![](/sites/default/files/imported/DirectorSig2H.jpg)
Once A Coach
April 15, 2014
While I was doing some spring cleanup in the yard of my house a weekend ago, the legendary coach, Phil Booth, walked by with his wife. In response to his shout “Hi Jack!,” I replied “Hello Coach.”
Phil has been many things during his long life; and even now he is an accomplished painter. But as one of our state’s most winning high school baseball and football coaches while at Lansing Catholic Central High School before his retirement two decades ago, he is still “Coach” to me . . . as he is to very many other people.
Once a coach, always a coach.
At my father’s memorial service 15 months ago, several players from the high school and college teams he coached in the 1940s and 1950s paid their respects, still referring to Dad as “Coach.”
Once a coach, always a coach.
At the visitation and Mass for former MHSAA Associate Director Jerry Cvengros on April 7, many people referred to him as “Coach,” even though he had also been an English teacher, athletic director and principal. And in his eulogy for Jerry, the MHSAA’s current associate director, Tom Rashid, used the word “coach” at least 25 times, even though Jerry’s illustrious coaching career at Escanaba High School ended 30 years ago.
Once a coach, always a coach.
There are very many very important ingredients in educational athletics – students, officials, administrators, parents, media, and volunteers of all kinds – but the key ingredient always has been and still is the coach. The impact of the coach can be, and often is, deeper and longer lasting than all other contributing factors combined.
![](/sites/default/files/imported/DirectorSig2H.jpg)
Opportunities Abound
February 2, 2018
This weekend – for the 23rd time – the Michigan High School Athletic Association will host its Women in Sports Leadership Conference. The event is Feb. 4 and 5 at Crowne Plaza Lansing West.
Featured speakers are USA National Volleyball Team member Alisha Glass, who starred at Leland High School; University of Michigan’s Carol Hutchins, the winningest coach in NCAA softball history; and Michigan State University Women’s Volleyball Coach Cathy George, who is just off a season when the Spartans reached the NCAA Elite Eight.
But the real juice for this inspiring event is the energy of 550 students and the investment of our schools’ coaches and administrators to facilitate the attendance of these students.
Students will learn leadership skills for today and be exposed to a variety of career opportunities in athletics. Sports in general and school sports in particular continue to have far fewer female contest officials, coaches, administrators and athletic trainers than we need. This weekend’s program is another effort to inspire change.