Commentary by Stephen Hargis
When Eric McCullough walked to his neighborhood barber shop this summer, he couldn’t ignore the trash talk. Likewise, the same criticism would get under Alvin Tarver’s normally thick coaching skin when he heard people claiming to be Howard supporters run down his program.
Despite the fact that Howard’s football team had a 24-9 record and three straight playoff appearances from 2006 to ’08, one down year was all it took for the critics to return in mass. Injuries and a few upperclassmen who began playing more for individual statistics than for team pride led to a 2-8 season in 2009, the first losing record in Tarver’s coaching career.
“When I got here, one of the things we had to fight against was the kids getting down on themselves the first time things went against us,” Tarver said this week. “We talked a lot about creating a new attitude. This isn’t the same old Howard.
“We’ve had enough success around here now that the kids expect to win, and last year just kind of ticked them off to prove themselves again.”
The Hustlin’ Tigers began this season with three road wins and then a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Red Bank on their way to countering last year’s disappointment with an 8-2 season that included being state-ranked the last three weeks. Even after Tarver dismissed eight players, including four starters for not following team rules, Howard continued winning this year.
Their only losses came at six-time defending state champion Alcoa and to Tyner when starting quarterback Thomas McCauley was lost for the rest of the year to an injury. But when McCauley went down, as has been the trend this year, Howard had someone step up and play with the determination of having something to prove. Darrion Roshell ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns last week.
“A lot of people forgot all the success we have had,” Tarver said. “That didn’t sit too well with the kids. That’s why it wasn’t a tough decision to eliminate a few kids this year who didn’t want to do things the right way.”
The next hurdle facing the program as the Hustlin’ Tigers travel tonight to Loudon for a Class 3A first-round game is winning a playoff game for the first time since 1998.
“We talk to them about more than just football,” Tarver said. “We tell them that there are people in our own community who are just waiting to put a knife in their back and start talking trash about them if things don’t go right. That’s just the way it is.
“There are always going to be people out there who aren’t happy unless they’re bringing somebody else down. Sometimes you have to check the source. As long as they keep it in the stands and stay away from our kids with all that negativity, that’s fine.”
The negative comments didn’t always stay in the stands as McCullough, Howard’s bruising fullback and linebacker discovered over the summer.
“I heard it basically every day around the neighborhood,” McCullough said. “Most people said we were back to being losers or we were going to be worse than we were last year. It bothered me and made all of us work a lot harder to prove people wrong. I’m not sure why there are so many people who say they support us but get down on us so easy.
“But it feels real good to be proving them all wrong now.”