|
Thursday night was a sad night. In my 27 years in mass
media, I've seen coaches come and go. Some have left on
their own terms; others were ignominiously dismissed.
Thursday night, I was saddened by the resignation of
McKenzie girls' coach Dan Ridley. Ridley has brought the
Lady Rebel basketball team to the precipice of
excellence, challenging the likes of Gleason,
Huntingdon, Westview and Gibson County as one of the new
sheriffs on the girls' hoop scene.
Dan has been a long-time friend, tennis pal and, for
a time, colleague (Ridley once worked in radio and
television before he got wise and entered the education
profession). One thing that impressed me about him is
how hard he worked at making himself a better coach. He
attended clinics and seminars and developed into one of
the finest coaches in West Tennessee.
I enjoyed my rapport with Ridley as much as I have
any coach I've worked with. I've visited his house,
practice sessions and classroom to talk basketball. He
had such high hopes for this program.
Just last year, when the Lady Rebels suffered a
substate setback at Cheatham County, Ridley, ever
ebullient, was more excited what that visit did for his
team than he was deflated by the loss.
"Our girls have a taste of it now," he told me after
that game in a stairwell outside that gym in Ashland
City. "This has us set up for the next three years."
But in an eye blink, that enthusiasm was doused. At
times this season, Ridley looked fatigued by the
campaign. Sure, there were some illnesses and injuries
that plagued the team. Dan would never say because he
has too much class, but I could sense, through our
recent chats, a smoldering. Sometimes his dismay was
very evident. He never disclosed, but I never got the
impression that his frustration was rooted in the team
or its performance. I seemed to get the vibe that it
went beyond team, school and family.
When I spoke to him on Friday, before the Rebels game
against the No. 1 Bolivar boys and after his girls' team
was excused from further play, Ridley looked rested,
relaxed and like a new man. It was as if a load was
removed from his shoulders.
Ridley lifted the Lady Rebel program to new heights
and leaves a team with a lot left in the tank.
The shame of it is that we lost a good coach when we
didn't have to. I wish Ridley luck in his future
endeavors.
"I think the Good Lord has opened some new doors for
us and we are going to attack those opportunities and
hopefully be successful at it."
He will no doubt be successful.
As for the source of his angst: the blood is on your
hands.
NEWS FROM AREA 51: For the past several years, it has
been a running joke among some media folks that covering
a tournament at Chester County can be likened to gaining
access to the U.S. Air Force installation at Area 51.
In 2000, while covering a regional tournament there,
several of my colleagues and I were denied access to the
hospitality room, despite the fact that we had cameras
and notepads in hand.
Last week was no different. One would think that the
folks there are hiding Usama Bin Laden or something.
Many card-carrying members of the media were denied
access to the "inhospitality" room, thus denying us
access to coaches and other media contacts. It's not
like we drove 60 miles to Henderson for a Subway
sandwich. I conducted two interviews and checked with a
colleague about some media-related business and had half
a sandwich in the process.
Another annoyance was the fact that Chester County
school officials almost had two vehicles towed: one
owned by a referee who was calling the game at the time;
the other by a radio broadcaster with mobility issues.
I would remain mum on these issues if they were an
infrequent occurrence, but this is the second time I've
had these problems. In fact, I called the school and was
assured - twice, by the way - that press cards would
suffice for entry to the tournaments and the hospitality
room. The radio broadcaster was told it was okay to park
where he parked nearly an hour before tipoff.
A coach remarked that at Lexington, during districts
this year and regionals last year, teams and media were
treated well; at Chester Co., we were treated like
second-class citizens. The shame of it is that Chester
County has a quality facility, quality kids and quality
coaches. But treatment like this puts a bad face on the
way Chester County conducts its business. Changes in
attitudes - or venues - need to be made. |
