Writer-Turned-Coach Enjoys Debut
November 3, 2016
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
ESCANABA — Sam Eggleston has seen high school football from two drastically different viewpoints. Now, even though he is an unpaid volunteer, he enjoys being on the sideline as a coach.
Eggleston just completed his first season as a high school head coach, with Eben Superior Central winning its final three games to finish 4-5 in 8-player football. The Cougars were among the first teams in the state to join the 8-player format in 2010, their first year of football.
Eggleston was a sportswriter before becoming a coach, giving him different perspectives to watching the same event.
The 1998 Rock Mid Peninsula High School graduate worked at newspapers in Escanaba, Kenai, Alaska; Northville and Novi, and Marquette before becoming a freelance writer and website blog editor in 2008. He started the writing phase of his career in 2000 with the Daily Press in Escanaba, under my direction.
He served as a volunteer assistant football coach in Northville, then moved back to the Upper Peninsula and became a volunteer coach at his alma mater in 2011 when the Wolverines went to 8-player football. He joined Superior Central in 2014 and spent two seasons as a volunteer aide until landing the head job just two weeks before the 2016 preseason began.
“In both careers … you took a shot on me and I ran with it, and the same with coaching; they gave me a shot and I’ve run with it as best I can,” he said.
In addition to his unpaid position at Superior Central, in rural Alger County, Eggleston is responsible for fundraising for the self-funded football program, a major priority for his offseason.
“My coaching is over (for the season) now and the majority of my time will be spent on raising funds so we can get new helmets, get new pads to replace ones that are broke, spending money we don’t have so we’ve got to make that up now,” he said. “We have to win now to have successful fundraisers.”
As a sportswriter, Eggleston would simply switch gears and move on to coverage of the next athletic season, for instance once fall sports moved into winter. He also never had to worry about how coaches managed off-field X’s and O’s once their seasons concluded.
Life was totally different as a reporter. “I had a different approach, different viewpoint, different mindset to a game as a writer,” said Eggleston, who still has the heft of when he was a lineman but now looks like a lumberjack with his bushy beard and build.
“Now I have to worry about every kid and every position,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t even see the end result of the play because I’m watching the line play. I don’t even know how well my running back did until I see where they moved the stick.”
He may also be working on an injured player while the game goes on, trying to make play calls and other decisions at the same time.
As a sportswriter, he would be jotting down notes between plays or perhaps checking the result of a picture he took of the previous snap, totally unaware the coach was monitoring several assignments.
“I look back at the writer I was and as a coach now, and I would hate the type of writer I was,” he said.
Eggleston would analyze why a coach would switch to running a sweep rather than the counter that had been working, all while the coach may be working on an injured player that caused a change in offensive plans.
“As a writer I never had the insight to see everything. I just saw the overall game and kept track of every yard,” he said. “As a coach I can’t even tell if the play went five yards because I have three plays stacked up as the game goes on.”
While he was writing sports in the metro Detroit area, his weekly paper often covered games also being covered by the Detroit Free Press or the Oakland Press, with those stories appearing the next day. Eggleston’s story would appear maybe five days later, after everyone knew what happened.
“I had to come in with a different angle. I tried to be a little more analytical and focus on strategy versus the flourish and try to get the meat of the game rather than get to the flowery parts,” he recalled. “I tried to take a different approach and make my stuff more interesting.”
His style apparently worked as the paper received several journalism awards and subscriptions remained strong.
Writing also provided some interesting backdrops. He had to use small charter planes to see some games in Alaska, or get to Nome to handle features about the Iditarod sled dog race.
He recalls covering a high school hockey game on an outdoor rink in Alaska and said “it was the first time I saw wind shear affect a hockey game.”
Eggleston also covered a football game where a kicker booted the ball off the uprights, then off a fence, and it bounced into the ocean in Homer.
He reported on a murder trial at that paper, where he would work the news desk in the morning, take time off and then handle sports at night. “It was super stressful,” he said.
Now walking the sidelines as a coach, he said “it definitely does feel like I’ve seen both sides of the coin, and I understand both sides of them better.”
He remembers just giving “little more rounded answers and (to) give both sides of the story” in postgame interviews. “A lot of coaches give canned answers. I try to be a little more in-depth and help try to write the story.”
In his early days as a sportswriter, he said “I would see the game unfold and see the pressures and why a coach would make a decision to go for it (on fourth down). I was a bit more critical of the coach and their decision,” he said, adding “I would probably have been a little more biting about it when I wrote the story.”
He admits in those days “I thought I knew everything there was to know about football. I played it,” he said. “I always approached the game like I was the professional and knew everything about the game. Now as a coach there are a host of responsibilities during every game. I am in completely different waters now. The hardest thing is keeping the kids pointed in the right direction as things go wrong.
“You’ve got the entire team and you’ve got to keep moving in a positive direction, keep the focus going forward. Forget the last play and work on the next one and get the kids to buy into that philosophy.”
He also compares his first writing assignment at the Daily Press with his first game this season at Ontonagon. “I did a (men’s baseball) story about the Escanaba Polecats, and you read my first line and said, ‘Did Yoda write this?’ I thought, oh my God, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
The Cougars lost their opener this fall 36-8, and Eggleston said “after being an assistant for four years, I still wasn’t prepared going into that Ontonagon game. We lost, and as I look back, if we played them right now I think we would beat them.
“I had no clue coming into that first game and didn’t have any idea how to get us back on track.”
He eventually figured enough out to finish 4-5 and found plenty of ways to enjoy being a coach.
Eggleston tries to eat lunch with his players every day, and he pays for his own meal.
“I want a family environment there; we all sit at the same table,” he said. “What I get back is relationships I never had before. I feel like I have 21 kids, and I love every minute of it.”
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTOS: (Top) Eben Junction Superior Central football coach Sam Eggleston speaks with some of his players during a game this season. (Middle) Eggleston monitors the action on the field. (Photos by Dennis Grall.)
2018 Week 5 Football Playoff Listing
September 18, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Here is a list of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playing schools, displaying their win-loss records and playoff averages through the fourth week of the season.
Schools on this list are in enrollment order for 11-player teams, with 8-player teams ordered by playoff average. An asterisk (*) beside a record indicates a team has eight or fewer games scheduled.
Those schools with 11-player teams with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules, or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer, will qualify for the MHSAA Football Playoffs beginning Oct. 26. Schools with 5-4, 4-3 or 4-4 records may qualify if the number of potential qualifiers by win total does not reach the 256 mark. Schools with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer may be subtracted from the field based on playoff average if the number of potential qualifiers exceeds the 256 mark.
Once the 256 qualifying schools are determined, they will be divided by enrollment groups into eight equal divisions of 32 schools, and then drawn into regions of eight teams each and districts of four teams each. Those schools with 8-player teams will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, and the top 32 programs will then be divided into two divisions of 16 each based on enrollment. The playoff in that division also begins Oct. 26.
To review a list of all football playoff schools, individual school playoff point details and to report errors, visit the Football page of the MHSAA Website.
The announcement of the qualifiers and first-round pairings for both the 11 and 8-player playoffs will take place Oct. 21 on the Selection Sunday Show on FOX Sports Detroit. The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the MHSAA Website following the Selection Sunday Show.
11-Player Playoff Listing
1. Macomb Dakota, 3114, 4-0, 90.000
2. Dearborn Fordson, 2795, 4-0, 88.000
3. East Kentwood, 2651, 3-1, 70.750
4. Grand Blanc, 2637, 4-0, 94.000
5. Clarkston, 2548, 4-0, 96.000
6. Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, 2462, 4-0, 98.000
7. Detroit Cass Tech, 2432, 4-0, 90.000
8. Canton, 2260, 3-1, 68.250
9. Brighton, 2202, 3-1, 70.750
10. Holland West Ottawa, 2190, 3-1, 66.500
11. Oxford, 2170, 3-1, 74.500
12. Ann Arbor Pioneer, 2115, 3-1, 80.667
13. Detroit Catholic Central, 2020, 3-1, 76.750
14. West Bloomfield, 2005, 3-1, 72.750
15. Macomb L'Anse Creuse North, 1994, 3-1, 66.500
16. Monroe, 1949, 3-1, 69.550
17. Hudsonville, 1879, 4-0, 90.667
18. Saline, 1834, 3-1, 70.750
19. Romeo, 1779, 3-1, 72.500
20. Detroit Western International, 1773, 3-1, 54.750
21. Lapeer, 1772, 4-0, 86.000
22. Davison, 1687, 4-0, 88.000
23. Belleville, 1642, 4-0, 98.000
24. Brownstown Woodhaven, 1628, 4-0, 94.000
25. Grosse Pointe South, 1593, 4-0, 92.000
26. Warren Mott, 1585, 3-1, 72.750
27. Waterford Mott, 1558, 3-1, 66.500
28. Warren DeLaSalle, 1474, 3-1, 66.750
29. Jenison, 1464, 3-1, 64.250
30. Livonia Franklin, 1443, 3-1, 64.000
31. Dearborn Heights Crestwood, 1424, 4-0, 76.000
32. Traverse City Central, 1391, 3-1, 70.250
33. Birmingham Seaholm, 1376, 3-1, 68.750
34. Oak Park, 1349, 4-0, 90.000
35. Portage Central, 1349, 3-1, 70.250
36. Roseville, 1303, 3-1, 56.750
37. Port Huron Northern, 1295, 3-1, 70.500
38. St. Clair Shores Lake Shore, 1276, 3-1, 64.500
39. Swartz Creek, 1262, 4-0, 92.000
40. Walled Lake Western, 1258, 3-1, 66.500
41. Jackson, 1229, 4-0, 88.000
42. Ypsilanti Lincoln, 1226, 3-1, 56.500
43. South Lyon, 1225, 4-0, 92.000
44. Muskegon Mona Shores, 1215, 4-0, 90.000
45. Birmingham Brother Rice, 1168, 3-1, 73.567
46. Fenton, 1160, 3-1, 68.500
47. Mattawan, 1153, 3-1, 64.250
48. Detroit Martin Luther King, 1149, 3-1, 54.750
49. Warren Woods Tower, 1126, 4-0, 78.000
50. Auburn Hills Avondale, 1115, 3-1, 64.250
51. Gibraltar Carlson, 1114, 3-1, 70.750
52. East Lansing, 1111, 4-0, 88.667
53. Farmington, 1111, 4-0, 90.000
54. Allen Park, 1105, 3-1, 68.500
55. Garden City, 1080, 3-1, 62.000
56. South Lyon East, 1063, 3-1, 64.500
57. Mt. Pleasant, 1053, 4-0, 84.000
58. Muskegon, 1022, 4-0, 98.000
59. Battle Creek Central, 1014, 3-1, 66.500
60. Gaylord, 1002, 4-0, 80.000
61. DeWitt, 1001, 4-0, 94.000
62. Zeeland West, 997, 3-1, 68.500
63. Cedar Springs, 992, 3-1, 68.750
64. Zeeland East, 955, 3-1, 58.500
65. Detroit Mumford, 943, 3-1, 60.500
66. Trenton, 914, 3-1, 70.500
67. Riverview, 913, 3-1, 58.500
68. Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, 903, 4-0, 80.000
69. River Rouge, 897, 3-1, 58.750
70. Haslett, 895, 4-0, 84.000
71. Ortonville-Brandon, 887, 3-1, 70.250
72. Grand Rapids Christian, 886, 3-1, 66.750
73. Parma Western, 870, 3-1, 56.750
74. Chelsea, 851, 3-1, 70.500
75. Farmington Hills Harrison, 849, 3-1, 66.750
76. Spring Lake, 845, 4-0, 74.000
77. Edwardsburg, 838, 4-0, 76.000
78. Wayland Union, 829, 3-1, 64.750
79. Plainwell, 825, 3-1, 52.750
80. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, 809, 3-1, 62.917
81. Milan, 761, 3-1, 54.500
82. Goodrich, 758, 3-1, 62.500
83. Detroit Cody, 755, 4-0, 84.000
84. Allendale, 749, 3-1, 56.750
85. North Branch, 726, 3-1, 52.750
86. Croswell-Lexington, 724, 3-1, 56.500
87. Battle Creek Pennfield, 709, 3-1, 62.500
88. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, 702, 3-1, 52.500
89. Detroit Country Day *, 687, 3-1, 67.050
90. Three Rivers, 682, 4-0, 82.000
91. Holland Christian, 672, 3-1, 58.750
92. Paw Paw, 670, 3-1, 56.750
93. Whitehall, 669, 3-1, 50.750
94. Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 662, 3-1, 54.500
95. Alma, 643, 4-0, 68.000
96. Lake Odessa Lakewood, 643, 3-1, 62.500
97. Williamston, 619, 3-1, 62.250
98. Grand Rapids South Christian, 615, 3-1, 63.167
99. Grosse Ile, 609, 4-0, 74.000
100. Dearborn Heights Robichaud, 608, 4-0, 74.000
101. Hudsonville Unity Christian, 602, 4-0, 86.000
102. Harper Woods, 594, 3-1, 44.750
103. Freeland, 584, 3-1, 52.750
104. Saginaw Swan Valley, 573, 4-0, 90.000
105. Belding, 572, 3-1, 54.500
106. Muskegon Oakridge, 571, 4-0, 68.000
107. Macomb Lutheran North, 560, 4-0, 70.000
108. Birch Run, 552, 3-1, 58.500
109. St. Clair Shores South Lake, 551, 3-1, 50.500
110. Portland, 550, 4-0, 74.000
111. Frankenmuth, 549, 3-1, 60.750
112. Olivet, 542, 4-0, 72.000
113. Detroit Osborn, 537, 3-1, 44.750
114. Lansing Catholic, 531, 4-0, 70.000
115. Richmond, 524, 3-1, 56.000
116. Ida, 512, 3-1, 58.500
117. Hopkins, 507, 3-1, 58.750
118. Benzie Central, 505, 3-1, 52.750
119. Detroit Denby, 504, 4-0, 66.667
120. Reed City, 504, 4-0, 80.000
121. Almont, 503, 4-0, 68.000
122. Marine City, 503, 3-1, 56.750
123. Berrien Springs, 500, 3-1, 54.750
124. Dundee, 485, 3-1, 52.500
125. Manistee, 472, 4-0, 64.000
126. Durand, 468, 3-1, 46.250
127. Coloma, 460, 3-1, 48.500
128. Ovid-Elsie, 453, 3-1, 50.750
129. Kalamazoo Hackett, 450, 4-0, 66.000
130. Clare, 449, 3-1, 48.500
131. Montague, 445, 3-1, 42.750
132. Kingsley, 443, 3-1, 54.750
133. Hillsdale, 441, 4-0, 66.000
134. Tawas *, 418, 3-1, 38.750
135. Michigan Center, 412, 4-0, 56.000
136. Brooklyn Columbia Central, 410, 3-1, 58.500
137. Constantine, 400, 4-0, 64.000
138. Fennville, 400, 3-1, 48.750
139. Calumet, 392, 4-0, 70.800
140. Warren Michigan Collegiate, 392, 4-0, 74.000
141. Ishpeming Westwood, 391, 2-2, 37.417
142. Millington, 390, 3-1, 54.000
143. Ithaca, 388, 3-1, 50.750
144. Ecorse, 387, 3-1, 46.750
145. Blissfield, 383, 3-1, 60.750
146. Delton Kellogg, 378, 4-0, 68.000
147. Hemlock, 374, 3-1, 42.500
148. Morley Stanwood, 369, 3-1, 48.250
149. Elk Rapids, 366, 3-1, 42.500
150. Napoleon, 365, 3-1, 42.500
151. Beaverton, 362, 3-1, 46.750
152. Grass Lake, 357, 4-0, 56.000
153. Jackson Lumen Christi *, 356, 4-0, 84.000
154. Traverse City St. Francis, 355, 4-0, 84.000
155. Flint Hamady, 353, 4-0, 58.000
156. Schoolcraft, 353, 3-1, 50.500
157. Kent City, 351, 4-0, 58.000
158. Lake City, 348, 4-0, 64.000
159. Leroy Pine River, 348, 4-0, 56.000
160. L'Anse, 344, 3-1, 48.250
161. Ravenna, 344, 3-1, 40.500
162. Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian, 332, 3-1, 42.500
163. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, 331, 3-1, 63.167
164. St. Louis, 331, 3-1, 48.500
165. Oscoda, 329, 3-1, 28.000
166. Hartford, 322, 4-0, 52.000
167. Roscommon, 319, 3-1, 58.500
168. Madison Heights Madison, 316, 4-0, 80.000
169. Pewamo-Westphalia, 315, 4-0, 56.000
170. Clinton, 313, 3-1, 42.500
171. Detroit Community, 308, 4-0, 48.000
172. Madison Heights Bishop Foley, 306, 3-1, 48.750
173. New Lothrop, 302, 4-0, 66.000
174. Springport, 302, 4-0, 54.000
175. Allen Park Cabrini, 300, 3-1, 42.750
176. Sandusky, 300, 4-0, 62.000
177. Iron Mountain, 298, 3-1, 54.400
178. Cass City, 291, 3-1, 48.250
179. Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker, 282, 3-1, 48.500
180. Harbor Springs, 280, 4-0, 50.000
181. Manton, 280, 3-1, 42.750
182. Centreville, 279, 4-0, 56.000
183. Saugatuck, 273, 3-1, 50.500
184. Sand Creek, 266, 3-1, 37.417
185. Cassopolis, 261, 4-0, 56.000
186. Concord, 255, 3-1, 42.750
187. Royal Oak Shrine Catholic, 252, 3-1, 40.250
188. Ottawa Lake Whiteford, 250, 4-0, 58.000
189. Carson City-Crystal, 248, 4-0, 46.000
190. Gwinn, 246, 4-0, 54.000
191. Iron River West Iron County, 246, 3-1, 40.750
192. Dansville, 244, 3-1, 42.000
193. Reading, 244, 4-0, 66.000
194. Holton, 234, 3-1, 42.500
195. Ishpeming, 233, 4-0, 52.800
196. Ubly, 232, 3-1, 44.750
197. Johannesburg-Lewiston, 226, 3-1, 42.500
198. Breckenridge, 224, 4-0, 60.000
199. Harbor Beach, 222, 3-1, 44.250
200. Rogers City, 220, 4-0, 56.000
201. Sterling Heights Parkway Christian, 220, 4-0, 52.000
202. Detroit Public Safety Academy, 206, 3-1, 37.167
203. Mendon, 193, 3-1, 32.750
204. Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary, 193, 4-0, 50.000
205. Pittsford, 186, 4-0, 52.000
206. Athens *, 185, 3-0, 57.333
207. Adrian Lenawee Christian, 183, 4-0, 52.000
208. Martin, 183, 3-1, 40.000
209. Fowler, 170, 3-1, 36.750
210. Clarkston Everest Collegiate, 115, 4-0, 51.333
8-Player Playoff Listing
1. Colon, 162, 4-0, 50.000
2. Pickford, 156, 4-0, 48.000
3. Onekama, 131, 4-0, 46.667
4. Morrice, 182, 4-0, 46.000
5. AuGres-Sims, 160, 4-0, 44.000
6. Posen, 78, 4-0, 42.000
7. Wyoming Tri-unity Christian, 173, 4-0, 40.000
8. Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart, 122, 3-1, 38.500
9. Brethren, 143, 3-1, 36.250
10. Kingston, 187, 4-0, 36.000
11. Stephenson, 159, 3-1, 35.450
12. Engadine, 102, 3-1, 34.750
13. Hillman, 140, 3-1, 34.750
14. Camden-Frontier, 176, 3-1, 34.500
15. Powers North Central, 109, 3-1, 34.500
16. Battle Creek St. Philip, 178, 3-1, 32.750
17. Suttons Bay, 189, 3-1, 32.750
18. Cedarville, 151, 3-1, 32.500
19. Eben Junction Superior Central, 121, 3-1, 32.500
20. Portland St. Patrick, 102, 3-1, 32.500
21. Genesee, 169, 3-1, 32.250
22. Bellevue, 185, 3-1, 30.750
23. Kinde-North Huron, 130, 3-1, 28.500
24. Manistee Catholic Central, 181, 3-1, 28.500
25. Peck, 136, 3-1, 28.000
26. Mayville, 185, 3-1, 26.750
27. Fife Lake Forest Area, 183, 2-2, 25.250
28. Crystal Falls Forest Park, 125, 2-2, 23.250
29. Deckerville, 175, 2-2, 23.250
30. Webberville, 176, 2-2, 23.000
31. Bellaire, 131, 2-2, 21.917
32. Onaway, 187, 2-2, 21.417
33. Marion, 139, 2-2, 19.250
34. Rapid River, 127, 2-2, 19.250
35. Tekonsha, 121, 2-2, 19.250
36. Rudyard, 159, 2-2, 19.000
37. Waldron, 65, 2-2, 16.750
38. New Haven Merritt Academy, 154, 1-3, 15.500
39. Pellston, 167, 1-3, 13.750
40. Caseville *, 95, 1-2, 13.417
41. Bay City All Saints, 77, 1-3, 11.750
42. Hale, 122, 1-3, 11.750
43. Central Lake *, 190, 1-2, 11.667
44. Atlanta, 74, 1-3, 11.250
45. North Adams-Jerome, 146, 1-3, 11.000
46. Owendale-Gagetown, 57, 1-3, 11.000
47. St. Helen Charlton Heston Academy, 156, 1-3, 10.250
48. Ashley, 94, 1-3, 10.000
49. Big Rapids Crossroads Academy, 201, 1-3, 9.500
50. Mesick, 202, 1-3, 9.500
51. Brimley, 154, 1-3, 9.250
52. Burr Oak, 74, 1-3, 9.250
53. Ontonagon, 173, 1-3, 9.250
54. Burton Madison Academy, 163, 1-3, 8.750
55. Lawrence, 171, 0-4, 2.750
56. Flint International Academy, 171, 0-4, 1.750
57. Bear Lake *, 94, 0-3, 1.250
58. Carney-Nadeau, 133, 0-4, 1.250
59. Felch North Dickinson, 83, 0-4, 1.250
60. Litchfield, 81, 0-4, 1.250
61. St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran, 100, 0-4, 1.250
62. Baldwin, 120, 0-3, 0.500