Dale Steele was a great football coach at Rehoboth Junior High back in the ‘70s, and I believe he was typecast as a junior high coach and therefore passed over by Cape. Dale went to Indian River, became head football coach, won a couple of state championships and then became the athletic director.
Bill Collick taught health in a windowless classroom at Cape for eight years and was a football assistant before leaving for the sunlight of college football as head coach and athletic director at Delaware State University. Bill is now in the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame and the Afro-American Hall of Fame and is currently head football coach at Sussex Tech, which brings me to my big dog, Tom Ott, an assistant at Cape the last six years. Coach Ott has been the foundation of the program. He is a loyal Cape guy the kids respect, works in the building, runs the weight room and, if there is a discipline breakdown in the hallways, he’s the guy I want to see coming around the corner. Tommy was offensive coordinator the last two years and did a great job staying focused on the game plan and putting points on the board as Cape set records for scoring and gave defenses fits. Tom Ott’s son, Thomas, is going to be an all-state middle linebacker - you can put that in the bank!
I don’t know any of the other candidates, but unless someone is popping off the griddle, just cancel the interviews and give it to Tommy and, please, keep all boosters away from the process.
RUN A PLAY - Attention basketball fans, if you are waiting to see a play that results in an uncontested shot go see Christopher Lloyd and go back to the future of 1956. Even the ‘60s offenses were continuous with options and recyclable alignments. The dumbest play was the overload against a zone where you would send a cutter through to the other side and everyone would watch him. I mean, how stupid are people?
The game of basketball has become an organized track meet and, please, can we get beyond the Indiana motion offense? Proper spacing, head on a swivel, big guys closer to the basket and unselfish play always giving up the ball to the man with the better shot.
BARKING INSTRUCTIONS - I once took myself out of a junior varsity basketball game suggesting the coach take my place.
“I can’t play with your voice inside my head every time I touch the ball,” I told him. “Can you do what I do, do you see what I see? If not, then let me be, let me play the game.”
Now a million years later I am a sports reporter and the same stuff bugs me. I prefer coaches who allow the athletes to make decisions and don’t substitute off a mistake. There is a time for talking points and teachable moments, but not when someone has the ball. Wrestling may be an exception to this rule as coaches are always barking instruction and I’d have to ask a successful wrestler if they hear that stuff and react accordingly.
“You shoot.”
“No coach, you shoot!”
FOOTBALL FLAPPING - No question about it, I’d vote Utah as national champion of college football because it beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. I don’t think I could take Florida or Oklahoma being crowned with one loss, plus every fan of the SEC and Big 12 would have to endure an entire year of the Utah Utes and I’ve already ordered my hat.
The NFL is unpredictable, so what anyone thinks has little bearing on the outcome, but I think the Ravens move on to face the Steelers and, sorry to say, I think the Giants will beat the Eagles as Donavan will be running like Randall to the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive.” The Earth, Wind and Fire backfield of the G-Men may be the Shining Stars of the game - get it?
In my mind, I’m going with Carolina to win the Super Bowl.
SNIPPETS - Remember the fundraiser polar plunge for Special Olympics Delaware is Sunday, Feb. 1, in Rehoboth. I know economic times are tough, but by the looks of overflowing shopping carts at the new BJ’s Discount Club warehouse in Millsboro, there is still a great deal of disposable income. Sure, you gotta eat, but no one needs barrels and vats of food. Back it down and be charitable if not irritable.
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