As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Dec. 12, 2012.
Professional sports trades always generate interest and
raise eyebrows in the same way college recruitment gets the fans excited;
however, the past week has made me appreciate and come to further enjoy another
type of trading/recruitment: coaches.
A coach’s tenure at a school may be long or short; more
often than not, the verdict on that tenure is correlated with the fans’
feelings toward a coach.
Fans get excited when their team lands a top recruit, lands
the number one draft pick, or signs a top athlete previously sporting another
uniform. If the player does well for the team, we love it; if the player does
mediocre, or, even worse, does poorly, we sometimes get upset, but usually just
look to other players to step in or look to the next year of recruitment.
We also get excited with great coaches, but unlike with
players, with poor coaches, we get very,
antsy and usually are not happy until the coach gets the boot. (And they always
do, eventually.)
Coaches on all levels are important, but I’d venture to say
they are most important to us, the fans, on the college level. No matter how
great a player is, any team will only have him/her for four years, max, and if
they are that great, they are one and
done. They are fun for a season or two and then we’re looking for that next
recruitment class.
Great coaches, on the other hand, are something every fan
base desires, and once you have one, you hope they can live forever, staying
happy at your school. A great coach will bring you, your fellow fans and your
team one exciting, worthwhile season after another.
In the past few weeks we’ve seen a lot of excitement in the
world of Kentucky college football coaches. UK fans rejoiced in Joker’s
official farewell(which we all saw coming…) and have put high hopes in a “next
year” with Mark Stoops.
Just this week former Louisville coach Bobby Petrino signed
to take on the coaching position at Western Kentucky University (giving any EKU
alums whom are also Wildcat fans an extra reason to hate the Hilltoppers).
As some know, the company I work for outside of writing is
based in Louisville and I spend two days a week working in-office. One of the
three coworkers I sit with is a former Cardinal football player and the other
two are both die-hard Cards fans. Let’s just say last Wednesday when Charlie
Strong’s future was still in question, productivity level was at about the same
level it gets to during March Madness.
Needless to say, all three were in high spirits Thursday
morning with assurance that Strong would bypass a move to Tennessee and remain
in Louisville.
The importance of a good coach really sunk in last week with
the possibility of Charlie Strong’s departure. Much like my enjoyment in seeing
strength in more than one of the state of Kentucky’s basketball programs, I
would love to see strength in multiple football programs, especially since
we’re not exactly known as a “football state”.
Louisville’s football program has had up and down years (up
being with Petrino and down coming with Kragthorpe). I’m excited Strong isn’t
jumping ship the first chance he gets. I like to hope that now is when he
begins to build a true legacy for himself as a Cardinal.
Meanwhile, I really, really
hope Stoops brings a positive turnaround for Kentucky. (Surely we cannot get
worse, right??) I hope to hear UK fans excited next season and not already
calling for a new hire.
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