Traverse City Record-Eagle

Football

May 12, 2008

Mark Urban: Gridiron secrecy

When a school interviews for a new superintendent, the general public knows the list of potential candidates.

When it's a football coach being hired, here comes the Bureau of Gridiron Security.

For example, Kingsley may or not hire a new football coach on Monday. Nobody is able to confirm as much, but it appears Josh Sellers is headed to Tennessee and not to Kingsley.

The previous Kingsley coach, Tim Wooer, left the Stags for a successful program at TC West.

Both of these recent openings show the inordinate amount of secrecy that apparently goes along with hiring a football coach these days.

TC West had nothing to report until calling a press conference for the following day. Even then they wouldn't say who it was, only where and when it was going to happen.

Kingsley won't talk about Wooer's successor until its school board meeting on Monday night. Now it appears the search may go on a little longer.

Whomever the new coach is at Kingsley, why all the secrecy?

One athletic director said it's because more people in the community know who the football coach is versus the superintendent.

That may be true, but then why not let the community members become a greater part of the process?

A member of the Kingsley school board said that the interviews were public, but at the same time, no school board goes out of its way to let the media or the taxpaying public know when they are being conducted.

So instead, community members go on message boards that seem to be the bane of every athletic director and administrator.

Sure, there's often a lot of bunk on MLive and other sites such as these. And the anonymity often gives people too many freedoms to spew forth too much.

But at least people are getting a chance to talk and converse about these football openings. And frequently the information is right on.

It sure beats all the non-information coming out of the schools and the human resources departments. Just because a school is looking into hiring a new football coach doesn't mean they have to go into double-secret mode.

A point often made with keeping the identity of a new football coach quiet is to protect the players at his current team. Or at the very least, the departing coach wants a chance to be the one to tell his players in person that he's departing.

Come on, do you really think the players -- or the public -- don't know what's going on?

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  • Oregon feels right for Fisher

    Jake Fisher went to Oregon last weekend and came home a Duck. The Traverse City West standout ended a whirlwind month of recruiting on Wednesday when he signed his national letter of intent to play football at the University of Oregon.

    Continued ...
    Feb 3, 2011 8:35 am
  • LMC could vote St. Francis out

    Area football leagues are exploring numerous possible changes, including a movement in the Lake Michigan Conference to kick out Traverse City St. Francis in football.

    Continued ...
    Feb 6, 2010 11:00 pm 1 Photo
  • Bullough among 21 signed by Spartans

    Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio is sure the off-the-field headlines that embarrassed his program last season didn't hurt him on the recruiting trail, which included signing linebacker Max Bullough from Traverse City St. Francis.

    Continued ...
    Feb 4, 2010 7:30 am
  • Frankfort quarterback headed to Northwood

    Frankfort quarterback Dan Nugent could still be throwing the football to teammate Andrew Newbold for a long time.

    Continued ...
    Feb 2, 2010 7:30 am
  • Top 10: Thirlby gets a facelift

    It took more than a decade, but Thirlby Field is slated to get its final touches.

    Continued ...
    Dec 31, 2009 7:10 am 2 Photos
  • Tuesday, December 29, 2009
  • Top 10: Glads go back-to-back

    The motto for the 2009 Traverse City St. Francis football team was "Iron Sharpens Iron." Equally appropriate would have been "Taking Care of Business."

    Continued ...
    Dec 29, 2009 7:20 am 2 Photos
  • Friday, December 18, 2009
  • West's Goodell headed to N. Illinois

    Blake Goodell dreamed of playing Division I college football when he was little. That dream moved closer to reality this week when the TC West offensive lineman verbally accepted a scholarship offer to play at Northern Illinois.

    Continued ...
    Dec 18, 2009 7:25 am 1 Photo
  • Monday, November 30, 2009
  • St. Francis convincingly wins title

    Senior linebacker Max Bullough had about wrapped interviews when someone asked what advice he'd leave for his younger brother, Riley, a sophomore quarterback. "Get another one," Bullough said.

    Continued ...
    Nov 30, 2009 7:53 am 1 Photo
  • Senior gets first pop at holding trophy

    Traverse City St. Francis won the opening coin toss on Saturday at Ford Field and deferred. Gladiators coach Greg Vaughan took the same approach when it came to accepting the Division 7 state championship trophy.

    Continued ...
    Nov 30, 2009 7:51 am 1 Photo
  • Swan's big day drives Glads to title

    Some things are just a way of life at Ford Field. The concessions are going to be over-priced, the hometown Lions are going to struggle and Ben Swan is going explode for a big day. Lock it in.

    Continued ...
    Nov 30, 2009 7:50 am
  • Wednesday, November 25, 2009
  • TCSF, Hudson met in 2003 title game

    An undefeated, top-ranked Traverse City St. Francis team taking on Hudson for a Division 7 state title. This is a story thats been told once before. Six years ago, the Gladiators traveled to the Pontiac Silverdome and secured a 28-14 win over the Tigers in the state championship game.

    Continued ...
    Nov 25, 2009 9:35 pm
  • St. Francis has recipe for success

    Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was the Traverse City St. Francis football program. St. Francis will look to add to its legacy on Saturday, but how did they get there?

    Continued ...
    Nov 25, 2009 7:45 am 2 Photos
  • Ivan, Reyhl, Thompson earn All-State honors

    Coaches at Montague and Ovid-Elsie don't take Cody Kater and Chris Robinson for granted. They are impact players who've made their marks in high school football. And that's why they were chosen the Associated Press Division 5-6 co-Players of the Year for their standout senior seasons.

    Continued ...
    Nov 25, 2009 7:45 am
  • Finals game to be shown at State

    Saturday morning's Division 7 state football championship game between unbeatens Traverse City St. Francis and Hudson will be shown live at the State Theatre.

    Continued ...
    Nov 25, 2009 7:45 am
  • Tuesday, November 24, 2009
  • SF's Bullough is Player of the Year

    Traverse City's Max Bullough, who spearheads a Gladiators defense that surrenders just 34 rushing yards and 5.7 points a game, is the Associated Press Division 7-8 Player of the Year, as voted on by a panel of sports writers from around the state. (Plus, Zakrzewski, Newbold and Koronka honored.)

    Continued ...
    Nov 24, 2009 7:40 am 1 Photo
  • State football finals tickets available

    Tickets for the Division 7 state championship game between St. Francis and Hudson are available today. The game will be shown live at the State Theatre.

    Continued ...
    Nov 24, 2009 7:40 am
  • Sunday, November 22, 2009
  • St. Francis routs Ravenna in semis

    The Traverse City St. Francis coaches prepared their team to fight for every yard in Saturday's Division 7 semifinal, but in the end it was the big plays that made the difference.

    Continued ...
    Nov 22, 2009 8:04 am 2 Photos
  • Forest Park blanks Frankfort in semifinal

    It was rough going for the Frankfort offense Saturday afternoon at Northern Michigan University's Superior Dome. The Panthers, who were limited to four first downs and 45 yards, were shut out by Crystal Falls Forest Park in a Division 8 state semifinal contest.

    Continued ...
    Nov 22, 2009 7:05 am
  • Friday, November 20, 2009
  • Ravenna, St. Francis meet again

    A year ago, Ravenna coach Dusty Fairfield made some predictions about this year's season. "I expect to see Traverse City St. Francis in the semifinals next year," he said. Turns out, he was right.

    Continued ...
    Nov 20, 2009 7:30 am 2 Photos
  • Panthers look for different outcome vs. CFFP

    Bill Santilli admits he's "surprised" his Crystal Falls Forest Park football team is representing the Upper Peninsula in the Divison 8 semifinals on Saturday. The Trojans (10-2) face Frankfort (10-2) in a rematch of last November's semifinal at Marquette's Superior Dome.

    Continued ...
    Nov 20, 2009 7:30 am 1 Photo
  • Wednesday, November 18, 2009
  • Busy weekend for Pratley family

    Mike and Andrew Pratley shared in each other's success last weekend. Andrew is the head football coach at Ogemaw Heights, and Mike is a longtime assistant at Frankfort. It sets up an unusual situation Saturday.

    Continued ...
    Nov 18, 2009 7:47 am
  • Monday, November 16, 2009
  • Glads to play at Ferris on Saturday

    Traverse City St. Francis will play Ravenna Saturday at Ferris State University.

    Continued ...
    Nov 16, 2009 8:00 am
  • Familiar foes for Glads, Panthers

    St. Francis and Frankfort will see familiar foes next weekend in the state football semifianls.

    Continued ...
    Nov 16, 2009 8:00 am
  • Football: Panthers capture regional

    The rebuilding year keeps getting better and better for the Frankfort Panthers. The Panthers earned their second straight Division 8 regional championship Friday at Johannesburg -- a year after losing several starters to graduation.

    Continued ...
    Nov 16, 2009 6:20 am 1 Photo
  • Football: Glads survive scare

    hings got a little scary for top-ranked Traverse City St. Francis in its Division 7 regional football final on Friday the 13th.

    Continued ...
    Nov 16, 2009 6:20 am