Your Dream Job Could Be A Nightmare
by Cheval John
I have something to say to Kevin Sumlin, head football coach at the University of Houston (UH) Cougars: Stay where you are because you have a chance to build a legacy at UH.
The Cougars are 12-0 and are playing for the Conference-USA championship on Saturday. If they win, then they will receive an automatic bid to play in one of the five bowls in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).
The reason why I am saying this is because his name is being mentioned for coaching vacancies at several schools including Texas A&M and Arizona State University. History has shown that the majority of coaches that left their previous jobs for their “dream job” have failed to duplicate their success that was achieved at their previous school.
Here are a few coaches that comes to mind:
Billy Gillispie: Gillispie was the head basketball coach at Texas A&M from 2004-2007. During that time, he led the Aggies to 70-26 overall record and a Big 12 conference record of 31-17 and have made the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament in 2006 and 2007. In the latter, the Aggies made it to the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to the Memphis Tigers. After the 2006-07 season, he was hired by the University of Kentucky Wildcats to return them to their glory years when they made 105 appearances in the NCAA tournament and won 7 national championships. In his two years at the helm, he led them to a 40-27 record and have reached the NCAA tournament only once. Even though it was decent records, he was fired because it wasn’t enough to meet the expectations of the fan base for the University of Kentucky. Now, he is the head coach at Texas Tech University.
Turner Gill: Gill was the head football coach at the University at Buffalo from 2006-2009. Before his arrival, the Bulls was 8-49 and was considered one of the worst Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs in the nation. In his first year, the Bulls finished with a 2-10 record. The next year, the team improved to an overall record of 5-7 and a Mid-American Conference (MAC) record of 5-3. Their breakthrough came in 2008 when they finished the regular season with an overall record of 7-5 record and a conference record of 5-3. They played in the MAC championship game against Ball State at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, where they defeated them by the score of 42-24 to win the MAC championship and made their first bowl appearance since joining the FBS in 1999.
In 2009, the University of Kansas hired Gill as their next head coach, replacing long-time coach Mark Mangino. In his two seasons, the Jayhawks compiled a 25-49 overall record and a Big 12 conference record of 1-12. Gill was fired after the 2011 season.
Here is a quote that sums up this post: “The grass is not always green on the other side.”
If you agree or disagree with this post, you can respond by emailing me at chevaljohn80@yahoo.com.
Packing The House
Almost two weeks ago in front of a record crowd of 3,141, the Sam Houston State Bearkats defeated the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders by the score of 87-53 at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
“The atmosphere was great,” head coach Brenda Nichols said. “Anytime our players comes out to that type of atmosphere, it motivates them.”
The game was part of “Pack The House” challenge that is sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and 184 Division I institutions participates in the challenge. It is an initiative to increase fan support for women’s basketball events and whoever draws the most fan support are awarded $500 dollars and the winning institution donates the money to a non-profit organization of their choice.
“It’s a wonderful experience,” athletic director Bobby Williams said. “Every year that we had it, we walk out of here with your ears ringing, but it’s an exciting time and it gets our team fired up as well.”
The event draw kids from Walker County area schools to watch a women’s college basketball game.
Sam Houston has won the contest in the past two out of three seasons that they have participated in the Southland Conference region. In the first year, they drew a crowd of 2,261. The second year saw an increase of 2,456. Then last year, they drew a crowd of 2,503 and this year contests brought a crowd of 3,141, the largest crowd to watch a Bearkats women’s basketball contest.
Though the Crusaders lost the game, they felt fortunate to have participated in the event.
“I thought that it was great,” assistant coach Carlos Marbot said. “Anytime you can get young kids to a game and get them all excited about basketball, you can grow the sport.”
“Pack the House” will run from October 30 to March 5, 2012 during the season at selected member institutions in the NCAA Division I.
Celebrating Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated in the United States and Canada. It is a time when families come together to give thanks for all of the blessings that was bestowed upon them.
In the United States, the history of thanksgiving began in 1621 when the English arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They prepared a feast and celebrated by thanking God for keeping them safe in their journey from England to what is now the United States.
To all my readers, happy thanksgiving and I hope that everyone finishes the year on a high note.
SHSU Student Takes A Small Step To Change The World
Sam Houston State University student Mark Denman’s ambition is to use his skills to help people in time of need or crisis. The junior biology major took the first step in that direction as he spent two months in the Republic of the Philippines during the summer of 2010 and spent the first six months of 2011 in Mali through the organization “Go Now Missions,” based out of Arlington, Texas. Since then, he has been involved with the International Programs as a volunteer in helping international students to adjust to the culture of the United States and to campus life. We caught up with Mark to get his perpespective on his trip.
What’s The Word: Can you tell us about the time when you first went overseas? What was that like?
Mark Denman: The first time I went overseas was last year in the summer. I traveled to the Republic of the Philippines for two months backpacking with six other Americans in a rural island setting, a very non-tourist area. We set out to backpack these trails to discover villages and the people that live there. We did some ethno research to see what languages they spoke, where they lived and mapped out communities. I had a blast doing it and was a very awesome experience.
WTW: How did you find out about the trip?
MD: I am an active participant in the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) and a friend of mine who spend a year living in Ethiopia teaching English. He had a great experience and told me “It seems that you like to meet people of different races and cultures. Why don’t you check out this program?” So I found out about “Go Now Missions” and I signed up and filled out an application and they allotted funds for me and that is how I got there.
WTW: With that in mind, what was it like living in Mali?
MD: Well, I had a blast. I spend six months in Mali, living in a rural setting among the villagers. They was no electricity, running water, or plumbing. It was just farmers who plow the land to get food. They speak their own language and we did not have translators. Our purpose was to develop relations with the people and to experience their culture and to learn the language. Though it was challenging and difficult, we persevered for the sake that it would impact their lives in ways that other Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s) couldn’t.
WTW: One of the things that you encountered was the fact that they were dependent on the West and are not self-sufficient. Why is that?
MD: They are a lot of speculations. The West feels more generous because we have abundance and we see pictures of Africa and go over there and see that the people are impoverished and don’t have things that we have. So we feel obligated sometimes to give them stuff which is great, but if we do not understand the culture, the ramifications behind what we are doing causes more damage than good. It has been noted that philanthropist who have gone to Africa and donated millions of dollars for AIDS relief and water wells. Two to three years down the road, no work has ever been done because the West call it a “mismanagement” of funds. But the African mentality doesn’t think it is mismanagement , but is how they handling the money to take care of things that is more important than water wells.
WTW: How has this experience changed you when you return to the States?
MD: Coming back as a student, I have become more compassionate about people. To me, the village of Mali, West Africa is a neighborhood on Sam Houston Avenue. It becomes real to me when I meet international students from Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Senegal that are here in Huntsville, Texas. I can pick up on that, not because of the language, but the clothes they wear, their style, the way that they walk and have an outlook on life that is different.
WTW: Globalization is happening all around us. What do you think that students need to do to be prepared for the 21th century workforce?
MD: I think the greatest thing that we can do is to get involve and befriend international students here on campus. I know 75 students from all over the world that are coming here to either get degrees or to learn English for a semester. They really love to practice English with an American and to learn the culture of the United States. They can also connect with the world through studying abroad, NGOs, Peace Corps, etc. in order to learn a new language and a new culture.
It’s Not Worth The Trouble To Shop On Black Friday
Today is Black Friday. It is a day when Americans are out shopping early in the morning time to get merchandises that is on sale for a cheaper price. Many would stand outside the stores in the cold for an average of 5 hours until the stores open to get that particular merchandise before someone else does.
Crazy things happen on that day. An example would be someone pepper spraying another person in order to get in the front of the line or fighting another customer in order to get that particular merchandise. During this time over the years, many people have been arrested for fighting over a product. A few have been trampled by an onslaught of customers trying to get that particular thing that is important to them.
Personally, I think that it is ridiculous that people would wait out in the cold hours before the store opens in order to get a specific merchandise. I understand that it is on sale for that specific weekend, but that same particular product will be on sale either before Christmas or the week after. It is not worth it to get into fights or even go to jail just to get that specific product because it will follow you for the rest of your life.
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