Published: May 01, 2008 12:21 am            

CRESS: Satterly left mark at New Albany

The whole world changes during the spring. New colors to replace the old and withered. Everything reset to zero, to begin the cycle again.

It’s been exactly that sort of season for New Albany High School.

The softball program began its first season ever without long-term coach Jacque Hunter patrolling the dugout. Stan Sajko, the former NAHS athletic director and baseball coach, passed away last week after a lifetime of exerting his influence on the Bulldog sports programs.

Now, quietly, the school is looking for a girls’ basketball coach, as Todd Satterly stepped down after four seasons at the helm.

To me, it’s a big loss.

Satterly ended his tenure with a 37-48 record, presiding over what will certainly be remembered as an adjustment period for the program, which peaked with a state championship in 1999 and then promptly began a downward spiral.

Attendance at Bulldog home games fell to the point where I felt compelled to write columns about it, where fans from Scottsburg would come in greater numbers than the host school.

It’s always easy to blame the coach when such a thing occurs, but it’s not that easy. We just have to remember what high school coaches are truly for.

“it wasn’t the greatest of records,” Satterly said. “No one wants to have more losses than wins. But what we wanted was to have a good, positive influence on the kids. It’s not who can yell the loudest or longest, but whether you can mold kids into being as successful as they can be.”

It’s no knock on the players that Satterly coached, but the Bulldogs didn’t exactly have a surplus of talent or experience on their roster the past few seasons. Young players in key roles were mostly responsible for losing records in 2006 and 2007.

With maturity came this past season’s 11-10 mark, which included wins over Jeffersonville and Floyd Central.

“I think we saw some of the fruits of our effort this year,” Satterly said. “What’s more important is that we always had good kids. I was always very proud of my kids. We always conducted ourselves in a manner that reflected well on New Albany, and we always got compliments on how we carried ourselves.”

As a kid from Charlestown, I always found it funny that guys from my hometown (Satterly and Jeff’s Chad GIlbert) ended up running the teams from the big schools that towered over us. And it’s hard for me watching one of them ride into the sunset.

But while I’m sure we’ll see Todd Satterly again down the road, we have to hope that whatever coach comes to the school can carry on the momentum that has been created. We have to hope the coach understands what high school coaches are for.

And that this spring of change ends up being worth the trouble.

Contact Matthew Cress at matthew.cress@newsandtribune.com.

        

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