McCowan weathers disorder in return to Cleveland

From now on, everything may not be smooth sailing for Jason McCowan as long as he’s boys’ basketball coach at Cleveland High School. But things can’t get much rockier than they were his first year, can they?

Consider these chronological facts.

McCowan was expecting to be coaching Notre Dame’s boys this winter. He was less than three months into that job when the Blue Raiders came calling.

One of McCowan’s jobs as an assistant along the way was at Cleveland. He considered the Blue Raiders’ head coaching position a dream job. Therefore, he was left to agonize over a resolution.

He felt he was going to disappoint one school or the other. He reluctantly ended up leaving Notre Dame.

That discord behind him, things seemed to be going rather well as of Jan. 4. On that night his team hosted and defeated archrival Bradley Central 70-58. That made Cleveland 16-4 overall and sitting atop the District 5-AAA standings at 4-0.

Then came the discovery from within that the Blue Raiders had inadvertently been playing an academically ineligble player. The program turned itself in to the TSSAA, which had no choice in its ruling. Suddenly those attractive records went to 0-20 and 0-4.

No doubt the three-game losing streak that started later that month was in part due to the hangover effect from the news, although McCowan would never admit that.

Then there’s the simple matter of a coach receiving his proper respect. This is an area where his state’s newspaper industry failed him miserably.

This reporter mistakenly wrote his last name as McGowan earlier this year. The matter has since been straightened out.

McCowan said one story in the Cleveland Daily Banner reported his first name as being Justin.

The story the Times Free Press received Monday night from the Murfreesboro Daily Journal telling of Cleveland’s 82-60 season-ending sectional loss at Siegel quoted Cleveland coach Jason McEwen. An editor caught the mistake this time, before it went to our printing press.

Through it all, McCowan has been able to shrug things off professionally. Despite the writhing over a tough decision, dealing with being hit with 16 forfeit losses and having reporters repeatedly botch his name, McCowan stood tall after his team defeated District 5 regular-season and tournament champion Walker Valley (26-5) in a Region 3 semifinal at Ooltewah and said: “We’re right where we want to be.”

That’s because his team had just earned a spot in the region-championship game and was guaranteed a sectional berth. Things went south again from there.

McCowan showed his fun side the night of his team’s last victory. He wore a bright royal blue sport coat on the sideline that night, prompting many Raiders fans to cheerfully call him Bruce Pearl. (That doesn’t count as another newspaper misidentification.)

Just as the Tennessee men’s coach wears an orange blazer when the Volunteers play rivals Kentucky and Vanderbilt, McCowan has pledged he’ll wear his blue one when Cleveland plays in-county rivals Bradley Central and Walker Valley.

Also like Pearl, McCowan is at a school with a flourishing program on the female side. Coach Rachel Moore and the Lady Raiders are 31-2 and bound for the state tournament for a fourth consecutive season.

Even though Cleveland’s boys came up one win short of getting to the state tournament, there looks to be plenty of promise ahead. The strength of this season’s Blue Raiders team was in its sophomore class. Terrell Parks, Ish Sanders and Jamial King combined for 45 points against Siegel. Without the forfeits they would’ve ended up 25-10.

Good luck next season, Coach ... You know what your name is.