INDIANAPOLIS — When the Marion County “Coach of the Year” is announced today it will be my man Jayson West from the No.1 Warren Central Warriors. All props to coach West for being able to rattle off 13 straight wins to get to 13-0 and only one win away from completing a perfect season. What he’s done at Warren this year has been amazing. They’ve beaten everybody in the M.I.C., which is the best conference in the state. They then turned around and beat four of the other seven teams again in that same conference in the playoffs to advance to the state title game this weekend against Carmel.
So again, what Coach West has done this season is incredible!! However, TheJayGravesReport’s “Coach of the Year” is North Central’s Kevin O’Shea. He made a football team from scratch. The turnaround, in and of itself, elevates him to “Coach of the Year” in my book.
I like to call him Chinchilla O’Shea because he’s got so much swag that he could coach with a Chinchilla hat and coat on. Ole boy took over a North Central program that was in the toilet just two seasons ago. As a matter of fact, he took over a program that hadn’t seen a winning season in forever. This current senior class had seen an 0-10 and 1-9 record before O’Shea arrived and in his first year, last season, they finished 3-8.
This year he led the Panthers to an 11-3 record and a Sectional Championship which North Central hadn’t won since 1993!!!! No disrespect to Jayson West but the turn around that O’Shea’s given North Central since last season is beyond remarkable. There is no way that O’Shea’s efforts with pretty much the same personnel from last year doesn’t elevate him to the Coach of the year in my opinion. Again West coached his tail off but a turnaround of that magnitude deserves the recognition of “Coach of the Year.” So that’s why he’s our “Coach of the Year!”
Now if we’re only looking at who has the best record every year them call it that. Call it the “Coach with the Best Record Award” then I won’t argue with you about it. But if we’re calling it the “Coach of the Year Award” then let’s give it to the guy that did the best job of coaching for that year.
It’s the same foolishness that goes on in the NBA when they give the MVP Award. They call it the Most Valuable Player Award but they rarely give it to the person that’s the most valuable player. They tend to give it to the best player on the best team. Now if that’s what we’re going to do then just call it the “Best Player on the Best Team Award.”
If it were truly the MVP then Jordan would have won at least 10 of them and LeBron would have won it the last 8 years in a row. So my point here is this, stop calling these awards what they aren’t. If it’s the “Coach of the Year” then give it to the Coach of the Year. Kevin O’Shea, he did the single best job of coaching in 2018 hands down in Marion County and remember this playa, I’ve got no dog in the fight. Now you can stop me when I start lyin’!