Tuesday, December 31, 2002

I have been called to task by some for my lack of recent updates. I apologize for having nothing to say. Even if I have to make this stuff up because everyone (players) is mostly gone, it is time for an update.

UP, UP AND AWAY IN MY BEAUTIFUL SALOON

What was the name of the group that did that song anyway?

Well, here we are at the end of another year, and quite a year it was. The next year is set up for all kinds of surprises as well. I’m gong one day at a time. The race is on to see whether I will need to use my United Airlines frequent flyer miles before United actually becomes totally bankrupt instead of in double-secret probationary bankruptcy, and stops operations. It would seem that all the original big airline companies, TWA, Eastern, Pan Am, and now United will have gone the way of the dinosaur and the dodo bird. At any rate of extinction I feel the need to hold the FF miles for that time coming when I will absolutely need them. I think 2003 will be somewhat about saving my "pennies" for a rainy day. At least that is my approach.

Happy new year!.

MORE CH-CH-CH-CHANGES AGAIN

The new year of 2003 will bring evolution or even revolution to this lacrosse team. There will be some roster shuffling. The transition from fall to spring ball can never be completely smooth. Sometimes it can even be painful, as it was last year when I had a 4-man rotation all set on attack, only to see one of them just disappear one day after fall ball, never to be heard from again. As we have seen, the "process" of evolving club ball into a "virtual Varsity" program is not always pretty. People sometimes leave school and GPA’s rise and fall. Stuff happens. Oh wait, these things also happen at the Division 1 level all the time, too, don’t they? For example, the best player at NCAA lacrosse champion Syracuse was declared academically ineligible and is scrambling to get over the 2.0 Mendoza line for spring semester. How does that happen when you have a budget and a staff? I ask my "sure-fire" All Americans (there is really no such thing) about their grades with monotonous regularity. This is not to say I don’t check up on all of them from time to time, because I do.

BETTER RED THAN DEAD

Red-shirting is becoming a popular option with freshmen (and others) here at CSU lacrosse now. Many are eager to have a year and the opportunity to get more comfortable with school and learn our system of lacrosse as well as to save a little money, and still remain part of the team and the program. For whatever reason they have figured on taking five years to finish college. It would seem to be a hard sell, that red-shirt somehow means you are not good enough or whatever. That ain’t necessarily it. It is not the red menace. Red-shirting is not to be confused with taking a year off. That is a separate category. My simple truth is that I far prefer to have a 23 year-old that can play (eligible) than one who is still in school at 23 that cannot (out of eligibility). The other simple truth is that as I watch us play more and more it becomes obvious that it takes a while for new players to come in and not look somewhat maverick. In order for me to overlook this you must be extremely talented.

ASK NOT WHAT YOUR DEFENSE CAN DO FOR YOU
ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR DEFENSE
(JFK ’61 inaugural address?)

Even Mark Plonkey with all his talent and fearlessness drove me nuts when he was a freshman because he was too inexperienced to understand the concepts of true team defense. I loved the fact that he wanted to and was capable of carrying a team on his back. I find this a unique and special quality. I have written about this before. He was, however, so used to obviously doing everything for his team in high school that he didn’t know how to trust others when he got here. As a coach I held him back somewhat during that 2001 season. It was part I wanted him to learn, and part I was afraid of some of his "rookie mistakes". It was only when we got to St. Louis that I "unleashed" him as it were for our run to the championship. I even remember asking him if he thought I was being fair to him (his talent was so obvious, but I didn’t always start him or whatever). He is the wonderful but rare kid with built-in greatness and coachability.

I YAM WHAT I YAM AND THAT’S ALL THAT I YAM
(Popeye)

My sincerest hope is that I never stifle individual "stardom" for the reason that I am a coach obsessed only with team performance and making the team the star. It is my responsibility to not screw up the potential these kids have for individual greatness. At the same time, the only one that I constantly pressure to be great is the team itself. I will never "put it on" an individual player. Half the time I have no idea who actually scored the goal, but I always recognize who or what "made it happen". I am not senile. For the 8000th time, I don’t care who scores as long as it is us.

YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN MAGIC BEFORE YOU CAN MAKE IT

The level of mutual trust and the desire to give to the greater good that we have on this team are the things that most excite me about leading them to the coming 2003 battles. Here we go. Let’s see what 2003 has in its store for me.

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Flip Started Blogging Before it was Cool, Read Over 400 of His Entries Since January 2001
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