Coaches And Players

Coaching high school football in the 1990s is as different from, say, two decades ago, as the run-and-shoot or power-I are from the T formation.Veteran county coaches agree that modern home life, the many diversions kids have, and softer discipline and red tape policies of a changing education system have contributed to a new generation of coaches and players.Old Mill's rookie coach Mike Marcus, promoted after assisting Pete Regala for 11 years, asked his summer weightlifting group of 45 players how many ate dinner with their parents at least three times a week?

Wilde Lake High coach Doug DuVall called it "the one fear in coaching that something like this happens."Poly coach John Hammond said, "That really sent shivers," and he decided to have his players observe a moment of silence at yesterday's football practice.They were among many local coaches and players who were shocked by the death of a 13-year-old freshman football player from St. John's College High School Tuesday night at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington.Daniel Bell of Silver Spring collapsed on Aug. 18 on during the second day of football practice.

As Carroll County's five public high schools go through final preparations for their opening games tomorrow night, the season-long action likely will be the most competitive, top to bottom, it has been in recent years.No apparent superstars are around to lead the way -- yet.One indicator is that of last season's 13 All-County players, only two return, both from the second team, and the one common denominator on every roster is varsity inexperience. Two teams, in fact, have no returning starters.

A man makes a lot of friends in 30-plus years of coaching -- even if 612 times opponents have been on the losing end of the score.Cardinal Gibbons' Ray Mullis found this out firsthand last night as fellow coaches and players past and present packed Martin's West for a night in his honor. Mullis, the area's winningest coach, was found to have pancreatic cancer in July.But the night was one of celebration."Cancer can be beaten," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who headed the impressive list of basketball talent who turned out to honor Mullis.

North Carolina guard Tonya Sampson has been told she "plays like a guy."Some women's basketball players might take that as an insult, but Sampson wears the phrase as a badge of honor. Her game, going back to her childhood days on the playgrounds of Clinton, N.C., as the only girl to play with her neighborhood "posse," always has been about power, speed and strength."A lot of guys tried to take advantage of me. They would say, 'Oh, we can run over her.' My friends would say, 'You can do that if you want to. You'll get something you don't want,' " said Sampson.

Jimmy Anderson wears a Washington Capitals ring on his right hand. Wearing a team ring isn't unusual for coaches and players who have won championships. But the ring Anderson wears is not the ring of a champion.Anderson's ring came as recognition for being the Capitals' first coach. Jimmy Anderson has the distinction of having coached ** the worst team in modern NHL history, the 1974-75 Capitals."It was a great experience," Anderson recalled from his Agawam, Mass., home ,15l this week. "It was my one NHL head coaching job, and, sure, the record was a disaster, but it wasn't anybody's fault.

Jimmy Anderson wears a Washington Capitals ring on his right hand. Wearing a team ring isn't unusual for coaches and players who have won championships. But the ring Anderson wears is not the ring of a champion.Anderson's ring came as recognition for being the Capitals' first coach. Jimmy Anderson has the distinction of having coached ** the worst team in modern NHL history, the 1974-75 Capitals."It was a great experience," Anderson recalled from his Agawam, Mass., home this week. "It was my one NHL head coaching job, and, sure, the record was a disaster, but it wasn't anybody's fault.

Most people fantasize about throwing the pass, catching the pass, intercepting the pass or knocking down the pass that wins the Super Bowl. Me, I dream about serving a dual role as producer and director of not only this grandest of all one-shot sporting spectacles on TV, but of the pre-game show, too.First off, come 3:30 Sunday afternoon, my studio segments wouldn't originate from one of those generic Formica, potted plant and cardboard sets in an end...

When Indiana freshman Brian Evans took an ill-advised shot during a recent game against Purdue, everyone inside Bloomington's Assembly Hall and those watching on television knew what was likely to follow. An explosion from Bob Knight.It came during the next timeout. First, the Indiana coach pulled Evans toward the bench, then forcefully guided the player into his seat. Finally, Knight gave Evans an earful of his favorite adjectives.And Knight knew what was coming, too: a question regarding his sideline behavior.

For as long as anyone can remember, it has been recognized as the first day college basketball teams could practice for their new seasons. For coaches and players, as well as the most die-hard fans, October 15 held special significance. "It's been that way since I was a player," said Mount St. Mary's coach Jim Phelan, who graduated from LaSalle in 1951.But not this year. Today, college gyms throughout the area and the country are filled with the squeaks of sneakers and the thumps of balls, but there are no coaches' whistles piercing through the empty arenas.

The refrain began soon after the Ravens left the field on Sunday with a decisive playoff win in hand. Defensive coordinator Rex Ryan was only too happy to nudge it along. "Nobody has respected this team until right now, and that's fine with us," Ryan said. "Tough on everybody else, just right for us." Respect is a motivational tactic as old as sport itself. Coaches and players portray themselves as unwanted, overlooked and underpraised. Around every corner lurks another rival ready to steal credit.

Just three years after he quit playing football, Jason Garrett stood near the pinnacle of his next chosen profession. He had the chance to increase his salary, to work with bosses who draft Pro Bowl players in droves and, most importantly, to run his own team. So why did Garrett turn down the Ravens' coaching job yesterday morning? And, more generally, why would anyone turn down the opportunity to become a head coach in the NFL, the nation's most popular professional sports league? Agents and former NFL executives listed several reasons that could lead a coach to refuse an offer.

Mike Williams probably has seen more game tape this week than in all his years as a coach, and it's still not enough for Williams, Howard County's athletics coordinator, to render a final judgment on what happened at the Centennial-Oakland Mills football game last Friday. That's why no punishment has been decided on in conjunction with the incident. And Williams said, there may not be one, as the stories that have emerged from nearly six days of questioning have conflicted. "No matter what we do as a system, there's going to be somebody who doesn't like it [the prospective decision]

Navy senior wide receiver Amir Jenkins can still see his old teammate joking with him in the huddle or showing off his throwing arm by heaving a football 80 yards on a cold day. Head coach Paul Johnson holds a lasting image of his former player polishing his chiseled physique with maniacal dedication in the weight room. Senior safety Josh Smith marvels at how easily his buddy could turn strangers into friends. At the Naval Academy this week, as has been the case in 104 previous years throughout one of the greater rivalries in all of sports, the primary focus is on beating Army.

In the spring of 1995, a handful of parents in Aptos, Calif., a small town south of San Francisco, entrusted their 5-year-old boys to the tutelage of a baseball coach named Dave Anderson. Seven years later, those kids had matured into one of America's finest Little League teams. In a new PBS documentary, Small Ball: A Little League Story, (tonight at 8 on MPT), filmmakers Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker do more than follow the Aptos All-Stars through their 2002 season, a nail-biting campaign that took them to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. They remind viewers of the national pastime's almost endless capacity to bring out the best in those who play it, teach it and treat it with respect.

The Meade baseball team is off to a 4-1 start. That is pretty amazing for a program that has had only one winning season in 27 years. The 1991 Meade team of coach Elliott Harvey went 11-7 overall for the Mustangs' only winning campaign. Since then, the Mustangs have gone 50-187 (.211), including last season's 2-19 record and this spring's start. Coach Ralph Beachley, who is also the school's athletic director, has to be commended for his perseverance. Beachley is in his fourth season as head coach and was 9-52 in the first three seasons.

WASHINGTON -- Only the venue had changed. Darrell Walker's new position as the interim coach of the Washington Wizards isn't much different from the job he just left with the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association. Or from his first stint as an NBA head coach, three years ago with the Toronto Raptors. He is trying to improve the fortunes of a last-place team. Walker, whose 10-year NBA playing career included four seasons with the Washington Bullets in the late 1980s and early '90s, had intended to come here this week as an assistant under Rod Higgins.

If John O'Meally was reluctant about applying for the vacant boys lacrosse head coaching position at South Carroll, the Cavalier players weren't. O'Meally, whose hiring was announced last week, said he wasn't convinced at first that he was the right man for the job. But players like attackman Jesse Buppert, midfielder Steve Grabowsky, and goalkeeper Jason Witte applied their version of a full-court press. "The students would walk by and they would say, `Are you going to apply for the job?

Coaching high school football in the 1990s is as different from, say, two decades ago, as the run-and-shoot or power-I are from the T formation.Veteran county coaches agree that modern home life, the many diversions kids have, and softer discipline and red tape policies of a changing education system have contributed to a new generation of coaches and players.Old Mill's rookie coach Mike Marcus, promoted after assisting Pete Regala for 11 years, asked his summer weightlifting group of 45 players how many ate dinner with their parents at least three times a week?

Wilde Lake High coach Doug DuVall called it "the one fear in coaching that something like this happens."Poly coach John Hammond said, "That really sent shivers," and he decided to have his players observe a moment of silence at yesterday's football practice.They were among many local coaches and players who were shocked by the death of a 13-year-old freshman football player from St. John's College High School Tuesday night at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington.Daniel Bell of Silver Spring collapsed on Aug. 18 on during the second day of football practice.