So I post this afternoon, a little perplexed, a little confused.
I arrived at the office for my first shift of 2009 to find an envelope on my desk, about the shape of a birthday/holiday card, with much the feel of the same texture. There was no return address and the envelope wasn’t hand-written, but my name and the paper’s address had been typed onto a piece of paper and then taped to the envelope.
Thankfully, there was no white powder included so no authorities, or the CDC down in Atlanta, would have to be called in for an anthrax scare. However, while what was inside the envelope didn’t kill me, it did leave me scratching my head.
There were three “anonymous” letters stuffed into this one anonymous envelope. One datelined December of 2008 discussed the past situation of the girls basketball team. The first three paragraphs of the letter attacked the previous coaching staff while the fourth and final ‘graph talked about Coach Jaclyn Woitkowski being well-liked by her team.
Page two of the letter, dated November 2007, was basically a listing of eight girls who left the program after the 2006-07 season.
The third and final page was, again, an anonymous letter, dated Nov. 15, 2007, this time to WHS principal Tim Canty. It began, “Well, it’s official! The WHS Girls Basketball Program has been destroyed! … Armageddon has finally arrived!” Then it preceded to rip the Warriors former coach for a variety of different transgressions.
Now, being in the media, and being as unbiased as I can be, I like to play Devil’s Advocate from time to time. And the first thing that popped into my head was this: Derek Vargas, who coached the Warriors for two seasons before this current campaign, went 6-14 in his first season with a team that had just one senior.
Then came the mass exodous of the eight players in the program and with a team that had just one returning senior the following year, Vargas coached the Warriors to another 6-14 mark.
A destroyed program? Armageddon? Truth be told, sounds like a helluva coaching job to me.
Now people will talk about “unacceptable treatment” of players and other issues that were going on behind the scenes and as a reporter I’m hardly privvy to what goes on during every single second of practice. Players complaining to parents about what goes on inside the gym and locker room walls has a long-standing record in the world of high school athletics (sometimes the truth is told, other times things are exagerated and I’m sure out-right lies are handed down, as well) and, in some cases, players quit, coaches get fired, etc., etc.
Having been at the Villager for just 14 months, I don’t know the whole history of the Vargas Era, except for how, when and why it alledgedly ended.
But why, one year later, is this letter being sent to me? Why isn’t the past being left there?
I’ll admit I’m old school. I played for coaches who yelled and screamed at me at times, but they also taught me to be tough and to bear down to make myself better as a player and as a person. I played for coaches I despised with a passion (In one case, I still do to this day, in fact), but I never let a coach drive me away from playing the game I loved so much.
Alas, however, I also know we live in a softer and more politically correct world than we did 20 years ago.
Vargas, like Woitkowski, is a young coach. I’m sure he made mistakes with the program that he wishes he could do over. I’m sure Woitkowski will look back on her first year and wish she had a few do-overs, too. I ran into Vargas after Wilton lost to New Canaan in the first round of the LaVista Holiday Tournament. We spoke off the record about things and he was very supportive of the present-day Warriors and their new coach - and this is a coach whom I’ve talked off the record before about other things, some in not so glowing terms.
Like I said, I’m just confused. I’m not sure if the person who sent those letters reads the Warrior Nation or not, but I really don’t get why all this was sent to me.
All I know right now about the Wilton girls basketball program is the Warriors are 2-5 with 13 games to go. The team I saw play in the LaVista Tournament has taken many steps into getting better as a team.
And, most importantly for the Warrior Nation, it’s a program that should be about tomorrow, not yesterday.
