So….just when I thought I’ve seen it all, I get news on
Friday that my men’s team folded. I’ve seen plenty of teams that struggle go
down in the middle of the year, but this is the first time I’ve seen a 10-2
(9-1 in league) team fold on the brink of the playoffs. The stated reason is
financial difficulties….guess they didn’t budget very well. (NOTE: Now the word
is that we haven’t folded, but have given up our practice field and home field.
We’ll also have to drive ourselves to games {instead of having a bus] and may
have to pay referee fees…oh, and apparently my QB has been kicked off the team…..so
in effect, our owners are no better than Rachel Phelps, the team owner in the
movie Major League.)
I really don’t care about the owners – I’d been very leery
of them ever since my second year with the team, in 2012, and in 2013 when I
was the head coach, I saw how they really operated. But I came back this year
because of the head coach, Winston Martin, and a core group of offensive
players who believed in me as much as I believed in them.
Our early struggles offensively were well documented, but as
I’ve also said, over the past four games we’ve averaged 33 points per game as
we’ve gotten more comfortable with the system. So I was really looking forward
to seeing what we could do in Year 2. I feel like we’re running about 75% of an
offense right now – maybe even a little less.
I’m not done with this level of play, just done with shady
owners…..hopefully we’ll all be able to find someone who knows what they’re
doing next season and will be able to keep the core of the offense together.
***
The good news is
that now I’ll be able to attend the Surge end of season banquet. I was going to
miss it in favor of our last regular season game up in the “wonderful” High
Desert area of Southern California. 3 ½ hours to play against a team that may
or may not be able to fully field a team, but I wanted to try and ensure that
we had home field advantage, so you do what you gotta do.
Also, now I can finally focus more on our camp in November.
We had some sad news – Coach Billy Hughes from the Dallas Elite had to pull out
of coming. I’m always sad to not be able to see a friend. Our other visiting
coaches, Angel Rivera, Scott McCarron and Nate Benjamin are still on board and
we’ve got a full schedule planned out.
What these new offensive line sessions I’ve been added to
will allow me to explore, is some of the more technical details that normally I
may not get to. Last year Coach Hughes and I each did sort of our own versions
of “Offensive Line 101” with him focusing on the run game and me on the pass
game. We both really focused on the basics. I’ll certainly do that…probably do
a “Run Game 101” and a “Pass Game 101” in two sessions, but then I think we’re
going to get to the 200, 300 and 400 level courses over the rest of the camp.
I’m excited, and I think it’ll give a bit of a spark to even veteran OL.
We still may add another guest coach, so stay tuned!
With the camp fast approaching, we’d like to let you know of
a pre-payment deadline of November 7,
so that we can print all of the t-shirts we’ll need in time for the camp.
Please remember that only those who are pre-paid can be guaranteed a camp
shirt. Payment can be made through PayPal, using KMRing@cox.net
as the payee. Cost is still only $40!
If anyone is coming in Friday evening, and either needs a
ride out to the hotel from the airport or wants to hang out for dinner and
great football talk, just let me know!
No comments:
Post a Comment