FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Feb. 29, 2020
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from…
Maya Angelou
Later this afternoon my Francis Marion University men's basketball team will play its final game of the 2019-20 season against Flagler College down in beautiful St. Augustine, Florida. Win or lose, I will record the worst record in my 36 years as a head coach.
I never thought I would have to endure such a season. Even in the leanest of years I always thought I could coach my way to at least 10 wins.
But not this season. It has been a perfect storm of defections, dismissals, injuries, and just plain old lousy basketball.
Something strange has happened along the path of this unprecedented futility, though. Instead of a melancholy setting in, this old coach has experienced a renewal, a coaching rebirth, if you will.
I think mentally I had begun to trade my whistle in for AARP vacation brochures. I didn't wade into the cesspool of college basketball recruiting at all last spring, leaving that drudgery to my assistant coaches.
And this season has been the result. But this season, instead of making me sad, has made me mad.
I'm mad I didn't work harder to capitalize on our two straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. I'm mad I let my dreams of cutting down the nets here at FMU fade into the mist of complacency.
When I was awarded my first head coaching opportunity, Atlantic Christian College had suffered through a 4-21 season the previous year. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind I would turn that program around and cut down the nets.
Well, after this season, and in large part because of it, I have that same youthful certainty. I'll be returning to my roots next year in regard to discipline, player appearance, style of play, and recruiting.
It won't be long before things turn around. It won't be long before the Patriots are cutting down the nets.
And the defeats, well, I have now learned to embrace them. The losses showed me who I really am.
I am a basketball coach.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Feb. 22, 2020
Lessons from Kobe
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-
T.S. Eliot
Kobe Bryant dared to be great. He wasn't afraid of it, wasn't afraid of the sacrifices it took to get from good to great.
From 18 to 38 he played for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Twenty years of sweat and toil, producing five championship rings and 33,643 points.
He and his wife Vanessa also produced four daughters during that time; Natalie, Gianna, Bianka, and Capri.
Kobe Bryant was with Gianna several weeks ago when the helicopter they chartered to an AAU basketball game plunged into the foothills of Calabasas, California. All aboard perished.
I was struck by what NBA superstar LeBron James said after learning of the tragedy, "I felt like these last three years was the happiest I've ever seen him. Being able to be with his daughters, be with his family…".
It reminded me of my coaching mentor, Jim Valvano. Those of you old enough may remember he won the 1983 NCAA men's basketball national championship while the coach of North Carolina State.
He is also the "V" in the V Foundation for Cancer Research. He died of cancer in 1993.
Just months before he died he said, "…for 23 years I wasn't home. I figured I'd have 20 years in the big time, maybe win three national titles, then pack it in at 53 or 54 and walk in the house one day, put on a sweater and announce, 'Here I am! Ozzie Nelson's here! I'm yours!'
I was going to make it up to them, all the time I'd been away." He had it all planned out, but God had other plans.
In the last months of his life Jim Valvano would remove his shoes and just walk barefoot in the grass around his home. He would put his hands around the trunks of pine trees and just close his eyes.
On the last day of his life Kobe Bryant was traveling to coach 13-year-old girls in an AAU basketball game. It seems he was just beginning to descend the stair of fame and fortune, his hair not yet thinning in the middle.
And he had never been happier.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Feb. 15, 2020
When driving to work, I usually turn left off National Cemetery on to Old Wallace Gregg Road. A lot of people going to Francis Marion University use that route as a cut-through to the school.
Whenever they cut the grass along that stretch of road, I am amazed by how much trash the mowers churn up. I mean, it's really ridiculous, and something that always irritates me.
Normally I wouldn't have anything in common with State Representative Richie Yow of Chesterfield County, but it seems he is irritated about the same thing. He introduced legislation to a House transportation panel recommending trash be picked up before mowing along state roads.
The Department of Transportation spends about $20 million a year on mowing and they say that would double to $40 million if they had to pick up trash, too.
Volunteers and inmates can only do so much. Last month alone, 22 inmate litter crews picked up 9,400 bags of trash along South Carolina roads. In 2019, 110,000 bags of trash were collected.
Twenty-one years ago, Lou Holtz, the former South Carolina football coach, told a reporter, "South Carolinians must have the cleanest cars in the nation because all their trash is on the ground."
His comments led to the formation of an anti-litter non-profit, Palmetto Pride. But litter along South Carolina's roadways continues to be an eyesore and an embarrassment.
Do you throw trash out your car window? Someone is doing it…I don't think the wildlife along Old Wallace Gregg drinks out of McDonald's cups.
If you litter, let me speak the truth to you. Sometimes people don't like to hear the truth but that doesn't make it any less true.
If you litter, you are a sorry human being. My mama used to say certain people were just "sorry" and I think it is an appropriate description for those of you throwing trash out your car window.
Palmetto Pride has a hotline you can call to report a litterbug (1-877-7LITTER, 754-8837). The offender will be sent a letter from SCDMV that is not a citation but a warning.
So I am going to be on the lookout for you. It will be a nice diversion from coaching my basketball team.
I saw an old South Carolina license plate the other day. I think we still have the "smiling faces", but we've got to work on the "beautiful places".
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Feb. 8, 2020
The NCAA introduced the transfer portal in October of 2018. It is changing the face of college athletics and not, I am afraid, in a positive way.
The "Transfer Portal" is basically a database of every college player who has an interest in transferring from his or her current school. The school's compliance office has 48 hours to add a name to the portal once the request is made.
That information is then made available to every NCAA member school and contact may be made through electronic mail. At that point the athlete is a "free-agent" and the recruiting process begins in earnest.
My experience with the portal came a month or so after Francis Marion completed its 2018-19 season. One of our better players went to our compliance office with his request.
I was shocked. I thought this player was happy and loved Francis Marion.
"I do, Coach," he said. "I just want to see what kind of Division I interest is out there for me."
I thought at the time it was similar to a happily married man going to his wife and having the following conversation:
"Honey, you know I love you, but you don't mind if I see what kind of interest there is for me on Match.com do you"?
The NCAA is making it too easy for these young athletes to quit. In the case of our player, after telling us all summer he was returning, he ended up transferring a day before fall classes began.
It's even worse when a player quits on his team in the middle of the season. Wisconsin's Kobe King, averaging over 10 points a game for the Badgers, abandoned his team this week.
As did Charleston Southern' s leading scorer, Dontrell Shuler. As did Cincinnati's Jay Sorella. Quitting and added your name to the transfer portal is spreading faster than the coronavirus.
Some coaches are beginning to fight back. Virginia Tech's football coach, Justin Fuente, says he is not saving scholarships for any of the 12 Hokies who put their name in the portal after the 2019 season.
Other coaches are working the portal to their advantage. Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey jokingly told his assistant coach, Ryan Humphry, to read the transfer portal before his Bible each morning.
North Carolina's Roy Williams said, "It's part of the game now, but I don't have to like it."
As for me, after my Patriots blew a 20-point halftime lead against USC-Aiken and lost by one this week, I came home a little grumpy.
My wife suggested I put my name in the transfer portal.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Feb. 1, 2020
Francis Marion University is celebrating its 50th Anniversary with a year-long variety of activities. Today, it's our "Golden Year" Homecoming.
Athletics has played an important role in the growth of this fine institution, and we'll have many of our former athletes and coaches in attendance today. National Championship teams will be honored between the women's basketball game, scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m., and the men's basketball game which follows.
Women's basketball has made its mark in these first 50 years, winning two of those National Championships. Pearl Moore, with 4,061 career points, remains the leader in total points scored in the history of women's college basketball.
Six of the program's 13 head coaches have gone on to coach at the NCAA Division I level, with UNC's Sylvia Hatchell being voted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Pearl and Sylvia will both be in attendance at today's ceremony.
Men's basketball, while not quite reaching those same rarified heights, has also enjoyed its share of success. John Schweitz's 27-4 team in 2003-2004 was arguably the second-best Division II team in the nation.
In Coach Lewis Hill's 21 years, his teams regularly contended for NAIA District Six honors, and he led the program into NCAA Division II and the Peach Belt Conference. He also leads a group of six men's coaches with 339 career wins.
I had the honor of coaching two men's basketball All-Americans here at Francis Marion; Brandon Parker and Detrek Browning. With 2,356 career points, Detrek is the leading scorer in the history of the school and the Peach Belt Conference.
You are welcome to come out to our beautiful campus and help us celebrate today. I especially hope you can join us for the 50th Anniversary Gala to be held Tuesday, April 7, at the Francis Marion Performing Arts Center.
It will be a special evening of food and fun, music and memories, all held at a venue that jump-started the remarkable transformation of downtown Florence. All the proceeds will go towards FMU's First Generation Fund.
The First Generation Fund provides scholarships and other resources for FMU students who are the first in their family to attend college. It is a growing percentage of our student population.
While we Patriots are proud of our athletic accomplishments, providing life-changing opportunities for our students has been the heart of our mission these first 50 years, and I suspect will continue for the next 50.
And we are most proud of that.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Jan. 25, 2020
A Coach's Coach
No written word, no spoken plea
Can teach our youth what they should be,
Nor all the books on all the shelves,
It's what the teachers are themselves.
Morgan Wootten's favorite verse…
An iconic basketball coach and teacher died this week. Morgan Wootten coached tiny DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, for 46 years, compiling an overall record of 1,274 wins with only 192 losses.
"I know of no finer coach at any level-high school, college, or pro," said legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. "I stand in awe of him."
He is one of only three high school coaches voted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. His teams won five national championships, and more than 20 Washington D.C. city titles.
Perhaps his most famous victory came at the expense of New York's Power Memorial High School and Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in 1965. The Stags ended Power's 71-game winning streak, 46-43, before a sold out crowd at Maryland's Cole Field House.
The streak Coach Wootten was proudest of was the 31 consecutive years every senior on his roster earned a scholarship to a four-year college or university. As a young assistant at Hofstra University, I had the privilege of recruiting three of those players and getting to know Coach Wootten.
Charlie Minor, Greg Anthony, and Leroy Allen all attended Hofstra and became great players for us. They were well schooled in the fundamentals of basketball, but even better schooled in the fundamentals of life.
Morgan Wootten had many offers to coach in college on the "big-time" level. Of course, back then coaches didn't make the salaries they do now, but he never left and developed over 150 future college stars and 12 NBA players.
He didn't need the money anyway, because he ran one the largest and most successful summer basketball camps in the country. The Mason-Dixon Camp at Mount St. Mary's College was home to some of the brightest coaches around, and where I found many of my assistant coaches and good friends.
Jack Bruen, Pete Strickland, Mike Brey, Bob Valvano, Rich Zvosec, Mike Voyack, Joe Cantafio…all characters, all outstanding coaches, and all lifelong friends.
And Charlie, Greg and Leroy all became good husbands and fathers. Morgan Wootten preferred to measure his success in those terms.
Because, yes, he taught basketball, but he was ultimately a teacher of life. A life well lived by his former players and coaches becomes the final victory.
Well done, Coach, well done.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Jan. 18, 2020
One week ago today, Clemson ended the longest losing streak to one opponent in NCAA basketball history. The streak stopped at 59 games as the Tigers beat the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, 79-76.
Clemson coach Brad Brownell was understandably ecstatic, screaming "It's over…It's over!" as the final seconds ticked away. North Carolina coach Roy Williams' reaction surprised me.
"We've had some great moments as a coach, and right now I'd say this is my lowest one because losing this game was my fault," he said in the post-game press conference.
He went on to say that his performance down the stretch of this one game in January will be "the biggest regret I've had in 32 years as a coach." He was close to tears when he said the North Carolina athletic director should probably fire him.
Another Hall of Famer taking her lumps on the sideline is Muffet McGraw, the women's basketball coach at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were in the national championship game just a year ago, but have struggled to a 6-11 record this season.
After North Carolina State and former Francis Marion coach Wes Moore beat McGraw and her team by 34 points in South Bend, I'll be darned if she didn't start crying.
"I just…I gotta do better," she said while issuing an apology to everyone but the Pope. "I feel like I can fix it, but I didn't."
I am proud to say I am handling a tough season better than both of these veteran coaches. One year removed from winning 21 games and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, my Patriots have lost five games in a row going into today's matchup with Clayton State.
And yet my coaches and players remain upbeat and positive. With eight healthy players we came close to a monumental upset of Augusta on the road this week.
To be truthful, I have a lot more experience with losing than 'Ol Roy and Muffet. I've won close to 600 but I have also lost over 400, so I have learned a thing or two about perseverance through the years.
And to be fair, I don't have throngs of reporters to face after a loss, unless you want to call Justin Driggers a throng. If the chicken is warm in the hospitality room, most of my boosters don't give me a hard time.
But I have also learned you can't let coaching define you.
So after our loss at Augusta I walked my dog, Holly, a little after midnight, and if there was a tear in my eye it was over the beauty of the moon.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Jan. 11, 2020
I've got a little breaking news for you as you eat your breakfast biscuit. Clemson has a big game coming up.
Before you start calling me Captain Obvious. I'm not talking about THAT game. College football's national championship game pales in comparison to what is going on in Chapel Hill this afternoon.
The Clemson men's basketball team will be attempting to win a game at the University of North Carolina for the first time ever. The Tigers have lost 59 straight games to the Tar Heels in the Tar Heel state.
But Brad Brownell may have a good chance to break the longest home winning streak over a single opponent in NCAA history before it hits 60. The Carolina boys are shooting it a little crooked this year.
They have lost consecutive games in the Dean Dome, first to Georgia Tech, 93-86, and most recently to Pittsburgh, 73-65.
"It's probably the least gifted team I have ever coached in the time I've been back here," Coach Roy Williams said this week. Talk about Captain Obvious.
His team is barely shooting 30% from the three-point line and just under 40% from the field overall. They missed their first 15 shots against Georgia Tech.
Anthony Cole has been out with an injury, and freshman sensation, Anthony Harris, went down the other day, too. Some graduate transfers have not played as well as expected.
Surely the Tigers can come away with a win today. They took a good Miami team to overtime on New Year's Day, and recorded their first conference win over North Carolina State at home last Saturday.
I hope Clemson fans will make the drive north to support the team. Be there for a historic victory, and then hop on a cheap flight from Raleigh-Durham to New Orleans.
Roy Williams needs one more victory to reach 880 and surpass the legendary Dean Smith. Brad Brownell needs just one win to remove the monkey off his back.
But this year Coach Brownell has a secret game plan. He's found a weakness, as lethal to the Tar Heels as kryptonite is to Superman.
It's called Wofford.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Jan. 4, 2020
All kids need is a little help, a little hope, and someone who believes in them.
Magic Johnson
The Francis Marion University men's basketball team made its annual pilgrimage to Mullins this week to conduct a basketball clinic for the Mullins Recreation Department. Allen Floyd is the Recreation Director for Mullins.
Allen Floyd played basketball at Francis Marion from 1971-75 and holds the career record for rebounds (933) and is fifth in total scoring (1,599). During the 1972-73 season he averaged 22.4 points and 11.5 rebounds for the Patriots.
Impressive numbers for sure, but more impressive are the number of young people Allen Floyd has helped and nurtured through the years.
A native of Mullins, he graduated from Francis Marion in 1976 and worked as the recreation director in his hometown for 11 years. He then spent a few years selling insurance, but Mullins talked him into coming back about 10 years ago.
The other night, as our team bus pulled up to an aging gym in the heart of an aging town, I saw fathers and sons walking in together. I saw mothers and grandmothers nudging their youngsters toward the court.
And once there, they all migrated toward the Pied Piper of Mullins sports, Allen Floyd. He knew them by name, some of the young ones took hold of a leg and gave him a hug, all were excited to see him.
There were probably close to 100 youngsters in that tiny gym by the time we got started. All colors and shapes and sizes and genders, these young people were polite and listened when Allen Floyd spoke.
When they ran to the floor to do basketball drills with my players, they wanted to impress the college guys for sure, but I am also sure they didn't want to disappoint Mr. Floyd.
He will bring them to a Francis Marion game later in the year. Once in a while he will take one of his youth teams to a tournament out of town, and it will be the first time many of them have been to a mall or to a Chic-Fil-A.
He works long hours, opening the gym and cutting the fields and organizing the practices, and he certainly doesn't do it for the money. Mr. Floyd simply does it all for the kids.
He does have the chicken strips dinner named after him at Bravo's Pizza. We sat in a back booth after the clinic, two older guys talking about youth sports and how best to help young people learn the values so important to both of us.
But he was the one with a twinkle in his eye. And my newest New Year's resolution became to be a little more like Allen Floyd.
FMU Men's Basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Dec. 28, 2019
One and Done
John Calipari, the basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, was named college basketball Coach of the Decade this week by the Sporting News.
I like John Calipari. I've known him since one of my assistant coaches at Charleston Southern, Bill Bayno, left after one year to work for him at the University of Massachusetts.
Bill Bayno was a one and done coach. Calipari has earned most of his success at Kentucky with one and done players.
One and done players, and particularly players transferring from one school to another after one year, is all the rage in the NCAA now. Something called the NCAA Transfer Portal makes it easier than ever for young men and women to move around.
The NCAA is made up of colleges and universities and, the last I heard, those colleges and universities are supposed to teach. I'm concerned about what we are teaching them.
In accepting his award, Calipari said he encourages his players to think of themselves first when making decisions about the NBA. If it is better for them to leave college after one year then "we'll deal with what's left."
But what may be better for the individual may not be better for the whole. That is, after all, what teamwork is about, isn't it?
I fear we're teaching our young athletes it is every man or women for themselves. Coaches move around in search of multi-million dollar contracts. Why shouldn't players feel free to move around?
Because there is strength in perseverance. Don't quit when things are tough and not going your way.
Because loyalty is still a virtue. You made a commitment, now stick to that commitment.
Because your teammates may be depending on you. Is it wrong to sacrifice for others?
Because the grass may not be greener on the other side of the fence.
And for all of the one and done players leaving college after one or two semesters to cash a big check, an education can be a valuable thing, too.
I don't begrudge anyone for bettering themselves. I'm not going to criticize anyone for transferring to another school or leaving college early to chase the riches of the NBA.
But I'm not going to put them on a pedestal, either.
FMU Men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Dec. 21, 2019
Merry Christmas!
There are times when I feel this column serves a public service.
In the past I have recommended Peach Belt Conference cities you should visit (St. Augustine, FL and Dahlonega, GA) and those you might want to avoid (Americus, GA and Pembroke, NC).
I have tried to be a psychologist, helping us get through the daily grind without jumping off the nearest overpass.
I have tried to motivate and inspire, so we might break free from our hum-drum lives and actually do something extraordinary.
So it is only natural I should now share with you the results of my annual tour of Christmas lights in the Florence area. It includes only personal residences, no businesses or public displays.
My wife and I, hot chocolate and cut-em-up cookies in hand, started the drive close to home and were immediately impressed. Charlestown Blvd. has a very nice variety.
We went to the lovely and large homes on Hillside and were frankly a little disappointed. You folks up there can do better.
On the corner of Eleanor and Damon you will find a very large, lighted tree. It is not really a tree, so don't be confused, but it looks like a tree and is very nice.
We always go down Sidney because there is a goat that lives down there and we like to roll the window down and talk to the goat. The goat's parents and their neighbors were having a huge Christmas party.
Not only were my wife and I not invited to the goat's party, we weren't invited to any holiday parties this year.
Well, we were invited to the Faculty and Staff reception Fred and Folly Carter throw in their beautiful home on the Francis Marion campus each year, but I can't really count that.
I think they have to invite us.
Anyway, moving out of town a bit we found a home outlined in lovely lights on Purple Martin. The home itself was outlined and, as an added touch, each window and door was also outlined.
Outstanding job by the outdoor illumination expert at that house!
Right around the corner, though, on Blackfriars, you will see the most pitiful shining star you've ever seen. Hey, you can't pick your neighbors.
But the greatest light display in all of Florence can be found on McClellan Drive. The owner doesn't turn on the lights every night due to the electric bill and interfering with flight patterns at the airport, but when he does you can't miss it.
As for my wife and me, we probably need some spotlights to illuminate our window wreaths.
I'd have you come by to see for yourself, but with my team's record this year, I don't want anyone to know where I live.
FMU men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Dec. 14, 2019
Win the Day
This is the day which the Lord hath made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
The Francis Marion University men's basketball team does not play a game today. That doesn't mean we won't be trying our very best to win.
We'll be trying our very best to "Win the Day"! We won't be worrying about our past defeats, or our upcoming opponents.
For a college basketball player, winning the day includes not only going to class but sitting at the front of the classroom and actively participating.
It includes eating properly and getting enough sleep. Getting up your practice shots in the gym, doing your repetitions in the weight room.
Coming to practice with enthusiasm and purpose. Working as hard as you can for those two hours to improve yourself and to help your teammates improve.
Today's work is not dependent on how we did yesterday, or what might happen tomorrow. Today's work is today's work.
The late Robin Williams played teacher John Keating in the 1989 film, "The Dead Poets Society".
He implored his boarding school students to "Seize the day!" Carpe Diem!
Human nature leads us to fret about the past and worry about the future. Or even worse, we tend to postpone living until all the conditions are just "right".
"I'll practice harder tomorrow, coach, I promise."
"I'll spend more time with my children after I get this big project done."
"I'll travel more and visit friends after I retire."
Dante said that "this day will never dawn again." Today is our only sure possession.
So I have been preaching to my team, because I have needed to hear the sermon myself.
A friend passed away suddenly the other day at the age of 61. I am 62.
My Patriots shoot crooked, and we may lose the majority of our games this year. That's not easy for an old coach to stomach.
But those games are in the future. We play Mt. Olive on the road Tuesday, and open our conference schedule at home against North Georgia on Thursday night and against Young Harris next Saturday afternoon.
I don't know how we will do.
But today, I know we have won.
FMU men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Dec. 7, 2019
Trojan Turnaround
Green Sea Floyds High School was formed by the merger of Green Sea and Floyds high schools in 1976. Neither school had a football team separately, but collectively they became the Trojans.
The Trojans suffered through many a losing season during those early years. Opposing football squads would travel past the tobacco fields between Mullins and North Myrtle Beach and usually come away with a resounding victory.
When my son, Grady, graduated from college, he wrote the football coach at Green Sea Floyds about a possible job opening. The coach, Tony Sullivan, was from the Upstate and was just getting started himself.
Coach Sullivan hired Grady to coach football and the principal hired him to teach English in 2014. The Trojan football team did not win a game in 2014.
I traveled from Florence to watch them play on a few occasions. They were so small and slow I was fearful the entire lot would sustain injuries before the final whistle.
I cannot adequately describe how bad the 2014 Green Sea Floyds football team was. On one of those humid Friday nights in September, I would have bet $1,000,000 the Trojans would never have a winning record, let alone play for a State Championship.
And I would have lost such a bet miserably, for not only have the Trojans enjoyed winning seasons, they beat Lamar last year to win the South Carolina Class A State Championship. They played in the championship game again last night against Ridge Spring-Monetta and won again.
It may be the greatest turnaround I have ever witnessed in sports. Greater than the St. Louis Rams going from 4-12 in 1999 to winning Super Bowl XXXIV.
Greater than Auburn struggling through a 3-9 season in 2012, only to turn it around with a 12-2 record in 2013.
Greater than the Boston Celtics recording a 24-58 record in the NBA in 2006-07, and then the following year going 66-16.
So how did the Trojans make such a remarkable turnaround? For one thing, Grady stopped coaching and went into administration.
Although Coach Sullivan ultimately improved his team to 6-6, he was replaced in 2017 by Donnie Keefer. Donnie Keefer had won a ton of games in North Carolina at places like Central Cabarrus and Tuscola, so winning at Green Sea Floyds didn't seem so tough to him.
He instilled confidence in those young Trojans, and being a member of the North Carolina Powerlifting Hall of Fame, he set out to get his players stronger and faster.
It helped to have some great athletes like Jaquan Dixon and Bubba Elliot come through the ranks, but Coach Keifer quickly established a winning culture out in those old tobacco fields. It is unbelievable to me they are now regularly playing for state championships.
You just never know with sports. Despite shooting less than 40% for the year, my own Patriots basketball team just might turn things around and win a game this week.
I wouldn't bet $1,000,000 on it, though.
FMU men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Nov. 30, 2019
The Francis Marion University men's basketball team traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida, on Thanksgiving Day for a little holiday tournament at Eckerd College. Many times athletes don't celebrate holidays in traditional ways.
The Patriots enjoyed their Thanksgiving meal at a Cracker Barrel on the side of Interstate 95. It is the price of being an athlete but don't fret for us…we are, after all, spending the weekend steps from the Gulf at St. Petersburg Beach.
Our server at Cracker Barrel made the meal even more enjoyable. She was friendly and outgoing and, despite not spending the day with her family, constantly had a smile on her face.
It made me think of all the people we see regularly who brighten our day. Many times we take them for granted, but we shouldn't.
I try to go to a Florence health and fitness club at least three or four times a week. Sometimes I work out really early, sometimes a little later, but each time I go by the front desk Cynthia is there to greet me.
She arrives at 5:00 a.m. and stays past lunch, and she knows just about every member by name.
And each member is greeted not with just a "Good Morning" but also with a little daily inspiration:
"It's Make it Happen Monday!"
"Have a Terrific Tuesday!"
"Welcome to Work Out Wednesday!"
"Be Thankful This Thursday!"
"Let's Have a Fantastic Friday!"
Cynthia could just sit at the desk like a bump on a log, but she tries to brighten each members' day. We go to the gym for a physical workout, but leave with a spiritual boost
I could give you a bunch of other examples and I am sure you could, too. Debra at the Waffle House knows exactly what I am going to order every time I walk in.
"Mark, order over medium, grits, white toast." She doesn't mention the large orange juice because she is responsible for pouring that.
She is also responsible for supporting her family, but she finds the time to help others in her community. All the time, doing it with a bright and cheery disposition.
JoRetha Evans has served the athletic department at FMU for over 20 years as an administrative assistant. Ms. Jo has helped countless students and coaches navigate life while facing her own personal challenges with grace.
We all have good days and bad. The Cynthia's, and the Debra's, and the Ms. Jo's of this world help with both.
And we should be thankful for that.
FMU men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Nov. 23, 2019
Avoid the Swamp
The Wofford football team travels to Charleston this afternoon to take on the Citadel Bulldogs. I assume Francis Marion University president Fred Carter will be there to support his son, Luke, who is an all-conference kicker for the Terriers.
When he is not watching his son play football, Dr. Carter has been known to sit behind my bench and watch the Francis Marion men's basketball team in action. Before tip-off he will shake my hand and proclaim "tonight's the night!".
Sometimes the night produces a Patriots victory and sometimes it does not, but in the 14 years I have served as head coach at FMU, Fred Carter has been unconditionally supportive. In fact, I have never heard him utter anything but a positive word about our coaches and athletes.
You will see him at games, he was instrumental in having our athletic banquet moved to the Performing Arts Center, and he works with athletic director Murray Hartzler to constantly upgrade our facilities and keep our athletic department moving forward.
But he does not get too involved. I have been in college athletics for over 40 years now, and I have never seen anything good come to a college president who wades too far into the swamp of college athletics.
I hope the Army issued South Carolina president Robert Caslen a good pair of hip-boots, because he is in the middle of the swamp and sinking fast.
In the course of a week, Caslen said football coach Will Muschamp was his coach "at least until the end of the season". Then he told our own Scott Chancey that Ray Tanner had talked to Florida State about how it handled the buyout of Willie Taggart.
He finally had to issue a statement later in the week saying, "I misspoke and the mistake was mine…we look forward to him (Muschamp) being our coach next year and for seasons to come."
Meanwhile, Will Muschamp's team is 4-7 and 24 ½ point underdogs going into the annual rivalry game with Clemson.
Robert Caslen served our country as a Lieutenant General in the Army. He heroically battled our enemies in countless tours of duty before being named Superintendent of West Point.
But he has never faced anything as rabid, as incensed, or just plain old ornery, as a Gamecock fan after a loss to Clemson.
The poor guy was behind the eight ball going into this presidency anyway. He doesn't possess an earned doctorate, 82% of students and faculty opposed his candidacy, and there was significant controversy surrounding his appointment.
So I would think he needs to concentrate on building consensus and support on his own campus. Leave athletics alone until you are on more solid footing.
Because Henry McMaster is not going to wade into this swamp.
FMU men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Nov. 16, 2019
GRATEFUL
My Francis Marion University men's basketball team lost its home opener last week to Newberry College. I'm always down after a loss, but this one hit me especially hard.
I talked with my assistants after the game searching for answers, called some old coaching friends, and took my dog, Holly, for a long walk later in the cold afternoon. But nothing really helped as I settled into a sleepless night.
Early the next morning I turned on the television and a little 30-minute filler was on, "The Champion Within". I found myself looking at a young man crying, with two precious little girls at his side.
I learned that young man is Jason Enloe, and he is the golf coach at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The two girls are his daughters, Maddie, 4, and Emma, 6.
It would have been the perfect family picture, the three of them sitting on the couch like this, if Jason's wife, and Maddie and Emma's mother, Katie, could have joined them.
But Katie died from Leukemia a year or so ago, and Jason is left to raise their two girls the best he can. He is exhausted, physically and emotionally, at the end of most days.
And at the end of those days, he and his daughters say a prayer:
"Dear God…thank you for this day.
Thank you for the time we got to spend with Mommy.
God, please take care of Mommy while she is in heaven…"
Throughout my life, God has whispered lessons in my ear. As I watched Jason and Maddie and Emma on that couch, I felt He was shouting at me and I was ashamed.
Ashamed of my depression over losing a basketball game. Ashamed at not being more grateful for all the blessings in my life. Ashamed.
Later that day I went to our campus and I told my team about Jason Enloe and his girls. I wanted them to know why I was wearing a red, rubber band on my right wrist which simply says, GRATEFUL.
After that we watched some film on Catawba, our next opponent. We talked about staying in front of the ball and rebounding and denying the high post.
It all sounds so silly to me at times. But it is my job to teach my young players those basketball fundamentals.
We did a better job of executing those fundamentals against Catawba, but we still lost. Lost a basketball game, I mean.
We are never going to lose sight of our blessings.
FMU men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Nov. 9, 2019
Imperfect Attendance
I can't remember what grade I was in, maybe 5th or 6th, when I received a perfect attendance award. The school principal gave me a certificate and a little pin at the end-of-the-year awards ceremony.
I didn't miss a day of school for the entire year. You have to be a little lucky to accomplish that I guess, but I am sure there were a few days when I woke up not feeling the best and could have stayed home.
I was proud when Mr. Etheridge called my name and handed me my certificate and pin. My parents were there and I believe they were proud too.
I hope schools still recognize perfect attendance. I wish the NBA did, but there seems to be no honor in playing a full schedule for these well-paid professional basketball players.
Several days ago, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers sat out a nationally televised game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Clippers have played eight games this season and Leonard has already missed two due to "load management."
"Load management" is all the rage in the NBA. It is designed to rest star players from the 82-game grind of the regular season.
I say "load management" is a load of horse manure. The players love the money (Leonard's contract will pay him over $30 million this year), but they don't want to get too tired earning it.
The NBA has a problem with no easy solution. I would think the average Joe up in Milwaukee who shelled out $250 for a ticket the other night had to be a little irritated in seeing Leonard sitting on the bench in street clothes.
ESPN pays the NBA and its teams millions each year to televise regular season games. Ratings take a huge hit when star players don't play.
The NBA has a rule against sitting players in nationally televised games, but all the player has to do is feign an injury and all is forgiven.
Can you imagine Michael Jordan taking the night off for "load management"? He played in 1,072 regular season games in 15 years.
Wilt Chamberlain played the maximum number of regular season NBA games nine times in his career. And his 7'2" frame had to fly commercial!
The guys today fly in private jets, and stay in the nicest of hotels, and get the best training and medical attention money can buy. It's not as though they are out digging ditches all day…and yet they have to rest.
The Francis Marion men's basketball team plays Catawba at 4:00 p.m. today on our campus. We played yesterday, too, and I am sure my players and staff are a little tired.
But you can bet we'll all show up.
FMU men's basketball head coach Gary Edwards' weekly column for Nov. 2, 2019
The Francis Marion University men's basketball team doesn't open its 2019-2020 season until next week, but I just couldn't wait to write my first column any longer. There is just so much to talk about!
Like most politicians I will start with the low hanging fruit. My favorite foil, the NCAA, made a statement this week proclaiming support for college athletes to profit from name, image, and likeness endorsements.
Read the statement and you will be left with the impression the NCAA has finally seen the light in regard to compensation for college athletes. "We must embrace change to provide the best possible experience for college athletes," Ohio State President Michael Drake wrote.
In reality, the NCAA is being led down this road kicking and screaming. After the California legislature passed the "Fair Pay to Play Act", college sports governing body really had no choice.
The California law, which begins in 2023, bans schools in that state from preventing student-athletes from accepting compensation from advertisers and allows them to hire agents. Governor Gavin Newsome, sidestepping the human feces in the streets of San Francisco, and shrugging off rolling electrical outages, enthusiastically proclaimed it the beginning of a national movement.
And darned if he was not right! Politicians in Illinois, New York, Florida, and other states introduced bills allowing endorsement deals for college athletes. National politicians, taking a break from interviewing Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, signaled they too would push for something similar in Congress.
I read the other day vinyl records were poised to outsell CDs this year. My wife never throws away any clothes because she says they always come back in style eventually.
And so it is with college athletics. For decades college athletes at elite schools were paid under the table by influential boosters. John Wooden won 10 national championships in men's basketball at UCLA, but recruiting was taken care of by the man Bruin players referred to as "Papa Sam" or "Papa G", millionaire contractor Sam Gilbert.
SMU football was given the "death penalty", the NCAA stepped up rules enforcement, and for a time college athletics was a little "cleaner"; the smaller schools with shallow pockets could actually compete for a national championship.
But no more. This new legislation and proclamation assures the gap between the haves and the have-nots will only widen.
T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire Oklahoma State booster, died recently, but can you imagine how much he would have paid a star Cowboy recruit to put the recruit's "image" on the side of one of his oil tankers?
It's going to be the Wild, Wild West out there, and schools with the richest boosters and the richest shoe contracts will come out ahead. Which may be the way the NCAA wants it after all.
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney said, "As far as paying players…that's where you lose me. "I'll go do something else."
Of course that was before he signed a $93 million dollar contract. Something tells me we won't be seeing old Dabo flipping burgers at the Esso Club anytime soon.
