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.