The outside of Lubbock High School’s Chapman Fieldhouse got a new look courtesy of Greg Lee
by Jason Strunk
Lubbock High School Head Football Coach
Follow @WestTXCoach
Normally, this coach can roll with the punches with the best of them. It takes a lot to wear me down. But 2014 was a constant beat down and it has really tested me personally and professionally.
There hasn’t been much that has gone right over the last calendar year. I thought it would be good to recap this past year, get a good laugh and kick 2014 square in the rear and say goodbye!
January – AFCA Convention. Usually a great trip. However, the 2014 version was awful. I was delayed on one flight, kicked off another and my luggage was lost. When my luggage was found (on its way to Europe for some reason) it was soaking wet. I crossed six lanes of traffic outside Chicago by foot, only wearing shorts and sneakers. My contacts were stuck to my eyeballs for 48 hours. All this happened before I even arrived to the convention – one day late- naturally.
February – Had my head closed in a window.
March – Broken hand; that was awesome.
April – Yankees season begins and basically ends on opening day.
May – Order new football uniforms. They don’t arrive until October.
June – Play in golf tournament. Drive around all day with my name spelled as Stunk on the cart. I don’t notice until the last hole. The name was fitting.
July – Finally open pool after having to paint it for the second straight year. Birds fly over and mark their territory. Paint a little more. It rains.
August – Football starts. Lose starting QB on first offensive series of the year.
September – Ceiling collapses at home; we are down ten players by week 3. Torn ACL’s, broken bones etc.
October – Beat Borger in a football game; leave stadium and pick up injured player at hospital. Get back to Lubbock at 3:00 a.m.
November – Finish the year with thirteen players lost; trainer hurts her knee going to help a player with a hurt knee.
December – My dad, otherwise known as Pops, has a torn Aorta.
Now that I gleaned over 2014, I think it is safe to say it was the year of the “tear”. I would love to tear 2014 out the record books. Let’s just pretend it never happened.
I know there are people who have had it a lot worse than this in 2014. But it’s good to just look back and get a chuckle. What else can you do? This was a character building year.
HE DID WHAT?
I read the other day how a hockey player had part of his ear ripped off and had it sewn back on DURING THE GAME. With a newly repaired ear, he scores game winning goal! Hockey players are tough as nails.
I want to build the Westerners into a team that is hockey tough. If we can do that we will turn the corner. Football is a tough guy’s game. You have to be tough in this game to be successful.
Ripping ears off doesn’t make you successful. But the willingness to come back and play on the same night it happens is the kind of attitude that will lead you to greater success.
OFF-SEASON
We are underway and looking forward to 2015. I will have weekly updates on our progress. Looking forward to this!
RANDOMNESS
– I’m going to be eating sushi at some point this week. I was about to dive into some last week when my dad suddenly needed to be rushed to hospital. So we will get this done this week. This offseason is about stepping out of the box.
– How does a Starbucks run out coffee? I don’t know either. But it happened to me. Go figure.
– Looking to incorporate more two back sets and some TE sets this year.
– Got some new lettering on the outside wall of Chapman. Thanks to Greg Lee and his company for getting it done.
– College football playoff system is a joke. A complete and utter joke. I’m not joking. It’s a joke!!
Till next time. FIO.
