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IN MY OPINION
Flowers says his career will bloom in S.C.
LANGSTON WERTZ JR.
Maurice Flowers was hired as football coach at Chester (S.C.) High Tuesday night and said it felt like a fresh start.
In the fall, Flowers had West Charlotte feeling like West Charlotte used to feel, in wins and fans support, before investigations into athletic eligibility led to penalties, suspensions and forfeits, marring a season in which the Lions reached the N.C. 4AA semifinals.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association banned Flowers for 365 days. Chester officials said they were comfortable hiring him, and Flowers, who maintains he did nothing wrong, said he isn't angry at anyone.
"In life, people will make bad, ill-informed decisions," Flowers said. "You can't get upset about it. In football, they say `pressure busts pipes.' You put pressure on a quarterback and he'll do things he doesn't normally do. You put pressure on folks and they'll do things they don't normally do, too."
Flowers said he was offered positions in Texas, Georgia and Florida. He said he wanted to stay close to home for his family and because they enjoy church at Jubilee Life Center on Nations Ford Road, where he and his wife are active in the marriage ministry. Flowers also heads a youth group called "Huddle Up," for boys 8 and older.
"Through this whole situation when you're being persecuted publicly and people making judgments on you, you have God to lean on," Flowers said. "Our church has been good to us."
Flowers, who will start at Chester on Thursday, won't have to move. Chester is 35 minutes from his Charlotte home. West Charlotte was about five minutes closer. At the S.C. school, he will replace Victor Floyd, a good friend who recommended him for the job. Floyd took a head-coaching job in Georgia last month.
"When Victor left, he said, `If you're looking for a job, I've got the best job you're going to come across,' " Flowers said. "Being a head coach at a high school with a smaller community where everybody gets behind the football program and the school, those are the opportunities you want. I felt fortunate Victor referred me."
• Those darn TV announcers. First Greg Anthony sits on ESPN, straight faced, and says Chris Paul is the best point guard he's ever seen. I just know Magic Johnson heard that and choked on his Starbucks.
Then golf analyst Johnny Miller told NBC viewers that if Phil Mickelson had his new, shorter swing -- taught to him by Butch Harmon -- at a younger age, his career might be as great as one of Harmon's former pupils, Tiger Woods.
Mickelson is good, but a more compact swing won't make up the 18 holes worth of athleticism and mental strength advantage Woods enjoys over him.
• Golfers, watch your clubs when you check in or buy sandwiches at the turn. One of my best friends, Jim Richardson, had his bag stolen at a local course last week while he was paying for his round. Talk about an empty feeling.
IN MY OPINION Langston Wertz Jr.
