Goodbye, Good Luck and Thank You, Coach
By Richard Silverman
Trustee, Board of Trustees
The Glen Donahue era at Kirtland ended with a whimper. It ended
with three walk-on players on the court, a fourth walk-on player on the
bench, and a 104-85 drubbing at the hands of archrival Alpena. It
ended with Coach hugging Alpena’s coach, Frank McCourt, while I hugged
Glen’s wife Carolyn. It ended after a pre-game recognition
ceremony for Coach in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a
Kirtland game at the CRAF Center. It ended with Glen’s successor,
Ty McGregor, quietly watching the post-game scene from a corner of the
gym.
Yes, the Glen Donahue era is over. It’s now time to build on the
athletic program that Glen, almost single-handedly, established.
It’s time to try to continue a basketball program that has been
competitive enough to frequently rank in the top-half of one of the best
community college athletic conferences in the country. It’s also time to
make some improvements in the program, because, after all, no program is
perfect. And the Firebird’s program certainly has some flaws.
Athletic Director, Doug Ryckman and coach McGregor must find a way to
reduce the academic attrition rate of the men’s basketball team.
And while they are at it, they and Coach Ritter, must also find a way to
reduce the off-court misbehavior of both the men’s and women’s
basketball teams. And finally, Ryckman is going to have to make
cross-country and golf more competitive.
These improvements are a tall order for a new athletic director who has
no previous experience as a sports administrator at the college level, a
new coach who has never been a head-coach at the college level, and a
women’s basketball coach with only one year’s experience as a college
head-coach.
However, in my opinion, these improvements are still possible with the
commitment of the administration, and support from the faculty and the
students.
The most difficult charge will be for Ty McGregor to maintain the high
performance level of the men’s basketball team. He is replacing
the winningest coach in Michigan college basketball history. A
coach who was passionate about the game, had a state, national, and
international recruiting network that took over 30 years to establish,
and a coach with knowledge, skill and wisdom.
So, coach McGregor, I wish you luck, and pledge my help and support.
I also have a word of caution. If the academic performance of our
student athletes improves, and if their off-court behavior is exemplary,
but the Firebird’s won-and-lost record falls to non-competitive levels,
then the men’s program will be a failure. Obviously, if wins and
loses weren’t crucial, it would be very easy to run a good program.
But they are. And Kirtland has come to expect them.
Glen, thank you for establishing and building our program. Thank
you for raising our expectations for the program. Thank you for your
passion, wisdom and skill. Thank you for treating your players
like men, even though they at times let you and themselves down.
Good luck and continued health. I’m sure we’ll see each other
again. And I bet it will be in a gym.