I saw Zeus die.
Not the Zeus you know, not Kaleb Tarczewski, but the legendary coach from my high school, Glen βZeusβ Worthington.
Most high schools have had a legendary coach like Zeus. He was Utahβs βSportsman of the Half Century,β 1900-1949, and by the time I enrolled at Logan High, he had been on the coaching staff for 32 years.
As I walked into the cafeteria one winter day all those years ago, Coach Worthington sat alone near the front of the food line. Just as I walked by, he toppled over and fell to the floor.
The legendary Zeus died before our eyes. He was only 63.
At the funeral a few days later, most of the schoolβs coaching staff helped to carry Coach Worthingtonβs casket from the church to the waiting hearse. All of those men, those career-coaches, remain indelible in my mind.
Hap Holmstead. Cliff Poole. Dick Ryan.
That was the culture of high school sports a generation or two ago. Coaches built a picket fence around their house and school, raised a family and became a part of the community. They were lifers.
Tucson has been blessed with as many legendary coaches, lifers, as any city its size: Dick McConnell, Vern Friedli, Mary Hines, Ernie Palomarez, George Genung.
Itβs not like that any more. There are fewer Long Haul Coaches in Tucson or anywhere.
I bring this to your attention because Tucson just completed the 2015-16 sports season with a bare six state championships. Pueblo and Catalina Foothills won two, Pusch Ridge and Ironwood Ridge one each.
As recently as 2009, Tucson teams won 26 state championships.
In 2011, Tucson won 22 state championships.
Now itβs down to six. It was also six last year, the lowest of the century. Is it related to the transient nature of high school coaching? I think so.
In recent weeks, three-time Desert Christian state championship baseball coach Grant Hopkins retired. Tim Berrier won his third state wrestling championship at Ironwood Ridge in February. He has also retired. Pusch Ridge football coach Troy Cropp coached the Lions to an indescribable finish, winning the state title with one wild finish after another. He has since left the school.
Sometimes you find success without continuity. Canyon del Oro has won seven state softball championships this century, and the Dorados did so with four coaches: Dee Dinota, Kelly Fowler, Stephanie Nicholson and Amy Cislak.
Sometimes life has other plans. Cislak became a high school principal. Nicholson got a job with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dinota became a real estate agent. Fowler stepped away for a few years, preferring to watch her daughters play college softball.
But overall, the trend has changed. There are fewer and fewer men and women like Zeus Worthington, fewer build-a-legend coaches like Chollaβs Ed Brown, Rinconβs Rich Utter and Catalinaβs Cliff Myrick.
Itβs not a good trend.
In a 10-year period from 2004 to 2013, Tucson teams won 168 state championships. Thatβs almost 17 state titles per year. Then came a notable shift; the culture began to morph toward rent-a-coaches at all schools.
In the last three years, Tucson has won just 21 state titles, almost 10 fewer per year.
I had the privilege last week of talking to former Rincon/University golf coach, Red Morrow. He proudly wears the ring from the Rangersβ 2002 state golf championship, aided in part by PGA Tour golfer Michael Thompson.
Morrow was as good a high school coach as you could find. The students enjoyed his engaging personality and friendliness. He has since become the vice principal/athletics at Tucson High, where he has more general responsibility, but less specific impact.
Peter. Paul. You get the idea.
So many of the good coaches, like Sunnyside basketball coach Rob Harrison, draw almost too much attention to themselves. After winning 86 games over the last four years at Sunnyside, which is a very tough job, Harrison is leaving to coach in Colorado. Itβs a big loss for Sunnyside.
In the five years since Tucson teams won those 22 state titles in 2011, 10 of the head coaches left those schools: Berrier, Julie Walters, Charlie Kendrick, Tony Gabusi, Heather Moore-Martin, Bobby DeBerry, David Towne, Perri Touche and Michele Murphy. Another, Sahuaritaβs Chris Fanning, left and came back.
The demand for capable coaches, those who buy in and make a name for themselves and for their school, grows.
But the time demands are ridiculous. Interaction with parents can be a political mess. Many coaches burn out in a few years. Those who stick with it and create a community atmosphere, like Tucson High baseball coach Oscar Romero, who has been on the job for more than a quarter-century, are in a dying minority.
The roster from Tucsonβs Class of 2011 state championships still includes some full-on coaching legends, from Salpointe tennis coach John Condes to CDO track coach Rick Glider. Both have been on the job for more than 20 years. Both have won state championships.
Itβs an honored list, but also one that continues to shrink, and that canβt be good.
