I used to think of Manute Bol as the freakishly tall, thin, professional basketball player.  He blocked a lot of shots and, oddly at 7’7”, took - and made - a lot of three-point shots. 

Later, I learned a little more.  I learned that he played at an NCAA Division II school, Bridgeport (CT), and found out that he was from Sudan.  I remember seeing him at the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Springfield, MA.  When I saw him, it wasn’t too long after he had been in a terrible car accident that almost killed him.  One of his hands was severely damaged.  It was 2006, and when he stood up, he didn’t appear to be 7’7”.  Having said that, I hadn’t been around too many 7’7” guys before, but he stood next to a player that was competing in the NCAA Div. II All Star game (who was listed at 7’2”) and was just a shade taller, maybe a half-inch or an inch.  (As I learned later, it’s very likely that his life had taken a toll on him).

I digress. 

In the past year or two, I’ve continued to read more about Manute Bol.  Yes, he was certainly tall, and yes, he played in the NBA.  By doing so, he made a lot of money.  Millions.  I didn’t know about the Person.  The Man.  The heart and the mission.  To the people of Sudan, he was a saint.  His family and his people were dying from the terrible violence in his home country of Sudan.  He spent his money to help free his people from the violence.  He spent his money to help build a hospital and was in the process of building 41 schools.  He wanted to help uplift the people of Sudan through education. 

Many of you know the story.  When Manute Bol was last in Sudan, the President asked him to stay a little longer to help.  He contracted a horrible skin disease that eventually killed him.  Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star has written several times about Manute and his mission, as he lived in Johnson County, KS, in his retirement.  Sam tells more about the story of Manute Bol in this article in today’s Kansas City Star. 

While Manute Bol passed away last year, his dream lives on.  In death, his dream has a real chance of becoming a reality.

The more that I’ve learned about Manute Bol, the more that I am truly moved by his life.  He lived his life to make better lives for others.  A millionaire, he sacrificed for others.  He used his wealth and fame, but he didn’t use it for himself.  Many times, he sacrificed his own life by going back to Sudan to help his people.  Truly sacrificed his life by walking into the violence.  He was captured and imprisoned.  Think about this….an NBA millionaire going back to his war-torn country with a tremendous amount of violence so that he could help others, with the very real possibility that he would be killed. 

And this line keeps coming to me….”Whatsoever you do for the least of my people, THAT you do unto ME.” 

And I remember listening to a coach use the line, “I seek to leave the world a better place than I found it.”

Manute Bol: You have done for the least of His people, and you have left this world a better place…..God Bless You.

(….please take the time to read this article, as I think that it may move you as it has moved me….).

It’s a little surprising to me that Oregon Tech Coach Danny Miles hasn’t garnered much more national media attention with his latest win.  Heck, the local media - or even school media - doesn’t seem to make a real big deal about the fact that Coach Miles has just tied Coach Don Meyer as the 2nd winningest coach in men’s college basketball history. 

With the Owls latest win, Coach Miles now has 923 career wins.  They play Southern Oregon tomorrow for his first attempt at win #924 to take over sole possession of 2nd place on the all-time win list.

Congratulations to Coach Danny Miles!  It’s good to see great things happen to great people, and this is such a case.  Class act. 

During the Holiday Season, I typically do a lot of thinking, a lot of introspection.  This year was no different. 

I love the magic of Christmas.  Always have, and I hope and expect that I always will.  The past few years have been especially special, as our son is now seven years old, and the anticipation for Santa, the Christmas movies, crazy amount of questions and, of course, that special morning when Santa arrives…..I just love it!

With this said, it’s a wonderful time to spend time with family, reflect on the past year and think about the future.  This year, I really have done a bit of deep thinking.  I’m 40 years old, and I would imagine that I’m probably past the halfway mark, and I feel like I have so much to do, to accomplish.  With this, I began to think about how how I can genuinely make a difference during my time on earth, and asked myself some of the other big questions.  Will people remember me when I’m gone?  Who and why?  Will I leave a legacy?  In my situation in life, how can I genuinely have a positive impact on others?

Big questions and big thoughts.  The challenge is, of course, to find some answers.  Better yet, the challenge to myself is to DO something, to take action to make a difference for others.  I want make my mark, make the world better because I lived, and leave a positive legacy.  I mentioned “my situation”, which is similar to many others.  I have very little disposable income.  While we are able to pay our bills (barely, many months), we just don’t have much left to contribute to causes.  In short, I would like, very much, to be able to make financial contributions to help the poor, homeless, abused, neglected, etc.  I have great compassion for those that are truly in need.  I want to do something, yet I often feel a little financially helpless.

When I refer to “my situation”, I would say that I’m middle-class, yet have somewhat of a platform through athletics to potentially make a positive difference for others.  After a good amount of years of coaching basketball, quite a few student-athletes have written, called, e-mailed and sent notes that have indicated that I’ve made a difference for them, in some way.  Yet I want to do more, and be even more impactful.

I think that I need to start looking at my own personal situation at home, first.  I think that I need to focus on my wife and son.  I need to be a better husband and a better father.  While having only one son, it is likely that he will be the one that carries on my memory. 

My mind now drifts to a book I read this summer, “The Power of Who”, by Bob Beaudine.  In short, the book discusses the power of each person’s inner circle of people, their “Who”.  I think that I can make a difference in people’s lives by enhancing my relationships with my “Who” group.  My wife, son, parents, my brothers, in-laws, niece and close friends.  Many of those people will carry my memory, and possibly an initiative or two, after I am gone.   

Now, back to my vehicle to make a difference: athletics.  One area where I’ve been quite fortunate is within collegiate athletics.  Because of athletics, I’ve seen a lot of this country and met many, many wonderful people.  Going forward, I need to continue to use the vehicle of athletics and my platform to be a force for good.  In my own head, I need to figure out how to do this in an effective manner, and ideally, how to make my reach and impact exponetial.  With the platform, I need to refine and be more specific about what message that I want to send.  

With the platform of athletics, I want to teach, to educate.  A couple of my most admired people were teachers: Jesus and Coach John Wooden.  I’m not trying to compare the two, but rather just mention that these are two people for which I have great admiration, and they are both profound teachers.  Heck, the Dali Lama is a teacher.  Ghandi is a teacher.  To a great extend, Mother Theresa was a teacher.  Many of the great people of the world were teachers.  Again, I am not trying to compare any of these people to each other, and certainly not to myself.  I am simply stating that there is tremendous value in teaching, in educating, and there have been many great, impactful, teachers that have left a legacy through education….through the lessons that they’ve taught others, directly and indirectly. 

As I move forward, I need to create a more refined message, and then teach and educate others about this message.  This message mush be strong and powerful enough to cause people to take action that they wouldn’t otherwise take.  The message needs to be able to move people in a positive direction, and make a difference in their lives.  Now, to really, genuinely make a major impact - and to give my life much deeper and more significant meaning - I must be able to make it exponential, to cause a ripple effect.  I want to be at the top of the pyramid, and want cause a positive, life-altering message to grow exponetially. 

Certainly, this is lofty.  To some extent, it’s a little “pie-in-the-sky”.  I get and  I know it.  Inventions, theories, messages, etc. started somewhere…..and I was fortunate to have great parents who loved me and told me that I could do anything. 

I know that I need to become much more detailed and refined.  I know that I need to grow my platform.  I also know that my time is limited.  At the moment, I’m not sure the exact direction that this leads me, but the mind is going……and I think that I’ll start by showing my family that I love them.   

Really cool splash page in honor of Coach Holmquist’s 800th win.  It includes the names of all four-year men’s coaches that have reached this milestone.  Congratulations Coach Holmquist!

I hope that you enjoy my first post on the new NAIA Blog.  This one is about Terry Porter’s upcoming induction into the NAIA Hall of Fame.  Enjoy!

I’m watching the Harlem Globetrotters on ESPN2.  It’s the first time that I’ve watched them in a while.  A couple of years ago, I learned much more about them when someone from their front office called to talk about the top small college players in the country.  One of our players from the original Collegiate Basketball Invitational, Anthony “Ant” Atkinson, is now one of their stars. 

I encourage you to do a little research about the history and mission of the Harlem Globetrotters.  Certainly, I’ve known about their famous red, white and blue uniforms and the fun that they have on the court.  The on-court entertaining style of play, fun interaction with the fans, the “bucket trick”, etc. have been staples for years.  I didn’t realize - until I got that call a few years ago and began to learn more about them -  the depth of their history and the tremendous amount of good will that they spread around the globe, literally.  They are some of the great ambassadors for the game of basketball, and they put smiles on the faces of people all over the world. 

The Globetrotters were founded in 1926 by the world-renowned promoter Abe Saperstein.  They have now played over 25,000 games, entertaining everyone from Presidents to Popes.  They are now in their 85th year, and have literally played in over 100 countries in the world. 

About one or two years ago, I spent an evening with Marques Haynes, just talking history and basketball, not even realizing that he was the first person ever inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as a Globetrotter.  In a four-decade career, Haynes played in more than 12,000 games, traveled more than four million miles and entertained fans in nearly 100 countries around the globe.  As a former NAIA player at Langston (OK), he finished his career with a 112-3 record.  You read that correctly: 112-3.  Haynes is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, Langston Hall of Fame.  The court at Langston is now named after him, while he is one of only five Globetrotters ever to have their jersey number retired.

After doing a little research on Marques Haynes, my night turned out to be even more special than I realized at the time.

Again, I encourage you to do a little more research on the Harlem Globetrotters.  Dig a little deeper than what you see on television.  Through basketball, they make people smile.  They make people happy.   The Globetrotters are truly global ambassadors for the great game of basketball.

“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

Pitt State won 77-75 in front of 2,400 fans.  Pitt State is now 7-3, while nationally-ranked Missouri Southern falls to 9-1.

Good question.  I think that I would separate the NAIA vs. NCAA and NAIA vs. JUCO questions, as the JUCO level is a little different situation. 

I think that I’ll avoid the JUCO comparison, as the JUCO players typically end up playing the last two (and sometimes three) years of their collegiate careers at NCAA Div. I, NCAA Div. II and NAIA (and NCAA Div. III) schools.  Often, the very top JUCO teams have are loaded with major NCAA Div. I talent.  There are many different reasons why student-athletes attend and play at the JUCO level, but I would say that that top teams and top players are heavily recruited by four-years colleges at the various levels.  I’m not sure that it’s fair to compare the schools with two years of eligibility with those that offer four years of eligibility (and typically recruit those JUCO players).

In regards to the NAIA vs. NCAA Div. II question, I think that it’s a good and fair question.  Before I go into my answer, let me preface it by saying that I’ve coached at both levels, and now served in administration at both levels.  While I’ve served as an Athletic Director at the NCAA Div. II level and served on the NCAA Div. II Men’s Basketball National Committee, I now serve as the Director of the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Tournament.  With this said, I suppose that I need to be sensitive to my current position and to the coaches and student-athletes at the NAIA level in my current position.

With the statment above, I would say that the basketball being played at the NCAA Div. II and NAIA levels would be a much higher level than the average fan would know, and the top 20-30 NCAA Div. II and top 10- 15 NAIA teams in a typical year are simply better than the bottom 50-75 NCAA Div. I teams.  Feel free to re-read the previous statement.  Those that coach at these levels are well aware of this, and I have been told that I am somewhat conservative when I make this statement.

NCAA Div. II offers a maximum of 10 full athletic scholarships for men’s basketball, while the NAIA Division I allows 11 full athletic scholarships.  The NAIA Div. II programs are allowed 6 full athletic scholarships.  Please note that there is a difference in the definition of countable athletic aid between the NCAA and the NAIA.  There is also a difference in the academic eligibility between the two associations.  Depending upon the specific circumstance, some will say that the NCAA Div. II has more stringent criteria and others will say that the NAIA has tougher academic criteria.  This often comes down to the individual circumstance.

In terms of a broad answer of the better competition or higher level, it’s a tough question.  To be somewhat politically correct, I would say that the very top of each association is quite comparable.  If you compare the top 10 or 20 of the NAIA Div. I vs. the top 10 or 20 of the NCAA Div. II, I would think that it would be fairly comparable.  The reality is that the NCAA Div. II may have more depth.  For example, the teams that may be ranked 50-100 at the NCAA Div. II level would, in my opinion, likely be better at the NCAA Div. II level.  With this said - and this is important to understand - the statistics show that it costs approximately twice as much to run an NCAA Div. II athletic department compared with an NAIA athletic department.  The studies (independent studies from NACDA consulting) use data that compares athletic departments in general, and then the top programs based on the Directors Cup standings, and they show that NCAA Div. II programs simply spend twice as much as NAIA programs.  Certainly, the highly competive programs spend more money, but the analogy is the same in the fact that the dollars are approximately twice as much for NCAA Div. II.  

With the statement above, yes, I think that the NCAA Div. II may have more depth, yet they are typically spending a whole lot more money within their athletic departments.

Again, the very top programs are very comparable.  For example, St. Catherine’s (NAIA) just defeated the NCAA Div. II’s #1 ranked team, Bellarmine, in the past week.  Concordia (CA - NAIA) defeated UC-Irvine (NCAA Div. I) by double digits (after being up by over 20 points in the second half) for the second year in a row, while Carroll College defeated Idaho State (NCAA Div. I).  NCAA Div. II teams also defeat NCAA Div. I teams on a regular basis. 

The point is that the top 10-20 NAIA teams, the top 30-40 NCAA Div. II teams and the bottom 50-75 NCAA Division I teams are all very, very comparable.  On any given day, just about any of those teams could defeat any of the others.  If you put them all on the court and took away the labels (NAIA, NCAA Div. II, NCAA Div. I), you wouldn’t be able to distinguish between them.  To the average basketball fans, they would be surprised to see the high quality of basketball being played at the NAIA and NCAA Division II levels, especially at the top levels of these associations. 

What a neat, unique and Awesome tradition: Taylor University’s “Silent Night” Tradition.  Send me a note with other traditions within men’s Small College Basketball (not rivalry games, as that’s another topic, but rather neat traditions such as this one…).  Send a note on this blog or send an e-mail to smallcollegebasketball@gmail.com.

There have been many exciting games and milestones that have been reached in the early portion of the 2010-11 season.  Just wanted to throw out a few positive accomplishments from the first month of the season:

*  William Jewell’s long-time coach, Larry Holley, has surpassed 800 wins.  This places him in the top 15 of all time of four-year college coaches in college basketball history.

*  Oklahoma Wesleyan’s Donnie Bostwick recently won his 100th game.  He is in the early portion of his fourth year, and his team is off to an 11-0 start.  Coach Bostwick has already won a National Championship and been named the NAIA Div. II National Coach of the Year.

*  Skidmore defeated Southern Vermont in an incredible 7-overtime game.  It is the longest game in NCAA Division III history.

*  Findlay recently won its 500th game in Croy Gymnasium, and has now won 94 regular season home games in a row.

*  West Liberty State is off to an incredible start, as they are 5-0, averaging 138 points per game, winning by an average of 63.8 points per game.  Their closest game to date is a 41-point win.  In the first game of the year, against an NCAA Division II opponent, they won by an astonishing 106 points.  No starter played in the second half.

*  Lincoln Memorial is off to the best start in the history of the program, with a 6-0 start.  This breaks the school record that has stood for 84 years.   Congratulations to Coach Josh Schertz and his LMU Railsplitters.

Enjoy college basketball and the many wonderful people associated with our game!

From the Kansas City Star, November 21, 2010

Kansas City makes its claim as college basketball capital of America

By BLAIR KERKHOFF

The Kansas City Star

John McCarthy thought about it, considered it, called meetings and yes, came the conclusion, Kansas City could be — no, deserved to be — called the college basketball capital of America.

“Hey, it’s a great attention getter and we want it to be great publicity for Kansas City,” said McCarthy, the NAIA tournament director and bundle of energy driving the idea.

Besides, nobody else stepped up to clam it or designed a logo.

Kansas City did both. The skyline in a basketball.

What better time to let the hoops nation know a center of gravity has been claimed than today, as some of the nation’s best teams and many of the game’s great historical figures gather for the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction celebration.

Basketball legends like Jerry West and David Thompson, college heroes Christian Laettner and Sidney Wicks, coaching greats Tex Winter and Davey Whitney and behind-the-scenes stalwarts Tom Jernstedt and Wayne Duke will be honored.

On Monday and Tuesday, one of the nation’s best early-season tournaments tips off at the Sprint Center with top-ranked Duke, No. 3 Kansas State, No. 11 Gonzaga and Marquette on the CBE Classic card.

Undoubtedly, the eyes of college hoops nation will blaze on Kansas City for a few days. But is that enough to hold up the city as the sports’ focal point over, say, Indianapolis, Louisville, Ky., or the North Carolina triangle?

This is the sound of Indianapolis clearing its throat.

“I just wrote a column the other day comparing Indianapolis to Louisville as basketball cities,” said Bill Benner, senior associate commissioner of the Horizon League and former Indianapolis Star columnist. “I didn’t include Kansas City.”

Benner was OK with Kansas City calling itself the college hoops capital because he thinks of Indianapolis as having “a more global view about it. We’re in the Final Four rotation, we’ve had the NBA Finals, our high school tradition, I’d say we’re the capital of all of basketball.”

Yeah, but we have a logo and a plan.

McCarthy’s group, formally known as the Kansas City Collegiate Basketball Association, has met four times in the past two months and came up the several branding ideas like creating a basketball season kickoff event, selling games in Kansas City as a season ticket, marketing through billboards and social media.

Those attending the CBE Classic are likely to hear the same introduction announced at UMKC games: “Welcome to Kansas City, the college basketball capital of America!”

But are we, really?

When it comes strictly to the college game our present isn’t too shabby and nobody touches our history.

“We’re talking about what’s here now and the historical pieces,” McCarthy said.

At the moment, Kansas City is an epicenter of three teams currently ranked among the top 15 in Kansas State, Kansas and Missouri. They all play regularly in Kansas City, which is home to Division I UMKC.

The Big 12 men’s and women’s tournaments as well as the NAIA and MIAA tournaments are fixtures. The sport’s hall of fame is here, as is the national headquarters for the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Then there’s the historical part that McCarthy has some familiarity with, but he had no idea how deeply college roots are planted when he arrived from Ohio in 2007. He had been a sports consultant, created a sports travel business and had been the athletic director at Lynn University in Florida.

It didn’t give him much opportunity to know that Kansas City has been home to more Final Fours, regional finals and NCAA Tournament games than any other city. Or know this is where the greatest championship player and coach — Bill Russell and John Wooden — won their first titles.

And that both of them, along with Dean Smith and Oscar Robertson, were honored in Kansas City during the inaugural Hall of Fame ceremony in 2006.

“It really is incredible the contributions of Kansas City,” McCarthy said.

There’s much more. The Big Eight Holiday Tournament started just after World War II, the NAIA Tournament debuted in 1937, the Olympic playoff series of 1936, the National AAU Tournaments of the 1920s and 1930s, even the 1905 series between the Kansas City Athletic Club and Buffalo Germans dubbed “The World Championship of Basketball” all helped mold Kansas City in a hoop destination.

Catalysts that promoted hoops in the region were the game’s inventor James Naismith, who arrived to teach physical education at Kansas in 1898 and spent much time refereeing games throughout the area; Phog Allen, who marketed then starred in the big KCAC event and later became a KU star and legendary coach; Municipal Auditorium, opened in 1936 and gave the NAIA and NCAA tournaments a showcase palace; and the downtown offices of the NCAA and Big Eight, which meant some of college sports’ most influential people called Kansas City home.

When the NABC got behind the formation of the Hall of Fame, then-Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson put it like this, “Every school, every conference has a home base, but what’s college basketball’s home base? It’s Kansas City.”

Author Danny Stooksbury just came out with National Title.  While I may be a bit biased (I did write the foreward for the book), I can tell you that Danny put in a tremendous amount of time, effort, research, etc. into this book, and came out with the most detailed and well-researched book on the early years of the NAIB (now NAIA) National Tournament. 

Stooksbury tells the story through various articles of the times, as well as personal notes and quotes from Emil Liston and Dr. James Naismith.  He details how the tournament has become an American institution, from the early years with Dr. Naismith and Liston, to what has now become the nation’s longest-running collegiate National Championship of any sport.

You may read more about the book, and order it, at www.naibbook.com.  Also, Danny has put up a lot of historical basketball facts about the tournament on the Facebook page for the book: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/National-Title/108061439252091 

By writing this book, Danny Stooksbury has done a tremendous service for those that appreciate history and collegiate basketball.  He should be commended for his efforts to chronicle and preserve a great piece of history.  Danny will be available during the 2011 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship in Kansas City to sell and sign books.

Coach Jim Tribbett called on Friday.  I talk with a lot of coaches, and consider many coaches throughout the country to be some good, personal friends.  While I’ve just spent a fairly small amount of time in person with Coach Tribbett, I’ve spent a lot of time with him on the phone over the last four years or so.  There are some people that you just connect with, and he is one of those for me.  I think that it’s our passion for life and for people where we really hit it off.  Certainly, he’s done a heck of a job over his career as a coach, but he’s really made his mark THROUGH the people that he’s coached.  He genuinely cares about people, and in turn, people genuinely care about Coach.

It’s on this level where we have connected so quickly and so well.  He and I are both passionate, emotional, and caring people.  Certainly, we both have been so deeply involved in collegiate basketball, and we both are family men, each with one son.  We both make it clear how much we love and treasure our sons.

I remember clearly where we stood during the 2008 Collegiate Basketball Invitational when he told me that one of his players, Eder Araujuo (from Walsh University), just learned of a death in his family.  Eder was from Brazil and was terribly distraught, and was thinking about going home.  Keep in mind that Coach Tribbett had never met Eder until the Collegiate Basketball Invitational.  His emotion was incredible when he related this story of Eder’s situation to me. 

I remember this well, as he had sweat on his face and head from the event, yet his eyes were welling up at a situation for a young man that he had just met.  It was real emotion, and he showed how much he cared about this young man.  Eder went, sadly, on his way for the funeral, and you could tell that Coach Tribbett’s heart went with him. 

And so it was that he called on Friday.  This, however, was not just any call to catch up, as I thought when he initially called.  Let me get right to it here, as the news came at me hard: Coach had a pain in his foot just before he and his family left their vacation in St. Augustine, Florida, in August.  It turned out to be vascular disease, and it was serious.  Five surgeries and 41 days in the hospital, and Coach had his left leg amputated above the knee.  As I listened, it became emotional.  A Coach with so much energy and passion, and out-of-the-blue, his leg is amputated.

On top of it, while he was in the hospital, his house was robbed, his car stolen and wrecked.  Televisions, his son’s shirt collection and more were stolen.  Sad, but true.

And here’s what’s incredible, yet inspiring: Coach Tribbett told his son, “Johnny, I ‘just’ lost my leg.  You didn’t lose your Dad.”  Think about that….”I ‘just’ lost my leg”, as though it’s not that big of a deal.  On Friday, he told me, “I ‘just’ lost my leg.  I didn’t lose my heart or my head,” he told me.  “I don’t have cancer.  I’m alive and I lost weight, look good and feel good.”  You should have heard his tone.  He told me that he’s not mad at anyone.  He’s not mad at God.  Certainly, he’s questioned why this happened to him, but he felt fortunate that it was “just” his leg.  Incredible! 

As I listened to him I was twisted with emotions.  As the news came pouring out of him, I wanted to cry for him.  By the end of our talk, I was inspired.

“I want to coach again,” he said.  Coach is the all-time winningest Coach at Chowan (NC), and has been coaching basketball for over 30 years.  He’s coached at the NCAA Div. II, NCAA Div. III, NJCAA and NCCAA levels, as well as coaching high school basketball and serving administratively within the USBL.  He’s been named as the NCCAA’s National Coach of the Year, and the USBL’s Executive of the Year. 

If you really want to hear him get excited, get him talking about his players.  He talks about how intelligent they are, and how hard they work.  He will tell you what a joy it is to coach them.  He uses the word “love” a lot.  He cares.

Look, I’ve been there.  I’ve been an Athletic Director and I’ve been a coach.  Yes, I would hire him.  In a heartbeat.  He has so much to give to young men.  His passion is contagious.  He’s the kind of person that you want to represent you and your school.  He’s the kind of guy that you would have wanted to hire before this tragedy, and ESPECIALLY now.  Here’s a guy who had a tremendous burning desire before this incident, and now his fire has been stoked even further. 

For the moment, his priority is getting back to health.  “I want to coach again” just keeps ringing through my head.  He’s a coach without a team right now.  Coach Tribbett needs a team.  I can tell you this: there is a team out there that needs Coach Tribbett more than they know.

He will positively touch lives again.  He’s made a difference in my life, and I know that he has so much more to give.  Coach Jim Tribbett will coach again.