THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES I have struggled with making this decision for over a year now. If you remember, I wrote an article last spring stating that I was giving up the column. Several fans asked me to remain on board and it is with them in mind that makes this such a tough call. My enthusiasm for writing about McNeese sports took a hit at the end of the 2003-football season. I felt my email box was becoming more and more a “Doctor Phil” space in which I was expected to either criticize the coaches, players, and administration or to defend them. I am not speaking of the many fans that have contacted me over the years during good times and bad with very good questions.
I am speaking more of the direct criticisms directed at me from parents, players, and coaches. I can generally deal with fans because I am a fan, and I know the emotions that go into supporting your team. However, you would not believe the difficulty I have had the past couple of years of trying to walk the tightrope of being honest with myself and not being censored. It has gotten to the point that either way I go I will be criticized. The intent was to be able to comment on sports through the eyes of someone that has been around sports his entire life either as a player, parent, coach, or fan. However, that open expression has been muzzled to the point of self-censorship.
I have mentioned many times that I have been influenced from an era when the opponent was always respected and praised, and the home team was motivated through challenges. Over the years I have received several emails from parents, players, and fans questioning my loyalty and my mental capacities due to the preview that I had written on the Cowboys next football game. I always enjoyed breaking down the opponent and the Pokes and how I saw the battles shaping up. I always leaned to conservatism in praising the opponent and building them up as a tremendous challenge. I did this to motivate the players, ground the over-zealous fans, and entertain the reader. Unfortunately, so many fans, players, and coaches took it so seriously that I got plenty of rebuttals questioning my sanity. I even got some very unflattering letters from players who questioned my mental capacity; these letters usually ended by cursing me out. The intent was never to be bulletin board material for the coaches, or to put down a certain area of the football team. Therefore, I finally gave up the weekly game preview in 2004.
The next thing to go was Zem’s Gems. It always amazed me that so many fans took me so seriously if I predicted the Pokes would lose. I guess that was my 1970’s-1980’s coaching influence talking. I think fans that questioned my loyalty to McNeese are probably just like the LSU fans that get upset with Scooter Hobbs when he picks LSU to lose. I think it just boils down to a difference of attitude. I was interviewed several times during my son’s baseball career on what we could expect on the day he was pitching at the district, state, or regional level. I had no problem stating that the opponent was awesome and that if he didn’t keep the ball down and hit his spots, he would get rocked. A more typical response by today’s parent would be that Johnny is on the better team and will pitch very well. You can call it the power of positive thinking, but I have dealt with enough students, players, and parents to know the difference.
The demise of my ‘open mind’ began to occur during the 2003 season. It started with optimism from fans that the 2003 season should be a national championship and anything less would be a by-product of poor coaching. The enthusiasm toward the season was tempered by my experience that a senior-laden team that had won a couple of championships in a row always came with baggage. It had begun with letters from a parent that was very critical of everything dealing with McNeese and his frustrations over his son’s playing time. I took the blunt of the criticism as if I were the ‘Sound-Off’ board. My concerns were doubled when I started to get letters from Vic King’s agent on the fact that Vic was transferring due to lack of carries. It made Vic come across as very selfish and that winning a national championship was not nearly as important as leading the conference in rushing. I have had several messages over the years from these types; but to the credit of the players, it was always the parent or guardian that was causing the trouble. Every player in question never caused the coaches any problem. It is just tough realizing that college is not high school. The parent may have success putting heat on the high school teacher to change grades or give points, but parents get laughed at in the college academic community.
The toughest part of the writing was expressing honest opinions without appearing to be apologizing for the coaches or players, yet being critical at times in order to have resemblance of credibility. Sitting on top of the fence is very frustrating and doesn’t work. Since this Website is intended to be a pro-McNeese Cowboy site, my intentions were to be as supportive as possible. My philosophy in coaching, parenting, and teaching has always been the opposite of the opinion of many fans. I was hardest on my kids, my students, and my players when things were going well. I believe people are more apt to respond to criticism and correction when they are feeling good about themselves. When sales people are in a slump, a kid is having a tough time at school, or an athlete is struggling, I believe in positive re-enforcement. People do not need enemies when things are going badly; they need the support of friends.
I took this philosophy in my approach to writing. Many fans and coaches were not pleased with my approach in 2003. I had folks from the field house who were quite upset with me and in some cases said I was not welcomed. Parents and players were writing that I was being too tough on the Cowboys. The team was winning all of the games, yet I saw chinks in the armor and felt like this was the time to bring them out. This upset some of the readers that I would question certain areas because we had won the game. On the other hand, if the team loses, everyone is ready to bench everyone or fire everyone. It is at this time that I generally defend the coaches, players, and programs. Again, I have never believed in kicking people when they are down. I prefer to kick them when they are up.
I realize that this philosophy is outdated in today’s sports society. Fans are much more involved emotionally and sports are an outlet for that emotional energy. This is the only way I can explain fans waiting outside the dressing room, football field, or field house in order to shout obscenities at players or coaches. I am not talking about any one incident; I am speaking of generalities. I was introduced to it at a very young age when I witnessed a couple of drunk parents attack my head coach as we walked off the field at Acadiana High School. It is not a common event, but each year it gets a little harder to deal with. Les Miles will learn what I am talking about this year while learning a new level of intensity by fans. I have no problem with fans expressing themselves; I guess I am just tired of being the ‘Soundoff’ board.
Last year was my most discouraging year. I can truly say that I didn’t enjoy anything about last football season. I know that rumors pop up when coaches lose, but I felt like I was working for the National Enquirer. I didn’t mind chasing down rumors for McNeese fans, but I grew tired of defending people based on competitor’s rumors. I have followed McNeese football since I was 13 years old, so let’s say I have witnessed a few seasons. I have been through coaches named DeVall, Clark, Doland, Duplechin,Boales, McCain, Jackson, Keasler, Bruchhaus, and Tate. I had the pleasure of playing for Coach Boales, and taking classes under Clark and Duplechin I worked for Dr.Doland, and consider the rest of the coaches to be personal friends. I think it took about thirty years before I heard of a former McNeese coach working for a program that was an opponent on the schedule. Even then, it was before the information age and the invention of chat rooms, message boards, and gossip columns.
Fast forward to the 1990’s and I spend half my time responding to fans of other programs(and McNeese) on rumors about McNeese. It has been especially difficult seeing so many coaches leave for jobs in McNeese’s recruiting zones. Like I said, thirty plus years of typical recruiting has been replaced by the past ten years of ‘modern day’ recruiting. The first two years of Bobby Keasler’s era at ULM was very difficult for Keasler fans. It was even hard for me to adjust to hearing so many war stories about negative recruiting from high school coaches in the area. In November I was discussing McNeese’s chances to land such prize local recruits like Zeno, Corcoran, and others with Mike Collins and Coach Keasler. I was encouraged to know that they felt there was no worry to out recruiting ULM on these guys because they couldn’t understand anyone wanting to go somewhere that had only three or four home games and was getting hammered most nights out. One month later I was fielding questions on why Coach Collins and Keasler were telling local recruits not to go to McNeese and play D1AA football when they had a chance to play 1A football. I was confused, but I understood all is legal in love and war.
However, recruiting was one thing, but it was the McNeese rumors coming from fans in Monroe and ULM fans in Lake Charles that really confused me. Where were all these leaks coming from? I didn’t address them on the Internet, and ultimately found out that most were just comments passed down from ULM assistants that had family or friends still in Lake Charles. As you know, as rumors make there way around the neighborhood, they grow in volume and story. I truly respect those guys that went to Monroe and do appreciate all they did for McNeese. It just makes it tough to sit on top of the fence when you have friends shooting arrows at friends from both directions. The Monroe case was just the beginning. In a period of two years, the problems for me tripled. All of a sudden I was getting emails from friends all of over Southwest Louisiana about the negative information being passed around Lake Charles from folks at SFA. It seemed that Coach Santiago knew more about what was going on at McNeese than I did. It was no secret that Mike still had many friends in the high school coaching business in the Lake area and had close friends living in the area. It was always a little scary during SFA week to hear that a couple of local high school coaches would ‘drop by’ the McNeese practice fields, or that phone calls to local coaches increased during that week. It is only human nature and I am certainly not making any allegations. I defended Mike on this site for seven years and still consider him a friend. I wish him well at his new position.
Throw in Northwestern State, and half the original staff having McNeese ties, or family from the area, and you can see where it never stops. Thirty plus years of never dealing with friends on competitor’s staffs, and all of a sudden I have friends on half the Southland Conference teams. It gets no better now that a former staff worker for me at McNeese(McFarland) is now the head coach at SFA, former McNeese assistant JC Harper is the defensive coordinator, and Gerald Broussard is now the offensive coordinator. Staff changes do play a huge part in recruiting. LSU lost out on several recruits when Nick Saban and others left the program. Hal Mumme and staff leaving (including losing their SLC quarterback) hurt Southeastern Louisiana. Think of it this way, SFA has never recruited a player out of Lake Charles in forty something years. Shortly after Mike Santiago took the SFA job, the staff was on Zeke Dixon of Westlake. A couple of Westlake coaches were very close to Mike Santiago, even working camps with him. Last December, LaGrange defensive back John Botley was being given ten reasons to attend McNeese. He committed in December, but two weeks later he was being given ten reasons not to attend McNeese. He signed with SFA.
This is a small reason for getting out of the Internet business, but look at this way. Have you ever been torn between friends who go through a divorce? Imagine several of your friends losing their wives to divorce. The guys remain in Lake Charles, while the women move to other areas. The guys don’t care what their ex-wives are doing in other cities, but the wives have many connections with former friends in Lake Charles. Therefore, every move the guys make is transferred back to former wives. I have gotten hundreds of emails from fans of other Southland Conference teams on rumors about McNeese players, McNeese coaches, and other problems at McNeese. I have not gotten one email from ULM fans in the past three years on problems at McNeese (since Charlie Weatherbie took over). I have not gotten one email from ULM alums in the Lake Charles area on rumors about McNeese players grades, off the field problems, or McNeese coaching changes. I have never gotten an email from a McNeese alum in Monroe, Natchitoches, or Nacogdoches on all of the problems going on at their programs. Never!
I probably got between 200-300 emails on how many coaches were going to Northwestern State with Scott Stoker. Most gave details on why they were leaving, how they got their information (sources within the Northwestern State/McNeese community), and other details. Do you know how many emails I got when Demon secondary coach Jason Rollins left to come to McNeese? Zero!
The bottom line – There is no particular reason for my retirement other than time and energy. The recruiting page has become a monster in regards to time and work. The intentions were to highlight Louisiana players who fell below the radar of major college recruiting. For years, the only publicity was on the Top 25-33 players that were headed to the SEC or Big 12. I began my page in 1997, but I had been accumulating material since the mid 1970’s when some of my high school players were being recruited. This was way before the computer age. I have had several opportunities to go pro with the recruiting, but I have resisted and tried to keep it on a personal level. I believe that recruiting lists have lost their innocence. It is a money making business now and it resembles ‘Who’s Who’ list or “High School/College Reunion” books. In other words, send in your $19.95 and you will get to see your name in print. The misinformation is staggering.
But the business has learned that you make money by promoting those that have money to spend. In other words, if you were a national publication, would you put a Texas, LSU, Alabama, Notre Dame, or Ohio State player on the cover, or would you push a Utah, Syracuse, or Boston College player? I have been in bookstores all over this country. Try buying college football magazines in New York City. I bet they have about 15-20 magazines in stores in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. TEXAS FOOTBALL is going to sell many more magazines with an Aggie or Longhorn on the cover versus a Houston Cougar. Recruiting has become the same way. That is why so many services are adding players to include Sun Belt, Mid-American and even 1AA recruits. Fans are not going to buy into services if they do not see their recruits on the list.
I expect to still hear from fans throughout the fall and spring seasons. I have tried to give honest opinions and tried to be respectful to all programs. I will continue to support McNeese and be involved on the Internet with comments and questions regarding the program. I hope someone will step forward and fill my shoes. I look forward to having a little more time in the mornings prior to school to get some work done. I will not miss emails from fans during recruiting asking why I am slow in reporting THEIR commitments. For the most part, it has been a blast and the fans have been great. I have met many wonderful people on the Internet and it has been my pleasure to meet several of you in person. Please continue your support of McNeese athletics.
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