ReaganSports.com

Guest Column
By Todd Schneeman
Bulldog football fan

I had the great opportunity of watching my son play football at Streator High School and to follow his team from freshman to varsity ball, never missing a game. Over the years, I saw competitive improvement, as his team struggled the first 3 seasons. During his first year at varsity level (2007), their record was 2-7. It was after that season that his teammates (the 2008 seniors) would make a commitment to get stronger and better in the off season. Few expected them to become the first Streator team to beat Geneseo or the first ever to win a playoff game. Many thought they’d finish dead last in the NCIC. However, the most important thing is that the 2008 team (juniors and seniors) always believed in themselves and never gave up.

Over the years, I heard the negative remarks about the current head coach and the unrealistic “wait” until we get someone that “bleeds red and white” at the helm. I had also heard the argument that the current coaching staff is not involved enough at the youth football level. I’d hear the old cliché, “Streator is not a football town.” All of these seemed to be offered as a “band-aid” for the real problem that exists with our local high school sports, and that in my opinion, is that we have accepted losing!

Does anyone realize that the current head coach has a better overall winning percentage than the two previous head coaches (and we’ve only had three head coaches in 27 years). According to the IHSA website, Streator has only had four winning seasons since 1983. It is no wonder it took so long to beat a perennial power such as Geneseo. It is also interesting to note that after each successful season, winning did not follow (as the data below illustrates), and on average it has taken our school 7 years for a winning season to return after a successful one.

LINK: MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION

1986-87: 6 - 3
1987-88: 3 – 6

1996-97: 5 - 4
1997-98: 3 – 6

2003-04: 6 – 4
2004-05: 4 - 5

2008-09: 7 - 4
2009-10: 3 – 6

Given the above records, you’d have to go back to the 1970s (and the Coach Jim Young era) to find a team that had a winning record for three consecutive seasons. By the way, Coach Kane tied Coach Young for number of playoff qualifiers.

Since I did not grow up in Streator, I have asked myself time and time again these questions:

1. Why has Streator accepted losing in certain high school sports?

2. Shouldn’t our school board and administration play a more active role in demanding success and using a coaches overall record for evaluating performance?

3. Why don’t more of our talented athletes go on to play college football?

4. Why can’t Streator be a football town?

I am certain that “losing” is just not tolerated in communities such as Amboy, Geneseo, Metamora, Morris, Normal or Spring Valley (just to name a few). The goal of our community should be to have our football team make the playoffs every year! Instead, some hang the blame on a losing season on the coaching staff (year after year) which is just not acceptable. As a community we must put pressure on the school system and pressure the administrators and ultimately the school board for not making winning an expectation.

Whoever takes over the football team in 2010 will certainly have their work cut out for them. It will take time to build a program no matter where the new coach is from. For the sake of the community and our future football players, I hope that as a condition of employment, the new coach understands that winning is our expectation and he should not be made to believe that he will have 7 years to do it.

When I originally began ReaganSports, the purpose of the site was to form a network of area correspondents who would be able to cover the subject they wanted. This would benefit both the teams and this web site, bringing people together throughout the area to get a much better picture of what north-central Illinois athletics has to offer.

However, I knew I couldn’t rely on that at first, because I had to have something to bring people in. Therefore, I spent much of the fall and winter covering football and boys basketball like crazy. My goal was to become the source for information on the NCIC, Tri-County and surrounding area, and this winter, I don’t think there was any question which media outlet was most often imitated, and even duplicated at times, but never surpassed in terms of how quickly and accurately information was posted on the site.

When spring came, I had this crazy idea to do the same thing all over again… which, in hindsight, was a downright stupid idea, considering this would be twice the amount of work that went into covering basketball. But, for whatever reason — pride, perhaps — I thought I could do it.

Spring caught me by surprise. Because of a number of distractions, I found myself doing nothing instead of doing everything. With my family’s situation, I’m required to do a lot of outdoor things around the farm during the spring, getting things ready for the season. And, like most of you, I’m not about to sit inside all day when it’s 70 degrees and sunny, whether there’s work to be done or not. Personally, I’d rather be coaching than reporting, even when it’s 33 degrees and sleet is falling on an open dugout.

As the online work piled up and piled up, my eyes were opened. What I’d once seen as an I-can-do-that-with-no-sweat molehill turned into a mountain. At this point, I finally came back to what my original intent was with ReaganSports.

It helped matters that dnicklin and firdog, among others, decided to use this site to cover their favorite teams and players. That served as a reminder to me, as well, and it’s all really brought me back to the basics, in terms of where I believe this site has the most potential. Awliksit sent me a message last week and the conversation I had with him was profound and eye-opening to me. ReaganSports wasn’t supposed to be “Coach covering sports and Hammer chiming in with the occasional column.” It was meant to give teams coverage via a variety of “reporters” throughout the area.

So here’s the idea: I’m giving a shoutout to all the area fans, parents, players and coaches. If you want to cover your team here, you’re very welcome to do so; ReaganSports is offering the space to you — and not just on the message board. In the very near future, I’ll be giving out newsblog permissions ( at http://reagansports.com ) to folks who want to cover their teams on this site’s main page.

It’s impossible for one person to cover this vast an area. I mean, look at the staff of any newspaper that covers this wide of an area, and you’ll probably find a dozen full-time sports employees and just as many part-timers to gather information. So we’re expanding staff to the average Joe. But fear not: when we expand to allow the average Joe to cover his favorite team, there will still be a great amount of prestige to it. There will still be a person’s name required on the article. Those of you who have followed my online ventures over the last few years know that I wouldn’t have it any other way, and you know how much value I place on articles being 100% factual.

I’d also like for this to apply to anyone who wants to write any articles for ReaganSports. Whether you’re an aspiring journalist, a creative writer, passionately opinionated, or just a guy who wants to do some writing in his spare time, the door is open. If you simply want to be a person who posts scores and links, the door is open. If you just want to post area sports pictures, the door is open. If you want to cover anything from DePue girls basketball to Morris football; from Tri-County baseball to NCIC tennis; from area sports history to modern trends to Reaganesque political pieces — the door is open.

Whatever you do, I ask that you take ownership of it and make it yours. Let’s face it: local sports coverage is changing. Local radio stations and newspapers are struggling to make ends meet. I can’t say for sure that this new idea is the wave of the future. I can’t say for sure it’ll even be successful. But I can say that YOUR team is probably not getting the coverage it once did. Ten years ago, local papers and radio stations were covering local teams like summer heat covers blacktop. That’s not the case anymore. It’s a changing media landscape and I believe greater fan participation is one way to make up for that coverage gap.

So, I’m calling on you. Your teams, your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, your friends acquaintances who participate on these teams are calling on you. Give these kids the recognition they deserve. Here at ReaganSports, the door is open.

If you’re interested in doing this, whether it’s in the spring or summer, fall or winter, let me know. Shoot me an e-mail at admin@reagansports.com or send me a PM via the message board. I’m looking forward to allowing other people to have a say-so in deciding what sports and what teams ReaganSports covers.

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Here are a handful of things we’re looking at on the Area Sports Board today:

Ottawa girls win Reagan title
Woodland’s Reynero closing in on 1,000 points
Brooks Martin makes first start for Central Missouri
Standings & notes