Hugs and Hisses: A Scandurro Story

BY TIM SCANDURRO

HUGS AND HISSES

Many years ago I saw a satirical Woody Allen movie called “Zelig,” in which the title character had a desperate yearning to fit in and be accepted.  As a result he would take on, quite literally, the physical characteristics, accent and mannerisms of the people he was around. 

On the life journey of those who end up in any kind of leadership position, particularly one that involves public speaking or anything in the public eye, they have usually been exposed to other effective leaders, speakers and public performers.  Sometimes these are mentors or role models or even peers; sometimes they are just strangers seen on television.  Either way, those on the way up have studied them and tried to figure out their secret sauce.

And they have a choice to make.  They can seek to understand the habits and character traits they admire and incorporate them into their own personal style, or like the Zelig character in the film, they can turn themselves into something they’re not by trying to imitate and emulate.  The latter choice when made by politicians, lawyers or football coaches runs the serious risk of being perceived as inauthentic and phony, which is Kryptonite to anyone trying to lead or persuade others to follow them.

Will Hall took a lot of ridicule from the keyboard gladiators in our fanbase for his spontaneous celebration in the immediate seconds following Tulane’s dramatic overtime victory in Charlotte Friday night.  Much like he did following the end of the Memphis game, his first instinct was to run around looking for coaches and players to hug.  That drew some howls about how ‘pathetic’ it was to so overtly celebrate eking out a win against a bad opponent, and that he needs to act like the more media-friendly, image-conscious and camera-comfortable Coach Sumrall did. 

Could I have done without the “number one” finger in the air?  Yeah, probably.  But I’m good with the reaction generally because it’s authentic to who Coach Hall is.  He learned both the game and that kind of passionate response to it at the knee of his father, legendary Mississippi Hall of Fame coach Bobby Hall, who won over 300 games and multiple state titles.  Will Hall told us recently that his father is one of the only people outside his own staff and his family that he listens to in-season.  So there’s no need to worry about him changing how he celebrates wins because Joe from Lakeview thinks he’s an embarrassment; he’s not reading all that. 

What he is doing is reacting genuinely to the joy he felt for his players and his staff who poured themselves into a long week of preparation, had a lot of adversity during the game and came close to unraveling, but in the end stayed true to their faith and commitment in each other and found a way to win a game that, according to ESPN’s metrics, they had a 97% chance of losing with four minutes left in it.  The players were excited too, for the same reasons. 

The Halls are from Amory, Mississippi, and if you’re wondering where that is it’s about equidistant between Okolona to the west and Sulligent to the east. Bobby Hall’s hero as a coach was Vince Lombardi, and Coach Lombardi was a New Yorker.  But what Lombardi famously said still rings just as true for the Halls: 

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious.”

It wasn’t pretty.  None of these four wins have been.  And I’m not sure we win another one if we don’t play a whole lot better as a team.  But the refusal to die at the end, and the culture that made that possible, was worth celebrating in the moment.  As long as it’s authentic and it doesn’t show up the other team, it’s all good.   I don’t care what kind of accent a man has while letting it all out, and neither do his players.  

Be you and be true, Coach.  You said when you left USM that you made a mistake there by trying to be something that you’re not, and you wouldn’t do it again.  Don’t.  Change what you know in your heart you need to change, and rely on those whom you trust most along with your conscience and your best instincts to guide you.   It may not be good enough in the end, but if it isn’t, the boots you’ll be dying in are yours, not anybody else’s.

And if it makes Joe in Lakeview feel any better, I’m told the team and coaches were all business shortly after the game ended and had already turned the page. 

Oh Thank Heaven For 7-11.  On a night when our defense really had problems,  Kevin Adams made four very large plays on Charlotte’s last two possessions.  In regulation, he blitzed on second and ten and tackled Charlotte’s Henry Rutledge at the line of scrimmage.  Rutledge gave us fits all night, running for 121 yards, catching another four balls for 79 yards, and coming dangerously close to running a kickoff back all the way.  On this play Adams stopped him dead in his tracks which helped force the fourth down fake punt that we stopped.  Then in overtime he tackled Rutledge again on the 8-yard line to prevent a touchdown.   Then on first and goal inside the five, Adams again came up hard from his safety position and got Rutledge again near the line of scrimmage. But Number 7 saved the fourth and best play for last.  On fourth and goal from the three, Charlotte tried to run a pick play to get its tight end open on a shallow out route at the goal line.  Adams had the tight end in man coverage, recognized the design immediately and drove hard on his man, getting in his hip pocket and avoiding the receiver angling in to disrupt him.  Charlotte QB Conner Harrell had nowhere to go with the ball and his desperation throw under pressure was knocked down. 

On the other side of the ball, what more can you say about Trace Johnson.  After channeling Joe Namath circa 1969 and guaranteeing a win publicly six days earlier, Number 11 channeled Broadway Joe again Friday night and delivered it with two clutch touchdown  drives the last two times he had the ball.  On the overtime drive he overcame a penalty and a dropped touchdown pass to make a key third down throw to Destyn Hill that got us to the one yard line.  Before Johnson took the reins, either one of those two mistakes standing alone would have almost certainly spelled the end of that possession, but his talent and ability gives our offense the kind of resilience we often had last year. The game plan he was given was heavy on short, ball control throws with some medium targets thrown in, and he generally delivered accurate balls with plenty of velocity. 

His counterpart Conner Harrell had double digit P-4 offers when he came out including Michigan and Tennessee,  started games at North Carolina before transferring, and is a 6’2, 210 pound 22 year old playing in his fifth college season. Trace Johnson had one reported P-4 offer from West Virginia, had no collegiate starting experience until three weeks ago, and according to our media guide stands 6’1” (perhaps in very long cleats?), weighs 194 pounds, and is 18 years old. 

Harrell gave us fits most of the night with his arm and his legs, and was locked in a tooth-and-nail duel with young Trace for about 55 minutes.  But when that dry mouth, tight sphincter time arrived at the end, Johnson was the decisively better quarterback.

Speaking of tight-sphincter moments, how about that play by Garrett Mmahat on the fake punt.  He got stiff-armed in the face and couldn’t even see the ball carrier as a result, but still laid out and got two arms around his waist and made the stop.  This is a high school quarterback who walked on to the team, put his time in, got converted to receiver, and just made the biggest tackle of our season on special teams.  “He’s just a football player” doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the ultimate compliment a coach can give to one.  That’s what this young man is.

So now it’s on to Homecoming and an un-Godly donuts-and-coffee kickoff time of 11 AM  against a much better opponent in Tulsa who, courtesy of the conference’s schedule makers, will also be rested and coming off a bye.  The early forecast looks pretty sweet.  Will we finally deliver that elusive ‘complete game’ and win without any late game drama, or will Joe from Lakeview be forced to critique another wild celebration?  I’d much prefer the former, but I hope we can all find a way to endure the latter if necessary.   

Roll Wave.