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[Southsider2k12]

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/613986...ick-around.html

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

New football coach at Michigan City. Really excited about the gig. Sees unlimited potential in the “sleeping giant.” Plans to stick around and really build something at Ames Field.

Sound familiar?

Craig Buzea said all that in 2007 when he stunned Portage by leaving for the downtrodden Wolves. After three years and some significant progress, he left for Homewood-Flossmoor, and the program once again was in tatters.

Eric Schreiber said all that last summer when he took over for Buzea. One season and one win later, he left to take the top job at Hammond High.

Enter Michael Karpinski, Michigan City’s new head coach, who was approved last week by the school board. He’s really excited about the gig. He sees unlimited potential in the “sleeping giant.” He plans to stick around and really build something at Ames Field.

And he means it. Honest.

“I’m excited to add some stability,” he said. “I’m not planning on going anywhere. By no means am I looking at this as a stepping stone. I’m looking to build something here. I understand people have heard that before, but you don’t understand — my wife will kill me if we move again.”

Indeed, Karpinski’s no nomad. He’s no football mercenary. Heck, he only went after this job because he lost his teaching job at Franklin Central during a reduction-in-force that gutted the school district. The 43-year-old spent the last eight years coaching at Franklin Central — a former powerhouse that won four state championships between 1980 and 1990, but has fallen on hard times lately. After six years as an assistant, he was the head coach the past two years, going 7-13 with a pair of close losses in sectional openers.

Before that, Karpinski coached for six years at the University of Indianapolis, where he wound up after playing cornerback at Hillsdale College. Hillsdale is about 90 miles from his hometown of Hastings, Mich., where he was a high school quarterback.

Moving to Michigan City brings him much closer to home — and gives him a teaching job and an exciting opportunity.

“I just feel real blessed to be right here,” he said.

The Wolves can only hope he sticks around and helps the moribund program (no conference or sectional titles since Rogers and Elston were consolidated in 1995) realize the potential it briefly showed under Buzea.

After just four practices, Karpinski has been particularly impressed with the enthusiasm the players have for the game, for him and for his new system.

It’s easy to assume that the Wolves would be jaded and cynical while dealing with yet another new coach making the same old promises.

But Karpinski was thrilled to find that they’re not like that at all.

“I sure haven’t noticed it,” he said. “They sure haven’t shown it if that’s the case. They’ve been working their tails off and have done everything I’ve asked of them. I’ve come in with a lot of enthusiasm, and they seem to have responded.”

Karpinski made a good impression with his first practice. Rather than the usual morning workout, he brought his team to Ames Field — probably the coolest football stadium in the region — under the lights on Monday night. And while it took more than a half hour just to teach the kids how to warm up and break the huddle — “baby steps,” Karpinski said — things quickly came together.

He introduced the players to his offense — a traditional power-I. Not as complicated as Buzea’s multiple-set spread offense, not as one-dimensional as Schreiber’s option.

“It’s basic football,” Karpinski said. “In today’s game, it seems like a lot of coaches try to get too cute. We’re going to come out and run the football, be physical, and we’re really going to stress blocking and tackling — shoot, that’s usually what it comes down to. We’re going to play power football, fire off the ball and really be physical out there.”

Karpinski insisted he’s not daunted by the enormity of the task, trying to wake up the sleeping giant. But he’s got his work cut out for him. The football program always has taken a backseat to basketball. And the relentless losing has made it even tougher to convince kids to come out for the team. Karpinski said he’s ready for all of that.

He also said he’s not intimidated by the meatgrinder that is the Duneland Conference, a brutal schedule that makes rebuilding difficult — and painful. He knows the drill; at Franklin Central, he played state powers Lawrence Central, Pike and Columbus North every year.

“I just know it’s an unbelievable conference, and I’m excited,” Karpinski said. “I’m ready for the challenge.”

Heard that before, too, right? Every coach has said that. But the hard truth is nobody in the 16-year history of Michigan City High School has proven to be up to that challenge. Not for any extended period of time, at least.

Will Karpinski be any different? He sure seems to think so. But, of course, it’s too early for anyone to tell.

He won’t really get a feel for how well his new players can handle his system until they put on the pads in August. And the Wolves won’t really get a feel for Karpinski until they sweat their way through those two-a-days.

But Karpinski feels good about what he has. And while he knows these kids and this community have been burned before, he hopes the feeling is mutual.

“Kids are the same all over,” he said. “I think these kids are really looking for someone to step up and lead and fight for them. And I’m that guy.”

[Southsider2k12]

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/750688...ing-record.html

Hutton: SB Washington coach should have passed on national receiving record

By Mike Hutton 648-3139 or mhutton@post-trib.com September 6, 2011 11:30PM

What kind of coach asks the opposing coach if it’s OK to break a national record in the middle of a game?

And just how is the other coach supposed to respond to such a ludicrous inquiry? “Great. Go for it. Humiliate us some more. We actually enjoy the pain and embarrassment you are inflicting on us and we’re looking forward to the press release the IHSAA will send out on Saturday trumpeting Gehrig Dieter’s accomplishment. We’d love for Dieter to get it against us. Why not us?”

Indiana is now one-up on Arkansas in the arms race for most pass reception yardage in a game. J.D. Felice of Rose Bud, Ark., held it before with 421 yards in one game. Should we all be proud Hoosiers or embarrassed for the insensitivity South Bend Washington showed?

Washington coach Antwon Jones, a 1998 Notre Dame graduate, deserves all the derision and scorn that should be piled on him for letting Dieter catch a 39-yard pass on the final play of the game to set the record in a 63-10 victory over Elkhart Central on Friday, giving him 437 yards, the new national record.

That is just so fundamentally wrong and selfish that it’s hard to know where to begin.

But I’ll start here.

Lou Holtz, who recruited Jones, is still covering his eyes at the thought of this absolutely insane scenario. He would’ve never approved.

Jones went for the record, according to the South Bend Tribune, at the behest of Dieter who knew at halftime it was within reach.

He begged the coach for a chance to keep piling up the yards because he was aware of his place in history.

“When somebody has a chance to get a national record, I bet any team in the nation is gonna go for it, not just us,” Dieter told the South Bend Tribune. “We were going to go for it in the first game but I only played three quarters.”

Thankfully, the majority of the coaches in the state don’t hold the view that records are more important than the team or the potential for needless injury. They get it. They understand sportsmanship and how you play the game is important for teenagers. That this doesn’t reflect well on the school, the coach or Dieter.

Jones instinctively knew he was wading into neverland when he brought up the subject with Elkhart Central coach Levon Johnson during the game.

Jones told the South Bend Tribune he received Johnson’s “blessing.” Johnson disputes that version, saying he warned him there would be an issue with sportsmanship if he went for it.

He was right.

The worst part about the move is that by enabling Dieter’s request to go for it, Jones has tainted him with the “S” (S-E-L-F-I-S-H) word when it could’ve been a teaching moment for him that went something like this when Dieter asked about it: “We love you Gehrig. We need you Gehrig. You’re a great player, but I don’t want to risk injury and this is a team game. It’s not about setting records. It’s time to rest.”

Michigan City coach Mike Karpinski knows a little bit about how Elkhart Central feels.

The Wolves were torched by Washington 40-21 in the second game of the season and Dieter piled up 346 yards in receptions. He has a huge amount of respect for Dieter’s game.

He’s not into record-for-the-sake-of-the-record thing.

Karpinski couldn’t bring himself to do what Jones did. In a different smaller way, he had a chance when the Wolves were playing Roosevelt — a game they won 46-0.

Late in the second half, Eric Yarbrough Jr., a wide receiver for the Wolves, whose father happens to be the Roosevelt football coach, pleaded with Karpinski to put him back in the game and throw one deep his way because he had dropped an easy touchdown pass in the first half.

Karpinski made him stay on the sidelines.

“What kind of a message would I be sending if I did that?” he said. “Personally, if I’m winning that big, he’s (Dieter) not playing. That’s just me and you know, he’s fantastic. He’s the real deal.”

And he has the real record, though for those people that chronicle history and know the real deal, it’ll be a record to hold your nose at.

Passing on every play when your team is ahead by double digits. Using your first stringers with a 46-point lead. Sacrificing shared responsibility for individual accolades. Refusing empathy for your overmatched opponent.

That’s a sad story and a sad lesson to pass onto high school football players. It’s not the way the game should be played.