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DEL.ICIO.USComets coach keeps it upbeat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Why is Roger Fleetwood smiling?
His South Gwinnett team had just survived a scrap for its basketball life, holding off an improved and determined herd of Meadowcreek Mustangs.
Yet, here was Fleetwood — arguably the most unloved (I say underappreciated) successful coach in these parts — grinning.
It was as if the Comets had just won the state championship. Which, of course, in 2004 they did. Or knocked off fabled Oak Hill, the No. 1 team in America, a feat South Gwinnett pulled off last season.
But those times, and those teams, seem a world away. They don’t do South Gwinnett basketball the way they used to.
Gone are Louis Williams (NBA) and Mike Mercer (UGA). The raucous bandwagon of fans and boosters (some of whom put down $1,000 to see the Comets up close and personal) has thinned out considerably.
So have the nightly blowout victories.
Yet, here was Fleetwood smiling after South Gwinnett’s record (3-2) barely nosed above the .500 line. Why?
“In some ways,” he says, “it’s pretty exciting to play this way. To know every possession matters again. The last couple of years, we played a lot of games where every possession didn’t matter.
“It’s hard to be motivated all the time when you knew you were that much better than some of the teams you were playing.”
Well, the Comets shouldn’t have that concern anymore.
Yes, South still has two players bound for Division I ball in forward Avery Jukes (Alabama) and Delano Howard (Georgia State). But the other 10 players combined will never approach the production — and the flair — of Williams and Mercer. Nor will South garner such success.
Yet here was Fleetwood smiling.
“That was a once-in-a-lifetime team,” he says, “and you can arguably say that is as good a team as ever played in Georgia. But I told the kids it’s something we all have to learn — coaching staff and players — we aren’t the same team, and we’ll never be the same as that team.
“And that’s OK. That’s OK.”
Somehow, Fleetwood sounds convincing. It’s as if the underdog role is the one that best fits the Indiana native, who never in his playing days drew the attention of major college recruiters, let alone NBA scouts.
Maybe, playing the coaching role like the one portrayed in the movie “Hoosiers” is more to Fleetwood’s liking. He says it’s a natural.
“You know, I spent most of my life coaching teams just like this or less,” he says. “A lot of guys have great teams every year, especially they way things [and players] change in the Atlanta area all the time. But I didn’t have that luxury in Indiana.
“I didn’t coach one Division I player in 20-some years up there. I had guys who just had to go out and fight their guts off every game just to compete. So this is more in my league, actually, more in my ballpark. I may not like losing, but I do like seeing progress.”
How much better the Comets can become is to be determined. One thing, though, is certain: Opening league play with a loss to Brookwood stung the Comets. So much so they quickly abandoned their high horse.
“We knew we weren’t supposed to lose to Brookwood,” Howard says. “Everybody knows that. We needed to come together as a team, as a family, and had a big meeting. Knowing everybody is coming out trying to knock our heads off, that we’re not going into games knowing we’re going to win, we have to fight harder.”
Especially since the “Showtime Comets” have left the building.
“It was fun while it lasted,” Howard says. “Now we’re just trying to get the job done.”
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