| i guess since i've been on the campus for twenty years i'm clearly an old, old timer.
when i first arrived at poly we were current or recent national champions in baseball, womens tennis, and womens basketball and we were a very strong DI softball program on the move. those were our glory years to be sure.
since you asked only about two sports here is my take on these.
we have more national titles in ladies roundball than any other sport. in fact, no school in D2 has more than our five. this program was built on the sharp coaching skills of darlene may, for whom the old gym is named. it would be routine for her to take on and beat anybody, including USC and UCLA. sadly, she died from a terminal disease, but the good news is that her understudy, paul thomas, continued that tradition and won two more crowns after her passing, probably just prior to your arrival on campus. recently, coach thomas began focusing on coaching at the next level and since then the program has taken a nosedive. our current coach in fact was a second chance hire when the pick of the university, changed his mind after a day or two on the job. so please cut coach michelle some slack for not winning another title. i think our ladies will be back.
our baseball program, on the other hand, rose and fell with the arrival and departure of the guy for whom the field was named, john scolinos. he is arguably the best coach i have seen in any sport not merely at poly but in all of D2. he was a master motivator and leader, and occasionally he comes back and revs up the bronco faithful one more time. you should meet him. just like coach may, coach scolinos would play, and beat, anybody and everybody including the big boys, and we won the league crown almost every year.
unfortunately, his understudy has not produced those results, nor even come remotely close. in the past fifteen years we've not won a single league title, and i can't recall if we've ever even played in the national playoffs either. i'd like to say that you can't replace a legend, but on the other hand it is clearly disappointing to see bronco baseball keep losing given its glorious past.
am just curious, xiaoxue, are you possibly a baseball player who is not getting playing time? |