Small schools need skill players that stay healthy and on the field.
Far too often, though, one or two injuries have transformed promising seasons into could-have-been campaigns forgotten by most moments after those final ticks.
Big schools need size along with those roster numbers.
Any Class 5-A football team can run out onto the field with 100 players, but unless a portion of them can open holes and protect their passer, those Friday nights under those lights may be very long and unsatisfying.
Dirk DeCoy agrees with all of that. He does. But the executive director of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference believes there is one thing that’s far more important than the names and stats on a roster.
“Heart,” he insisted. “If you don’t have it, then why are you out there?
“Heart. That’s what is most important. It’s about competing. It’s a competition. It’s about leaving it all on the field and not backing down. It’s about, ‘Let’s Go! Let’s Do This!’ It’s about playing as a team, win or lose,” DeCoy said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a big player, a skill player, or one of a hundred players. It’s all about heart because that’s what it takes to win on any level. It’s the difference between winning and losing.”
DeCoy officially took the reins of the OVAC from Tom Rataiczak on July 1, 2019, following an 18-month internship, and he navigated the conference through the on-again-off-again pandemic.
“That wasn’t easy for anyone,” he said. “It tested all of us, but it also gave me another reason to believe that winning in the OVAC is about what you have inside because that’s what makes you the student-athlete that you are no matter the sport.
“To me, that’s what it takes to win, and I have to admit that I do love the underdog,” DeCoy revealed. “I love it when the team that no one thinks has a chance goes into the game, takes a swing at the king, and comes out with a win because their players had more heart.”
Up or Down
The fact Wheeling Park and Wheeling Central Catholic no longer play football on Wheeling Island that Friday night before school starts still irks many fans in the Friendly City.
They don’t want to hear about the point systems in the OVAC or the states of West Virginia and Ohio. They couldn’t care less how many students attended the Palace on the Hill compared to 14th and Eoff streets. It’s THE rivalry, they believe, and it filled the stadium and determined bragging rights for another year.
And that is why THEY insist each year the Patriots and the Maroon Knights should duke it out in Game 1 each and every year, period.
Now, that ain’t happening any time soon because of the numbers and because of unspoken politics, but DeCoy also recognizes some athletic directors schedule games with non-OVAC schools although local options exist only a few miles away.
“With 51 schools on our five levels, local teams can play local teams every week. There is that option,” he explained. “Now, our athletic directors and coaches also have the option to look at what they have coming up so they can make their schedules based on the best competition for their teams.
“That’s when important questions are discussed like what’s on the roster now and what’s going to be on the roster for the next few years,” DeCoy said. “If you believe you’ve got some special talent coming up, you might want to test it by playing above the level where you normally compete. If the opposite is what you see, then there’s always that option, too.”
That is when size, skill, and numbers come into play.
“Big bodies do help, especially on offense,” DeCoy said. “If you keep the offense simple with tackle-to-tackle plays, then the size is going to help you a ton on offense. On defense, size blocks holes, and that’s always a good thing when it comes to stopping the run. If the team can pass, then the big team is going to need to adapt quickly.
“Skill players can change the score very quickly, but plays have to develop for those skill players to make the difference they can unless it’s on a kick or punt return,” he said. “And depth is important because if you get a couple of key players hurt and there’s no one behind them, that’s trouble right there that could be the end of a season that was supposed to be a good one before the first game.”
Fandom
There DeCoy was, minding his own business inside Harding Stadium.
It was the BIG GAME. Monster vs. Monster. North vs. South. Big Red vs. Park.
And suddenly, there was a kid. A not-shy-in-any-way-kind-of-way kid. A little boy in appearance only. Yeah, one of THOSE kids.
“When I first got there, he was sitting with his Aunt, but she had to go to the restroom, so the little boy was in charge of watching her purse,” the OVAC director recalled. “It didn’t take long before that little boy started a conversation with me, and he says, ‘So, who are you rooting for,’ and after I told him I was rooting for both, he yelled, ‘YOU CAN’T DO THAT!’ He may have said it a few times, now that I’m thinking about it.
“I then had to explain why, and he finally gave me a pass. At least I think he did,” DeCoy said with a smile. “Anytime I am at any of our events, I am rooting for the student-athletes to succeed rather than a team to win, and that’s not just because of my position with the OVAC. These days I do have 51 favorite teams because of that position, but unless I’ve been a member of a team competing, I’ve always cheered for the athletes to have success so their playing days can last for as long as possible. Unfortunately, those playing days end for us all someday.”
For now, Week One approaches, and thousands of adults and students are preparing for their roles no matter what the duties may be.
“There are about 24,000 students in our 51-member schools, and about 70 percent of those students participate in one sport or several throughout the year,” DeCoy said. “That means about 18,000 student-athletes participate in some way, and every single one of them wants to win. No one plays because they like to lose.
“The OVAC now covers 5,400 square miles, and trust me; that’s a huge area,” he said. “The middle of that area is right here in our valley where it all started, but we have schools to the far north, in Morgantown, in Parkersburg, and all over this area. Now, we are not recruiting new members, but if there is a school out there that wants to talk, we’re always willing to listen.”
