2024/07/04 Journal, Entry 1
Jack Evans was one of the best players (if not the best) that I have ever had the privilege of coaching. He was a nose tackle on a first grade team before he joined us and we converted him into a single wing tailback. In six seasons, he rushed for around 3,500 yards. He was our captain who lead his team with his actions, not his words.

On May 19, I got a text from his mom, who was our team manager and by far the best team manager I have ever seen. She asked to meet and talk. I knew immediately what it was about. We met the next day at Starbucks and that’s where Jack told me he had been chosen for a AAA hockey team and was leaving us.

Jack struggled to tell me and it was a very emotional moment for both of us, but I expressed that I was very happy for him getting this opportunity. It was going to take an extraordinary circumstance to pry him away from his football team and this was certainly it. I hope he sets the hockey world on fire. I remain his biggest fan.

But it was a figurative gut punch, to say the least.

I greatly appreciated his communication. Communication seems to be a lost art in this era of “ghosting”. I’ve been ghosted multiple times this offseason in situations where I felt communication was warranted and the expectation of it was more than reasonable.

It is what it is.

Tallying up the offseason has been tough.
We lost our star tailback/qb to hockey
We lost our starting badass middle linebacker (moved away)
We lost our starting left guard (burned out)
And we lost a key role-player (looking for a bigger role on his middle school team).
Our star blocking back/linebacker is yet to register. They assure me he is coming back but the hour is getting late and I am not so confident he will return. I think he is struggling to decide what to do and delaying his decision. He has a chronic foot injury that is also part of the calculus. Losing Weston would be a major blow.

The unknown can be the worst torture.

…but I am learning to come to terms with the fact that I allow the torture of the unknown to cause myself pointless anxiety. Players move on. New players materialize. It’s part of the deal of coaching.

Our team has been near great for 6 seasons. A team has to have a lot of great players to be great. That requires recruiting. There is just no way around that. The top team in the league added three more all stars from a rival league. I am sure the second place team added players as well. It’s not about how bad you want to win. Everybody wants to win. It’s really about what are you willing to do to win. The top tier teams in our league are in a constant arms race. That is the reality they exist in and no one can fairly judge them for it. I can choose to be resentful of our geographical recruiting disadvantage or I can choose to accept and deal with it. That choice, and my resultant attitude, is mine and mine alone. It is a thing completely within my control.

This offseason we added 4 promising players. They represent a well-spring of size and speed for us. I remain concerned that their addition is yet offset by our losses, but there is nothing more I can do about that. Valid concern is one thing. It is a motivator. Worry is another. It is a useless and distracting and destructive emotion. Yes, we have lost our leadership and are desperately thin. We can cry about that or we can set about finding new leaders and playmakers.

This experience is nothing new for any Mountain Area team. We are remote and sparsely populous with an aging demographic. This is the brutalist “WHY” behind the ugly system we choose to run. Our system is not QB or unicorn-speed dependent. It is plug-and-play. No, it will not turn MPPs into league champions, but it will get the most out of what we have. If we were to panic and switch to the Air Raid now, as some might suggest, I am certain it would be an utter catastrophe. I have seen Air Raid teams without unicorn talent. We trust our current system. It has worked for us many times before. We are going to do the experiment anyway, so we’re fixing to find out. We are not changing systems.

PERIOD.

We’ve been top division contenders for six years. We’ve taken the best teams in the state down to the wire. Are we still contenders? Probably not at this moment. We have a lot of work to do. But when it gets tough, when the ball bounces the wrong way, when we come up short on a play, when parents chide and snipe, I need to remind myself not to get discouraged and down. There are many things beyond my control and I will need to let all of those things go as fretting over them is of no use or benefit to anyone. My wife gave me a great pep talk when I was considering options. She said that I need to see this final season through because there are 16-18 other kids on the team who still believe and I would regret abandoning them. I need to maintain a beacon spirit and remain unrelenting, trusting, and ever-hopeful.

Never forget: Buddha provides.

…and any wanker can coach an all star team.