On Jensen’s Return To Coaching And Other Things
May 1, 2019 at 1:50 a.m.
By Roger Grossman-
An apple is an apple, and no one would ever confuse it with an orange.
Phil Jensen is a football coach, and that’s just all there is to it.
Jensen was introduced last week as the new football coach at Whitko. That announcement came 16 months after an emotional-but-honest farewell to the Warsaw Tigers after two stints as their coach that left him at the top of the all-time wins list.
He told us all then that he was ready to stop coaching — that he needed and wanted to follow his son Michael, who was playing for the brand-new Indiana Wesleyan football team. It wasn’t just your standard “I’m stepping down to spend more time with my family” exit. It was detailed, he was serious and there was every reason to believe him.
But here he is coaching again, so what do we make of that?
First, he’s going to Whitko. The superintendent there is Brandon Penrod (formerly a front office guy at Warsaw) and their principal is John Snyder (former assistant principal and coach at Warsaw) — so these are people who speak as long-time friends, not just as someone who nods in acknowledgement at someone across the room. It takes no imagination at all to hear in your mind how those conversations must have gone, and they must have been very convincing.
In the end, I’m sure that security in knowing that he had the Whitko administration’s full support was a good start.
Second, everything he stopped coaching at Warsaw to do is still in play. Whitko’s junior varsity games are during the week, so his Saturdays are still free to travel to wherever IWU is playing with no worries about missing out on talent observation and player development. Players could watch film and do their Saturday morning fitness and recovery routines under the watchful eyes of assistant coaches.
And the only pressure on Phil to win will be the pressure he puts on himself, which has never been a pressure to win as much as to do things correctly and let the results take care of themselves. Whitko has won one football game over the last two seasons (1-9 in 2018, 0-10 in 2017), and scored 10 or more points only seven times in 20 games during that stretch.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s the best reason for Phil Jensen to be the new coach at Whitko. Because he is going to a place that seems to be dead to football right now. Remember, when he came to Warsaw, Friday nights in the fall were merely social gatherings to give this hoops-crazy town something to do until basketball started.
He made autumn Friday nights matter here when no one thought it was possible.
Maybe he can do the same in South Whitley.
You remember in March I wrote about my not-so-secret hope that Lakeland Christian Academy would beef up its boys’ basketball schedule a little. That sentiment made some within the program and from Cougar Nation defensive, but I was sent a copy of their proposed 2019-20 schedule Monday and it looks significantly different than past schedules.
By my count, they have 16 games against schools that will play in the IHSAA tournament in 2020. That compares to seven opponents last season. That is fantastic! I am excited for them. They have schools like Argos, North Miami, Triton, Culver and Caston on their agenda and I applaud them for it.
It will make them better in the long run and there is plenty of room in our area for a quality LCA team.
The new sectional assignments for the next two school years are out from the IHSAA. The two biggest takeaways are that Warsaw football is now in a 6A sectional with Carroll and Homestead again, and this time Noblesville is the fourth. The Millers went 4-6 last year, but their schedule is very strong so don’t read too much into that.
That’s a long road trip from Warsaw to Noblesville on a Friday night.
Speaking of long road trips, Tippecanoe Valley is in a football sectional that includes South Bend Washington, John Glenn and Garrett. Get an Indiana map out and draw circles around Walkerton, Mentone, South Bend and Garrett. The driving distance from Garrett to Walkerton is 1 hour 34 minutes — 76 miles. It’s possible, for example, that Garrett might have to make that kind of trek twice in eight days.
Or Valley could have to go to Garrett (1 hour 18 minutes) one week and the west side of South Bend (53 minutes) the next.
And the softball sectional draws came out Sunday afternoon — April 27. The games don’t start until the week of May 20. That seems really early, but whatever.
One last thought: Is there anything more worthless than the grades issued by so-called draft experts to NFL teams? As you are reading this, you have just as good of a chance to figure out who will make it to the league and who will be a bust.
I am not wasting my time on it.
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An apple is an apple, and no one would ever confuse it with an orange.
Phil Jensen is a football coach, and that’s just all there is to it.
Jensen was introduced last week as the new football coach at Whitko. That announcement came 16 months after an emotional-but-honest farewell to the Warsaw Tigers after two stints as their coach that left him at the top of the all-time wins list.
He told us all then that he was ready to stop coaching — that he needed and wanted to follow his son Michael, who was playing for the brand-new Indiana Wesleyan football team. It wasn’t just your standard “I’m stepping down to spend more time with my family” exit. It was detailed, he was serious and there was every reason to believe him.
But here he is coaching again, so what do we make of that?
First, he’s going to Whitko. The superintendent there is Brandon Penrod (formerly a front office guy at Warsaw) and their principal is John Snyder (former assistant principal and coach at Warsaw) — so these are people who speak as long-time friends, not just as someone who nods in acknowledgement at someone across the room. It takes no imagination at all to hear in your mind how those conversations must have gone, and they must have been very convincing.
In the end, I’m sure that security in knowing that he had the Whitko administration’s full support was a good start.
Second, everything he stopped coaching at Warsaw to do is still in play. Whitko’s junior varsity games are during the week, so his Saturdays are still free to travel to wherever IWU is playing with no worries about missing out on talent observation and player development. Players could watch film and do their Saturday morning fitness and recovery routines under the watchful eyes of assistant coaches.
And the only pressure on Phil to win will be the pressure he puts on himself, which has never been a pressure to win as much as to do things correctly and let the results take care of themselves. Whitko has won one football game over the last two seasons (1-9 in 2018, 0-10 in 2017), and scored 10 or more points only seven times in 20 games during that stretch.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s the best reason for Phil Jensen to be the new coach at Whitko. Because he is going to a place that seems to be dead to football right now. Remember, when he came to Warsaw, Friday nights in the fall were merely social gatherings to give this hoops-crazy town something to do until basketball started.
He made autumn Friday nights matter here when no one thought it was possible.
Maybe he can do the same in South Whitley.
You remember in March I wrote about my not-so-secret hope that Lakeland Christian Academy would beef up its boys’ basketball schedule a little. That sentiment made some within the program and from Cougar Nation defensive, but I was sent a copy of their proposed 2019-20 schedule Monday and it looks significantly different than past schedules.
By my count, they have 16 games against schools that will play in the IHSAA tournament in 2020. That compares to seven opponents last season. That is fantastic! I am excited for them. They have schools like Argos, North Miami, Triton, Culver and Caston on their agenda and I applaud them for it.
It will make them better in the long run and there is plenty of room in our area for a quality LCA team.
The new sectional assignments for the next two school years are out from the IHSAA. The two biggest takeaways are that Warsaw football is now in a 6A sectional with Carroll and Homestead again, and this time Noblesville is the fourth. The Millers went 4-6 last year, but their schedule is very strong so don’t read too much into that.
That’s a long road trip from Warsaw to Noblesville on a Friday night.
Speaking of long road trips, Tippecanoe Valley is in a football sectional that includes South Bend Washington, John Glenn and Garrett. Get an Indiana map out and draw circles around Walkerton, Mentone, South Bend and Garrett. The driving distance from Garrett to Walkerton is 1 hour 34 minutes — 76 miles. It’s possible, for example, that Garrett might have to make that kind of trek twice in eight days.
Or Valley could have to go to Garrett (1 hour 18 minutes) one week and the west side of South Bend (53 minutes) the next.
And the softball sectional draws came out Sunday afternoon — April 27. The games don’t start until the week of May 20. That seems really early, but whatever.
One last thought: Is there anything more worthless than the grades issued by so-called draft experts to NFL teams? As you are reading this, you have just as good of a chance to figure out who will make it to the league and who will be a bust.
I am not wasting my time on it.
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