Coach Mikes Blog

in Personal by coach mike on 05 Feb 2008

Received some bad news today, actually started hearing the news yesterday. A former trackster, former employee , and a friend was killed in a car accident. The weather has been really weird, snow, rain, cold , hot and then a lot of fog. Twenty-three year Andy was driving in the fog, missed his turn, was backing tracking and was hit by a truck. Andy was a real favorite. He always had a good outlook on life, always had a smile and a firm handshake. He worked for my family at the restaurant, my mother just adored him. On the track, he was a sprinter for the Wildcats, always giving his best. My favorite memories of Andy took place at Harrisburg. He had ran the premli’s of the 200M, didn’t race real well. Later he was in the 4×200, he lined up on top of the exchange triangle, instead of using the acceleration zone. This was a freshman mistake, problem with that was Andy was a upper class man, of course this messed up the whole relay, messed up the hand offs. I gave him a good chewing. He went on his way, back to camp, took his shoes off, took his jersey top off, was playing cards. They announce the finals of the 200′s, guess who made the finals? Andy, he had no idea, wasn’t ready. It was a funny sight seeing him come running out of the stands, trying to put his shoes on, his top on, while the starter held up the race. I couldn’t chew on him again, the sight of him, falling to start, was just to funny. Thanks Andy for all the good times you gave us. Thanks for always having a smile on your face, thanks for always taking time to talk to your old coach. The world lost some of its positive energy! Love you man.

in Personal by coach mike on 22 Dec 2007

Right now its between, between cross and track. Time on my mind, too much time. But a runner gets very little break. A good runner that is takes very little time off, maybe 2 weeks and then its time to get back with it. This time of the year, weather permitting, is good for base, building base. To get faster, you need base miles, not real fast miles, but good solid miles. Some lines of thinking, don’t even want you to worry about miles, run minutes. I like that approach. For example: Jordan and Tyler aren’t going to run 5 miles in the same time. Tyler may take 35 minutes while Jordan 30 minutes. Since we are trying to build an aerobic base, we need time more than distance. So let Jordan and Tyler both run 35 minutes and see what they can do. Of course if they run together you get the same results. That why sometimes you just need that run on your own. Distance runners are lonely sorts, if they want to be good, better, best, they have to hit the road and put in their time. So get out there and hit the roads, run lots of minutes, get ready for that 2 mile and 1 mile race in track. You do the time or miles and then we will bust your butts on the track to get that needed speed. Happy Holidays! What the heck Merry Christmas!

in Personal by coach mike on 16 Sep 2007

My little girl is getting married this weekend, so the team will travel without me to Springfield. Audrey is 25 years old and has been away from home for several years now but it just seems like yesterday that she was cheer leading, playing basketball and running. She ran in high school, was on a regional championship and sectional championship team. And one year in college. She was a solid runner and good leader. I got to coach her one year, her 8th grade year at Selmaville. That was my first year coaching cross country.  I don’t really remember much about that year, just a lot of kids, noisy  bus rides.  I do remember winning 4th place at state, the excitement of the ride home. We would always get the fire truck treatment when we got back into town to the school and then a pizza party. The meet was held at Clay City High School. We drove the kids over because we didn’t want to take a bus for reason I can’t talk about! The race started, up close to the building, the kids had to run over the curve of a old track to a small bush and make a 90 degree turn. It was a very tricky start, I saw races where whole teams would be wiped out trying to make that turn. Then you ran along the street and made another 90 degree turn by some temporary  building with concrete steps  in the path of the runners.  The Selmaville parents started  moving those steps out of the way. One year we forgot to put them back, the next year the meet director put us in charge of moving them and putting them back. Seems he had to move them himself.  This race was something to watch, lots of kids and parents.  Some real tough finishes, some real knock down action at the end of the race.  Neat place to race. Anyway that team won 4th, so thats a memory  for  my daughter and I to share for ever.

She’s getting married in Bloomington, Indiana at IU. Where they met. Its going to be a great day. She is a great person and her husband to be a great young man. I very happy for them.  My little girl!

in Personal by assistant coach on 11 Sep 2007

Coach Mike is a TV star, well maybe not a star, but he was recently on ‘The SPORTS COUCH TV Show.” He went down to Mt. Vernon on Sunday. The show aired through Charter Cable that same day. If you missed it, or don’t have Charter, I have the link to watch it over the Internet.
The SPORTS COUCH TV Show (Episode #61) (IL)

Video Highlights of the Mt. Vernon Invitational Cross Country Meet with coaches, Clint Turner, Connie Harre-Blair, and Mike Hargis. Video Highlights of the Triad vs Mt. Vernon football game, and video highlights of the Salem vs Mt. Zion football game. We’ll also have an interview with Don Laur of 618Football.com and Terry Gamber of the MVTHS Sports Hall of Fame committee.

I’m not exactly sure what is needed to watch it, but I had to use Internet Explorer and it opened and played in Winamp – though I’m sure Windows Media Player will work fine. The video is streamed over the Internet, so a semi-fast connection is required.

Thanks to the folks at AreaSports.net for all their hard work and showing some interest in Cross Country.

***Note: Coach Mike isn’t on until about the 14th minute***

in Personal by coach mike on 09 Sep 2007

Makes me feel good as I’m sure it does with most coaches, when one of yours goes on to college and competes on that level. Right now there are at least four ex-Wildcats runners out there. Wes and Amber up in Chicago, Justin at EIU and Corey at SIU-E.  Wes and Amber are running cross country at Illinois Institute, Justin is running track at Eastern Illinois University at Charleston, and Corey is jumping at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

in Personal by coach mike on 05 Sep 2007

Heard Bruce Hixon is heading back to Illinois. Might settle in Carlye. Thats good news.

in Personal by coach mike on 29 Aug 2007

I’m sure every coach, as do most human beings, have regrets. When I’m driving around with free time on my mind, I always seem to get to the old game of what if? When regrets come to track, one thing always pops back into my head. The boys track sectional 2006 at Marion. We were having a good day, Corey my TJ and LJ was doing well, Grant had gotten to the finals of the 110′s, even Brock the first year senior discus thrower was in 2nd place going into the finals. My youngest child TC was our high jumper, to qualify for state, you either had to be 1st or 2nd or met a qualifier. The height in the high jump was 6’5″. TC had made the mark at a meet earlier in the year. And he was having a good day, clearing all the heights up until 6’3″. We had talked about passing that height and waiting for the qualifier. So after clearing 6’1″, he called me over we talked, he decided to try the 6’3″, which he missed on his first of three attempts. At this point as his coach, I should of said pass to 6’5″, since 6’3″ meant nothing and there were 2 other jumpers left. But I didn’t and he didn’t. I couldn’t make the call when it counted. We ended up with a great meet, but I will always regret not making that choice. That’s the bad part of coaching a sport like track and cross country, you can be happy for one athlete and sad for 10 others.

in Personal by coach mike on 27 Aug 2007

July 22nd 2007-Vicky and I were out for supper with some friends in Fairview Heights, celebrating a friends birthday. We were almost home when we passed Green Street or Selmaville road. The road was blocked off by Emergency Services. That was a very bad sign. That road had taken the life of many people over the years . We hadn’t been in the driveway 3o seconds when my cell phone rang. The ID was Mol, thats short for Mollie, a junior on the girls team. i knew something was wrong it was almost 10:30 pm on a Sunday. I have always told my kids (cross country and track) call me anytime, if you need something or have a problem. Her words sent a chill down my spine “Brandon’s been killed in a wreck.”

What do you say to a young person? Brandon was an important part of our cross country team, even though he never ran cross country in high school. He had just graduated from high school in the spring, a leader on the football team, a very popular young man. His younger brother, Jordan is a member of the cross country team and his girlfriend Lindsay is a member of team. Add to that he was a friend of mine, a former employee, and a former athlete that I coached in grade school and high school. His parents are great people, Hard working people, good parents. they supported all the kids. Brandon had worked for me at my restaurant. Brandon came to me needing a job. I wanted him to go out for track, thought he could help us with his speed, I also thought he might be able to be some type of jumper, maybe even a pole vault. He had enough speed and enough upper body strength, that he could of vaulted.

He decided he would come out for track and I hired him on his word that he would come out for track. And he came out for track, but he found out later he had hurt his back during football, I think his back ended up being fractured, so no pole vaulting. He kept working for us. The reason I’m telling this story, my business started to fail, my employees knew it, some of them started to bail, not many but some did. I don’t blame them for that. But not Brandon, he stayed, he told me he was staying until the end. Brandon was that type, loyal to the end. I enjoyed talking to him on Sunday mornings about Friday nights football game. He loved his football, he played with all his heart. He was always planning his life after high school, he was going to figure it out. And he had it figured out.

The days after the accident were tough on the community, specially the young people. the visitation was the biggest I have ever seen. The cross country teams went together, as a group.

Sometime in life there are questions without answers. Why did this happen? Why was this young person taken from us? There are no answers. Brandon was full of life, he played hard, he worked hard, he looked after his friends. I don’t know why Brandon was taken, but it was not to leave his brother heart broken, it was not to leave his girlfriend with a heavy heart, and it was not to leave his parents with so much pain. But knowing Brandon, I’m sure that he has God’s ear, as he tries to convince him to start a football team so he can run that ball one more time, just as I’m sure he’s rooting for his brother and girl friend to race like he played football, with all he had, all the time.

God bless you Brandon, we will miss you and we will never forget you!

in Personal by coach mike on 16 Aug 2007

I decided to start a blog. I’m not sure what a blog is or why I want to start one, or if anyone will even read it, at least more than once! Some history about myself. I’m 50 years old; I have been coaching all my life it seems. Even when I was in my early teens, I was helping with the baseball program in town. I coached my first little baseball team right out of high school. The league was short on coaches, I knew some of the other coaches, before long, I was a head coach. Head coach of Lions, well almost, before I had coached even one practice, I switched to National Bank. Why? Because that was the team I played on when I was a little leaguer, so the chance came up to coach that team, so I took it. Coached five years won two league pennants, lost two city championships, won one league tournament championships, got married, scheduled the wedding and honeymoon around the baseball games. My wife Vicky should of figured something out there? So I guess sports have been part of my life, my whole life. Played baseball, football, basketball, all thru grade school and high school. Wasn’t great, wasn’t bad. All conference in football, 1^st team. 6’2” 125 lbs. With no speed. You might take notice of the sports I did play for future reference. Two years of junior college, was going to finish at a four year school, had an offer to stay in town and make some money, managing a restaurant, so I did. Married at age of 20, first child at around the age of 25, a beautiful , and I mean real beautiful girl. (she takes after her mother.) Just a normal family in the Midwest, in a small town of less than 8,000. Added two kids both boys. I was still coaching some, helping with a Babe Ruth baseball team, helping some at a small catholic school in town. The kids were growing and of course they were interested in shooting basketballs, playing baseball, stuff like that. Well to be honest Audrey was somewhat interested, as long as she could look good at it. To be honest she did look good in her little ball hat and blue shirt. The boys took to sports right off, running, jumping, shooting baskets. Just your typical boys. They played tee ball, I coached. They played pee wee basketball, I coached. Flag football, the same. My philosophy from the beginning was let the kids have fun. Teach them the fundamentals, but make sure they had fun. Guess what? It worked. We had fun, we learned about the games, and we even won a few times as a team. No yelling, no screaming, NO SWEARING! The kids were happy, the parents were happy, at the end of the day everybody got a snow cone. This has been me in nutshell. I love coaching.