Speaking Up In North Idaho
You won’t find any Coachspeak here. You know, the mind-numbing things coaches spout, i.e., “I’m proud of my kids,” or, “We shot ourselves in the foot.”
If you enjoy reading monotonous Chuck Knox-ian quotes, stop right here. The following list of quotes, supplied by Panhandle coaches and athletes, livened up our pages in 1994:
“What do they do on Fridays, go skiing?”
- Lewiston coach Dick Richel asked of the Sandpoint boys basketball team, which had played every day of the week except Friday.
“Coaching is like a roller-coaster ride. You go down the hill and it scares you to death. Then you get to the bottom and you say, ‘That was kind of fun, let’s do it again.”’
- Idaho basketball coach Joe Cravens.
“I live to play Kellogg.”
- Wallace football coach Dave Rounds on Silver Valley rivalry.
“I’m very surprised by the decision. However, you never know what’s going to happen when selfishness and politics come into play.”
- Lake City boys basketball coach Jim Winger, when standout Brian Russell was ruled ineligible. His eligibility was later restored.
“Around here (Tacoma), I’m known as Sherriden May’s father. And I don’t have any problem being known as Sherriden May’s father.”
- Samuel May, father of UI’s All-American running back.
“She’s played for a lot of coaches, on a lot of all-star teams during the summer, and she never came back to school thinking she had all the answers or knew it all.”
- Moscow girls basketball coach Sally Greene, summing up the memories she’ll cherish most from coaching Heather Owen, now at Stanford.
“I refuse to comment on anybody else’s program, including Brian McNeely’s at Idaho State, with all the success it has had.”
- UI football coach John L. Smith, after his Bengals counterpart said ISU has more drawing potential than Idaho. McNeely’s career record at ISU was 5-17 at time.
“He’s glad I moved or he would have never played.”
- UI’s Tommy Knecht, who beat out Drew Bledsoe at quarterback in junior high before moving from Walla Walla.
“We’re doing this based on facts and faith.”
- UI president Elisabeth Zinser, following state Board of Education vote allowing Idaho to leave Big Sky.
“I’ve loved every minute of it. We deserve to win, considering how hard we practice.”
- Wide receiver Shawn Gust on Lake City’s football team. LC was 0-7 at the time and ended 0-9.
“They invited me not to be in the room.”
- UI administrator Hal Godwin, when NCAA Council voted to deny Idaho’s waiver request at a meeting in Kansas City, Mo.
“I take the blame, but I’d do it again.”
- Post Falls quarterback Darick Pope, whose fourth-down audible call resulted in a Lewiston interception.
“It’s probably the toughest loss of my career. Some day it (UI’s streak over Boise State) had to end. But I hate losing to these guys, just like they hate to lose to us.”
- UI’s Smith, after 27-24 loss to BSU.
“Ron (Adams) tells us all that we’re ‘one of the best this or that.’ I just find it hard to believe that I’m one of the best point guards in the nation … .”
- Coeur d’Alene/Lake City basketball player Jennifer Kerns said after Adams, the Spokane Stars AAU coach, ranked her among nation’s top point guards.
“One pays the bills and I owe a great deal to my employees there. (But) I’m late to work sometimes; I’m never late to practice.”
- North Idaho College women’s coach Greg Crimp, comparing his Sports Cellar business and basketball.
“It’s the closest 41-point game I’ve ever seen.”
- CdA boys basketball coach Larry Bieber, after the Viks were flattened by Boise 90-49.
“People come over to our house and say, ‘Be sure to compliment your wife on the plants,’ and they’re my plants. “People say, ‘Talk to your plants and it’ll help them.’ I threaten mine.”
- UI’s Cravens on his hobby of competitive gardening.