I’ve covered a lot of coaches over the years. It’s extremely rare that a coach stays in one place for more than a decade nowadays. It’s even more rare that those long time coaches have the universal respect and love from all of their former players.
Joel Gafford was one of those coaches.
He became synonymous with Ripley baseball.
He demanded the best from his guys but one thing was clear…those were HIS guys.
A prime example of that: the media swarmed Ty Long after his masterful pitching performances at the state championship final game, a tough loss for the Tigers. Gafford came up to Ty, put his arm around him, and was right there with him the whole time.
Me and Gafford would text and talk occasionally, about sports mostly. Over a decade+ of covering him, we became friendly. He thanked me for covering his Tigers, never wanted any credit for anything, and always said the program was bigger than him.
Thanks for all the baseball banquet invites and signing day heads up over the years Coach. I’ll miss the “eat breakfast. Go Tigers” Tweets and I’ll miss you.
Indiana played one ranked team, gave up 30 unanswered points, and Notre Dame might be on the way. Big Ten football. Bama, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Florida, and A&M would NEVER. Weak conference.
@DavidLCollier@Lane_Kiffin I hope @Lane_Kiffin continues to think outside the box with his coaching but takes in consideration that he had one of the best IF not the best ole miss rosters in their history . If you need a new OC I will gladly quit my 9-5 job and put the headset on.