitting as Hoover’s teams have
always been gritty, grind-it-out types that
can thrive in any weather conditions. His
Warriors overcame some adversity and
prevailed, 20-6, over Harpursville/Afton,
notching win No. 300 in front of a large
contingent of Walton fans who made the
trek to see the game.
As the clock ticked down the final seconds,
a smile beamed across Hoover’s face. When
the final horn sounded to officially end the
game and give the longtime coach his 300th
win, his son – and assistant coach – Adam
quickly went over and gave his father a
celebratory hug. The Booster Club had also
pre-ordered shirts for
when this milestone
happened and handed
them out to the players
and coaches, to allow
the team to celebrate
with their coach.
Hoover is now 301-79-
1, a winning percentage
of nearly 80 percent.
But that wet
Saturday afternoon in
Harpursville – to reach
such a milestone –
was many years away
when Hoover arrived in Walton for the 1976
season.
Even Hoover, with coaching in his
bloodlines, said he’d never have thought
about 300 victories. After all, back when he
started coaching, teams played only eight or
nine games per season. That didn’t extend to
10 until the 1980s and the state tournament
– where teams can play upward of 13 games
– didn’t begin until 1993.
“When I first started coaching, I knew I’d
think about administration,” said Hoover,
Hoover reaches 300-win plateau

4. who eventually would become a principal at
Walton. “I thought if I could get to 100 wins,
I’d be happy. I was able to be an administrator
and a coach and had the support of the
community. Walton has been very supportive
of its football program.”
Howie Vogts, who coached at Bethpage
and died in 2010, is the state’s all-time leader
in coaching wins with 364. Vin O’Connor,
who is still active and coaches at St. Francis
Prep, is second with 340. Shenendehowa’s
Brent Steuerwald, who retired in 2011, is
third with 318.
Tony DeMatteo,
who is still active
and has coached
at Roosevelt and
Somers, is fourth
with 311.
Then there’s
Hoover.
Though the
coaches above
him have coached
at larger schools,
Hoover has built
something extremely
special in Walton.
Take for example, how well Hoover’s teams
have played over the years.
Walton went 4-5 in 1980. What happened
following that was an impressive span of
football as the Warriors didn’t have another
losing season until going 4-5 in 2012.
And over that span, take a peek at what
the Warriors accomplished: two state
championships, nine regional championships,
14 Section Four titles, 19 division crowns and
five undefeated seasons.
That’s a resume that is mostly unmatched in
the coaching ranks. The accolades have been
numerous, too. He’s been named the Coach of
the Year by area newspapers a staggering 14
times. He was also inducted into the Section
Four Hall of Fame in 2009.
It’s not just 300 victories, though. Hoover’s
teams also don’t lose often. He’s yet to reach
100 losses in his career.
“We’ve been lucky to be very consistent
over 39 years,” Hoover said. “Three-hundred
wins is nice. But I think I’m more proud of the
percentage of wins
and losses.”
Hoover has had
more of an impact
on his players and
students than just
on the football field.
“Playing for coach
Hoover taught me
there was a lot more
to football than
running fast and
hitting hard,” said
Dave Harby, who
played for Hoover
in 1981 and 1982. “He taught me to be smart
and disciplined and to pay attention to details.
He taught me to be calm under pressure by
focusing on my responsibilities. He taught me
to make my mistakes at full speed. He showed
me the value in doing your homework and
preparation.
“More than anything, he taught us all that
we could do things we didn’t think were
possible,” he continued. “These lessons I have
used, and continue to use, throughout my
life.”
His impact on people – not just players
– was never more evident than late last

5. year, when he was named to be part of USA
Today’s contest for the nation’s top coach. It
was a fan-based voting contest, but Hoover
– despite being coaching in a small town in
upstate New York – emerged as a possible
winner of this award.
In fact, he won the Regional round to
advance to the national finals.
He earned 38,654 votes to make it out of
a group of eight New York coaches. Hoover
then received more than 89,000 votes in
the regional round, advancing Hoover to the
national round.
There, he finished
with 137,117 votes
to place third in
the nation, which
earned the school
a banner and $500
to the athletic
department.
“Coach Hoover
exemplifies what a
coach should be,”
said Walton Athletic
Director Andy Gates,
who coached football under Hoover during
Gates’ first year in Walton. “He teaches,
motivates and is a positive role model. He’s
a mentor to many and is one of the finest
people you’ll ever meet. For him to reach
this milestone is not only a testament to his
coaching ability, but to his role in so many
students’ lives and how he’s been a positive
influence on so many of them.”
Looking back, Hoover said it wasn’t easy to
pick out one or two teams that were favorites.
Instead, he noted, he can take a peek at a
team photo from any year and be able to
remember positive things from each team.
Of course the state championship years stick
out, but so do the senior years of his children
– Adam Hoover and Brynne Hoover-Daye, who
are now both teachers and coaches at Walton.
Adam is an assistant to his father after being
the head coach for several years at Oneonta,
and Brynne is the field hockey coach.
“I knew a lot of those kids on a different
level because they were friends with Adam
and Brynne,” Hoover said. “I knew them more
on a personal note.”
Coaching has
definitely been a
family affair for
Hoover. He played
at Vestal under his
father -- and longtime
coach Dick Hoover,
who finished his
legendary career with
182 victories. For a
stretch of years, Dick
Hoover assisted his
son at Walton, a time
when Jim Hoover
said he learned so much about coaching,
not just the game plans, but about players
and everything surrounding the worlds of
teenagers playing high school sports.
Another team that sticks out? The 1978
squad, which went 7-1. The lone loss that
season came to Chenango Forks, a 28-22
setback in the fourth week. Walton’s team
was a little thin that year as Hoover said they
had 22 players.
“We kept winning and winning,” he said. “It
was a great group of kids who stuck together.”
And then there are the rivalry games – with
teams such as Windsor, or Chenango Forks

6. back in the day. And, of course, there’s Delhi.
The rivalry with Delhi goes well before
Hoover started coaching, and long before
his counterpart at Delhi, Dave Kelly, started
coaching. But the rivalry took on a different
world when the two started playing as it was
two of the most prolific coaches in Section
Four history. Kelly retired from Delhi after last
season with 272 victories over 48 seasons.
On the New York State Sportswriters
Association’s football website (www.
roadtosyracuse.
com) Walton vs.
Delhi is listed as
the third-longest
rivalry, dating
back to 1892.
Only Rome
Free Academy
vs. Utica Free
(1891) and
Fordham Prep
vs. Xavier (1883)
have had longer
rivalries.
The rivalry,
though still likely one of the biggest games on
the schedule each year, has mellowed over
the years as kids in the communities hang out
and know who everyone is.
“When I first started, Walton didn’t like
Delhi and Delhi didn’t like Walton,” Hoover
said. “Now the kids know each other and are
friendly.
“We’re all competitive,” said Hoover, who
is 31-13 against Delhi during his career. “We
always want to beat the other. It was always
built as Hoover vs. Kelly, but it wasn’t. Delhi
has always been the big game. That’s the one
week you don’t have to worry about the kids
getting up for the game. We’ve had some
battles with them over the years.”
And though it’s always pointed out that
Walton is a defensive juggernaut, it should be
shown, too, that the Warriors usually are a
pretty solid offensive team.
How good is Walton’s offense and defense?
Through the first game of the 2014 season,
Walton had outscored opponents 11,741-
4812 during Hoover’s tenure – that’s
outscoring opponents more than 2-to-1. In
10 of Hoover’s
seasons, Walton
has held their
opponents –
combined – to
fewer than 100
points during
a season. That
includes an
impressive 48 over
13 games during
the 2007 season,
when the Warriors
had nine shutouts.
In fact, over 39
seasons, Walton has only been outscored
over an entire season twice – with one season
where they scored the same amount of points
that it allowed.
Hoover is quick to give credit to assistant
coaches, who have been with him for many
years. One of those assistants, Gary Backus,
has been with him for the full 39 years,
coaching at all levels and doing what was ever
needed for the program.
“He’s been my right-hand man,” Hoover said.
“He knows the system well and he is a very
supportive person.”
-- P.J. Harmer

7. 300 victories!
See more at: http://www.waltoncsd.org/Hoover.aspx
1970s: 22-12
1980s: 70-23-1
1990s: 92-12
2000s: 89-18
2010s: 28-14
Record by decade
Win No. 300
September 13, 2014
Walton 20
Harpursville/Afton 6

8. A collaborative effort of Walton Central School, the DCMO BOCES
Communications Service and the DCMO BOCES Printing Service
Walton Central School District
Superintendent: Roger B. Clough II
Principals: Mike Snider (high school/middle school), Julie Bergman (elementary
school), Mark Lamoreaux (assistant high school/middle school)
Athletic Director: Andy Gates
Board of Education: Judy Breese, Jim Hoyt, Butch Neale, Pat Reynolds, Ronda Wil-
liams, Frank Ward, Bret Meckel.
Village of Walton
Mayor: Edward H. Snow Sr.
Trustees: Teresa O’Leary, Charles Gregory, David Breese, Allen Reynolds
Town of Walton
Supervisor: Bruce Dolph
Deputy Supervisor: Kevin Armstrong
Board members: Luis Rodriguez-Betancourt, Leonard Govern, Patricia Wood
Stay up to date on Walton CSD news: www.waltoncsd.org
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