Guest Opinion, John Regan

Guest Opinion . . .

The following comes from John Regan ,

an All-Catholic basketball player for North Catholic in the late 1970s and a whirlwind of a soccer player as well. It concerns the Falcons' basketball program, and especially coach Mike McCarron .

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Ted,

I attend many high

school games throughout the year (all sports) and I was at the most

recent North-Judge basketball game. I read your DN article on the game

and I thought it was interesting to read that the North player wanted to

win the game for his coach Mike McCarron.

I know everyone has

opinions on such things as open enrollment, PIAA, recruiting and the

good old days. I know there will also always be disgruntled parents &

family if someone they know doesn’t make the team or is not playing what

they feel are the right amount of minutes. There are also some that go

as far as critiquing every play or player. This probably happens at

every school but when I hear rumblings about North Catholic basketball,

and Mike McCarron in particular, I don’t seem to get it. When I look at

North Catholic basketball & Mike McCarron – this is what I see:

- A program revived by an ex-player from North who

has a lot of passion for the game & for the school where he was educated

- A coach who spends many, many hours on North

Catholic basketball & promoting North Catholic the institution

- A coach & person with a lot of Integrity who would

help anyone - anytime

- A coach who has taken kids from many different

areas, backgrounds & cultures and has built a program at a school that

was basically falling apart

- A coach who has actually won 20 games (with 4 close

losses) at a school that hasn’t accomplished that since 1995.

To me the term “talent”

is often thrown around very loosely. It appears there are some who

expect McCarron to go undefeated with his players joining hands in

prayer at every timeout. I think there are some underlying issues with

these people that Mike has no control over. Even without all the wins,

I don’t think there is – or could be – a better coach/representative of

North Catholic High School than Mike McCarron. I have spoken to many

ex-players and - to a person – they share this opinion. So my

congratulations go out to Chris Edwards for a nice game & the refreshing

approach of backing his coach. I also hope that Mike McCarron is not

distracted by any noise he has created by bringing the Falcons

basketball program back. McCarron is a quiet type of guy who does not

bring a lot of attention to himself. There are a lot of people who know

what a great job Mike has done with the program, the players in the

program, and the school itself. On behalf of all those people – please

pass along our thanks to Mike the next time you do a North game – for a

job well done.

John Regan Class of 1978