by Wayne23 » Fri Jan 08, 2016 3:41 pm
(Author's note: Scroll down a few lines to 1/10 for the big finish!)
January 4, 2033 Earl:
56-37 over Arkansas. We held them to 24.1%, 13.8% on threes. +9 RBs, but 17 TOs. 15, 11, 3 for Adams, 11, 7 for Floyd, 9, 6 for Tracy. It was an ugly game.
January 7
73-74 at Florida.
Akins hurt his calf. Out for about two weeks. Payne will get his minutes.
January 10 Zak:
Dawn and I had a pretty life changing talk last night. Her next birthday will be her 49th. I’ll be 42 soon. She sort of issued a challenge. What am I doing, what are we doing, to make the world a slightly less awful place. Turns out she has a plan.
We’re worth about 250 million dollars- most of that is hers. The commissions she got representing athletes in contract negotiations were astronomical. I knew that; I mean she negotiated my one and only contract and I know what I paid her.
So anyway, we’ve got all this money.
“So let’s make a difference. Let’s go somewhere- after the school year is over, but we’d need to start work right now, tomorrow. Let’s found a national organization for troubled kids. I mean kids who are living in impossible situations. We’ll use our own money to start-”
“Dawn, I won’t jeopardize our future and our kids’ futures.”
“No, no. We’ll keep maybe 10 or 20 million for ourselves. But the rest? Let’s start a nonprofit. We’ll build orphanages that are not hell holes. Places where kids can live decent lives with trained, caring staff that are like families. And shelters. And temporary placement facilities for short term situations. And whatever else is needed. We’ll encourage people who should be doing so to do foster care. We loved it; we could convince other well to do, decent people that they’d love it, too. We’ll go for government money, of course, but we won’t rely on it strictly.
“We know 3 or 4 billionaires who are philanthropists. They know others.”
“I don’t know anything about that kind of work, Dawn.”
“No, but you know people. You know how to give a talk that people want to listen to. You’ve always been great with people one on one and in small groups. I can see you convincing the people with tons of money, and then leading our campaigns for donations from the rest of the population. I can see you working with kids, maybe running camps for kids in our facilities. Who knows what else.
“Zak, this has been a problem forever. We throw kids away. We ruin their lives-”
“Well, their families did that.”
“NO! Their families started it, but then when society could have stepped in and saved these kids- okay, not all of them but some of them, maybe lots of them- we just threw them away. And then their generation went the same way. We’re on what, the 3rd, 4th generation of that? Let’s stop it, or at least slow it way down.”
“Whew!”
“Come on, you don’t have the passion for coaching you used to have. You’re not having a lot more fun this year than you did last year, even though you have a much better team.
“Let’s do this, Zak.”
I quit my job. This morning I walked into Tuffy Thomas’ office and handed him my resignation, effective at 7:00 p.m. today. I met with my staff. Ezra Johnson will be the interim head coach for the rest of the season. I met with the kids at the beginning of practice, took a fair amount of Ezra’s practice time to explain what I was doing and why, and then shook hands, hugged everyone, cleaned out my office, and went home.
I got to see all of Jamal’s games. I turned down his coach’s offer to become part of his coaching staff. I had too much to do.
Jamal won another state title, and was named a high school All American, just missed national player of the year.
The Tigers went 18-12, 8-8 for the regular season. Finished tied for 7th, #8 seed in the SEC tournament.
They lost in the play in round of the SEC tournament.
They were 18-13, RPI #23 going to the selection show.
They were #7 Midwest, played #10 California in the first round, won.
They lost to #2 seed Georgia Tech in the next round, wound up at 19-14.
My final stats as a head coach: 286-110, .722.
Here on May 1 we have 11 billionaires committed to mind bogglingly large investments. We have several hundred business people, organizations, corporations, celebrities of one kind or another on board, all making large donations, and most of the celebrities at least, wanting to serve as spokespeople, many also wanting to help in some way, including, in many cases, by taking in foster kids. We have a Board of Directors, with Dawn as chair, made up of many of the most highly placed movers and shakers in business, politics, social services, entertainment- you name it. By the beginning of June we will have the framework for a plan. Our national headquarters is in Detroit, for several reasons. Detroit is a city that had all but died of abuse and neglect, but that is on its way back. We love the symbolism of that. Second, it is fairly centrally located in this very large country.
And that’s where my story ends. I have found a passion for this kind of work that had kind of run its course with coaching.
I think we’re going to be able to change lives, and yes, make the world a slightly less awful place.
Oh, Jamal is going to Michigan ST, close enough for us to see his games. There is a truly awesome Arts Magnet School for Jamia, and a Renzulli Academy for Jamilia.