Turnbull turns from UMM to the high school!

Scott Turnbull

We can announce a new athletic director for Morris Area High. Maybe I should say "MACA." This is certainly big news: the new person comes from the UMM athletic staff. Name is Turnbull, Scott Turnbull. We hope he sets high standards for the MACA Tiger programs. 

He replaces a guy who was not here long. A friend informed me that Blake Karas was "poached" by Minnewaska Area, basically just down the road from us. And the reason? A person who seemed in good position to know answered my query by rubbing a couple of his fingers together. Yes, money! Makes the world go 'round I guess. 

But I wish this Karas fellow had relocated further away. Now he'll be a constant reminder of how $ compensation might be an issue here with the Motown school. 

Someone shared with me the theory that "Republicans on the school board are the problem." That's one person's thoughts. I actually wouldn't presume to know the political affiliation of board members. However I might suspect. I suppose such souls would approve of salary hikes grudgingly. Who knows? We certainly have seen a veritable parade of school staff making aggrieved presentations to the board. 

I'll bet these people were totally satisfied on the day when they were first hired. But things go south pretty fast I guess. 

It is true that inflation hovers ever more as a specter. A restaurant in Morris came out with new menus last week. "New menus" are presented with a wink: "higher prices." And so one of my preferred breakfasts there has gone from $13.04 to $14.58. I used to bring a $20 bill and four pennies there. Then I tipped with $2. But we have to wonder now if $2 is even going to be enough for a tip. If my new norm is going to be $3, do I want to deal with $1 bills so much? Answer quite probably is "no." 

So the solution is: lean on the plastic cards nearly 100 percent. I was getting to that point anyway. These changes happen slowly. I feel uncomfortable now when handling paper money and coins anywhere. As a young person I'd very often tip with mere "coins." Leave them on the table. I remember that getting phased out, was hard to accept at first. And I found that leaving paper money on a table was a problem because the table might have wet spots. 

Every so often we see a commentary about how the whole custom of tipping in America has become questionable. Good points are made. Again, change happens slowly. Inflation pushes forward as the Federal Reserve is under constant pressure to keep interest rates low. Well, to cut interest rates actually, cut interest rates and set the stage for more inflation. How do you feel about that? 

So is this what makes our Morris teaching staff so restless? Inflation? They sure do confront our school board with no inhibitions. I was surprised by the assertiveness of the football coach in doing this. He must have complete job security. However, I wonder about the future of football because of our school adding boys soccer. 

And wouldn't you know, our new athletic director Scott Turnbull comes from soccer! Soccer at UMM! Is this coincidence? Is he going to be our first high school soccer coach? Will the school be real fired-up making soccer a strong sport right away? And if so, whither football? Whither football, that truly dangerous sport? I wonder if adding soccer is a way for attracting new students to our school. 

Turnbull was UMM's head soccer coach. His resignation at UMM is effective May 19. Turnbull actually has a background that includes football. He was placekicker for the Cougars in the '90s. But he grew up playing soccer in his native Manitoba, Canada. 

The UMM website informs us that he began his coaching career with the new UMM women's soccer program in 1998. I remember that well. No one at the Morris paper asked me to collect coverage material on the new program. I made the decision myself. I hope that the old press clippings of my work will be like a valued museum piece. I remember the goalie named Katie Riba. 

I did interviews with the coach, a fellow last name of DeVries. I really did not get good vibes from him on a personal level. But he did the interviews and I was excited to do the work. Was the UMM website even established yet? If it was, it was surely in limited, nascent form. 

The early days of the Internet showed many sites in just potential form. They had to look great because in previous times there was no such thing. Most sites in the web 1.0 days were like fixed billboards. They surely looked nice especially to people like me who grew up without the 'Net. The key for progress was going to be interactivity. Bring on web 2.0! 

I have read that the onset of web 2.0 was the real death knell for newspapers. The UMM website of today is 100 percent impressive. So I do not understand why the Morris newspaper (or what is left of it) has to fill its sports link with UMM news. I think it's almost humorous. MACA barely turns up there and if it does, the coverage is stale/old. 

Obviously the paper is desperate to keep trying to sell us their print version which only comes out once a week: totally unsatisfactory. Totally. 

I wonder if Turnbull is going to take a close look at how the MACA programs are covered in the media. Might he make a push to get MACA included again in the West Central Tribune's coverage territory? We have been out of that for maybe 3-4 years. Jackson Loge could not be a nominee for "All Area." 

Here's an idea: Maybe Turnbull could make a push for more MACA sports material showing up on social media. Somehow. The world wide web can accommodate anything. Surely you'd agree, Mr. Turnbull. 

My goodness, has Turnbull been the head UMM men's soccer coach for 14 seasons? Where does the time go? I left the Morris newspaper 18 years ago. That makes me realize: I left the paper at the time our MAHS graduates of '24 were just getting born! 

These grads include Kaylee Harstad who is my Saturday morning server at DeToy's Restaurant. She is so capable and friendly. She was a Tiger basketball standout but I personally thought she did not realize her full potential here. She's a center/post type of player. I have long thought our girls basketball program under-achieves. It'll have a new coach next year: Justin Daly. Who knows how he will do? The great mystery of sports I guess. "That's why they play the game," the great sportscaster Chris Berman says. 

It'll be fun seeing all the games unfold for MACA starting next fall. I hope football fades as soccer gets its footing. 

I was happy to present a graduation card to Ms. Harstad Saturday at DeToy's! It's fun to still feel a little connection to MACA sports doings. I'll never let go of that. Oh, I included a $20 bill. I guess $20 doesn't go as far as it used to.

Hey, Caitlin Clark had a good game on Saturday! She is the definition of "fresh air" in our U.S. culture of now. Blots out the "hush money trial," or it ought to.

Addendum: It is appropriate for a Williams to have special devotion to "first things" at UMM, such as the then-new women's soccer program. I was a self-starter in covering it for the Morris Sun Tribune. It's appropriate that us Williams family members pay attention to groundbreaking things. My father established music at UMM and was the only music faculty in the institution's first year. Would you believe, no women's athletics then? Basketball was played at a facility like what we saw in the movie "Hoosiers." Heady times. Really satisfying times in their own way. But no organized women's sports!

Why would Chris DeVries be unpleasant for me to work with? Probably because he heard negative things from Brian Curtis. And why would Curtis speak ill of me? Probably because of negative things he heard from Mike Martin. Yes, I'm the proverbial guy who "knows where all the bodies are buried" in this community.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com