Cornelis right at home

Thom Cornelis likes to joke that he's part of a fraternity as a sportscaster in the Quad-Cities.
He wasn't expecting to be a part of it for four decades.
"My pledge period has been pretty long," Cornelis said with a laugh. "I think I'm about ready to go active now."
All jokes aside, Cornelis really couldn't imagine things any other way. The Quad-Cities has been his home from when he was playing baseball and basketball for Rock Island Alleman.
He loves the 3 to 4 minutes he gets on his nightly sportscast for KWQC, Ch. 6, and he admits he still gets goosebumps before the annual Quad-City Times Bix 7 race that he announces every year.
His induction into the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame on May 4 gives him the privilege of being honored in his home area, a recognition he considers the highlight of his career.
"It doesn't really seem like 40 years, because I still remember certain games and certain players," Cornelis said. "It really is a fraternity. Once you're in it, and you play in it, coach in it and cover it, I think everyone has a bond that doesn't leave.
"I've covered most of the people who are in there, and it's an honor to be included with them. I'm thrilled."
A fortunate illness
Cornelis knew from an early age that he wanted to spend his life involved with sports. In fact, he suspected broadcasting might be for him when he was a boy listening to Vin Scully call Dodgers games on the radio.
"I thought that would be the ultimate job, and he's still doing it," Cornelis said. "You see class acts like him, Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy and think, ‘Maybe this is the way to go.'"
However, he wasn't completely sure broadcasting was the right choice until attending Western Illinois University to play baseball.
Soon after stepping on the Macomb campus, he had figured out he wasn't good enough to play baseball professionally. His plan was to earn his degree, then find a teaching job that would allow him to coach baseball or basketball.
A bout with mononucleosis during his sophomore year changed that. Since Cornelis couldn't play anymore but was at the baseball field anyway, he was asked to cover games for the school's television station.
Cornelis agreed and found that he loved it. He soon switched his major and began taking broadcasting classes, beginning a career that has spanned four decades.
"It didn't seem like a chore going to broadcast classes," Cornelis said. "It was something I looked forward to. I figured that if it's something you look forward to, you'd better stick with it."
Building events
When Ed Froehlich became the director of the Bix 7 race in 1979, the race was in its infancy and was so insignificant that it was common for interested parties to ask where the race was.
Froehlich set a goal of building the race into a big event, a vision shared by Cornelis.
"In the first year, they told me there were (84) guys, but I never saw (84)," Cornelis said. "Each year, it got a little bigger, and then when Ed Froehlich got involved, there's the straw that stirs the drink.
"We started televising live, and you can see where the race is today."
Cornelis, who was then at WQAD, helped build up what is now the John Deere Classic by inviting golfers onto his sports program for interviews. He started increasing the coverage of the race the same way, while Froehlich built up the race itself.
The race is a staple on the Quad-Cities' sports calendar, and Froehlich is grateful to his friend Cornelis for his help in building the race's prestige - as well as pleased to see him honored.
"There's nobody that has supported sports for the last 35 to 40 years in the Quad-Cities as Thom Cornelis has," Froehlich said. "He does a lot for high school and college sports. He's just as enthusiastic today as he was when he started."
The move to KWQC
By 1984, Cornelis was well-established in the Quad-Cities. He was in his 12th year at the local ABC station and was now as much a part of the Q-C sports scene as the broadcasters who once covered his games.
The area was home for him, and he had no desire to move his wife, Marcia, and four children for the sake of moving.
It was going to take a special set of circumstances to get him to leave WQAD. That was exactly what happened.
The rights to broadcast Iowa's games went up for bid in the early 1980s, and NBC emerged with the rights to cover the Hawkeyes on its affiliates in the state.
That wrinkle caused Cornelis to seriously consider KWQC general manager Ken McQueen's suggestion that he make the move across the river from Moline-based WQAD.
"In order to get the play-by-play job, it would help to be at the Iowa station," Cornelis said. "There was a change in ownership at ABC, I had a nice offer and I didn't have to uproot my family."
Cornelis also didn't have a non-compete clause, because it wasn't routinely included in broadcaster's contracts at that time. With nothing holding him to ABC, he decided his future would be better served by jumping to NBC.
He quickly found acceptance from the station that used to be his competitor.
"It was a little bit (awkward at first) because I was still the guy from across the river," Cornelis said. "But it was not (for) long. The news director, Jack Thompson, and anchor Don Rhyne were glad to have me, which was why they made an offer.
"(The awkwardness) lasted for about a week."
A different time
Through his career, the biggest change is the way Cornelis does his job.
When he started, he wasn't doing live shots at all. Instead, he would shoot video, race back to the studio to edit it before his sportscast.
Those days are long in the past.
"The technology is the greatest thing," Cornelis said. "When I started, it was a film camera, then we phased into videotape and then we were able to go live, so I could do reports from the course or the Rose Bowl.
"Now, we don't even use tape anymore. It's all on a computer with everything in high-definition. It seems like every week, they're adding a new wrinkle. When it works, it's amazing what you can accomplish."
However, Cornelis now sometimes has to accomplish more with less, because in the age of YouTube and camera phones, athletes are far less relaxed than they once were.
"They have to be, and that's unfortunate," Cornelis said. "They like to have a good time, but they get a little paranoid about it because of a person trying to get on a talk show. It's taken away from it because you don't get to know them better. They really have to trust you."
Local boys making good
In 1987, Dan Pearson arrived at KWQC as the assistant sports director, expecting he would stay for about three years and then move to a bigger market.
He never left, because he discovered he and Cornelis shared a passion for local sports that made an ideal partnership.
"We had the same philosophy," Pearson said. "We think that no sport is too small and value each story. That's one thing that we think we've done a pretty good job with. A high school can define a community, and we've done feature stories from Rock Falls or DeWitt that people have remembered."
When Cornelis looks back on his four decades of broadcasting, the big events aren't what stick out in his mind.
He's covered events as far away as Innsbruck, Austria, when he went to the 1976 Winter Olympics. But his favorite stories involve people such as fellow Hall of Fame inductee Acie Earl, who came out of the Quad-Cities.
"I remember covering his games, both at Moline and Iowa," he said. "I remember being excited and running up to interview him, and it was the same when he was drafted by the Celtics.
"There was a local boy making good, and we haven't had many that have gone on to that level. It is (a source of pride). To get to that level is few and far between, because you've really got to be special."
Through his longevity in the market, Cornelis has had the pleasure of seeing almost every special athlete the Quad-Cities has produced.
He claims longevity is the reason for his induction, but Pearson, who once saw Cornelis through a viewer's eyes while growing up, disagrees.
"The better word is enduring," he said. "He could have gone somewhere else and gone to a better market. But he's a familiar face who's been in people's living rooms more than their best friends.
"A lot of people equate those broadcasts with the happiest times of their lives. TC has been the face of that for all these years."
Why did he stay when he could have left? Family was a big reason, but it's also true that Cornelis genuinely loves his job and plans to keep doing it as long as that remains true.
"I enjoy the great people I get to mingle with on a daily basis," Cornelis said. "The coaches and athletes are just great. A lot are retired now, and there's always a story."
TIMELINE
1948 - Thom Cornelis is born in Moline
1966 - Cornelis graduates from Rock Island Alleman High School, having played basketball and baseball for the Pioneers.
1968 - Cornelis, a sophomore at Western Illinois, begins working with the campus television station covering baseball.
1972 - Cornelis accepts a job at WQAD in Moline, beginning his long career in the Quad-Cities.
1976 - Cornelis first invites golfers from the PGA Tour's Quad-City stop to come onto his sportscast, helping the event become entrenched.
1980 - Cornelis begins his association with the Bix 7 race as play-by-play announcer.
1984 - Cornelis leaves WQAD for KWQC, where he remains today.
1987 - Cornelis hires Dan Pearson as his assistant sports director, beginning a partnership that still is active.
2008 - Cornelis, then in his 25th year at KWQC, is inducted into Alleman's hall of fame.
2010 - KWQC becomes the first Q-C station to broadcast in high definition.
2011 - Cornelis celebrates 40 years of broadcasting in the Quad Cities with induction into the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame.

Bates climbs charts with family in tow

Hope you have some time here. This one's pretty long. B.J. Bates is a really nice kid, and his family couldn't have been better.

LONG GROVE, Iowa - The plethora of racing trophies that fill three-quarters of a room in B.J. Bates' family basement, highlighted by his 2010 Young Lions World Dirt Track title, might never have been possible if not for a push from his mother, Cindi.
At age 8, the North Scott junior finally was allowed to enter a go-kart race after practicing for two years.
However, he never had faced other drivers and was scared at the prospect. His father, Mel, anticipated that and asked Cindi to be in the pits as a calming influence.
Things didn't work out that way.
"I yelled at him, ‘Barry, you will get in this kart!'" Cindi Bates recalled with a laugh. "I did all the screaming."
B.J. did get in the kart and came out yelling that it was the most fun he ever had. Eight years and a world championship later, his opinion hasn't changed.
"I love it," B.J. said. "I wouldn't change a thing. I love growing up with racing and I love working on the cars. I've always worked on things with Dad, and it's brought us a lot closer as a family. It's a nice bonding time for us to share our stories."
Racing family
Racing has been part of the Bates family's life since 1981, when Mel began helping his friend Hal Russell with his races. After two years with Russell, Mel decided that if Russell could race, he could race.
Mel raced with some success for 15 years before deciding to quit when B.J. was 2. He worried about a serious injury and did not want to take that risk once he became a father.
The reprieve from the track was temporary. After all, racing is part of Cindi Bates' side of the family, too. She has attended races for years, going back to when Mel raced, and it was her mother who introduced her son to his future love.
When B.J. was 6, his maternal grandmother, Jean Mumm, took him to the track for the first time, allowing him to meet the drivers. Soon after, B.J. decided he wanted to get into racing.
A decade later, B.J. remembered being impressed with the excitement of racing and how friendly the drivers were.
"When I was little, I remember getting to meet Steve Kinser and other guys who had an impact on me," B.J. said. "To see how nice and laidback they were, it makes you want to take the time when people come up to you and stop and talk to them.
"It's a great feeling when you have a little kid come up with a Sharpie and say, ‘Can you sign this for me?' It makes you feel good, because you could have an impact."
Grand entrance
Although his mindset isn't much different, his racing and his goals have changed. Back then, he wanted to win the Rock Island Grand Prix, the first go-kart race he attended.
"I thought it was the coolest thing ever to see the karts go so fast," B.J. said. "When I got older, I always looked up to the people doing it and wanted to be one of them. The group of people who had the same motor were always competitive at the Rock Island Grand Prix, so I wanted to be like them and have my name on the list of winning the Rock Island Grand Prix."
B.J. first entered the Grand Prix at age 12, but his goal proved unattainable. In three tries, mishaps with his car cost him a chance to win, with his best finish being fifth. After his third attempt, he learned he would no longer have the chance to win the event because the Grand Prix would no longer sponsor his age division. That was when he decided it was time to leave go-karts and take the next step in racing.
The switch meant a move from asphalt to dirt and getting used to a different kind of vehicle.
The next step
The family decided the next step was a Legend car, which looks like a vehicle from the 1930's, moves easily about the track and is powered by a motorcycle engine.
The low cost and potential for success made it the right choice - although it meant Bates had to quickly develop his skills behind the wheel.
"In a go-kart, there's not much steering and little movement," B.J. said. "In the Legend car, everything was happening a lot quicker. They're snappy, and they'll move around pretty fast."
On his first night in a Legend car, B.J. got in a wreck. But as the year progressed and he got more experienced, he gained better control of the vehicle and became very competitive on most nights.
A year later, the Bates family had a new goal of winning the world title in the Young Lions division of Legends Racing. That required Bates to finish first in points over a 20-race span, which meant family trips across Iowa and Wisconsin to find races that would count.
It was a sacrifice the family was willing to make. Mel decided at the beginning of the season that the goal was realistic, so as long as B.J. wanted to pursue the goal, he and Cindi were glad to do whatever it took to make it happen.
Several times, the family made a pilgrimage north to Wisconsin to find a dirt track where B.J. could earn points, usually arriving home at 3 a.m. At meals the next day, Mel would dissect the race with B.J., focusing on what could be improved the next time he got behind the wheel.
"He gets a little irate with me if I tell him he was wrong (immediately after the race)," Mel said. "We usually work it out. Near the end (of the year), he was getting to where he was doing everything right."
The work and study sessions paid off. B.J. admitted that he didn't begin to believe it was possible until he had enough races under his belt to qualify for the world title, but once he did, he attacked his goal with even more determination. He achieved so much success that when the national championship race took place in Springfield, Mo., his closest competitor for the world title didn't show because B.J. already had locked up the title.
The goal he and his family spent two years working toward was his.
"We did whatever it took to win," B.J. said. "We were determined to do it and tried to get as many dirt points as I could.
"It was a lot of work, and when the day finally came and I finally did it, it was a sigh of relief. It was nice."
Strong support
B.J. won't be defending his title this year, instead choosing to step up another series to late model racing. Late models are bigger cars raced by some of the top drivers, and the jump has the family hoping that B.J. can stay competitive as he gets experience facing better drivers in a different car.
If the past is any indication, it shouldn't take long for B.J. to feel at home.
Trophies and ribbons of multiple sizes and colors adorn the family's trophy room, filling all four walls. A few are from Mel's racing days, but most have B.J.'s name on them.
Father and son don't even joke about who's the best racer in the family is. Mel admits it's not a contest.
"He's had a lot more success than I had," Mel said. "I blame that on me, because I get his cars better. But he's said he can't do it without me and I can't do it without him."
Racing has become something B.J. wouldn't trade for anything because of the impact it has had on his life and the support he receives from the community.
He freely admits that racing has made him a better person because it forced him to develop a good work ethic, a trait that shows up in his studies at North Scott, where he is an honor student.
Beyond that, the community has been very supportive, with some of his friends going as far to head out to some of the local races.
That has made a huge difference to B.J. and made his experience something he can treasure without it running every aspect of his life.
"Everybody knows that I race, and everybody knows that on Friday and Saturday, that's what I'm going to be doing," he said. "Everybody is pretty understanding and pretty flexible. I love that people are so understanding, because if they weren't, all I would do is race and I wouldn't do anything else."

Eaker household divided on soccer pitch

This story actually came from a parent's complaint about another paper. Brian Eaker let it slip that he coached Alleman and his daughter Taylor played for Moline, and I jumped on it. Great story.

MOLINE -- When Randy Bollman accepted the job as the girls soccer coach of Rock Island Alleman, his first call was to his longtime friend Brian Eaker.
Bollman and Eaker had coached together for years, and Bollman wanted Eaker on his staff. Since Eaker's job at AT&T wouldn't allow him to be a full-time assistant, Bollman offered him a spot coaching the Pioneers' goalkeepers.
The one issue was how Eaker's daughter, Taylor, would react. Taylor is a senior captain for Moline's soccer team, and Brian had no desire to miss her final year of high school soccer and even less to coach against her in a Western Big Six game.
However, Taylor decided the opportunity was too good for her father to pass up, especially since she will be playing in college at Mount Mercy next year.
With his daughter on board, Eaker accepted the job and will now watch his daughter face off against his team when Moline visits Alleman at 6 p.m. tonight.
"It's a little different in our household," Taylor said. "It's different seeing him get ready to go to his game wearing Alleman stuff and then changing his attire for my games, but I'm used to it by now."
The change hasn't been drastic for the Eakers because Brian decided when he took the job that Taylor would be his first priority.
While the Maroons have struggled with consistency and sit at 4-3-1, one hardly could blame Taylor. She has continued to show the form and versatilty that have made her one of Moline's most important players.
"She's a four-year starter and a senior captain," Moline coach Rick Sanchez said. "She brings a lot of experience and dictates the tempo for us. We played her at sweeper at the beginning of the year, and now we've got her running up top at midfield, so her versatility has been a big plus."
That combination landed her a spot at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for next year.
"It's not far from home and I can play soccer there," Taylor said. "Plus, I want to do nursing, and they have an excellent nursing program. It all fit in."
Taylor said this game will be a little different than past games against Alleman not only because of her father coaching, but because she also knows Bollman well.
Brian Eaker won't be on the sidelines for this game. When he took the Alleman job, he told Bollman he would have to watch this game from the parents' section, which Bollman understood.
Eaker said he will watch as both a parent and a coach, but his loyalties will not be divided.
"I'll always root for Taylor no matter what," Brian said. "In the offset of that, I'll be keeping a close eye on (keeper) Samantha Glackin and making sure she's doing the (right) things."
Bollman expected nothing less. The reason he wanted Brian was that he knew Brian is a quality goalkeeping coach who loves helping kids, something his young team sorely needed.
"Brian has a true passion for the game," Bollman said. "Everything he tries to do, that love comes through to the girls. That's no different than my philosophy, and that's exactly why I wanted him here."
Both Eakers are looking forward to next season, when Taylor will play in the fall at Mount Mercy.
Along with the fact that they won't have to face each other, college soccer plays in the fall, which will allow Brian to focus on Taylor during her season and spend the spring helping Bollman rebuild the Alleman program.
"That will be really exciting," Brian said. "I'll be able to attend more games with the Alleman team and see what we haven't been able to work on.
"With Taylor going to playing in the fall, I'll get a taste of the college matches, and I can bring that back to the girls. That's the most rewarding thing (of coaching)."

Dunson takes the long road to find his place

I really enjoyed talking to this kid, Dodie Dunson of Bradley. I felt so bad that he got hurt the next day against Idaho State. But here's his story.

When most Division I basketball players transfer to another university, the reasons are related to basketball. That wasn’t the case for Bradley guard Dodie Dunson.

    He didn’t leave Iowa State after his freshman year because he wasn’t playing enough, or because he clashed with Iowa State coach Greg McDermott. On the contrary, he enjoyed every minute of being a Cyclone. The problem was with Iowa State University.

    “Actually, (it was) academics,” Dunson said. “They didn’t have an academic program for me to continue to be successful. But the basketball part was great. The coaching staff did a great job getting me through. I just thought it was best for me at that time (to leave) because academics were more important than basketball.”

    The problem for Dunson at Iowa State was the same thing that has plagued him his entire life. He suffers from a severe form of dyslexia and has to work extra hard to keep up with his schoolwork.

    But despite that handicap, two years after leaving Ames, Iowa, Dunson’s now a senior captain for the Braves, who will host Idaho State today in Peoria, Ill., and appears to have everything in his life the way he wants it to be. He’s taken the long way to his destination, but he couldn’t be happier about where he is now.

    “What my father told me is whatever you can believe, you can achieve,” Dunson said. “I stuck with that. It’s just amazing to me, but hard work pays off. It’s just focusing on trying to do what you can do and go from there.”

    FROM THE BIG 12 TO JUNIOR COLLEGE   

    At Iowa State, Dunson realized that he could not hope to continue the way he had during his freshman year. He had studied so much that McDermott wasn’t sure how he was able to handle both classes and playing basketball.

    “It was very tough worrying about doing well in the classroom and focusing on basketball at the same time,” Dunson said.”

    The reality was that Dunson couldn’t, and Iowa State did not have the facilities in place he needed to overcome his disability. But he still wanted to play basketball once he got his studies in order. That led him to spend a year at Vincennes (Ind.) University, a junior college.

    “It was more of an easier pace,” Dunson said. “The classes weren’t as hard, but I did take a lot of basic courses to get my general studies to prepare me to get back into another Division I (school).”

    In the meantime, Dunson joined the Trailblazers’ basketball team. After playing in historic buildings such as Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan., and Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., he was playing his home games in a small gym in a southwestern Indiana town of less than 20,000.

    But Dunson wasn’t worried about that while leading the Trailblazers to a 28-6 record. The year was about setting himself up for his future.

    “When you come in from a Division I, it’s kind of hard to juggle everything and manage your time right,” he said. “By the time I got here (to Bradley), I was fine.”

    FINDING HIS PLACE

    When it came time for Dunson to pick where he would spend his remaining two years, he knew exactly what to look for. Basketball wasn’t his primary concern.

    “Academics really sold me,” he said. “The way they had things set up for my learning disability, they had a learning specialist and a lot of things that were going to help me get through school. Basketball just took care of itself. I wanted to find a good program, but academics was the most important thing.”

    With the support he needed finally available to him, Dunson was able to flourish academically. In his first semester at Bradley, he elected to major in social work and earned a 3.5 grade point average. He was even better his second semester, earning a 4.0. While the support helped, none of the success would have been possible without Dunson’s work ethic.

    “He’s done it the old-fashioned way,” Bradley coach Jim Les said. “He works extremely hard. I think he’s a guy who takes a lot of pride in his schoolwork. He’s a guy that’s willing to spend hours on end to make sure that he has his academics in order. You love to see that type of hard work rewarded.   

    “A guy like that who has to overcome some obstacles gets a 4.0, and Bradley is not an easy school. There aren’t easy classes that he can take. He produces not for any other reason than he just works his tail off and takes great pride in his academics.”

    That’s because Dunson’s one of the rare college basketball players who truly is a student-athlete, rather than someone who is only in college to play basketball and sees classes as secondary.

    “It has to work both ways,” Dunson said. “The basketball, I can’t complain about the coaching staff and players. But if you really think about it, without academics, you can’t play, and they have a great program for me and my disability.”

    HARD WORK REWARDED

    Dunson’s hard work off the court didn’t go unnoticed by his new Bradley teammates. Prior to his junior season, before he had ever played a game as a Bradley Brave, the Braves voted him to be one of their team captains for the 2008-09 year.

    “I think it has a lot to do with his approach,” Les said. “He goes about things the right way. Before anybody can lead or be a captain, you have to take care of your own backyard and make sure you’re doing everything correctly. I think our guys recognized that when he arrived on campus. That garnered the respect to be captain.”

    That his teammates could do that without knowing him meant the world to Dunson.

    “I thought they had a lot of respect for me,” Dunson said. “They’d heard of me, but coming in, it was an honor to me, them putting me as a co-captain of the team. I worked hard for it, and a lot of players believed in me on the team.”

    The Braves still have that belief. Dunson enters his senior year in his second year as a captain for Bradley, and has a chance to see his hard work rewarded further.

    Earlier this year, Dunson was announced as a candidate for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award, given to a college senior in every sport for his or her character, work in the community, work in the classroom and skills in his or her chosen sport.

    It’s something his coach would love to see him recognized for.

    “It’s tremendous,” Les said. “I can’t say enough about him as a person. When you preach as a coach about hard work and dedication to academics, all the things that we talk about, he embodies those characteristics. It’s great to see him rewarded for that success.”

    Given what he’s had to overcome, it would have been easy for Dunson to feel he’d been cheated in life. Instead, he sees what he has and takes the opposite viewpoint.

    “I’m very fortunate,” Dunson said. “Bradley happened to be a great program that had something for my disability. Once it got a little easier for me in the classroom, it became easier to play on the court because I could focus on both ends.

    “I just think it’s a blessing. If you believe it, you can achieve it. I’ve just believed ever since I was little, and that’s how I got here today.”

Road woes plague Big Sky

This was my first Big Sky notebook. I'm so grateful that these coaches helped me out.

Winning on the road isn’t something Idaho State’s men’s basketball team has to worry about this week with two home games on the schedule.

Given the struggles the Big Sky has had in that department this year, Bengals’ coach Joe O’Brien is just fine with that opening.

In the nonconference schedule, only Montana, Northern Arizona and Weber State recorded a win in a true road game. The other six Big Sky teams went a combined 0-35 away from home, a mark littered with close losses and not-so-close losses.

“I think there’s a comfort level,” O’Brien said. “Teams are comfortable playing in front of their fans, the familiar surroundings. Everyone in our league has an impressive home record, but Sacramento State has yet to win a road game, Portland State has yet to win a road game, we have yet to win a road game.”

O’Brien said that puts a large emphasis on the home games. Sacramento State coach Brian Katz took a different view.

In his eyes, the Big Sky’s struggles on the road suggest that the league is open for someone to make a move toward the top. His philosophy has always been that good teams win on the road, and the fact that two-thirds of the league haven’t won a road game yet confirms his belief that the league will be parity-driven after the top teams.

“If you can’t win on the road, you’re probably not that good,” Katz said. “We’ve had two that we could have won, but in my opinion, the first thing you look at and judge teams on is their road record. That kind of tells me who they are.”

Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras, whose team has gone on the road and won, attributed most of the league’s struggles to having to play up and how difficult it is to win on the road in general.

He cited a game played on Monday night, when Pittsburgh beat Connecticut by 15 at home. Although the Huskies were undefeated and ranked fourth in the country, they hadn’t yet played a true road game and did not handle the new experience well.

“It’s hard to win on the road in Division I basketball,” Adras said. “All of us in the Big Sky go play road games. In the RPI, it dumbfounds me how you can put the Big West ahead of us when they have teams that haven’t won a thing this year, and Montana’s beaten UCLA and Oregon State. 

“It’s a little misleading as to how good our teams are. I think Idaho State would be much better if they’d played seven home games as opposed to seven road games in nonconference.”

Of course, having experienced success away from Flagstaff, Ariz., Adras admits it’s greatly helped his Lumberjacks.

“I feel good about the fact that we’ve won three road games this year,” he said.

 

LIFE AFTER LILLARD

Losing all-conference guard Damian Lillard could have been devastating for Weber State, but the Wildcats have found a way to adjust, beating Southwest and playing Brigham Young tough in a loss.

The question is whether Weber State can sustain that progress.

“We’re still trying to find our way a bit, because Damian was such a big part of everything,” Weber State coach Randy Rahe said. “I think they’re adjusting fine. They understand they’ve all got to pick it up a bit. Initially, when you have an injury like Damian’s, everyone rides on emotion, and then it kind of sinks in.”

Guard Scott Bamforth had stepped up well in Lillard’s absence, and Rahe hopes more of his players can similarly elevate their game. 

Rahe said that the Wildcats will apply for a medical redshirt for Lillard. Because he played in nine games, the Wildcats would have to play at least 30 games for the junior to be eligible. Two games in the Big Sky tournament would clinch that mark, and Rahe said the Wildcats could add a game to reach 30.

 

EXPERIENCE COUNTS

With almost its entire roster back, Northern Arizona was a popular pick among the coaches to have a strong season.

So far, the Lumberjacks have lived up to expectations and made their experience a strength. Adras said that’s because his team entered the year prepared after a teaching year.

“A year ago, I’d try to explain things to our guys, and they were looking at me like a deer in headlights,” Adras said. “Now when I talk about things, (they respond), ‘Yeah, I remember that, let’s do what was successful’. That comes through when we prepare for opponents now.”

An example came when the Lumberjacks went to Arizona and played the Wildcats to a five-point loss. Adras said his team was comfortable in a hostile environment because it had been there before.

“It’s a whole different thing when you’re coaching a veteran team as opposed to a young but talented team,” he said. “The talent’s there, but there’s other things you have to be prepared for.”

A different kind of calling

This was a favorite of mine. Dwight Richins was great to deal with. It was published June 25, 2010.

SHELLEY — For the past three years, Shelley football coach Dwight Richins and Athletic Director Dave Hadley have had an annual conversation about Richins’ future at the school.

It had nothing to do with Richins’ passion or performance. He loves his job at Shelley, and he has built the Russets into a state power, winning four 3A state titles in seven years. 

But Richins is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, and Hadley wanted to be prepared should the military call Richins into duty.

Each year, Richins told Hadley that he had nothing to worry about, because he was too old and not physically fit enough for the Army to send him overseas.

Through 2009, Richins was correct. This year, at age 50, he wasn’t.

Earlier this month, the Army Reserves told Richins that he would be deployed for one year to serve in a logistics mission in the Middle East, which will begin on Aug. 1. When the coach got the news, his feelings were mixed.

“I’ve been in the military for 28 years,” Richins said. “A lot of my friends have been deployed, and my own son (Tyler) has been deployed. You feel like you’ve been left out, so part of me is excited to be able to contribute and do my part.

“The other part is saying good-bye to home, family, good friends, my football team and the people I work with. The great things you enjoy in life will not be there. I’ve got grandkids coming, and I’m going to be apart from that.”

Richins doesn’t yet know where he will be going or the specifics of his mission. All he knows are basics about his mission and that he will be serving in either Afghanistan, Kuwait or Iraq.

The detailed information will be revealed to him when he reports for training, which will start on Monday in South Carolina.

“An example would be if they contracted 20 people to work, I have to make sure they fulfill the contract,” Richins said. “I’ll be auditing, doing paperwork and making sure there’s a smooth transition between the contractor and the government. It’s a logistics mission, so it will mostly be supplies.”

The hardest thing for Richins to do leading up to his departure was telling the people who mattered most to him. The first was his wife, Allyson, and his four children, sons Tyler, Shane and Chase, and daughter, Aubrey.

Allyson thought Dwight was past the age where the military would call him into action. But she has prepared herself for the possibility since Dwight first joined the military in 1982.

The Richins had been married for a little more than a year when Dwight decided to enter the service voluntarily and make some money. That began a 28-year relationship between the Richins family and the military that has seen Tyler and Chase follow Dwight into military service.

“It’s something that has always been in the back of my mind,” Allyson Richins said about her husband’s possible deployment. “I was a little surprised, but not really. It’ll be hard, but hopefully we can do what we do, and the military has been good for us for all these years.”

Although Dwight knew his wife would support him completely, he also knew that seeing her husband and her youngest son leave for military service in the same year (Chase, a 2010 Shelley graduate, recently left for basic training in Oklahoma) would be hard on her. That’s why he was glad that Tyler, who now lives in Rexburg, and Shane would be around to help her.

After talking with his family, one of the first people Richins told was Hadley, who doubled as one of his assistants on the football team.

The athletic director had prepared for the possibility, but he was caught off-guard when Richins told him the news.

“I was really surprised,” Hadley said. “As we got ready to go to (Idaho State’s football) camp last week, he came in and told me before he even told our principal. We’ve talked about (the future) and I’m going to be the head coach for one year, and we’ll leave the staff pretty much as it is.”

Hadley said the staff’s experience should make it easier through the transition period. Every Shelley coach has been on the staff for five years, and Hadley hopes to bring in Tyler Richins to fill the position vacated by his father. 

Although Hadley said he will make some small changes, the Russets shouldn’t have to learn a new system.

“I’m glad we don’t have a new head coach coming in,” said running back Aaron Adams, who will be a senior at Shelley this fall. “I know my teammates and I don’t want to learn a new offense and a new defense. We’re just going to stick to what we know. We’ve grown up with that offense and defense since fifth grade, and we don’t want to change it for our senior year.”

Adams and the Russets found out about their head coach’s deployment at the Idaho State football camp, and like everyone else, they were surprised that the man called “Mr. November” for his five state championships at Teton and Shelley wouldn’t be there to coach them in 2010, when Shelley will compete in 4A for the first time.

“For me, it’s definitely an honor to serve,” Richins said. “I don’t look at it as a sacrifice, I look at it as a privilege. We’re fighting them over there so they don’t fight us here. I’m excited about it, and I’m worried because I want to do a good job and serve the best I can.”

Hadley couldn’t disagree more about whether Richins is making a sacrifice.

“I appreciate his perspective, because he says he’s been getting paid to practice for 28 years,” Hadley said. “Now it’s time for him to perform. But anyone willing to serve our country and do those things is very admirable. Our kids are going to go out on Friday night with coach Richins in their heart and the sacrifice he’s making.”

As the days dwindle until Richins’ departure, he finds himself appreciating the smallest things more than ever before. 

On Friday, he sat in his office looking at photographs from his years at Teton and Shelley, realizing how much he will miss his current life.

Richins was asked what he would miss most.

“Everything I do, from getting a soda at the convenience store to driving down the road looking at green grass and green trees feels good,” he said. “I know I probably won’t get that where I’m going. It makes me appreciate everything we have here that we take for granted, such as going to a nice restaurant or wearing civilian clothes.

“I’m going to miss the little things. I look at these pictures and get sentimental. It’s going to be hard. But it’s time to make new memories and new relationships, so I’m looking forward to that, too.”

Bengals melt down in Sacramento

I've not been putting stories on here much lately. I'm going to change that, and I'm going to start by putting up a favorite from my time in Idaho. This was on Jan. 27, 2011.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The start of Idaho State's 74-63 loss to Sacramento State wasn't pretty. The finish was even worse, and Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien wasn't around to see it.

    Idaho State scored a mere two points in the first 11 minutes of the game, allowing Sacramento State to build a 15-point lead. The Bengals spent the entire game trying to recover.

    In the final two minutes, Idaho State assistant coach Cory O'Brien picked up a technical foul for disputing an official's call, then Joe O'Brien picked up two more technicals and had to be escorted off the court.

    The final tally for the Bengals (6-14 overall, 2-6 Big Sky) was six technical foul shots for Sacramento State's Sultan Toles-Bey, one fan ejected from the game along with O'Brien and their third consecutive loss at Hornet Gym on Thursday night.

    The opening minute summed up the Bengals' night perfectly. On the Bengals' second possession of the evening, Idaho State point guard Broderick Gilchrest found himself alone under the Hornets' (5-15, 2-7) basket for an easy shot.

    Gilchrest missed the shot, and center Deividas Busma missed the putback attempt. The Bengals' play fell off after that, and the Hornets took full advantage.

    “We missed eight to 10 layups in the first half,” Idaho State assistant coach Tim Walsh said. “If you miss layups, it's going to be hard to score because eventually, they're going to start taking things away. Then we let it affect things on the other end and had transition guys running by us. We had our backs to the wall after that.”

    While the Bengals stewed about what went wrong, Sacramento State coach Brian Katz went for a swim. He promised his players that he would jump in the pool if they earned a two-game winning streak, and delivered on his promise after his players frustrated Idaho State at every turn.

    “I thought we got really good defense in the first half,” Katz said. “In the first half, we executed the scouting report almost to a T. We (allowed) no transition, contested Busma and limited shots.”

    The Bengals found a way to solve the Hornets' defense in the second half and nearly got themselves back into the game because the Hornets made several mistakes. But Idaho State shot just 64 percent from the free throw line, and sealed its fate with the late explosion.

    With the Bengals trailing 61-55 and 1:02 remaining, Gilchrest drove toward the basket and was brushed on a layup attempt. The officials ruled that the contact was incidental and gave the ball to the Hornets when the ball went out of bounds, which set off the Bengals' coaches.

    After Cory O'Brien yelled that there was no way the call was correct, Joe O'Brien launched into a tirade. He charged center court screaming at the officials and had to be restrained as he was ejected from the contest.

    The three technicals ended any chance of Idaho State completing its comeback after what Walsh said was a great second-half effort.

    “After the first five or six minutes of the second half, we did a really good job,” Walsh said. “You have to give the kids credit, because they kept competing. They don't quit, and they're going to come out Saturday and give us their best effort.”

    Kenny McGowen led Idaho State with 17 points, while Duro Bjegovic paced the Hornets with 18 and was one of four Sacramento State players in double figures.