When you only write once a week, it means seven days pass between columns. A lot can happen during that time. It’s unusual that I would write about the same subject twice in a month, but the situation at Tippecanoe Valley and its football program deserves a second look. When last we discussed them, it was the week after Labor Day. Head Coach Darin Holsopple had resigned after three blowout losses, including one in front of a huge season-opening, press box-dedicating crowd to start the season. I emphasized then, and reiterate now, that I am not around Valley football every day like I was for nine years back in the 1990s to early 2000s, but I expressed my concerns about the appearance of how the 13 games of Holsopple’s reign went down. I generally get immediate feedback on my articles, especially when I say something that stirs up a good discussion or debate. But with that column, I heard very little afterward. I was certainly not sitting around waiting for applause nor was I curled up in the fetal position in a corner somewhere. And people who know me well, or even a little, should know by now that I am a very reasonable guy and certainly welcome any comments or feedback on something I have said on the radio, on social media or anywhere else. In this case, however, there was only silence … until last Thursday. As I was waiting for the Bicentennial Torch Relay to begin, I had a moment off to the side with Valley Co-Coach Jeff Shriver. It was a really good conversation and I am glad it happened. Shriver laid out the “Valley side” of it, and defended the overall handling of it. He made a very convincing case that the Valley community as a whole did everything it could to help Holsopple make it work there, but it just wasn’t happening. Again, I am not there, but I am happy to share Shriver’s feelings because I am a fair man and am not in the business of lobbing grenades into people’s communities and then walking away. That’s not what I am about. The other thing that I have since found out is that people closer to Scott Bibler than I am took objection to the way I described recent Valley teams’ success rate, some of which he was the coach for. It was never a slam on Bibs, or Shriver or anyone else. It was a wake-up call to the Valley community that the state of Valley football was not all that great before Holsopple took over. The scores and records bear that out. Holsopple didn’t ruin a program at the height of its dominance. That’s not all the coach’s fault – any of them. Having a bad run does not automatically mean that coach did a bad job. That assumption is lazy, even if it winds up being true. The point is, sometimes it’s a good thing to have a different voice come in. Someone who sees things differently, who has different experiences. I only hope this experience didn’t ruin Valley to that possibility. Here are the facts. Since Holsopple left the program, Valley has won twice (which is what I said might be there maximum win total when I wrote about it last month). By all accounts, they have played harder in the last four games compared to the first three. Good to hear. The program seems to have taken a giant exhale, and released some tension that was growing from within. Glad to hear that, too. They got as good a draw in the sectional as they were going to get. Great. But when the season is over, the search for a new coach will begin. Who will that coach be? Will it be a former Valley player/coach? Seems likely from this distance. Once that is settled, the real question will become this: How many kids will show up for offseason weight training and conditioning workouts? It doesn’t really matter if the answer to that question is a number somewhere in the “not enough” range. Activities like 7-on-7 tournaments and the like are where real teams are made. Will more than five kids show up next summer? Changing coaches in the middle of the season didn’t save this season, although the Vikings do have the “bell trophy” back in their possession, which is the brightest spot possible for a Valley player, coach or fan. In September, I challenged everyone associated with Valley football, including the community as a whole, to look itself in the mirror and figure out if they were part of the problem or part of the solution. They have accepted that challenge. That’s good.
