It's easy to feel good about things when everything goes well or when a reaction to adversities if rewarded with success. It's good to win games and championships, we all know that. It's great to work hard, prepare well, and harvest the fruit of your labor as a coach and player.

It's easy to jump on a winning wagon and feel good about it.  It comes easy to be congratulated for a job well done when the score board says that you have won a game. It comes natural to wanting to be associated with a group of people who are successful at what they do in terms of results. Everyone wants to win and when that happens everyone is present with heart and soul.

I always looked at my coaching successes with some sort of apprehension, because I always knew that, sooner or later, potential loosing seasons, just hiding around the corner, were waiting for me to come by and "assault" me from behind.

They did, unfortunately but inevitably, they did.

How am I going to deal with this unprecedented situation? Am I able to stick to it when everything around me tells me to let it go and focus on the future? 

Defensive mechanisms, something that everyone has, push people to distance themselves from situations that don't bring a smile on one's face but rather disillusion, sadness, shame, and/or pain. Letting go may come with some unpleasant feelings but it doesn't require much effort...it almost comes naturally.

Well, I am a fighter, I am a survivor, I am a competitor, and am definitely no quitter. I believe that the difference between men and Wabash men is exactly that, sticking to the fight and being resolute, even in the face of defeats, bad mood, or anger.

I carry this poem in my wallet, written by an anonymous Irish poet:

"When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems up hill,

When the funds are low, and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but DON'T YOU QUIT!

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As everyone of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far.

So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit,

It's when things seem worse,

that you MUST NOT QUIT!"

It has always helped me in tough moments, and not only related to sports, because, and even though the urge to quit may come natural, quitting doesn't require any talent. And since I proud myself of being a man with many talents, the idea of quitting is unconceivable.

Let's prove it to ourselves, our fans, our friends, our families, and our school from here to the end of the season.

WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS, it means more, much more than just three words chanted before games.