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Monday, January 21, 2008
Weather report: Who’s hot, who’s cold
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The weather on Saturday forced the cancellation of some of the biggest late-season matchups. Some of the games will have to be made up because they were region or subregion games.
Weather aside, here are some interesting things to consider as teams head toward region tournament play:
• The McEachern girls team has won 12 straight and appears to be one of the teams to beat. A 60-55 victory against a talented Marietta squad definitely shows it has some firepower.
• The McEachern boys team has cooled some since a hot start. The Indians have lost three of their last four games going into Monday’s showdown with Class AAAA top-ranked Columbia squad.
• After being the surprise team of Class AAAAA, the Douglass boys suddenly have lost their last two games to unranked Newton and Stephenson. The girls team lost Stephenson on Friday.
• The Ridgeland boys started the season 16-0, but have dropped their last two games.
Now is the time for teams to start and continue to heat up instead of cooling down. When the Georgia Sportswriters Association’s new poll comes out Wednesday, look for a few changes to reflect who’s hot and who’s not around the state.
Post up: Who’s hot and who’s not in your opinion? There are still a handful of unbeaten teams in the state … will they be able to run the table?
Permalink | Comments (49) | Post your comment | Categories: Fastbreak
Field’s wide open for new coaches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The AJC’s Todd Holcomb discusses important issues in Georgia prep sports and takes your comments.
High school football season is over for players, but for coaches, it’s time to tighten the job application.
SEE IT NOW: Georgia HS football head coaching vacancies
By my count, there have been 51 openings for head coaches among GHSA schools since the season ended, and only nine have been filled officially. A few others have a choice in mind but haven’t made an announcement. Expect another major opening or two shortly. Not all vacancies are official, either.
Since the GHSA and the state board of education doesn’t keeps track of this, any list of job openings is unofficial. This research is mostly the work of Steve Slay, a member of the Georgia High School Historians Association. If you see we’re missing something, let us know.
Here are my questions for you regarding the current vacancies:
• If you were hiring a coach, who would be on your short list?
• What’s the best job out there? Colquitt County? Collins Hill?
• What’s the best rumor out there? If it sounds reasonable, I’ll check it out and report back.
• Are too many schools looking for big names or going out of state for glitter when many good candidates are in their back yard, often assistants just needing a shot?
• And is being a head coach all it’s cracked up to be?
Consider this quote to the Grand Rapids Press from former Kell coach Irv Sigler, who said 14-hour days were common and ultimately not worth it for him:
“Coaching down here [in Georgia] is a much different proposition. Our program [Kell] isn’t funded by the school, so the coaches are responsible for everything … from A to Z, and that includes cutting fields and striping fields. I have a great school and I love my kids and assistant coaches, but it got to the point where I felt I couldn’t do that and be a good husband and father at the same time.”
Sigler has returned to coach a school in Michigan, where the job description is more reasonable, he said.
SEE IT NOW: Georgia HS football head coaching vacancies
Kick off the debate: Talk issues with Todd right here.
Permalink | Comments (40) | Post your comment | Categories: Extra Point
Wesleyan coach’s husband also ‘steps it up’ each year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three days ago, Jan Azar won her 250th game as head coach at Wesleyan. She had no idea the milestone was on the horizon. But David Azar, her husband, did.
He assumes many responsibilities most coaches’ spouses do not: everything.
Keeping statistics, managing the Web site (www.wesleyanlady wolves.com), taking care of their two young children: David Azar makes it happen.
And his diligence is a significant reason Azar rates among the best coaches in Georgia, male or female. She’s able to do her job comforted by knowing the off-the-court jobs are handled by her husband.
“That’s very big,” she said.
But here’s the thing: David Azar is secure with himself as a man, so handling responsibilities once (and still, in some archaic circles) considered for women means zilch to him. And that makes him the manliest of men.
“I just don’t see the responsibility as hers only,” he said. “They are both our kids. It’s what I should do. In the summer, when basketball season is over, she assumes most of the taking to doctors, etc. So, in basketball season, I step up. And I’m happy to do it.
“I had no idea our lives would be like this when we met, but I love basketball. It’s my favorite sport.
“And my wife as coach is just a bonus.”
How’s this for a bonus? The Azars got married in 1999 during Wesleyan’s spring break. It was Jan Azar’s second year as coach. Turned out that March date in 2005 was the same as the AA state championship game in Macon.
Neither spouse recalled that it was their sixth wedding anniversary — until David Azar’s mother called to congratulate them. “We were like, ‘For what?’ he recalled. “We were so into the championship game, we didn’t even think about it.”
Of course, the Wolves took the title that day, the second of three consecutive AA championships. Add the 2002 Class A title, and that’s four crowns for Azar, who has lost just 56 games in 11 years.
Furthermore, since 2000, only once has Wesleyan not made it to the championship game (in 2003 it lost in the quarterfinals). If there is a more accomplished coach in Georgia, let him/her please step forward.
“It’s been a great, fun ride,” said Azar, who was seven months pregnant with daughter Nicole during the 2002 championship game and with Andrew during the ‘05 title tilt.
“For a while,” she cracked, “I though we might have a bunch of kids since we won championships while I was pregnant.”
No worries; she’s won titles in nonpregnant years, too. “This job is definitely more difficult for a female, who has to balance family and coaching,” Jan Azar said.
“Most husbands [of women coaches] work full-time jobs, while most men coaches — or many of them — have stay-at-home wives to handle the kids and the house.
“I’ve been blessed with a husband who helps take on some of those ‘motherly duties.’ He’s willing to do it 50-50, and it’s an incredible help.”
Still, she is not disillusioned.
Her kids come first.
“My role is that of a mom first and foremost,” she said.
Indeed, Nicole is a kindergarten student at Wesleyan, and Azar walks from her office daily and picks her up from the car pool line. Nicole attends practice with the Wolves and rides the bus to all the away games.
Saturday, in her YWCA league, she scored her first points on an 8-foot goal.
During Wesleyan games, David Azar sits with his children. Well, Nicole sits and watches and Dad often chases the active Andrew.
It’s a long way from the pre-children days, when Azar worked the Wesleyan game clock or made the pregame announcements.
“This has been great all the way around,” David Azar said. “I love the girls; they’re like our extended family.”
Added Azar: “My girls [players] many times come over and baby-sit for us. That’s a great perk for me and David.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Curtis Bunn
