CougarDave Corner by David Gravely
"We Can!! We Will!!"
"I want you to know
what an honor and a privilege it is for me to be here today" said
Jones. "I'm excited and I can’t wait to get started." The team was unsure of when
they would get the chance to meet their new head coach, as he has been
busy trying to tie up loose ends in Essex. "It's been a
real whirlwind, but I wanted to be able to come in and meet the kids today
and let them know that we will be ready. I know that a lot of
them have been worried and wondering what was going to happen when I
showed up. Now we can get back to focusing on the season." After being introduced by
assistant coach Randy Dunnigan and making his initial remarks to the team,
Coach Jones made a point of letting his new team know why he came back to
Pulaski. "You're going to hear a lot of things, so I want to
set the record straight right now" said Jones. "I came
here because of the work I saw you putting in back in the spring. I
came to Pulaski on a visit and stopped by, and you all were in here going
strong. You can tell what kind of character a team has by how they
respond to the down times. You all had just had a really tough
season, and you were working as hard as ever. I respected that, and
it fired me up. I didn't come here so I could 'come home', I didn't
come here to 'realize my dream'. I didn't come here because of this
stadium we have or because of all the banners that we have hanging up in
this fitness center. I came here because of you." Jones also wanted to set
the record straight with his team about the events of the past few weeks.
"We could sit around and complain all day, but it's not going to
change the fact that we're starting out behind the eight ball.
We're going to get ready, and we're going to play this season one game at
a time. The past is the past, and we're going to leave it all there.
This is a new day, and it's a new game. We're going to work hard,
and I will give you 110% every day. I'm going to do that because I'm
going to ask you to do that as well." Jones summed up his
coaching philosophy in very simple terms. "We are going to get
to know each other, and we will become a family. We will have each
other’s backs at all times. We will play fast and we will play
hard. We will attack on both sides of the ball, and in the end we
will leave everything we have out on the field for each other. When
we do that, we will be successful." Jones was also quick to let
his new team know what their new motto would be. "Each time we
break it down, it will be with 'WE CAN!! WE WILL!!' That is
the attitude we will take into the weight room and onto the practice field
every day. That's what we're going to take down those steps every
Friday night, and that's what we're going to use when we face our
opponents." It was obvious that the
players responded well to their new coach as well. As they sat
listening, you could see it building. The team that just two weeks
ago was convinced that the future held nothing but doom and gloom were now
seeing signs of hope. Two weeks ago, most of these players were
convinced that their 2010 season was going to be a flop. Today,
those players started to believe again. The players and parents will get a chance to meet with Coach Jones again Thursday night, and then the Southwest Times is arranging a "Meet the Coach" for the general public in the near future. Details of that event will be released as soon as they are finalized. |
