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Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009

Sean Lynch: Merced College takes important steps in Kaanapu's first year

It doesn't take long for the vultures to begin to circle in this town.

Don't get me wrong, in many ways it's a refreshing thing.

Folks love football and desperately want to see the Merced College football program return to its glory years.

But this time the circling seems premature.

Just days after the Blue Devils finished up their first season under head coach Mark Kaanapu with a 34-24 loss to Modesto Junior College, the Sun-Star message boards began to fill up with these boo birds.

The bulk of the group's points were simple.

If MC went 2-8 in 2008 under head coach Tony Lewis and just 3-7 this year under Kaanapu, can it be considered an improvement?

I think anyone who attended a game this season would say yes.

Kaanapu came to Merced College well aware of the program's history and with the goal of writing its newest winning chapter.

But he knew there wasn't going to be any quick fix.

Because of the turnover in JC football, every year presents the opportunity for championship runs.

As much as Kaanapu wants to win, however, his first season has been as much about changing the culture of the program as anything else.

Kaanapu's goals were to establish a higher standard in the classroom, tighten up the team's discipline on and off of the field and put a team out there that would compete for four quarters.

Kaanapu was successful in all three endeavors and the MC faculty and fan base took notice.

I caught up with the coach to get his thoughts on his first season of pacing the Blue Devils' sidelines:

SL: You're a man who believes in setting the bar high and having your players meet your level of expectations. How did this group do?

MK: I believe you have to set the bar at the level that you expect of yourself and the player's response was great. I could not have asked for more of their level of competition.

Eight out of 10 of our opponents began the season with a preseason ranking and the kids rose to that challenge.

If you compete for four quarters, you're going to have chances to be successful and we had a lot of opportunities.

We didn't take advantage of them as shown by our five losses of 10 points or less, but getting over the hump and finding ways to win in those situations is this team's next step.

SL: What about the people who say 3-7 is still 3-7?

MK: I'm not a man that believes in moral victories. So, I can see where people would look at our record and say this wasn't a successful season.

I'm a coach that wants to win, but not at the expense of my players or values.

There were some kids that didn't stay with the team that skill wise probably could have helped us win a couple games, but they weren't willing to adhere to the standards of the rest of their teammates.

We didn't win as many games as anyone would have liked, but we took a lot of major first steps.

SL: Looking ahead to next year, you'll have a sophomore-heavy roster and a full offseason to go out and recruit. How much potential do you see that team having?

MK: A lot of people have been concerned, wanting to know how I was feeling after we didn't have the success we thought we would.

The truth is, I'm more excited than ever about this program and this community.

The way all these different organizations want to help out and make the Blue Devils successful is amazing.

I've told the kids that playing here means a little more than at your typical junior college program.

I'm sitting down this week and having individual player meetings to go over what they need to do to make our program better. And then I'm going to have them be active participants in the types of guys we want to bring into our program.

Lot's of guys want to put on a jersey and say they're a football player, but how many guys want to give up their summer to do the work this team needs them to do.

Guys with tremendous character tend to be great football players.

That's who we want to add.

And that's why the vultures may want to go find another carcass. The MC football program is only going to be getting stronger from here.

Sean Lynch is a Sun-Star sports writer. He can be reached at 385-2476 or via e-mail at slynch@mercedsun-star.com.