It is December 22nd and we are still working in the office trying to organize the recruiting aspects of the job. The volume of kids that we have to deal with can sometimes make organization tough. There are a lot of voices out there and getting yours to be the personal and different one is a key to success. Over the next three months, recruiting, retention of current players and managing the extra departmental duty that is thrown our way in the off season will keep us busy around the clock after break. With tighter standards we have to get our numbers back up from a recruiting perspective. Last season showed that when the injury bug becomes a plague you better be able to overcome that shot. We had a good term academically, although there are always a few that will have to hustle back in the spring term for hours or GPA but that is always the case. I call it “coaches ‘curse” where 10% of the kids will always give you 90% of your secondary problems. Always the case, in every school, but in some sense that is the beauty and challenge of college work in that we get to try to make people change for the better. A couple of key young players (Dylan Higley, Charvis Claytor) are not planning on returning and are shopping the market as they say. With them we have left the door open and I hope they find that the grass is not always greener, and a return in the summer or fall would be welcome here.
Post season meetings went well with the kids and I think for the most part the returners were proud of the obvious improvement, but not satisfied with falling short of Championship level in 2009. There is a fine line in our league of whom the Champion is and who is in 7th place. If HSD and we were 1 and 2, we are both aware of the energy it took to beat W & L who was 7th. The team whose off season approach is that of “What advantage did my work get me today” will be the one that gets a ring. I hope it is our group. That is the challenge we will lay down when they return. Improvement at all positions is important, but particularly along both lines of scrimmage. There has to be some forced maturity there where young kids have to grow up in a hurry.
The “I Shared 100 Campaign” was a success in terms of the amount of $ we were able to raise thanks in large parts to the smaller part of the 79 people who gave at the higher “Head Coaches and Assistant Coach” levels. I wish more of the former players themselves had gotten involved. They accounted for about ½ of the contributions. Thanks for all of you who participated; we will spend every penny to improve the football operation in a visible way by next year. Eventually I will list everything we did with the money. There is still time to contribute and I have saved hats back if you want to get involved. It was great to hear from so many people.
In my Christmas letter I closed with a quote from my Father in a letter he had written me for my 21st birthday. That was a long time ago and my Dad passed away over 10 years ago. In it he said, “I’m not sure that your mom and I will or ever have anything greater to offer you than our love. I was taught by my parents that the love between members of a family was the greatest kind of wealth, I believe that…and so consider myself to be the wealthiest of men and I give it all to you.” Charlie Weis and his millions have nothing on me. In this season where we celebrate God’s greatest gift of Love take time and pass on this great wealth to those around you whether they are Eagles or not. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
With my Love,
Coach Clark
*(Click here to send questions or comments about the BC football program to Coach Clark.)
