MBB BLOG 2011-12
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 2-25-12
The Francis Marion University men’s basketball team lost a double overtime thriller to USC Aiken this week which ended the Patriots’ season. We finished at 16-12 overall and 9-9 in the Peach Belt Conference.
I am going to go out on a limb and say we are probably the only .500 conference team in the country which will not be invited to play in their conference tournament. The Peach Belt Conference is divided into two divisions and only the top four teams in each division go to the conference tournament. We finished fifth in the East.
If Clayton State loses their last regular season conference game today they will be 7-10 in the conference, but they will be in the conference tournament as the Western Division fourth seed. Go west, young man!
I know it doesn’t make any sense, but that is the Peach Belt, and we have no one to blame for the situation but ourselves. We knew what we had to do to make the tournament but were unable to do it.
Al McGuire, the legendary former coach of Marquette once said, “After a loss, a coach turns up his collar and walks the streets.” Well, I didn’t walk the streets, but I did walk around our campus when we got home in the wee hours of the night after the Aiken game.
I thought about our team this year. A good team must have players who are happy when something good happens to someone else. Several of our guys were too worried about themselves to truly surrender the Me for We.
So in that regard we got what we deserved. The Universe is funny that way. Those same players had numerous opportunities to be the “hero” in close games this season, but seldom did things go their way when it mattered most.
I have learned that when you try to do the right thing, and think of others before self, you have a certain power. Things have a tendency to go your way.
On the other hand, selfishness ultimately leads to weakness and a “cancer of the conscience”. The ball always seems to bounce the wrong way for those guys.
We could have won more games this season, but we could have also lost more games. That’s the other thing I thought about as I walked around our beautiful campus.
We won more games than we lost this year. Don’t most of us have more wins than losses in our lives? Why do we seem to think more about the losses?
Let’s count our wins. I have 476 basketball wins in 28 seasons as a head coach. I have my health. I have two healthy and happy children. I have a wonderful wife and best friend. What about you?
If someone walked up and offered you a million dollars for your eyesight, would you do it? If not, then you are worth a million right there!
Of course, I have lost 371 games over the course of my career. There have been some tough days when I have had to “turn up my collar and walk the streets.”
But I choose not to dwell on those days and instead try to live each day with gratitude for my many wins. I include the opportunity to write this column among those wins, and I look forward to us continuing our weekly chats next season.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 2-18-12
Between now and March 8 you can go on ESPN Radio’s website and participate in the Infinity Coaches’ Charity Challenge. Vote for your favorite men’s basketball coach and Infiniti will donate $100,000 to the winning coach’s favorite charity.
You will have to write me in. Like Newt Gingrich in Virginia, I am not on the ballot. ESPN and Infiniti only recognize Division I coaches and, alas, I am a Division II coach.
Of course all the Division I coaches on the list make enough money to donate generously to their favorite charity. I give what I can, but it’s not a lot. I can’t afford to buy an Infiniti.
Bob Huggins from West Virginia is currently leading the East Region. His charity is the Norma Mae Huggins Fund for Cancer Research. His mother, Norma Mae Huggins, died of colon cancer in 2003.
Dave Rose, the coach at Brigham Young, is leading the West Region. His money would go to the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation.
Frank Haith from Missouri leads the South Region. His charity is the Boys & Girls Clubs in Columbia, Missouri.
And John Beilein, the head coach at Michigan, holds a commanding lead in the Midwest Region. He supports the St. Louis Center, a residential community for people with developmental disabilities located in Chelsea, Michigan.
Even though I am only a Division II coach my money spends, too, so I will share with you the charities I supported in 2011: The V Foundation for Cancer Research, Best Friends Animal Society, Canine Angels in Myrtle Beach, and the Humane Society of New York.
And now the reasons: my father suffered from bladder cancer and Bob Valvano is one of my best friends, Best Friends nursed most of Michael Vick’s dogs back to health and happiness, Canine Angels is close by and provides service dogs to disabled vets, and my dog is an alumnus of the New York Humane Society.
I think you can learn a lot about a coach from the charities he supports. For the most part, I like dogs a lot more than people.
On Monday, February 20, the Francis Marion women’s basketball team is sponsoring the “Play 4 Kay” basketball game to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The game will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Smith University Center and everyone is encouraged to wear pink.
I have never been a big fan of the pink movement. It seems to me all the money they spend on pink uniforms and shoes could be better used for cancer research. But the Kay Yow Fund partners with the V Foundation, and it seems to be a little less political than some of the other groups.
So let’s all support the women. I have a pink tie. Either my dog or I will be wearing it Monday night.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 2-11-12
I received my first technical foul of the season last week when we played at Lander. I used to get them all the time, but not so much now. I have mellowed with age.
The commissioner of the Peach Belt Conference, Dave Brunk, was at the game. Dave is a nice enough guy, but conference commissioners are not my favorite people right now. They are destroying the college athletics I grew up with.
So when the referee came over to me and said, “Make sure you stay in the coach’s box because the conference commissioner is here,” it put me in a bad mood. And when I am in a bad mood I usually get a technical.
If a coach gets two technicals he is ejected from the game. In the Peach Belt, if you get thrown out of a game you can’t coach the next game. It is Dave Brunk’s rule.
So I stopped at one technical, even though I was growing tired of watching my team play. Our next game was against Allen and I figured we would win that one so I didn’t want to miss it.
We did beat Allen and I was able to get home in time to watch the end of the Duke-North Carolina game. What a game! It brought back memories of what Atlantic Coast Conference basketball used to be.
North Carolina State and David Thompson. Maryland and Len Elmore. North Carolina and Phil Ford. The ACC used to be the best basketball conference in the nation and every game was a happening.
Now it is North Carolina State playing Boston College, in BOSTON for crying out loud, in front of 3,611 fans waiting for the Red Sox to begin spring training. Or Miami playing Virginia Tech with 4,292 in attendance looking for football schedule cards.
ACC Commissioner John Swofford brought in Boston College, and Miami, and Virginia Tech, a few years back to strengthen ACC football. That move decimated the interest and quality of ACC basketball, and ACC football still stinks.
Now he is bringing in Syracuse and Pittsburgh. Nothing says ACC basketball like a good Pittsburgh-Miami matchup in front of 3,000 fans in Coral Gables.
It’s not just Swofford and the ACC. Commissioner John Marinatto and the Big East will have 12 football and 17 basketball schools playing in 2015. Big East founder Dave Gavitt will officially turn over in his grave when SMU travels to Providence to take on the Friars.
Kansas and Missouri. Texas and Texas A&M. Syracuse and Georgetown. All of these great basketball rivalries are going the way of the rotary phone because of conference realignment and expansion.
The Peach Belt Conference is adding Young Harris as its 14th member next year. After experiencing the charms of Americus, Georgia, I can’t wait to see what Young Harris, Georgia, has to offer.
I will have a much shorter trip today as my Francis Marion Patriots travel to Augusta to take on the Jaguars. Wait; isn’t the Peach Belt Conference office located in Augusta?
I feel another technical coming on.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 2-4-12
The Francis Marion men's basketball team won a big home game against UNC-Pembroke this week. I coach the Patriots the best I can.
For a coach there is no feeling that equals the euphoria of a big win. The former NFL coach George Allen said, "Every time you win, you're reborn."
For years my father would call me before games and wish me good luck. After games we would talk again. I would share the joy of victory with him, and we would comfort each other in defeat.
My father doesn't call before games anymore because he died a little more than seven years ago. I still talk with him before and after games. I don't believe God cares who wins a game between Francis Marion and UNC-Pembroke, but my Dad sure does.
Now my Mom calls before games and wishes me luck, and after games we talk again. I can vent my frustrations to her and she always agrees that, yes, my players could indeed make a preacher cuss.
I text my son and daughter after most games. Young people text instead of talk so that's what we do. My wife, Corinne, nervously sits in the stands at home games.
And then I have my friend from college, Kevin Waters, who lives in upstate New York. Kev is partially blind from diabetes, but he and his guide dog, Bounce, watch all of our games on the internet.
Partial blindness seems to enhance the pleasure of watching my team play, and Bounce always gets a treat after a Patriots win. I look forward to their analysis after each game.
A coach will always have critics and supporters. I don't take what either says to heart. My heart belongs to my family and close friends.
When former Penn State coach Joe Paterno lay dying in a hospital bed, it was his son Jay who kissed him, held his hand, and whispered in his ear, "Dad, you won…"
No Nittany Lions, no ESPN cameras, no fans, no trustees or administrators. Just his family, and his close friends, and former players who thought of him as a second father.
409 wins? How about five children, 17 grandchildren, and a wife of 50 years…now those are impressive numbers.
So when my Francis Marion basketball team and I travel to Lander University this afternoon we will be looking for another important Peach Belt Conference win. But I will never lose sight of who is most important and what is most important.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 1-28-12
I write these words in Georgia's "Shining City on a Hill". I have returned to Americus.
The Commissioner of the Peach Belt Conference, Dave Brunk, finds amusement in sending me back to Americus year after year so my team may play the Hurricanes of Georgia Southwestern, as we do this afternoon.
Americus and I have a history. A few years ago I took the Francis Marion men's basketball team to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, to participate in an international basketball tournament. Upon our arrival back on U.S. soil we had to go straight to Americus to play Georgia Southwestern.
For my column that week, I thought it would be fun to point out the differences between Amsterdam and Americus. The people of Americus, and specifically, the editor of the Times-Recorder, didn't appreciate some of my light-hearted comparisons.
Last year I had to barricade myself in my hotel room, fearful that some incisor challenged local would come looking for me. But this is a different time. I return in peace. Ich bin ein Americusian!
My team is undefeated on the road this year in conference games so we are actually looking forward to the game this afternoon. For some reason we are playing better basketball away from home this season.
Part of the reason can be found in the attendance figures from our recent three-game home stand. We averaged 350 fans in a facility that seats over 3,000. Heck, our own cheerleaders didn't even show up for one game.
For too many of our home games we don't enjoy the home-court advantage most college teams enjoy. Sometimes our students are not on campus, and sometimes we play lousy basketball, but we should still draw more people in the stands.
For crying out loud, Towson State has lost 40 games in a row and their average attendance is higher than ours. President Obama even went to see them play once this year.
I know Clemson needs your support, and I know South Carolina needs your support, but your hometown Patriots need your support, too. To win at home consistently, and to ultimately contend for championships, we need people in the seats.
Please send me your ideas on how we can put more fannies in the Smith University Center. I may put up a suggestion box in the gym where you can stick your suggestions.
You can be assured there will be a packed house this afternoon at Georgia Southwestern, and most of those fans will be telling the Francis Marion coach exactly where he can stick it.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 1-21-12
"A blowout is an easy or one sided victory. It occurs when one athletic team outscores another by a large margin…" Wikipedia
Sylvia Hatchell, the current women's basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, previously coached the women's team here at Francis Marion University. She won an AIAW National Championship in 1982 and a NAIA National Championship in 1986.
Her team opened that 1986 season with a 123-30 victory over Morris College. That is a 93-point margin for you folks keeping score at home.
This season Coach Hatchell's Tar Heels opened the season with a 109-44 win over Gardner-Webb. They followed that with a 91-34 victory over USC Upstate and a 91-35 victory over UNC Greensboro.
A few days ago North Carolina traveled to Storrs, Connecticut, as the 22nd ranked team in the country to take on the No. 3 ranked Huskies. Connecticut beat them 86-35. Thank goodness Connecticut does not play Gardner-Webb.
The score shocked me into wondering why there is such a large disparity between the great teams in women's college basketball and the good teams.
In this week's men's rankings, Baylor is the No. 3 ranked team and Illinois is the No. 22 ranked team. I don't think Baylor could ever beat Illinois by 51 points, but you see "blowouts" occurring frequently between top women's teams.
I see two reasons: the talent pool on the women's side is not as deep and the NCAA allows the women to have 15 full scholarships while the men are limited to 13 scholarships.
Even though girls' basketball is more popular than ever, the number of truly talented players moving on to college is dwarfed by the number of accomplished prep players on the boy's side.
The numbers will eventually even out but it will take some time.
As for the scholarship limits, Connecticut will use that 14th and 15th scholarship to stockpile great women players. On the men's side, that 14th or 15th guy who previously went to Kentucky, now goes to Murray State and makes them a contender.
Hey, it's not as bad as the Covenant School from Dallas beating the girls from Dallas Academy, 100-0 in 2009, or Michigan's Walkerville High School beating Lakeshore Public Academy, 115-2, back in 2003.
Men are not immune from blowouts. In 1963 Loyola set the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament record for largest margin of victory with a 111-42 victory over Tennessee Tech.
And who can forget the poor football team at Cumberland College losing to Georgia Tech in 1916 by a score of 222-0.
I don't know; I'm just trying not to get blown out myself. When I was at Charleston Southern, North Carolina State beat us 135-80. I was in charge of defense back then, too.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 1-14-12
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal;
Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
Thomas Jefferson
I was honored to be the guest speaker last night at the Florence Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Based on my athletic ability and coaching prowess, the chances are good I will never be inducted into a hall of fame myself, so being invited to speak was a big deal to me.
But I have been around athletics for a long time and I will share with you what I shared with the folks at the banquet last night; excellence does not happen by accident. Each of us decides if we want to pay the price for excellence.
More often than not, the price is sacrifice, dedication, deprivation, and delayed gratification. If you are willing to pay the price, chances are you will achieve beyond other people.
The eight-member class inducted into the Florence Hall of Fame last night knows about paying the price to achieve beyond others. I've only had a handful of players through the years who truly learned this lesson.
Mike Beckels played for me at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. During his junior season, he averaged six points and six rebounds a game and could not shoot the ball outside his shadow. But Mike had one more season of eligibility and a dream.
Many students go home for the summer, but Mike stayed at IUP and changed his shot and worked on his game. I can still see him walking into the gym each morning with a white towel draped over his shoulder.
Mike shot 60 three-pointers in his senior season and made 30. He averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds a game and was named Player-of-the Year in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. He played professionally in Europe for several seasons and is a high school coach in New York now.
Wes Layton, from Kansas and a transfer from Campbell University, also played for me at IUP. During his senior season, Wes, our point guard, became fed up with missing free throws.
So Wes came to practice early and stayed late practicing his free throws. When I say late I am talking about midnight late. When other students were partying downtown, Wes Layton was shooting free throws.
For the rest of the season our team knew if Wes was at the line in a close game he was going to make it. More importantly, Wes didn't think he was going to make, he didn't hope he was going to make it; he knew he was going to make it.
That is when I first coined the phrase, "True Confidence". I have seen a lot of players have a false confidence or bravado, but few have sacrificed enough to develop "True Confidence".
Wes led us to the Final Four that year when he scored 27 points in the national quarter-finals in front of his family and friends in Evansville, Indiana. He earned the right to have a great senior season.
There were some proud inductees at the Florence Civic Center last night. They earned it.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 1-7-12
Dear Dabo:
I feel your pain. On the night your Clemson Tigers were getting thrashed, 70-33, by West Virginia in the Orange Bowl, my own Francis Marion men's basketball team was getting spanked, 71-49, by conference rival USC-Aiken.
Like you, we went into the holidays feeling pretty good about ourselves. In your last game before the Orange Bowl you looked awesome in beating Virginia Tech. In our last game before the holiday break, we traveled to Savannah and beat a good Armstrong Atlantic team on their home court.
So these respective butt-kickings were totally unexpected. As I sprinkle a little Gold Bond on my aching derriere, I am left wondering what in the name of Custer's Last Stand happened?
I know, I know, we both had long breaks between games and a team can get rusty. But, my God, the Titanic has less rust sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
It's not like we haven't had to prepare a team to play after a long break before. The college football bowls are spread out over a longer time period than ever before, and the NCAA mandates that Division II basketball players take a holiday break.
The NCAA doesn't mandate that for Division I basketball. It is important to the NCAA that Division II players spend some holiday time with their families, but for Division I players holiday time is for making more money for the NCAA.
Speaking of money, I heard where you guys were going to lose a bundle on this trip to the Orange Bowl.
Is it true you lost $185,000 on the trip itself and maybe $500,000 on your unsold ticket allotment?
But think of all the positive publicity you received by getting beat by 37 points on national television. You can't put a price on that.
As far as I know we didn't lose any money on our game against USC-Aiken. We did have to pay the referees, but I think we got the hospitality room chicken donated.
It sounds like your defensive coordinator, Kevin Steele, is catching a lot of heat. I guess we could always fire an assistant coach. I'd feel bad about doing that, though.
Because even though I work my assistants hard, I don't give them that much responsibility during games. It would be tough to blame them. I am the captain plowing wildly through the iceberg laden waters of the North Atlantic.
Dabo, I have coached a little longer than you and have learned sometimes there is no rhyme and there is no reason as to why a team performs as it does. At the end of the day we are working with 19-year-old boys learning to be men.
At least you don't have to play again until next September. I have another game this afternoon at home against Clayton State at 3:30 p.m. If we can keep them under 70 points I think we have a chance.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 12-31-11
I spent a few days in New York City over the holidays. I even had my picture taken in front of the crystal ball they will drop at Times Square tonight to mark the beginning of 2012.
The city, as it always is at Christmas, was bustling with people. They say we are going through tough economic times, but you certainly couldn't tell it by walking the streets of Manhattan last week.
How tough can things be when we fight one another for the opportunity to pay $180 for a pair of basketball shoes? Chaos stretched from sea to shining sea as Nike unveiled the latest Air Jordans right before Christmas.
Nike charges obscene prices for their shoes. I don't know why the "occupy" movement doesn't leave Wall Street alone and go camp out in Phil Knight's front yard.
But people are willing to pay the price for the latest basketball shoe. I remember when the only basketball shoe available was the canvas Chuck Taylor All-Star from Converse.
You couldn't buy another shoe. If you played basketball you wore Chuck Taylors. Wilt Chamberlain wore them. Jerry West wore them. Gary Edwards wore them.
They cost about $25 and were great basketball shoes. At first you could only get white and black, and the white ones would get stained with sweat. Later, Converse offered different colors.
Why do we have to play in expensive basketball shoes now? Bill Russell played in low-cut black Converse All-Stars and never had a sprained ankle. Wilt was 7'1", 275 pounds, and never had a problem with his Chuck Taylors.
Of course, Nike bought Converse in 2003 and Chuck Taylor All-Stars are marketed as retro fashion footwear now. They are not quite as expensive as Nike's basketball shoes, but as demand grows so will the price.
We don't just spend crazy amounts of money on basketball shoes. My nephew received a $400 baseball bat for Christmas. I looked at it. It seemed like a nice bat.
But you should be able to push a home run button on a $400 bat and I didn't see that. Lumber was good enough for Babe Ruth. It is not good enough for the average 12-year-old today.
Larry Bird developed his shot on an old rim nailed to a pole. Now most every home inhabited by an aspiring hoopster has a glass backboard set up in the driveway.
And I'd bet my health insurance the lad has an expensive pair of Nikes on his feet.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 12-17-11
"For the believer there are no questions and for the unbeliever there are no answers."
Menachem Mendel
How about Tim Tebow? A few months ago the Denver Broncos were 1-4 and going nowhere. Then coach John Fox called on Tebow in the second half of a game against the San Diego Chargers and the Broncos have now won seven of eight games in improbable fashion.
In six of those games the Broncos were losing at halftime, in five they had to come back in the fourth-quarter, and three were won in overtime. For three quarters in each of those games, Tim Tebow looked like Elmer Fudd. In the fourth quarter and overtime he looked like Superman.
Football fans and analysts alike are left scratching their heads. He doesn't throw the ball well, he is slow footed, and his critics say he just does not have the skills to be an effective NFL quarterback. His supporters simply say he is a winner.
Tebow did win two national championships and a Heisman Trophy while playing quarterback at Florida.
By mixing football and his religious faith, he endeared himself to some and alienated many by frequently praising God in postgame interviews.
He still praises God, but I don't attribute Tebow's success to divine intervention. Although Denver's altitude in theory may place it a little closer to God, I find it hard to believe He is a Broncos fan.
I do, however, attribute some of Tebow's success to his faith. He believes he lives his life in the correct manner and gains strength and confidence from that. That strength and confidence can be infectious and seems to be spreading throughout the entire Denver organization.
In the book The Magic of Thinking Big, David Schwartz says, "When we go against our desire to do right we put a cancer in our conscience. That cancer grows and grows by eating away at our confidence."
We all know right from wrong. When you do something you know in your heart to be wrong it saps your confidence which in turn saps your strength.
Conversely, when we try to do right, we gain what I call "true confidence". True confidence comes from doing things the right way, working hard, sacrificing, and putting others before self.
True confidence comes from the solid foundation of faith and not the sands of false bravado. Tim Tebow could care less what the critics say, he doesn't get discouraged when his team is doing poorly, he instead remains confident in his abilities and the abilities of his teammates.
"If you believe," he said after the Broncos latest overtime win over Chicago, "then unbelievable things can sometimes be possible."
What is the difference between winners and losers? Winners have the true confidence that comes with faith and it doesn't necessarily have to be religious faith. It can be faith in their preparation, faith in their abilities, faith in their teammates, or a faith in a power greater than themselves.
Joe Namath once said, "I prepared myself beforehand until I knew that I could do what I had to do. Then I had faith."
And so it is with Tim Tebow. He has faith; perhaps a different type faith than Broadway Joe, but a faith nonetheless. I am sure that faith will be tested this weekend against the New England Patriots.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 12-10-11
Francis Marion University offers a Geography of North America class every Tuesday and Thursday this spring. I would suggest the football obsessed commissioner of the Big East Conference, John Marinatto, sign up as soon as possible.
Marinatto announced this week the Big East was adding Houston, Southern Methodist, and Central Florida in all sports, and Boise State and San Diego State for football. San Diego State in the Big East! The Aztecs have a beautiful campus, but it is not located east of anything…except the Pacific Ocean.
These conference commissioners who are obliterating the conference landscape actually represent institutions of higher learning. They sit there with a straight face as they proclaim the merits of a team located in the western portion of Idaho joining the Big East
College presidents listen to them. They are interviewed for television. They are quoted in newspapers around the country. And they are as crazy as the zealots who proclaim the end of the world is coming next Thursday.
Connecticut is a member of the Big East Conference. Think about how the conversation must have gone between Commissioner Marinatto and, Susan Herbst, the president of UConn.
"Let me get this straight. Even though we have about 50 Division I schools within a two-hour drive of our campus, you want me to send over 100 students and staff to Boise, Idaho, to play a football game? In this age of budget cuts and layoffs, that makes sense to you, does it?"
"What's that….you also want me to send the women's volleyball team down to Houston?
Son of a gun, we have some traditional rivals right here in the Northeast, but you think our young ladies going down to Texas to bump a volleyball around is in the best interest of our university?"
Are you joking me? Obviously, President Herbst, and President Elliot Hirshman of San Diego State, and President R. Gerald Turner of Southern Methodist drank this gridiron infused Kool-Aid because they all signed up for it. Makes you wonder about the state of higher education in this country.
Thank goodness there is still one guy out there with some sanity. Marinatto tried to get the Air Force Academy to join the Big East (hey, Colorado Springs is east of Utah) but Superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould said no thanks.
"The Air Force Academy will remain in the Mountain West Conference…," Gould said.
"This decision was based on things like rivalries, loyalties to the conference, travel time for our cadet athletes and fans, school time missed, and travel costs."
What a novel idea. By example, teaching young people about loyalty, and the proper hierarchy of academics and athletics, and the importance of fiscal responsibility.
Lt. Gen. Gould has an advantage over many other university leaders, though. The members of his football team are there to actually receive an education.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 12-3-11
Assistant coaches have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. I am thankful, and grateful, that in my 28 years as a head coach on the collegiate level, none of my assistant coaches has ever been charged with a crime.
I have had to deal with some characters, though. My first assistant was an Ohio guy named Coach Z. I hired him at Atlantic Christian College (now Barton) despite the fact that he lost his car during the interview process. He was so nervous he couldn't remember where he parked. The entire interview was conducted while I helped him find his car.
He helped me recruit some great players, but left for a Division I job right before the start of my second season. I was scrambling for an assistant but thought I had found a good one until he started dozing off in meetings. Come to find out, the poor guy had been in a terrible automobile accident a year earlier and had been in a coma for 40 days.
It's been said that my meetings will put you in a coma, but this guy had a head start. Later in the year when he was supposed to be recruiting at a high school tournament I saw him sitting behind the Maryland bench during the television broadcast of the ACC tournament. He was a big "Lefty" Driesell fan. I told him to go work for "Lefty".
My first assistant coach at Baptist College (now Charleston Southern) was a great guy and very accomplished player. He once scored 77 points in an on-campus intramural game. However, one night while I was watching the evening news, imagine my surprise when I saw my trusted assistant sitting at a Charleston bar testing out a new breathalyzer.
Testing out a breathalyzer in a bar may not be frowned upon at some schools, but Baptist was Baptist and my right-hand man didn't last the year. He still holds the intramural scoring record, though.
From Charleston I moved to Indiana University of Pennsylvania and hired an alumnus as an assistant coach. On the first day I walked into his office and found him munching on frozen blueberries. His lips were bright blue.
For lunch that day he ate tuna right out of the can and stunk up the entire office. He drank nothing but purified water. At team meals he would eat only dry, naked, no dressing on it, lettuce. He started shaving his head. I'm all for a healthy lifestyle but this guy was creeping me out.
So my next hire was the exact opposite of Mr. Blueberry. He would eat anything. Fat as a Christmas turkey. He was a great recruiter, too, and I loved the guy until he brought in a prostitute in a bikini to sell camp T-shirts at our summer basketball camp. We never sold so many T-shirts, but the administration frowned on the practice and we had to let him go when she turned out to be a relative.
While I may have made some questionable choices in the past, it seems all of my assistant coaches at Francis Marion have been fairly normal. It's the head coach here who is a little whacko.
FMU mbb head coach Gary Edwards' column for 11-19-11
I have read with interest the recent debate over the proposed Florence city basketball gymnasium. City Manager Drew Griffin presented preliminary plans for the multi-court gym during a city council work session this past Wednesday afternoon.
I am all for providing a place for our young people to play. But let's make sure we allow them to actually play. In this age of endless AAU teams and youth leagues, it seems we "adults" are determined to rush our children into organized competition as early as possible.
The psychologist, Bruno Bettelheim, has written extensively on this problem. "The days of most middle-class children are filled with scheduled activities…which leave them hardly any time to simply be themselves. In fact, they are continually distracted from the task of self-discovery, forced to develop their talents and personalities as those who are in charge of the various activities think best."
Some of the most pleasant memories of my childhood involve playing baseball in the empty lot across the street from my home in Virginia Beach. Guys from the neighborhood would get together after school, we would pick teams, and we would play. The bases were flattened cardboard boxes, we only had one bat, and some of us had to share gloves.
How often does that happen today? Must our children have uniforms, or the finest equipment, or parents and coaches screaming at them, to reap the benefits of play?
Do we "organize" sports for our children or for ourselves?
Surely young people need to be taught the fundamentals of a particular sport and many youth coaches provide a valuable service…if they have the skills to teach and coach. A good coach can have a lasting impact on a young person's life; unfortunately, a bad coach can also have that same lasting impact.
When my children were young I was caught up in this organized sports thing and coached T-Ball. I will never forget our first game. The opposing batter hit a slow grounder to our third-baseman, Lisa. Lisa was about seven years old and she ran over to the ball and just stared at it while the runner rounded the bases.
All the parents were going nuts and yelling at poor Lisa to pick up the ball and throw it. After the runner scored I went out and got on one knee and began to look at the ball with Lisa. I asked her what she was doing. She pointed out there was a lady bug on the ball and she didn't want to hurt it. It made perfect sense to me.
So build your gym, Florence, but don't build it for AAU teams and tournaments, don't build it for middle-age men who want to have an embroidered "Coach" on their shirt, don't build it as a place for parents to pressure and cajole their children to be the next Michael Jordan, don't build it for endless recreation games where parents and coaches alike exhibit poor behavior. Build it so the children will have a place to play.
