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It's a tough job being coach for the Shrine Bowl team.
You select 44 top seniors from North Carolina's 386 public high schools and put together a football team to play 44 of South Carolina's best seniors each December.
Someone really good is always left off. And guess who gets all the complaint calls from coaches, parents and fans?
"I'm not answering my phone right now," said N.C. coach Jim Oddo of Charlotte Catholic.
The N.C. roster was released last week.
"It's hard," he said. "Every team in the state has 50 or so players and every team has one who they think is good enough for the Shrine Bowl."
Oddo's been on both sides of the argument. He was an assistant coach on the 1991 team that lost 13-10 to South Carolina, and he saw how hard it was to pick a team. But he's had players whom he felt were deserving and were left off.
"Some years ago (in 1977), we had a kid who was the No.1-rated (running) back in both states and he didn't get picked," Oddo said. Shrine Bowl coach Don Hipps "actually came out and watched us play one game. He saw our player's worst ballgame. We both won state championships and his kid carried him and our kid carried us. He said, 'I think mine's better.' I believed mine was. There were no hard feelings, but our community wasn't too crazy about it."
Part of the selection process is out of need. If you're going to run the ball, as Oddo wants this year's team to do, you're not going to stock your team with shotgun quarterbacks and speedy receivers. North Carolina is full of college-recruited players like that, some of whom won't play in the Shrine Bowl.
So as much as Oddo has always wanted to be a Shrine Bowl head coach, he knew the job had its share of headaches.
"You're always going to be a little unpopular," he said.
Oddo, who won state titles in 1977, 2004 and 2005, will be 74 in January. He still loves coaching. His Catholic team is 7-4, has won five straight games and has a bye this week while it waits for its playoff seeding. With 305 career wins in 36 seasons, Oddo is tied for fifth in state history and is within range of the state record for wins at one school (330 by former Maiden coach Tom Brown).
But the number Oddo's concerned with most is one, as in winning the Shrine Bowl. North Carolina has lost the past two and trails in the all-time series 40-27-4.
"There's pressure to win every single game you play," he said. "You gotta, gotta, gotta win it. That's how I approach it. I remember when Garinger was losing 23 or 24 in a row. I approached playing them like they had won 23 or 24. The minute you get lax, you'll have a problem.
"I remember when I was (playing) at N.C. State. Street & Smith (magazine) picked us to win one ballgame. We ended up losing only one. And guess who beat us? The one team we were picked to beat. I never forgot that lesson. I never take it for granted."
