Journal Sentinel Editorial Board Published 5:57 a.m. CT Oct. 11, 2019 | Updated 8:58 a.m. CT Oct. 11, 2019

Police tape hangs at the scene where a woman was shot and killed on Aug. 25 near Moody Park in the 2300 block of WestBurleighStreet in Milwaukee.(Photo: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

For years, Oakland, California, had a well-deserved reputation as one of Americas most dangerous cities. It was routinely among the top 10 most violent cities in the nation.

But over a five-year period,Oakland cut homicides by 46% and nonfatal shootings in half, a dramatic turnaround that has received national attention.

Oakland showed that even a city with a long history of violence, difficult police-community relationsand turbulent politics could reduce gun violence quickly through smart partnerships between law enforcement and social service agencies using data to get a clear picture of what was happening.

RELATED: Oakland cut its shootings in half and saw a 46% drop in homicides.

RELATED: Read the full Journal Sentinel"Cycles of Violence" investigation

Milwaukee has adopted some of the same violence reduction tactics as Oakland but the city needs to do even more, and it needs to ensure that there is a stable, long-term funding stream for this vital work.

Oakland uses a data-driven approach to identify people at the highest risk of gun violence. Weekly shooting reviews help law enforcement understand why a shooting happened, identify the participants and figure out how to follow up.

Police and prosecutors meet with the people who are at the highest risk of being harmed during a call-in. Its done in collaboration with Oakland Unite, a nonprofit that coordinates violence prevention in the city.

The message to potential victims is this: We know youre at high risk of being shot. We want you to stay healthy and out of prison. We have services and opportunities for you.

Oakland Unite might offer intensive life-coaching, for example, or priority access to housing and employment assistance. The city also has an emergency protection program for people who are in imminent danger.

The results speak for themselves. From 2012 to 2017, homicides fell from 126 to 72and shootings were down from 556 to 277. While there is likely more than one reason for the drop in violence, Oaklands proactive violence reduction efforts increasingly are seen as a major factor.

The work is funded by Measure Z, which voters approved in 2014. The real estate/parking tax provides about $25 million a year to fund violence prevention, additional police officers and fire services. About $12 million a year is used to fund police; another $8 million goes for violence prevention.

The measure requires Oakland to maintain a minimum number of sworn police officers. If that doesnt happen, the city is prohibited from levying the taxes. And thats a key point: Oakland taxpayers knew exactly what they were getting for their money and had a built-in guarantee that they would get it for the life of the tax or the tax would go away.

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

In Milwaukee, each week police, prosecutors, probation officers, federal agencies and others examine every shooting, looking for patterns. Their findings are shared with nonprofits that can provide supports, such as food, medical insuranceand housing. The reviews are funded out of the Police Departments existing budget. While police have done call-ins in the past, they are not doing them currently.

Milwaukees Office of Violence Prevention, meantime, operates 414LIFE, which began in November 2018. This public health approach, which draws on the experience in Oakland and other cities, is focused on interrupting conflict before people are killed.

The 414LIFE team has five outreach workers, four violence interrupters, a hospital responder and a program director. They mediate arguments, provide mentoring and connect shooting victims to basic resources such as medical insurance, foodand housing.

Since it began last November, 414LIFE has intervened in dozens of disputes and helped dozens of shooting victims. The $500,000 program was funded by the city and private donors its first year and will likely attract enough funding to continue for a second.

But this worthy program needs a clear, long-term funding source or it could fade away.

A new county sales tax championed by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and other area leaders last month could be that funding stream.

The boost in the tax from 0.5% to 1.5% could bring in an estimated $160 million that would be shared across the county. The Republican-controlled state Legislature must first approve of putting a binding referendum before county taxpayers.

Violence takes a heavy toll on individuals and on a community. There are tragic consequences for victims but also an enormous cost in dollars. The average cost of a shooting, from treating the victim to holding the assailant accountable, is roughly $1 million, according to the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. A 2015 Journal Sentinel analysis found that oneshooting in Milwaukee cost at least $700,557. Taxpayers bear a big share of these costs.

A case study of Oaklands experience, published in April by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, made a series of recommendations for communities like Milwaukee that are trying to reduce violence.

City leaders must remain actively involved to ensure the long-term viability of these programs, the study recommended, and should make the case that investment in effective violence reduction programs will pay for themselves many times over.

Milwaukee should stick with 414LIFE and the Milwaukee Police Department must continue its practice, adoptedunder Chief Alfonso Morales, of treating every shooting as if it were a homicide. We need to find a sustainable way to pay for programs like these that reduce violence and savelives.

Barrett, County Executive Chris Abele and other community leaders should tell taxpayers exactly how they would use the new sales tax revenue with a portion of the funds earmarked forviolence reduction and policing programs with built-in accountability, like those approved by Oakland voters.

Then the Legislature should give local leaders permission to make their pitch for a safer city and county to the citizens through a referendum.

Thats democracy in action and gives the public a chance to directly back programs that will improve lives.

Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/solutions/2019/10/11/use-new-sales-tax-fund-milwaukee-violence-reduction-program/3908956002/

View original post here:
Editorial: Milwaukee's violence prevention program needs the steady support that a new sales tax could offer - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tom Wilson(Photo: Tom Wilson)

They say the older you get, the wiser you get, and I think there is some truth to that. For me, the one thing Ive learned through years as Ive gotten older, is to not leave things you want to say, unsaid, so here goes.

Back in June on Fathers Day, I wrote a column, but decided not to publish it because it was personal, and I thought maybe I was being a little too transparent. However, as you get older, you start to take stock of your life and really start to realize what is important.

Below is what I wrote back in June. I had to add to it because, as stated earlier, I didnt want to leave something unsaid and regret it later.

Part one: growing up without a father

A week ago, was Fathers Day, and seeing all the Happy Fathers Day well-wishes on social media made me a little sad and envious, at the same time.

It got me thinking, what does Fathers Day really mean to me? I didnt have a father figure in my life growing up. To be honest, without going into too much detail, I never knew who my real father was.

Ive always wondered if I looked like him, talked like him, have the same personality as him? I guess I will never know, and that is unfortunate because, as a son, you always want to make your father proud of you.

You want him to relish in your accomplishments in life, as well being supportive in your failures. I never had that luxury, so each year on Fathers Day when I read all the nice things sons and daughters say about their fathers, it eats at me a little.

Make no mistake, I realize Im not the only person who didnt have a father-figure growing up, but never knowing who your father is, well, that is a whole different story.

God bless my mother, she had five kids and did the best she could, but I basically was left to fend for myself.

The one constant throughout my life, and it started when I was younger, then proceeded into middle school and high school, was sports. I wasnt a great athlete, but I was good enough to play football, basketball and baseball at the high school level.

However, as a I look back, I often wonder how was I even able to do that? Thank goodness for my older brother, Tim, who introduced me to sports at a young age. Without him, I wouldnt be where I am today. He was four years older than me and by the time I reached high school, he was in the Army.

I think back to my days of playing Little League baseball and Pony League football, and I didnt even have cleats. I wore tennis shoes. I walked to practices and walked to my games. If I played in tournaments out of town, I had to rely one of teammates parents to give me a ride.

At that point in my life, I really didnt know any better. However, as I got older, I started to realize how other kids always had their parents attending games and I had no one, especially a father. I did, however, have coaches that were there to help guide me, and I will be forever grateful to them.

Playing sports kept me going in the right direction and kept me out of trouble. Once I began playing sports at the high school level is when it became real for me.

I can remember after football games, parents would be waiting for their sons to come out of the field house, and win or lose, they were there to offer encouragement.

I always tried to be one of the last ones out because I knew there would be no one waiting for me. I remember opening the field house door and hoping everyone would be gone. If I had a good game, some of my teammates parents would offer congratulations and I appreciated it, but it wasnt the same as having your own parents there, especially your father.

As I think back to that time, I tried to act like everything was fine, but deep down, it wasnt. As a high school kid, you just set it aside and move on. No one ever said anything to me or asked me about it, but Im sure they all knew.

Part two: I will always be grateful to my high school football coach, who is now my father-in-law

You try to emulate your parents and the influence they have on you and then pass it on to your children. I, unfortunately, didnt have that.

But what I did have was sports, and coaches that I looked up to. One that played a big part early in my life was my high school football coach, Dick Hill.

Me with my former high school football coach and father-in-law, Dick Hill.(Photo: Tom Wilson/Eagle-Gazette)

During my junior and senior years of high school, I lived in the Fayette County Childrens Home, not because I got in trouble or anything like. My sister and I were taken away from my mom. She was an alcoholic and that is where they put kids when their parents couldnt take care of them.

I remember it was devastating at the time, but looking back, it was probably for the best.

Back to coach Hill. I remember it like it was yesterday. Not in front of anyone, he asked me how I was going to get to practice for the start of two-a-day football? He didnt let me answer and said he would be there to pick me up at 6:30 a.m. He had to drive out of his way to pick me up.

I remember the first morning in the car ride with him to practice, I was embarrassed, but thankful, that he had given me a ride. Each morning got easier. Im not sure if he remembers any of our conversations, but I do.

Had he not picked me up, Im not sure how I would have made it to practice or if I would have even played. That one small gesture changed by a high school football coach changed my life forever and I will always be grateful to him.

Fast forward 22 years, he became my father-in-law. I have been married to his daughter, Julie for 16 years. Understand, the last time I had seen coach Hill was my senior year of high school in 1981. Julie and I were married in 2003.

Coach Hill never stopped coaching, and during that time, he has had a lot of success as a head coach and as an assistant. He was all set to begin his 51st year of coaching high school football as an assistant at Dayton Christian when he received devastating news that he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

My first thought was my wife and what she must be feeling. It was different for me. He was my father-in-law, but he was my coach first - the one that changed everything for me. Im not sure how long he has to live, but I do know that impacted a lot of his former players lives, especially mine.

I will miss talking football with him, I will miss golfing with him and I will miss him interacting with his only grandchild, our daughter, Natalie.

The one thing I didnt want to miss, was telling him how much he has meant to me before its too late.

Life is short, so make sure to never leave something unsaid that you will regret later.

twilson@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4358

Twitter: @twil2323

Continued here:
Never leave something unsaid that you will regret later - Lancaster Eagle Gazette

This week, we field questions on the dysfunction in D.C., whether the Bills are for real, and some stories from the set of Ballers.

I know theres only 32 head coaching jobs but who in their right mind would want to coach in Washington? Unless the entire front office gets turned around, the next head coach is going to have the same problems as Gruden.Matt W.

Believe it or nota ton of coaches would. There will be a line of guys who would look at the situation and say, Im the guy to turn that place around! If you turn that place around, you are golden, absolutely golden. Thats the way places with fan bases that have had droughts for a while are. Places like DC, Cleveland, etc. If you go in there and you can finally turn that place around, theyll end up naming a street in that town after you. Everyones hoping for something like what Sean Payton did in New Orleans post-Katrina. He lifted that entire city up, made the...

Read the original:
Jay Glazer's NFL Mailbag: On coaching in Washington, whether the Bills are for real and Drew Brees' timeline - The Athletic

Buy Photo

Richland Springs' Tyler Ethridge leaps over Eden defenders for a touchdown in a game Nov. 2, 2007.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

If Tyler Ethridge's life was a sports movie, it would almost be too good to believe.

In the small town of Richland Springs, Texas playing a brand of football most people have never seen Ethridge threw more touchdown passes than any player in the history of high school football.

He lost only one game in his high school career, compiling a 56-1 record with three state titles.

And he did it all in a frame that measured a modest 5-foot-9, 182 pounds his senior year.

Tyler Ethridge waves to those in attendance at Shotwell Stadium in Abilene after he broke the national all-time passing touchdown record against Vernon Northside on Sept. 23, 2007.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

When Ethridge drove out of Richland Springs after graduating in 2008 to realize his dream of playing college football an opportunity afforded few six-man football players it would have been a good moment for the film credits to start rolling.

Because in real life, there wasn't a feel-good ending waiting at the end of the highway.

For everything that went right during Ethridge's high school football career, just as much seemed to go wrong in the years following it.

He didn't make it as a college football player at Sul Ross State University in Alpine and quit the team during his freshman year.

For someone who built his identity through football, things quickly fell apart for Ethridge without it.

He bounced around Texas to one school after another, but never found what he was looking for.

Ethridge said he began abusing substances, slipped into depression and even had suicidal thoughts.

At his lowest point, he found himself sleeping under a bridge.

Ethridge had to hit rock bottom before he could find redemption.

When it comes to football, Ethridge is synonymous with winning.

Yet it was losing that brought him to Richland Springs.

Tyler Ethridge led Richland Springs to its first three state titles in football, helping build a dynasty. The Coyotes now have eight state titles, tied for the most in Texas at any level.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

His father, Harley Ethridge, was the head coach at another six-man school, Hermleigh, and went 1-18 in two years there.

With the school struggling to even field a team, he decided to search for a new job.

While in his hometown of Brownwood, he noticed an advertisement in the local paper for an assistant coaching position in the nearby town of Richland Springs.

It would prove to be alife-changing move for the Ethridge family.

Tyler arrived before his seventh-grade year and was a part of two undefeated junior-high teams with the Coyotes.

He then stepped right onto the varsity as a freshman and took over as the team's starting spread back (essentially the equivalent to a quarterback in 11-man).

With his father calling the plays as his offensive coordinator, Ethridgeled Richland Springs to a 15-0 record and its first state title.

Tyler Ethridge prepares to throw a pass during a Richland Springs football practice.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

That was just the start.

Ethridge guided Richland Springs to two more state titles, with the only loss of his high school career coming in a 72-58 setback against Throckmorton in the 2005 state semifinals.

His career passing yards (10,681) are a state six-man record, while his passing touchdowns (230) are a national record across all classifications, though it's not officially recognized since it occurred at the six-man level.

It's easy to forget that Ethridge also averaged more than 1,100 rushing yards per season, and he was a full-time starter on defense, recording 365 career tackles and 24 interceptions.

Among the many trophies in the Richland Springs High School "War Room" are eight state championships since 2004.(Photo: Sean Pokorny, USA TODAY Sports)

His head coach, Jerry Burkhart, called Ethridge a "century player," meaning that's how often one like him comes along.

Even so, Ethridge was still an undersized six-man player, so college recruiters weren't knocking down his door.

He had a couple of options with Division III schools, however, at nearby Howard Payne in Brownwood and Sul Ross in the far West Texas town of Alpine.

Looking back, Ethridge says he made the wrong decision.

Tyler Ethridge poses outside the Richland Springs field house before the 2006 season.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

Why did Ethridge choose to attend Sul Ross?

Eleven years later, even he's not 100 percent sure.

Tyler Ethridge accounted for 15,217 yards of total offense during his four-year career at Richland Springs. It still stands as the six-man state record.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

"First of all, it wasn't a good decision," Ethridge said. "My dad thought I should go to Howard Payne, so I'd be close. And looking back in retrospect, I should have. I kind of see that time as a haze. There was a veil over my heart and eyes. I couldn't see clearly. And my good friend, Mark Williams (who caught 70 TD passes from Ethridge), I think he was kind of the one that wanted to move to Sul Ross. He was sold on it. Burkhart had taken us up there on a visit, and I didn't know what was going on. I was just kind of a follower after this. I had no opinion, no guidance.

"And this is what really frustrates me about football in general. When you get up beyond six-man, coaches do a better job of helping student-athletes get to that next step. But that just wasn't the case for me at Richland Springs. ... I spent my whole high school career just playing football, not looking toward the next step in life."

Along with beingcritical of the non-football guidance he received at Richland Springs, Ethridge said a "falling out" occurred between his family and the school's administration leading up to his graduation.

"It was over me not attending a fundraiser for our third state ring," Ethridge said. "I had attended it the first two years, but there was a concert I wanted to go to every year that fell on the same week. I finally went my senior year, but people got offended that Tyler Ethridge, the stud who motivates people to give money for rings, wasn't there. And that was the final straw. I think it was something that had been brewing for three years."

Though he left Richland Springson bad terms, Ethridge was looking forward to a fresh start in Alpine.

But things went south quickly at Sul Ross.

After only two practices, he said, the coaching staff decided to pull the plug on him as a quarterback and moved him to defense.

Suddenly, he was out of position, far from home, and playing for a struggling team that would win only three games that season all while trying to learn 11-man football.

Tyler Ethridge tries to break a tackle during the 2004 state final between Richland Springs and Valley.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

"And while I'm going through all this, I'm actually in this unhealthy relationship with this girl eight hours away," Ethridge said. "So I'm juggling that and trying to find my identity. I'm in this new world in 11-man, and I'm in college and I have freedom and no one telling me what to do.

"The Bible says that he who faints in the day of adversity, his strength is weak. Well, that was exposed. I was very weak. I had no foundation to walk on, and that's when it began to roll downhill. ... I faded within that first semester. I didn't even finish the season. I think I played three games."

Off the field, Ethridge said he basically "spent six months doing nothing."

"I was exposed to marijuana at a greater measure at Sul Ross. The college world is just party, party, party," Ethridge said. "But I actually didn't party that much. I kind of locked myself in my room because I was depressed about the relationship thing ... I'd go to class, but I wouldn't study. I'd go back to my room and just do nothing, really. I was just kind of wandering."

Ethridge left Alpine at the end of the semester, and "that's where chaos happened."

Over the next couple of years, Ethridge struggled to find an identity without football.

He searched all over Texas for it.

Tyler Ethridge is shown with two of his state championship rings before the 2007 season, when he won a third ring.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

Over a period of about three years, which Ethridge referred to as "the wilderness," he transferred to Cisco Junior College, then to Navarro College in Corsicana, and then to Howard College in San Angelo, where he briefly reunited with an old girlfriend.

"I got real big into art and photography. I was kind of like a skater dude. I was just trying to find my identity," Ethridge said. "It was no longer football, so maybe I'll find it in Cisco. Nope, it's not there. Maybe I'll find it in Corsicana where my dad's at. Nope. Maybe I'll find it at Howard. No, it's not here with her.

"Then I get the stupid idea that I'll go to the Art Institute of Dallas. So my mom helps me get into it ... and I lasted like four months there.

"That's when I really came to the end of myself. I stopped trying to find my identity and accomplish things. That's where I probably got the darkest. I became suicidal and got real big into smoking weed."

Ethridge moved to Brownwood with his mother, Pamela, and took a job at a movie theater. He said he would drive to San Angelo on weekends and hang out with some old friends.

After a fight with his mother, he moved in with his friends in San Angelo.

"I just did nothing for a month but smoke weed and blitz my mind. At the end of that month, I was so done with it," he said.

"And this is what my family really can't understand, and I don't even understand it. I got in my truck. I think all I had was my backpack and my books in it. I tied up my blanket with a shoestring and put it in the backseat, and I drove west until I ran out of gas."

Ethridge nearly made it to El Paso before his truck finally sputtered to a stop on the side of the highway.

"I slept that night in the backseat of my truck. I got up the next morning and hitchhiked into El Paso," Ethridge said. "I got picked up by an 18-wheeler, and the guy cleaned his truck out and gave me about $10. I wandered around El Paso all day and slept under a bridge."

Ethridge was now wandering farther than he ever had before both physically and mentally and he was in danger of drifting too far.

"That night, I climbed on top of an abandoned building to sleep. I had shorts on, and as I laid down some fiberglass dug into my thigh and my calf, and I screamed out, 'God, where are you?' and I mean I screamed it. And for the first time and the only time ever, I heard the audible voice of God. People are going to think I'm crazy, but I don't care.

"He said, 'Why are you running?' And when God speaks to you, it's like rivers of water running through every facet of you, and I knew what He meant. Here I was thinking I'd been running from marijuana or heartache or depression or suicidal thoughts, but I was actually running from God. ... I realized I'd been running from God my whole life."

Ethridge climbed down from the roof, walked to the closest hotel and called his mother, who bought him a room for the night.

"And that's when my life started changing," Ethridge said.

Tyler Ethridge (second from right) is shown with the football coaching staff at Victory Life Academy in Brownwood in 2013.(Photo: Brownwood Bulletin)

Ethridge's mother suggested that if he was now serious about his faith, he should consider trying to coach at Victory Life Academy in Brownwood.

Though Brownwood is a city of nearly 20,000 people, Victory Life is a small Christian school so small that it plays six-man football.

Ethridge was reluctant to return to football, but it proved to be the lifeline he needed.

After a month of serving as a volunteer coach, he was offered a maintenance position and a job as an assistant coach.

"At the end of that school year, leading into the summer, good ol' Jerry Burkhart, I guess he'd been watching me," Ethridge said. "He saw I fell off the wagon three years ago and how my life had started to become redeemed. He saw that I was changing and willing to serve people. He said, 'Why don't you come back to Richland Springs and coach?'

"There was a youth program he was wanting to start, but my main focus was wanting to do ministry. Barry Fikes is the Baptist preacher there in Richland Springs, and he was simultaneously talking to me about that. But the only way I could help the football program is if I worked for the school district."

The only job that was open was for the cafeteria manager.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do,'" Ethridge said. "So I said, 'Alright, Lord, if this is the door you're opening up, I'll take it.'"

The home stands of Richland Springs High School.(Photo: Sean Pokorny, USA TODAY Sports)

Ethridge moved back to the small town where he became a high school football legend, and he took the less-than-glamorous job of running the school cafeteria.

"I was doing the paperwork, and handling the inventory, and cleaning the dishes right in front of these kids who just several years prior saw me winning state championships," Ethridge said. "Then on Wednesdays and Sundays, they saw me ministering to them. It was an awesome way to witness, not just by preaching but by serving. It was very humbling. It was a very hard time, but it was rewarding.

"At the end of that year, that's when I realized I needed to be trained in the scriptures."

Ethridge eventually settled on Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colorado, and decided to attend a conference at the campus.

"As I drove up there, all I was asking for was a job and a place to live," Ethridge recalled. "I said, 'God, if you can confirm that, I'll do it. I'll leave everything.'"

On the last day of the conference, Ethridge said he met a man who offered him a job building fences and he even had a camper on his ranch Ethridge could stay in.

"I said, 'That's it. That's all I need.' ... So I start going through the process of selling everything I own and giving everything away. I actually gave my truck to my sister because she needed it for work," Ethridge said. "My mom drove me to Abilene to the Greyhound bus station. I had everything I owned in a blue Richland Springs gym bag, and I started my journey to Colorado."

Tyler Ethridge and his wife, Danielle, at Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colorado.(Photo: Contributed photo)

As sure as Ethridge is that he made the wrong decision with his first college choice, he knows he got it right with this one.

Petra is the 18-month-old daughter of Danielle and Tyler Ethridge.(Photo: Contributed photo)

He found what he was looking for in Colorado and graduated from school there in 2017.

He also met his wife, Danielle, and the two now have an 18-month-old daughter, Petra.

"After I graduated, I was just working security for the college, and we moved down from Woodland Park to Colorado Springs," Ethridge said. "I did some ministry stuff here and there, and we did some missionary work. I've gone to Russia and Turkey, and I'm trying to go to Haiti. I like to go to the hard places, where people are afraid to go, you know?"

Colorado was good to Ethridge, but he said it never felt like home.

This past summer, he decided to come back to Texas.

Tyler Ethridge poses in front of the Richland Springs field house before the 2006 season.(Photo: Standard-Times file photo)

Ethridge's father, Harley, also did a bit of bouncing around after he left Richland Springs following the 2007 season.

He became the head coach in Follett where he guided the Panthers to an appearance in the 2012 state final, which they lost to Richland Springs and also had stops in Oglesby and Moran.

View original post here:
The redemption of Richland Springs legend Tyler Ethridge - Standard-Times

Theres no famous sword in this story. Theres no wizardly tutor, looking out for a young protagonist as he learns the ropes of what its like to lead. There arent field trips into the natural world, like there are in T. H. Whites The Sword in the Stone. There wont be a coronation to end this one, in all probability. Theres simply a football coach and a university, on two paths that have meandered and separated, only to come back together a number of chapters later.

If there had been a wizard in this story, outside of Coach Browns widely documented recruiting magic, its still hard to imagine many differences in the path that Coach Browns career has taken. T.H. Whites protagonist, the Wart who would eventually become King Arthur, was transformed by his wizardly tutor into a number of creatures in order to gain a more in-depth look at the way things worked in the animal world.

Coach Brown, similarly, was turned first into a Mountaineer, briefly coaching the Appalachian State team and beginning to learn the ropes as a head coach. Next, after a brief respite as an offensive coordinator in Oklahoma, Coach Brown was turned into a Green Wave, heading to Tulane University where he furthered his education as a head coach, learning to rebuild a struggling program. This also marked the beginning of a crash course in the administrative side of things, as he served also as athletic director during his time in New Orleans.

After three years at Tulane, Coach Brown found himself turned into a Tar Heel, arriving in Chapel Hill in 1988. He took the reins of a Power Five program that had just bid farewell to a coach who had seen success turn into mediocrity toward the end of his tenure, and had left the program on a definitive downward trajectory. Slowly but surely, Coach Brown righted the ship at North Carolina, weathering the storms of his first few seasons and learning how to win consistently, with his last two double-digit-win seasons being sufficient to induce another transformation: this time into a longhorn steer.

In 1998, Coach Brown began his most successful transformation yet, applying all he had learned at his prior stops en route to a string of double-digit-win seasons wearing the burnt orange of a Texas Longhorn. In the midst of this string of success, the coach finally earned a crown, winning the college football national title in 2005 and ascending to the pinnacle of his sport. After 16 seasons coaching in Texas, nine of them ending with win totals of ten or better, the coach underwent what most people thought would be his final transformation.

After departing the University of Texas, Coach Brown was hired by ESPN as an analyst to provide college football coverage for the network, a comfy fit for an assumed-to-be retired ball coach wishing to stay around the sport that had so greatly impacted his life. Here, as in every previous stop along the way, the coach likely had more things to learn as he adjusted to being on the outside looking in, instead of his customary place on the sidelines. Here also, as in nearly every other prior stop, he excelled, sharing his intimate knowledge of the sport with audiences across the country.

All of these lessons, these transformations, have led us back to the here and now. Mack Brown is back on the sidelines in Kenan Stadium, leading his men into battle on a weekly basis and inspiring thousands of Tar Heel faithful along the way. The way the town and program have responded to the return of the leadership of Coach Brown has been a sight to see, and North Carolina wont be going 1-10 in his second first season. Coach Browns Tar Heels have already won three games, and the three losses on the schedule have all been within one score of teams that are currently unbeaten. It doesnt take the wisdom of Merlyn to realize the effect that the return of the Mack has had.

Theres no sword stuck into a stone in this story, but there is an example of a very good leaderMack Brown, the once and future coach.

View post:
UNC Football: The Once and Future Coach - Tar Heel Blog

The eyes would sometimes be half-mast, as the days would meld into each other when Kevin Stefanski would be reminded to go get the oranges, or make a Dunkin Donuts run to get coffee for the University of Pennsylvania coaching staff.

Stefanski is 37 now. There are traces of salt in the beard as he grins back at the memory of where his coaching odyssey a familiar journey many coaches travel started. A three-year starter at St. Joes Prep, and all-Ivy League safety at Penn, Stefanski went from the cover of the Penn football program as a captain of the 2004 Quakers to fetching oranges and coffee the next fall at Penn as a graduate assistant.

Its led to where he is today, and who the Eagles will have to solve on Sunday, as the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings.

Stefanski, the son of Ed The Shot Stefanski, former Philadelphia 76ers general manager and now senior advisor for the Detroit Pistons, grew up in Drexel Hill, Delaware County, living and breathing the Eagles every fall Sunday with his family.

This Sunday, the Stefanskis will be wearing Vikings purple for obvious reasons.

Kevin had great coaching influences early on, in not only his father, who coached Monsignor Bonner to a Catholic League basketball championship in 1983, but hoops coaching legends Speedy Morris and Fran Dunphy.

Kevin had nothing handed to him, either.

Before the headset went on, he was tasked with the same menial chores many new coaches endure.

You learn fast, and its little stuff that helped me get here, said Kevin, who interned the summer of 2005 for the Eagles under Andy Reid (the Terrell Owens driveway sit-up summer). Like anything in life, you have to earn it. I was working in the Penn department of football operations, and like a lot of entry-level gigs in all industries, its sometimes hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

You have to do the stuff no one else likes to do. Its why I think its so important for young coaches, and young people in general, to get a dose of that reality of starting at the bottom. You have to eat your humble pie and do all of that work, because there is a ton of coaches who did it before you.

One season Im the captain of Penn, on the cover of the program thinking that youre hot stuff, and the next season, youre the guy getting the oranges and getting coach (Al) Bagnoli his coffee. Do you love doing that, not really. But like anything in this world, you do have to earn it. It was a good lesson at the time.

An interesting nugget is that Kevin is the longest-tenured coach on the Vikings staff. Right after leaving Penn, Stefanski was hired by then-Vikings head coach Brad Childress, who knew Stefanski through working with the Eagles.

This is Stefanskis 14th season with the Vikings, who have undergone three head coaching regimes since hes been there (Childress, Leslie Frazier and now Mike Zimmer). Stefanski has coached everything from quarterbacks, tight ends and running backs, to taking over for (former Eagles quarterback coach) John DeFilippo as the Vikings interim offensive coordinator in Week 15 of last year.

With Stefanski as the OC, the Vikings are 5-3, including the 2-1 finish last season. Currently, the Vikings are ranked No. 17 in offense in the NFL, averaging 357.4 yards a game. But they are No. 6 in the NFL in yards-per-play, averaging 6.2, which is light years ahead of the Eagles, who are currently 26th in the NFL in that valued metric, averaging 5.1 yards per play.

Did he see this success coming in coaching?

Not really, admitted Kevin, who was initially given a chance with the Eagles through James Urban, who previously worked at Penn before becoming an assistant under Reid and is now the Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach. I worked for a little time in commercial real estate, just after college. But I wanted to have something to do with the game.

Working at Penn, coach Bagnoli allowed me to have some input. I can remember sitting in on the coaches meetings and diving into the Xs and Os and thats the first time I got the bug to coach. Whats the old saying, if you cant play, you coach. Thats what I did.

I loved it. But Ive always loves it. I fell in love with the game way back when. I coach a kids game and there is a grinding element to it, but everyone else who works different jobs is grinding to some degree. Its why I hate when people bring up the hours coaches put in.

There are enough hard-working people who wake up early every day to go to work. Its why I pinch myself every day to be happy to be doing what Im doing.

Growing up an Eagles fan, Reggie White was Stefanskis guy. He can remember as a kid asking his mother to pencil in White and 92 on the back of a white t-shirt.

As an OC of an NFL team, this is a different world for Stefanski. Hes the bossman.

Its his scheme.

I manage more people and my whole thing as an OC, and what Im trying to do, is be a facilitator, because I have so many good people around me, Stefanski said. I have good coaches; I have good players. Thats what I noticed under all of the great coaches Ive worked under.

I have great confidence in this job, because I have an awesome coaching staff, and awesome players. Its a job that I feel that I have been preparing for and my experiences with all of the positions that Ive coached have helped me.

Through his progression, Stefanski credits working with various schemes under coordinators like Darrell Bevell and the West Coast offense; Bill Musgrave, a proponent of the Ron Erhardt way; Norv Turner and the digit system; and Pat Shurmur and his West Coast background.

Those different schemes made me a more well-rounded coach, and now working with someone like Gary Kubiak (the Vikings assistant head coach/offensive adviser) who comes from that West Coast family, its been invaluable, Stefanski said. The West Coast system is what Ive been brought up on, and with someone like Gary around, its made me a far better coach.

Stefanski said his focus right now is to make the Vikings a winning football team. Hes prone to bounce some things off his father Ed, whos a lifelong Eagles fan who becomes a Vikings man when they play his beloved Birds.

I love all of the Philadelphia pro teams, but this time, Im pulling for the Vikings, laughed Ed, 65, who is still an Eagles season-ticket holder. Blood is thicker than water or for my love of the Eagles. I got my Super Bowl. Now I can pull for the Vikings.

Asked if there is anything that Kevin does that reminds Ed of myself, Well, its not the hair, thats for sure, Ed said. I think all of my sons are good at what they do, and thats a credit to their mother. All of the boys do the right thing. Im proud of them all. With Kevin, he worked for everything.

My three other sons are still in the Philadelphia area, and theyre still Eagles fans except when they play the Vikings.

Ed will be overseas with the Pistons this weekend, but hell be locked into his phone keeping track of the Vikings-Eagles game.

This is going to be a pivotal game for both the Eagles and the Vikings this Sunday. Both teams are 3-2; both have high expectations this season. Minnesota is coming off an 8-7-1 season after losing to the Eagles in the NFC championship the year before. Its a loaded offense featuring Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen.

Were a better team on offense, were better running the football and we have more continuity, and that comes with more time together, Cousins said. It is a new system under Kevin and there is a lot of change, but that comes with learning any new system.

I think its positive for us. Its become second nature.

Said Kevin, Coach Zim has molded this team in his image, and thats about being a physical team that runs the ball and plays good defense. I like the guys that we have. We dont have to prod guys to go out and practice. The pieces are here.

Its now about going out, grinding and getting it done.

Much like Kevin Stefanski has.

Follow Joe on Twitter: @JSantoliquito

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

Visit link:
Kevin Stefanski, Philly born and bred, to coach against Eagles as Vikings OC Sunday - PhillyVoice.com

Buy Photo

Wisconsin assistant coach Alando Tucker talks with guard D'Mitrik Trice during practice.(Photo: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

MADISON The fit appeared to be perfect.

The offer was one that couldnt be refused.

Saying no didnt appear to be an option.

After all, who wouldnt want to work at the basketball program and under one of the coaches responsible for helping him develop into an All-American player?

Yet even after UW head coach Greg Gard offered the job of interim assistant coach for the 2019-20 season, Alando Tucker had to ponder the matter, weigh every pro and every con.

The process was trying to figure out how to grieve and trying to balance that with life still moving (forward), the world still rotating, Tucker said Friday during the teams annual media day. I was stuck in the middle.

Is it something that is deserved? Id have to fill a great friends shoes. So, youve got all of these different emotions you have to go through.

Including guilt.

Under normal circumstances, Tucker probably wouldnt have hesitated to accept Gards offer. Yet anyone who follows the UW mens basketball program understands the circumstances were anything but normal and why Tucker needed time before accepting challenge of working on game plans, tutoring players and wooing recruits.

Tucker understood he would be taking over for assistant Howard Moore, who lost his wife and daughter and suffered severe burns in a horrific automobile accident on Memorial Day weekend. Moore was on the UW staff when Tucker was a player (2002 through 2007). He was a mentor, a friend, a brother.

No one expected this, said Tucker, who served as UW's Director of Student-Athlete Engagement since February of 2018 before taking over as assistant coach on July 30. There was never a blueprint for this. It all happened so fast. To me, it was like I blinked and I became a coach."

Gard understood the initial reticence.

I knew that weighed on his mind, Gard said. He talked to his family about it. He talked to Howards parents about it. That was really important for him to have their blessing, that he could step into this role, knowing that he was trying to continue what Howard had been a part of.

It wasnt an overnight, easy decision for him.

Yet assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft, who was a teammate of Tuckers for two seasons, understood why the offer was eventually accepted.

Hes not replacing Howard," Krabbenhoft explained. "Hes picking up a brother. Really, Howard and Alando, that relationship, theyre family. Thats what family does.

If something bad happens, you go, you do, you jump on board, you get in your car and your drive. You dont know why, you dont know what will happen, you just do it because its family. I think Alandos had that approach."

Tucker explained Thursday he has no doubt he is wired to coach the game he played professionally for 10 seasons, the first three in the NBA and the last seven overseas.

Im a natural coach, he said. Im owning this position. I could see myself in this long-term, for sure. I dont think that is a question.

The question that Tucker, who is married and has two sons, had to ask: Do I want to spend more time on the road after I promised my family those days were behind us?

I understood the demands will require me to travel a lot, he said. I had made a commitment to my family to be there.

Am I ready for this? When I became comfortable was when my wife said: Yes, you can do this. Weve experienced where you are gone all the time. At least you get to come home and you are there to tuck your kids into bed.

Although he wasnt able to go on the road recruiting initially, he was able to get to the know the players during summer workouts.

I think anytime you walk down that road, there is always some excitement in the unknown, Gard said. It was very good to have the summer where he could be here and be in the workouts and get his feet wet. That is what I wanted to do, knowing we could ease him into this, get him on the floor first and then work through the recruiting

He knows all our guys. Hes got street cred to no end. Hes got a lot of horsepower when he walks into the gym. They know who he is.

"I knew that was a very sensitive line that we had to walk. Walking in with John Stranger out of the blue, they dont have a grasp of the emotional strings attached to all this. And what is their motive?

"Were fortunate to have Alando. He has been terrific."

Tucker's initial reticence is gone. He is home again.

"I am here for a reason," he said. "When I decided to come back to the university it wasnt to be a coach.

"But it was the easiest transition to make it comfortable for the coaches, comfortable for the players and ultimately for the families.

"Lets not be mistaken. This is an unbelievable opportunity to be able to coach on this level. Im very fortunate to be in that position. But again, it came (after) the most tragic incident anyone could ever experience."

Originally posted here:
'Is it something that is deserved?': Alando Tucker paused before choosing to join UW coaching staff - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) To some, Roy Turners storage room may appear to be filled with junk but to Turner its a room full of fond memories of the 18 years he spent coaching the Wichita Wings Soccer Team.

This was a souvenir piece we gave out, said Turner holding up a white small poster with cartoon like characters drawn on it.

These are caricatures of all the players, said Turner. Thats me when I wore glasses.

The room is filled with trophies, game soccer balls, team photos, game tapes and much more memorabilia.

I think my biggest achievement was from 80 to 86. We had one of the best records in the league and we were the smallest market and the smallest budget, said Turner. Probably the best days of my life. Packed stadiums a lot of fun.

Hell soon see his nostalgia fulfilled now that his beloved team is set to return.

I love it! exclaimed Turner. I wish I knew more about it. I dont know what league they are going to play in. I dont know who the players are but I hope they wear that shirt with the wings with the pride and the Wichita Wings legacy. They all remember that when they step on that field and who they are representing and the history of our team.

When asked if he plans to see them play he had this to say.

Without question you know I want to see that shirt on the field, said Turner. I hope so much they are very successful.

LATEST STORIES:

Read the rest here:
I love it: Former Wichita Wings coach reacts to announcement of teams return - KSN-TV

When seven faculty members quit during their first week at Jordan L. Mott Middle School in the South Bronx, PE teacher Chris Astacio wasnt surprised.

The year was 2012, and the kids were out of control.

They would curse at me for no reason. I got hurt so many times breaking up fights, Astacio told TODAY Parents. There was this blatant disrespect. I remember my wife saying to me, You need to find a new job.

But Astacio, 41, refused to get discouraged. He grew up on those same streets and understood the anger. Mott is located in one of the most dangerous, poverty-stricken neighborhoods in New York City.

"I never considered quitting, Astacio told TODAY Parents. "These kids from the South Bronx have this image in their head that they're nobody. I knew they needed somebody to believe in them."

At the end of the school year, when an administrator approached the father of two about starting a girls softball team, he agreed to take on the challenge.

What happened next is a story so remarkable that it was recently turned into a book by author Dibs Baer.

That first year coaching the Lady Tigers, I felt like a complete failure, Astacio admitted. They continued cutting class, getting into fights and hanging out with the wrong people. At practice, Id ask them to run four laps, and theyd be like, We aint doing that.

Never miss a parenting story with the TODAY Parenting newsletter! Sign up here.

Determined to build trust, Astacio began holding unofficial therapy sessions.

There were weeks where we didnt even touch any softballs, it was just me sitting down with them and talking to them, Astacio told TODAY Parents. In the beginning, the girls were reluctant to speak, so I would share my story to show them, Hey, Im one of you. Whenever I hit a chord, someone would chime in and say, Oh, I experienced that too.

Slowly, the walls started to come down. Astacio learned that a majority of the team came from broken homes and had never met their fathers. Many had mothers that left them alone with brothers and sisters to look after.

The girls began to use softball to escape the harsh reality of their lives. Every morning, they showed up ready to practice before school. After a rough first year they lost every game but one the girls would go on to win the Bronx playoffs.

In 2015, Astacio fundraised $39,000 in 5 days to take the team on a trip to Florida State University, so they could watch a college game. At the time, Astacio was battling cancer.

"I was hooked up to machines and I get a phone call from one of my teacher friends," Astacio said. "He goes, 'You won't believe what's happening. One of the girls stepped up and is leading practice. They said, if coach won't give up, we won't give up."

Genesis Moore says it is the least they could do for Astacio.

"He was the father I never had," the 18-year-old told TODAY Parents. "He saved my life." Moore, who suffered from anxiety and depression, said Astacio would go out and buy her lunch and they would eat together in his office.

"He would just talk to me and listen," she revealed. "I never had that before."

Today, some of the girls are still finishing high school, while others, like Moore, are in college. A few "are not doing well."

But Astacio, whose cancer is in remission, tries to focus on the success stories like Johanna, who recently accepted a full scholarship to play softball at Monroe College, and Heaven, who was accepted to every university she applied to and plans to study law.

I always tell all the girls not to give me all the credit, Astacio told TODAY Parents. All they needed was to be directed on the right path and thats what I did for them. They did the work. I just turned them around.

More here:
The story of Chris Astacio and the Lady Tigers softball team - Today.com

An ill wind may be blowing for some but for Eddie Jones and England life is suddenly unexpectedly calm. Almost before World Rugby had confirmed the cancellation of their final pool game against France they were away to the airport and heading south to Miyazaki, safely out of the path of the onrushing typhoon and back to the same beachfront training base where they spent the tournaments opening days.

Given England were up and out of their central Tokyo hotel in less time than it takes to say this suits us fine mate, it was an interesting moment for the tournament organisers to be flagging up the logistical difficulties of moving rugby teams around Japan. Jones, looking as upbeat as he has done since arriving, appears rather less than broken-hearted to be fleeing the typhoon zone and sidestepping the France game.

His good humour may also have had something to do with the latest headlines out of Australia, poised to be Englands quarter-final opponents next week if the remaining pool results unfold as anticipated. It has emerged that the Canberra Raiders rugby league coach and former Kangaroos halfback Ricky Stuart will be in Englands camp before the Oita game an invitation which will not amuse the Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika, also a friend of Stuarts.

Jones has previous form in this area having invited Andrew Joey Johns along to training during Englands tour of Australia in 2016. Only last week Stuart was coaching the Raiders in the National Rugby League grand final against the Sydney Roosters and his knowledge of knockout rugby is sure to be among the areas of mutual discussion during a fact-finding mission which was apparently teed up a couple of months ago.

Englands players, either way, now have no preparation worries having been given some helpful extra leeway by the cancellation. With Billy Vunipola, Jack Nowell and Joe Marler all hoping to be back in quarterfinal contention, Jones clearly views this free weekend as a handy bonus and, unlike all those unfortunate supporters who have flown to Japan to find their match tickets redundant, he is not weeping into his beer.

It is a great opportunity for us to regenerate, refocus and put a bit more petrol in the tank, so were really happy with it, Jones said. We had an idea before we came that it could happen and therefore, in case it does, you have to accumulate points in your games to put yourself in the right position. Weve been talking about it all the time, about the possibility this was going to happen.

In other words, Jones is shedding no tears for those teams whose qualification chances have been or could be wrecked by the weather. Aside from an ill-judged quip about unforeseen travel chaos he would have been much better avoiding its typhoon season; you go somewhere else and its terrorist season the former Japan coach also has personal experience of how damaging typhoons can be when they strike Japanese cities.

Ive probably been here for about 30 typhoons, he said. Some of them are just like a big thunderstorm but I can remember driving in one in Tokyo in 1996. A sign from a 7-11 convenience store flew off and landed just in front of the car. At one stage I was looking pretty dodgy if it had kept coming. I can still remember it clearly.

For that reason he insists the organisers had little choice but to call off the France game on safety grounds. Theres a reason why everything shuts down when typhoons come because it can be particularly dangerous. This ones supposed to be a big typhoon, so I dont see any other option that the organisers had. We think its the right decision.

Yes, but what about the potential damage to the integrity of the competition? That is the way the laws are. All I can be happy with is my situation, I cant compare [it] to someone elses situation.

As Tokyo braces itself for potentially its biggest storm of the year, Jones also believes the weather should not be allowed to obscure all the positives of staging the World Cup in Asia for the first time. We are in the midst of a great tournament and we shouldnt let this cast a shadow over it, he said.

If you never try anything new, you never know anything new. We need rugby to grow and youve seen the growth in Japanese rugby here. We have got another major player in world rugby and it wouldnt happen unless you had the World Cup here.

It will take more than an ominous looking weather forecast to persuade Jones this tournament should have been staged elsewhere.

Excerpt from:
Eddie Jones and England happy to hunker down on the coast at Miyazaki - The Guardian