Published: March 05, 2008 10:50 am      

Striplin picks good time to start coaching basketball

Callisburg graduate Ronnie Striplin picked a very good time to get into coaching a high school basketball team.

The first year Hubbard coach took the “Jaggers”, or Jaguars to most people, to the Class A Division I, Region II finals against top ranked Graford.

The Jaguars fell to the Jackrabbits 44-43 in Fort Worth March 1.

Striplin is the son of Nancy and Ray Striplin.

Nancy Striplin is the secretary at the Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Gainesville.

“We moved here,” Striplin said, “when Ronnie was in the eighth grade.”

“It’s been a wild ride,” Ronnie Striplin said before his Jaguars downed Muenster 63-40 in the second round of the playoffs.

“These kids really play hard and are fun to coach,” he said.

When talking about the unusual pronunciation of the mascot, Ronnie Striplin said he learned quickly the “right” way to say it.

“We had just moved to Hubbard,” Striplin said before the start of the Muenster game, “and we went to church on Sunday. I introduced my self and my family and every one was really nice.

“I was talking to this sweet, older lady and said, ‘I am really proud to be a Jaguar.’”

“She said, ‘it’s Jagger,’” Striplin said. “I asked her what did you say?” “She repeated, ‘it’s Jagger, and if you can’t say it right, then you best go look for another job.’”

A call to the Hubbard ISD Administration produced one explanation about the pronunciation.

“I am from Hubbard,” Dana Wilson, the superintendent’s secretary, said. “My mother grew up here. The only thing we have been able to come up with was that saying ‘Jaggers’ made it easier in the cheers.

“It was that way when mom was a little girl and it is that way today.”

However you say it, and Hubbard fans are touchy about that, the Jaguars came oh so close to making the state tournament.

Only Graford guard Tyson Heath’s jump shot, with one second left in the regional finals, kept Hubbard from advancing.

The shot bounced high off the rim and fell down through the hoop with one second left Graford to the victory