A cold one with Coach Maes….
I used to look forward to Sun Belt Media Days. The Conference used to set aside a day for the media to congregate and do interviews with the football and basketball coaches around the league. Football days were held in late July, before fall practice started. They were in New Orleans. After the interviews were over, the Conference had a social evening, either a Mississippi Riverboat cruise, or maybe a night at Rock-N-Bowl....something to allow the media and coaches an opportunity to socialize in a non formal setting. Basketball was held wherever the tournament was going to be played. Not quite as elaborate, but still a good time.
We'd do "Bird's Eye View" on location. I'd do a live interview with all the coaches and then get a chance to visit with them at the after-interivews function. It was a good way to build relationships and I found that the coaches in both sports were pretty personable guys away from the mic.
The Conference discontinued the live Media Days two years ago. Fewer and fewer media folks were being allowed to attend because of budget cuts. Now they do a teleconference. None of the coaches leave their respective campuses. It gets the job done, but it's pretty impersonal. And, as one of the few radio broadcasters who attended, it was a real bummer for me.
Last night I got reminded how much I miss the interactiion with opposing coaches.
After the game, soon-to-be-interim athletic director Scott Farmer asked if I wanted to go out for a beer. That's not unusual. I consider Scott to be a good friend away from our business relationship. But this one would be a little different. Troy coach Don Maestri would join us as well. I quicky accepted, sent the wife a quick text and told Scott I'd meet him at Pete's on Johnston.
We arrived at the same time. Scott, Coach Maes and Troy athletic trainer Alyson Gramley got out of Scott's car. Scott's wife Jackie and daughter Kaitlin were already inside. I shook hands with the coach and held open the door. Coach laughed and said, with a record of 2-12, he should be the doorman.
Maestri and Scott (and the family), of course, were friends dating back to Scott's time in Troy. We sat, ordered appetizers and a beer and just chatted.
Maestri, despite a tough loss (93-91) to the Cajuns less than an hour before, was, well, Coach Maes. Most anyone who follows the Sun Belt would agree that Don Maestri is the most real human being of all the coaches in the league. Always with a smile on his face off the court, Maestri is well respected by his peers, not only as a coach but as a man. Maestri is closing in on 500 wins in his 29th season at Troy. He's won championships at every level. (Troy won the Atlantic Sun championship before moving over to the Sun Belt.)
Maestri is from New Orleans. Went to Holy Cross high school there, the same high school where point guard Will Weathers attended before Katrina. Maestri is a devout Catholic who attends Mass every day. He told the story of going to Mass Thursday morning at a local church. "Mass was ending, the priest gave a final blessing and then he said 'Geaux Cajuns.' " Maestri broke into a big grin. "I thought then we might be in trouble."
Maestri also went to Don's Specialty Meats and was amazed at the early morning cooking of Cajun delicacies. He said he could have stayed in there for hours and watched the making of tasso, jerky and boudin. The conversation turned to food and he asked what my favorite restaurant was. I told him I was particularly fond of Blue Dog Cafe. He asked what I liked there and I named a few dishes. He was obviously taking mental notes.
We all talked a little basketball, too. He spoke with pride about beating Western Kentucky twice last year, including the semifinals of the conference tournament in Hot Springs. But he admitted that the win may have took some focus away from his team in the final against North Texas. "Face it, Troy, Alabama isn't supposed to beat Western Kentucky twice in the same season," he told me. We stayed on the subject of WKU for a minute, since both their men's and women's teams had both lost to Denver at E. A. Diddle Arena in the last two nights. That had never happened before.
It was easy to tell that Maestri and Farmer had a really good relationship, especially when the check arrived. By that time, Jackie and Kaitlin had left for home. Jackie swapped cars with Scott. Scott took the check and started fishing for his wallet.....which he had left in the car that Jackie took. He looked at me and said, "um, could you get this?" Maestri got on Scott pretty good, as did I. Scott reminded me that I owed him a beer. I guess dinner for six equals one beer in Scott's mind.
Oh, well, at least I know now why he invited me.
It was worth every penny.....just to have a cold one with Coach Maes.
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