Sports

Giving up not an option

• Albany has its last shot at a win in 2007 tonight against Chris Clay and the Red Devils.

Danny Aller

ALBANY —  Two weeks ago, during the middle school title game between three-time defending champ Merry Acres and Albany Middle at Hugh Mills Stadium, there was an unfamiliar face pacing the sidelines, cheering on the Indians as loudly and heartfelt as anyone else.

The face was that of Albany High varsity football coach Reginald Mitchell, a guy who many of the young men on the field that evening will be getting to know very well, very soon.

And as he watched Albany Middle's players bound across the field after time ran off the clock that evening, celebrating the Indians' monumental win against Merry Acres and the team's first city title in six years, the gleaming smiles draped across their faces were something Mitchell undoubtedly envied.

After all, he hasn't seen many days like that since taking the Indians' job two years ago.

Yet, those days are not far off, Mitchell assures. Maybe even tonight.

"I was there the whole middle school game," said Mitchell, who is 0-19 since being hired in 2006 and now is staring at a possible 0-10 mark for the second consecutive year if the Indians (0-9, 1-7 Region 1-AA) lose to Randolph-Clay (5-4, 3-4) in tonight's regular-season finale for both teams at Hugh Mills. "I'd had an opportunity to work with many of young men over the summer, see some of the area's young talent. And you better believe I was there watching that game from start to finish.

"That's a pipeline straight to Albany High, and if we add a few more talented guys to the ones we already got, I tell you ... the future looks bright."

While Indians detractors can say what they want about Mitchell's claim despite his results, or lack there of, there's something to be said for the coach's continued optimism in the face of adverse circumstances week in and week out.

And others have taken notice.

"A lot of people focus on the wins and losses; compare only the wins and losses," said Dougherty County Director of Athletics Johnny Seabrooks, who was intricate in the decision to bring Mitchell in two years ago with the utmost confidence that this was the man to turn things around. "Right now, that's not what it's all about out there. The character building he's doing among these young men; the level of participation he raised on the team, taking what was 25 or 35 and getting 45 or 50 to get out of the halls and come out for football again. Sure, it's frustrating to keep losing, but coach Mitchell is making strides, and that's all that we asked."

Still, Mitchell is the first to admit, he expects much more. And when the old season ends tonight, in the coach's mind, the new one has already begun.

“When that game is over, the offseason for some starts," Mitchell said. "For us, a program looking at 0-20 in two years, win or lose (tonight), we'll roll up our sleeves the very next day and start preparing for the next one."

And when they do, they'll have plenty to consider.

The Indians have been outscored, 282-64, this season and haven't won a game — even pre-Mitchell — dating back to Oct. 20, 2005, when they beat Miller County. They've been shutout twice, failed to score more than 14 points in any of their nine games so far and the few contests they were close in late, they managed to either shoot themselves in the foot with a penalty or turnover, or simply get an unlucky bounce.

As the adage goes, 'When it rains it pours.' And it's certainly been stormy for the Indians once again this season.

But as with every new offensive possession on the football field, a fresh set of downs exists in Mitchell's mind when one mentions the direction of the program.

On Wednesday, the coach was in high spirits and anxious for what he called "another fun practice," that afternoon, explaining he'd taken the pressure off his guys when they showed up for their last week of workouts Monday.

"I mean, yes, it's been a disappointing year; a frustrating year once again up to this point. We still haven't won a game and we all want to win, but through thick and thin, we all hung in there. From the coaches to the players, nobody ever gave up," Mitchell said."So I made sure we had fun this last week in practice, worked on some things with the guys to make (tonight) a game we won't forget, no matter who wins. But if there was one thing I echoed all week, aside from enjoy this time together — as a family and as a team — it's that the season is not over yet.

"(Tonight) can be the one. (Tonight) can still be the start of the turnaround for Albany High School."

To do that, the Indians will have to overcome the Red Devils' emotion of their own storyline bursting at the seams heading into the game: As hungry as Albany is for its first victory in nearly 800 days, Randolph-Clay will be equally as starved to ensure All-State running back Chris Clay ends his phenomenal record-breaking high school career on a winning note.

"For us, it all begins and ends with with one thing: stopping No. 28," Mitchell said of Clay. "If we can do that, maybe the winning ways of Albany will be back."

But like first-year Sherwood Christian coach Ted Knapp has preached to his 1-9 Eagles all season, for a program to get out of a losing funk, they must first have to take the field each game expecting to win, instead of the other way around. And Mitchell admits that between observing how other area coaches have dealt with their own struggles and the "close-knit community of city coaches" who have personally offered him advice, there are more believers in Indians football than just himself.

"Whether it's an e-mail, phone call or after a game, the coaches around here have been very encouraging to me and my guys, even offering high praise at times for how hard we fight and scrap each week, only to keep coming up short," Mitchell said. "I have a lot of respect for those veteran coaches and what their programs have accomplished, and to hear them tell me we're on the right track, definitely makes us feel good."

As for the coach's opposition under the headset across the sidelines tonight for Randolph-Clay, first-year coach R.E. Lawson empathizes with Mitchell after having spent two years with a Brantley County High School program that at one time was 0-28 before Lawson and his staff snapped the cold spell.

And while Lawson joins the fray of area coaches who are rooting for Mitchell and the Indians to get their first win, calling Albany's situation very "unfortunate," he's also in that same group of coaches who hope and pray that win doesn't come against them.

"We try not to concentrate on what's happening with them, and just worry about us and closing out the season with a win," said Lawson, who admitted that at the same time, it was hard to be unaware of Albany's losing streak. "It probably seems like an abyss (coach Mitchell and Albany) think they'll never climb out of, but it's not. I just hope the administration will give him an opportunity and stand by him while he pulls out of that hole. And they can. Just put that nose to the grindstone and continue to work hard, and they'll get there."

Whether Mitchell will have that chance to work on that into Years 3, and 4 — and beyond — doesn't seem to be in doubt.

"This is not an overnight process," Seabrooks said. "As a (winning) coach, it's tough enough trying to get a team that's 9-1 to get up for practice and go after it. Now, take a team that's 1-9 or hasn't won at all, and try and get them excited to come out to practice on Mondays and go hard every day. That's what (Mitchell) is doing. And that's real coaching."

Regardless if the Indians are giving their coach a Gatorade shower by game's end tonight, or whether they'll be shaking hands and congratulating the other team like they have nine other times so far this season, one thing remains true, says Mitchell.

"We will look back long enough to reflect and see where we are. That way, we know where we have to go," he explained. "After that, unless someone tells me differently, I'll continue working, and hopefully in the meantime people will know that we're still two, maybe three years off from a finished product, but that we're headed in a positive direction.

"And most importantly, both on and off the field, we're sowing seeds for years to come."

Back to today's Sports>>