Jet Magazine Recongizes KSU Couple - Kentucky State University

Thorobred News Friday, February 13, 2009 Page 8OpinionA New Era Has BegunBy Andrew KeelingStaff WriterIt has appeared that theThomas Patterson era is over. Pattersonhas not been with the teamsince the Benedict game and manywonder what the situation is. Infive-plus seasons as a head coach,Patterson has a records of 8-21,15-15,13-16,15-15,12-16 and 2-8.No matter what you hear aboutthe reasons that he’s gone, I willsay that it was time for a changeand the administration needed tolook in a new direction. It seemedthat Patterson was not ready for aposition like this when he got it;and as a coach I think he did notknow what it takes to win on thislevel. With that said, however, thereare some good things that he hasdone over the years to help get thisprogram to where it is. He was apart the 2000-2001 conferenceschampionship team when he wasan assistant coach and helped leadhis team to the SIAC tournamentsemifinals game as a head coach ontwo occasions. He was also a goodrecruiter who brought in qualityplayers from the New York Cityand Louisville area. Kenny Jones,who was conference player of theyear last season and probably thebest player to put on a Thorobreduniform in the last ten years, was aguy Patterson brought in as well asDanny Hawkins, Keith Goodette,Tony Johnson, Larry Williams andDeshondre Watters.So what’s next for him? Only timewill tell but I am sure that he willget another position and learn fromany mistakes he made here. So nowfirst year assistant Clarence Mooreis assuming the coaching duties ofthe team for now and there has beensome improvement. Since he hasbeen the coach the team has been4-6. People want to know whoMoore is and what his backgroundis. Moore has played on the highestcollege level at Georgia Tech wherehe was part of the team that wentto the championship game in 2004and loss to UCONN. But what is his experience as a coach?He has two years of coaching at the high school level inLouisville and is that someone who is prepared to be a headcoach at Division II schools. Moore has great knowledge ofthe game and is a good teacher but at the end of the day youneed to have quality players if you are going to win games.He has not recruited one player on thisteam. And does he have the relationshipwith AAU and high school coaches thatone needs to have. I will ask the administrationwhether it is President Sias or InterimAthletic Director Sterling Stewart tobe patient and look for a guy who is readyfor a position like this and knows what itsgoing to take win on this level.In 2005-2006 the school made a great hirewhen Michelle Clark-Heard was broughton to coach the women’s team and theprogram has been great over the last threeyears.There are people who follow and loveKSU athletics and they are tired of the topsports programs struggling. Records like12-16 are not acceptable, and schools likeBenedict and Claflin have shown whatit takes to win in this conference. Thisuniversity has all the toolsto make our top sports program a qualityone and it starts from the top.You will not get good results if the rightingredients are not provided. So at theend of the day hire the right head coachso KSU can be a respectable force on theDivision II level.Coach P passionately instructing his squadMy ValentineBy Angel IngramStaff WriterWith Valentine’s Day upon us, it’s time to comeout with all the Valentines Day creative ideas as to makethis day a bit more special for the one we love dearly, andfor ourselves ultimately. There is no teaching that preparesus for love. There are some of us, who easily adhere tothe notion that Valentine’s Day should be banned from theface of the Earth. As with anything worthy, this day andits concept has been commercialized and abused too, butalso very accepting and refreshing. The point is we betternot look for what’s wrong or bad about this day, but lookon the bright side and see all the benefits it brings us. It’sup to each of us individually if this day will turn out goodor bad for us.Something very important about any Valentine’sDay celebration is that it should be personal to you andyour loved one. It can be very easy to grab any old cardand any old box of chocolates and have done with it,but that doesn’t really make your day special, does it?Any die-hard romantic will tell you a gift is crucial whenplanning the perfect Valentine’s Day, but there is more tosuccess on this occasion than merely choosing the rightpresent. Plan for an experience as well and you’ll havecreated a cluster of romantic bliss that won’t be forgottenanytime soon.My personal favorite Valentines Day was myjunior year in high school. See I attended an all girl HighSchool called Seton Academy and my Valentine attendedan all boy school Mt. Carmel and that school being ourbrother school we would get off the same days and thatyear we both had noon dismissal so leaving my schoolthere was a note left on my car with a pink rose telling meto go downtown Chicago and wait at the newly built parkhe had given me a hour an half to get there I was told inthe note to go home and change into something comfortableso I did not knowing what was in store for me. WhenI arrived downtown after look around for 15 minutes alook of confusion came upon my face because I could notfind my Valentine until I heard our song being played “MyBoo” Usher featuring Alicia Keys he came from behindme out of some sort of maze where you could walk threwthe park and look at the flowers and trees very peaceful.We walked and talked until around four o’clock when mysurprise came in lunch at my favorite restaurant GrandLux café after lunch we had to go our separate ways; hewent to basketball practice and me to dance practicebut my day was far from over.Later that night around 9:00pm, he came to my houseand took me to the lake front. As we sat together onthe rocks, I stared at the sky and talked about howpretty the stars were. He pulled out a sheet of paper thatturned out to be a certificate for a star in my named thathe bought from the Planetarium. Along with this hewrote me a poem. I loved that day and have yet to haveone to top it.Even though Valentines Day has a romanticring to it that does not mean you have to spend it withjust the two of you. A fun way to spend Valentines Dayis with friends. Get a couple of your closest friendstogether and go out somewhere. This is a great wayto spend Valentines Day with friends and your specialsomeone.