Good Luck Glenn

As Glenn Michibata sat in TigerBlog's office yesterday afternoon, TB couldn't help but think of Armond Hill.

Michibata resigned yesterday as Princeton's men's tennis coach after a 12-year tenure.

During his time at Princeton, Michibata established himself as one of the most well-liked people here. As TB wrote two weeks ago:
There aren't 25 people who've ever walked into Jadwin Gym who are nicer people than Michibata ...

It's not easy to coach in a place for as long as Michibata did. Of Princeton's 20 men's teams, only six have coaches who have been here for as long as Michibata coached the Tigers.

And so why did TigerBlog think of Armond Hill, an all-time great men's basketball player here at Princeton?

Hill was the head coach at Columbia for TB believes eight seasons. When he left, he probably was wondering with some uncertainty what was next.

And what happened?

He landed on his feet, in the NBA, as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, with whom he has won an NBA championship.

In other words, there's no way to know what comes next.

TB hopes that Michibata goes down a similar path in his post-Princeton career, that he lands on his feet as well.

The profession of coaching is not for everyone. TB has clearly seen that in his time here.

It's a profession that attracts highly intense, highly competitive people. Without those qualities, it's impossible to be successful.

Of course, that doesn't mean that a coach has to be a jerk. Far from it. It's just that they have to have the competitive gene.

It has to gnaw at coaches when they lose. Once they are okay with losing, then it's all over.

And this has to be sustained for years and years and years.

TigerBlog remembers a conversation with Bill Tierney after he'd already won multiple NCAA championships. TB asked him what motivated him to keep going.

Tierney's response was essentially that each year is its own challenge, and it all starts over every single time.

It's not easy to be a coach, especially on the college level. The recruiting alone requires energy, salesmanship, resolve.

And then once the players are here, there's the helplessness of having your career depend on the production of 18- to 22-year-olds of varying levels of commitment.

Here in the Ivy League, athletes are not bound to their teams by athletic scholarships. If it doesn't work out, they're free to leave the team - without worrying about how it will affect their financial aid.

TigerBlog started to think about just how many coaches have been here during TB's time, how many have stayed in the profession, how many have gone on to other things.

When it works out, when their teams win big games and championships, there's nothing better than seeing the coach, the one who saw something in the kid when he/she was a senior, junior even sophomore in high school, who helped bring that kid to the school and helped that kid reach the fullest potential.

Or to see coaches around alums, former kids who are now in their late 20s, 30s, 40s, reflecting on everything they learned from that coach, even if they didn't realize at the time they were learning it. That is when it all pays off for the coach.

Glenn Michibata won more than he lost here at Princeton for his 12 years here, and the tennis players who were on his team were lucky to have the opportunity to learn from him, be mentored by him, have their college experiences shaped by him.

Now, as he moves on from Princeton, TB wishes him all the best. Hopefully, he goes down the same road that Armond Hill went down.

TB is also pretty sure you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone at Princeton today who disagrees.