One Man, I'm sorry it's over for you and your kids. But this year was another step up the ladder for the Blackknights.
As stated above, winning is a pretty darn important part of the equation. But, winning alone without a culture of integrity and accountability will not sustain a program. When a community has this positive culture, it is a breeding ground for success and winning. Without it, winning is only temporary.
I ask the following question rhetorically, but feel free to make a comment if you are a former high school player. Looking back on your playing days, whether you were a superstar, or never got in a game, did your time on the team have an affect on you. Even if it was years later, and you drew from your time on a football team, did what you experienced, change you?
It's hard to think that anyone that ever played, had less exposure to being on a team than I did. One year of JV, and I maybe played a total of two or three plays. I was soft, scared, and intimidated. And precisely because of playing one season, it exposed these short comings to me. It wasn't immediate, but it started the self reflection that led to dramatic changes in my personal life. Changes that I continue to make even today.
If my pitiful one year on a JV team had these results on me, I can only imagine what being in a prorgram like Coach Mill's at Dinwiddie has the chance to produce.
You guys that are coaches, regardless of the level or the sport, never forget that the way you treat kids, the example you set, the attitude you portray, is influencing kids constantly. Even when you are convinced that they are not paying attention, or even care, YOU ARE! It might be 20 years later when they revert back to something you said or did, so make it the right thing.
Thank you Coach Fox Ramsey, and Coach Butch Warner, and Coach Jim Porach, and Coach Bob Budlove. I was listening!!!