HCJS, I'm sorry!

WANTED: Passionate Sycamore Fanatics. That You?

Register NOW to join our community of die-hard Sycamore fans.

Register Log in
BlueBleeder

BlueBleeder

The All-American Level
Supporter
Wasn't sure where to put this, so thought I'd sit it by itself and let Jason move it wherever it needs to go. I need to apologize for my words and actions this week. The emotions of having what has been a season of a liftime, come crashing down under the weight of disappointment caused me to fail as a person. I know HCJS has poured everything into coaching this team and if someone wants to pay the man more money than we could ever offer, he has earned the right to take it, no matter what condition that leaves us....and that hurts to say. Instead of being critical of his reported, rumored and assumed actions the last week or so, I should have just been thankful for what he has built here. Watching our Sycamore faithful scream and yell and support coach and our team actually filled me with shame for acting the way i have and for that I am deeply sorry. I know none of what I say or do really matters, but my words do have power, especially when they are used to tear someone down. Coach didn't deserve that and I am better than that. So, coach....if you see this, know I really do appreciate all you've done here and please accept my heart felt apology. Best of luck the rest of the season and in your future endeavors. Forever Bleeding Blue!
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Well said. I would add: but we sure do wish you’d stay. I think you are the best basketball coach isu has ever had, but you won’t be remembered as that for only 3 seasons of output.
 
Also some of the players who stay until their eligibility is used up from this team given the success/community support they have had would be local heroes for life in TH, assured of good career jobs in town somewhere. But not if they leave. Imagine any business with the Avila, Kent, etc etc name associated with it. They’d be set for life in the haute. They need to consider that before leaving us for two years elsewhere only to be forgotten at both places.
 
It takes a strong person to say what you just did. We all hope he can stay; I just wish the NCAA had a rule that as long as a team is in tournament competition, no other school can talk to the coach. This has created a distraction for him, the team and the fans. Now, take a Big 10 school down and dance in Indianapolis. Not making the NCAA has given ISU a lot of free publicity. And as a journalism major, that is priceless.
 
I did something last night that I never thought I would do. I left the game at halftime and I am ashamed. I yelled and cheered as I usually do but finally was just overwhelmed by the thought I would never get to see this team play again. So I left. I abandoned my Team. For the record, I have been as loyal a I.S.U. fan as anyone. I lived in Indianapolis in 1978 and 1979 and still had season tickets - driving back and forth to Terradise in my VW van. I recall driving my north out of Indy towards Muncie to try to pick up the radio broadcast of a ISU vs Ball State game - but hey - there are a ton of SP members who have done the same type of thing over the years so I know I'm not special.
As drove west on I-70 I listened to the game and as I approached Marshall IL the signal started to fade just as the Trees started their run. Took the exit (apologies to the KIA I cut off to make the exit) and headed for a McDonalds and spent the next 30 minutes jockeying my truck around the parking lot to get the best signal. I finished the 2 hour drive home happy and simultaneously ashamed.
I am sorry I doubted this gutty team and am sorry if i vented my frustrations toward HCJS. he has given his best to this school and town. If he can secured life-changing monetary security for his family then so be it, but he should really take a hard look at the kind of attitudes that permeate the SLU culture.
 

Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Im not going to apologize but I will explain why this has made me saltier than normal. I get coaches leaving. I get players transferring. I get people leaving for more money or better opportunities. But at first the rumor was that everyone was going with him. At that point, it felt like a franchise was being relocated and Josh Schertz was the owner moving the team.

Paul George leaving the Pacers was irritating to me as a fan. But that pales in comparison to how I would feel if the Pacers decided to move to Seattle or somewhere else. I would really dislike the Simons for doing it. I wouldn’t think how glad I was for all of their contributions prior to that.

Knowing that Terre Haute and ISU were doing all they could to keep him made it feel like a city going above and beyond to build a new stadium, but the franchise leaves anyway because the new city has a better deal, even though all along the owner keeps saying how much he loves the current city.

I was uninterested last night. Felt very conflicted. But a buddy who was at the game encouraged me to tune in late and I did. I’m back on board. I love ISU too much not to care. I want to win the NIT.

If this turns out to be a coach leaving for a better opportunity and not taking all of the players with him (even if they transfer just not all going to SLU) then I’ll be disappointed but not salty. Bit if it does turn out they all (or almost all) go together, then I’ll feel like the owner relocated the franchise and be salty as hell.

Roll Trees!
 
No one should apologize for feeling what they're feeling. If you are like so many of us, who have sat here for 25, 30, 40+ years of really horrid basketball, you've earned the right to have the feelings of abandonment that most of us have been feeling. The long timers on this board are the core of ISU's fan base. We are the ones who care, year in and year out, whether we win 29 games or 5. We are the ones who any university would love to have because we're here every stinking year.

So yeah, some of us might have been vocal about our displeasure. But none of that was from a place of not caring, it was precisely because we care. Maybe too much? I know my wife would probably say so. But it's a part of who we are. So keep yelling, keep cheering, and keep venting. Because if we stop venting, we stop caring, and then ISU is in real trouble.

We. Love. This. Team.

We. Love. This. Coach.
 
I suppose it's always possible that he has truly not made a final decision on what he will do at the end of the season. It could be one of those things of where he really loves ISU and Terre Haute, but at the same time if he leaves he'll make triple the money and likely be set for life, so he's not sure what to do. I remember us following part of LMU's Final 4 run, so I went back and read an article (link below) where he formally accepted the head coaching position here at ISU before LMU's season was over. I'm not sure why he wouldn't do the same thing this time around. I will say that for me personally, if he has made a final decision to leave I'd rather just know now than be led around.

www.knoxnews.com

Lincoln Memorial basketball coach Josh Schertz hired by Indiana State, will coach LMU in Elite Eight

Lincoln Memorial men's basketball coach Josh Schertz is departing for the same role at Indiana State.
www.knoxnews.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top