FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010 HIGH SCHOOLS
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Preseason faces radical overhaul
After anownersmeeting onthe
Some say 2-game slate would hurt preparation, bubble players’ chances
BY MARKMASKE AfterVictorCruz, an undrafted
rookie wide receiver for the New YorkGiants,hadthreetouchdown catches against theNewYork Jets in an NFL preseason opener, Jets Coach Rex Ryan met his Giants counterpart, Tom Coughlin, to shake hands at midfield. Ryan told Coughlin that he didn’t even know who No. 3 was, referring to Cruz by his jersey number, but that hewas quite a player. “I hope they cut him,” Ryan
said later that night at his post- game news conference. “I know one teamthatwillbe ready to sign him, and that’s us.” Preseason games may be te-
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST Head coachNatalie Randolph oversees footwork drills at Coolidge’s first practice three weeks ago. Tonight, the Colts play for real. Coolidge’s Randolph is set for her debut randolph from D1
she has more people with her than I did. And she has guys that want her to be successful.Alot of times, guys are looking to take your job.” Randolph anticipated her hir-
ingwouldbringmediaattention. Handling the scrutiny, in addi- tion to the responsibilities of being a head coach, made her uneasy about taking the job. She reached out to a close
friendat Coolidge, specialeduca- tion teacher Keino Wilson, for guidance. Wilson, who had coached boys’ basketball at Spin- garn and Woodson, called the one person who he knew could ease Randolph’s concerns — longtime Woodson football and girls’ basketball coach Bob Headen, 70, who spent 28 years as a head coach before stepping down in 1999. “You tell her,” Headen told
Wilson, “that if she gets the job, I’ll come help her.” After Wilson relayed the offer
to Randolph, she calledHeaden, who was also on the Woodson staff when Randolph made her coaching debut in 2006.Headen was impressed with Randolph’s know-how, organization and en- ergy that season. Randolph asked Headen if he
was serious about the offer. Headen said he was, and the
next day, Randolph told the Coolidge administration she would interview, confident that with Headen aboard, she could build a staff that could give her all the backing she needed. “It’s not just X’s and O’s,” said
Headen, who won 284 games and eight league championships asWoodson’s football coach. “It’s strategy. It’s working with the administration. It’s working with the athletic department. “When she got the job, the
toughest thingwasgetting her to know the rules and regulations of DCPS, knowing how to get kids and build a program. Then you add on that a lot of people didn’t want to be dealing with a woman. It was a lot to deal with.” With all the attention focused
on Randolph and the Coolidge program, there was hardly a shortage of candidates to fill the Colts’ staff. Plenty wanted a piece of the spotlight, and Wil- sonwatched Randolph study the applicants’
intentions last
spring. “A lot of people called me
trying to help get them jobs,” said Wilson, who was named Coolidge’s athletic director last week, “and I told [Randolph], ‘Just pick people who are going to be loyal to you.’ “She can see through people,
and that’s the greatest thing about her in her position.” Among her assistants are
those with experience as high school head coaches (Headen and Dawkins), high school assis- tants (defensive line coach Hey- wood King and linebackers coach John Marlow), a player (quarterback coach LisaHorton, who faced Randolph in the Inde- pendent Women’s Football League for the Pittsburgh Pas- sion) and a former Divas assis- tant (defensive coordinator She- drick Young). “We’ve got a good mix of coaches, a good mix of personali- ties,” Coolidge senior Daniel West said. “They all bring a little something different.” Headen said he never had a
staff of more than six, because he liked to be involved with every aspect of the team; he called all the plays, and the defensive alignments. With him aboard, several coaches at other D.C. schools, recognizing Headen’s thirst for winning and control, have said privately that he is calling all the shots, and Ran- dolph is just a figurehead. “Alot of people seemeandsay,
‘Oh, it’s your team,’ ” Headen said. “Well, I tell them, ‘Come by practice and watch.’ It’s her team.” Whether it’s a practice or
game-planning session, Ran- dolph’s role among her staff is not domineering. She picks her spots to inject comment or in- struction, and, with so many
GOLF With divorce final, Woods lets clubs do speaking ASSOCIATED PRESS
paramus, n.j. —Yes, that really was TigerWoods’s name atop the leader board. In his first tournament since
his divorce,Woods finally looked like the No. 1 player in the world Thursdayat theBarclayswhenhe openedwitha6-under-par65,his lowest score of the year, to share the lead with Vaughn Taylor. It was his first time leading after any round on the PGATour since the Tour Championship last Sep- tember. “It’s exciting to hit the ball
flush again,” Woods said. “It’s something I’ve been missing all year.” He didn’tmissmuch at Ridge-
woodCountryClub.Woodshitall but one fairway and putted for birdie on all but two holes. And while he hit his driver only twice, theywere two of his best shots of the day — including on the 291- yard fifth hole, where his drive landed pin-high and settled 15 feet away. Woods and Taylor both played
in themorning, when the greens were smooth and the conditions were onlybreezy.Theyhada one- shot lead over AdamScott, Brian Gay and Ryan Palmer. Scott played in the afternoon, when a gust ofwind played tricks onhim at the finalhole andledto bogey. Scott endureda longday inthe
pro-am Wednesday and didn’t thinkRidgewoodwould serve up a 65 to anyone. “Seeing some good scores this
morning made me change my mind,”he said. That one of those scores be- longed to Woods was hardly a
JESSICA RINALDI/REUTERS
TigerWoods is all smiles after a first-round 65 gives him a share of the lead at the Barclays.
surprise. “For him to piece things to-
gether can’t be too hard,” Scott said. “He’s very good.” The last timeWoods was atop
the leader board after any round of any tournament was when he won the Australian Masters on Nov. 15, less than twoweeks after his life caved in on him—the car crash after Thanksgiving night, details of adultery, five months awayfromthegameandabroken marriage, which officially ended Monday. Woods began the FedEx Cup
playoffs 112th out of 125 players who qualified. He was so far down the list that he was first to teeoffunderasunnyskyatRidge- wood, the first time he has done that inhisPGATour career. Itworkedtohis advantage. “With fresh greens, everybody
inourgroupwasmakingputtson the front nine,”Woods said. “You hadto get it today.” The 65 was his lowest score in
46 rounds, dating to a 62 in the BMW Championship last year. Taylor grinned when asked if he was surprised to see Woods’s name onthe leader board. “Somewhat, you know?” he
said. “It’s goodto seehimbackup top.” With sunshine and a light
breeze, conditions were ripe for scoring. Palmer had a chance to join the leaders until a three-putt bogey on the 18th put himat 66. Even though the greens became bumpy in the afternoon after so much foot traffic, the course was soft enough to allow for good scores.Therewere14playerswho shot 67, includingDavis Love III, defending champion Heath SlocumandStewartCink. PhilMickelson, with his ninth
chance in fourmonths to replace WoodsatNo. 1 intheworld,made only one birdie for a 72. Only the top 100 in the FedEx
Cupstandingsadvancetothesec- ond round of the playoffs next week in the Deutsche Bank Championship. Woods at least needs tomakethecut, thenfinish inthemiddle of thepack “I figure if I win, I should be
okay,”Woods said. For one of the few times this
year, he gave himself ample rea- son to believe that. Woods opened with a 3-wood down the middle of the fairway, a pitching wedge to 15 feet below the hole anda birdieputt. More followed, evenonthepar
5s,whichhavegivenWoods fits in recentmonths. Hemostly used his 3-wood off
the tee, figuring thatwas enough to reach the cornerswithout hav- ing to take on the tops of trees that line the fairways. Plus, with saturated condi-
tions from rain earlier in the week, tour officials allowed play- ers to lift, clean and place in the fairway. “With the ball in hand, it’s
much more important to hit the fairways,”Woods said. It was the first time since the
2006BritishOpenatRoyalLiver- pool thathehithis 3-woodoff the tee on every par 5. The two times he hit the driver turned out to be two ofhis best shots of theday. After the tee shot on the par-4
fifth — only six players hit that green off the tee — Woods used driver into the wind on the 18th, hitting it sowell that he had only a 7-iron into the green. He hit a punch shot to justmore than six feet for a final birdie. “It was just a low, bullet fade
right around the corner,” he said. “Itwas just the shape of the shot, because it was different than most of the 3-woods I played all day. Ididn’tholda single 3-wood. Iwas turningthemover.Now, the shape of the driver in the com- plete opposite direction ... and I hadn’t hit a driver since the fifth hole.” l LPGA TOUR: Michelle Wie
recorded the second hole-in-one of her professional career on the way to a 7-under 65 and a three- shot lead after the first round of theCanadianWomen’sOpen. Sarah Kemp of Australia was
three strokes back of Wie after hermorning-round 68,while de- fending champion Suzann Pet- tersen was in third place with a 69.
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Players such as Redskins wide receiver Anthony Armstrong, above, would have less chance to prove themselves in a two-game preseason.
other responsibilities off the field, she has the confidence to allow her assistants to run cer- tain parts of practice. “I wanted to do everything,”
Headen said. “Natalie’s not that kind of a coach. She doesn’t want to do everything. She just wants to manage everything. I told her, ‘You just worry about the aca- demics, and we’ll take care of everything else,’ She’s learning fast.” The size of her staff, plus her
insistence upon improving the team’s academic record, mean Randolph runs the Colts like a CEO. “There are a lot of things I
wish I could’ve done when I was a head coach that she’s getting able to do,” Dawkins said. “She can just direct, and then drop in and help a kid who needs it.” It’s the only way Coolidge
could have arrived at Friday’s game ready to go. “We’re going to be prepared.
We’re going to be organized,” Randolph said. “I can control that. I can’t control the other things.”
goldenbacha@washpost.com 6
MORE ON THE WEB: See video of Natalie Randolph’s first
practice, along with a gallery of photos from her hiring at Coolidge at
AllMetSports.com.
dious for veteran players and the fans who bother to watch them. Commissioner Roger Goodell has said the games are not up to the league’s usual standards, and Goodell and the sport’s franchise owners will soon try to persuade the players’ union to reduce the preseason from four games per team to two and lengthen the regular season from 16 to 18 games beginning in 2012. But some in the sport say that
for thecoacheswhomustevaluate their talent andformarginalplay- ers such as Cruz trying to secure spots on NFL rosters, the four- game preseason can be critical to success. If starters don’t get more play-
ing time in each game of a two- game preseason, they won’t be sharp early in the regular season, someNFL veterans say. If starters do playmore, some young players willhave fewer chances tolearnin game settings and less well- known players such as Cruz and Washington Redskins wide re- ceiver Anthony Armstrong, an- other preseason standout, will have fewer opportunities tomake a team. “I don’t think two games is
enough to evaluate players,” for- mer Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann said in a telephone interview. “You take a guy like Anthony
Armstrong. The question is: What’s he going to do when he gets into game conditions? If you’ve only got two games, you’re looking at [other players]. “With two games, you’re going
to bemaking a lotmore educated guesses rather than seeing what happens in game conditions. . . . There are roster spots on special teams that are determined by playing all four preseason games. There’s no replacement for game conditions, seeing what guys can do.” That is particularly true for
young quarterbacks, Theismann said. “You look at a quarterback and
see what he can do in a two-min- ute drill, see howhe handles com- ing frombehind, see how he does trying to protect a lead,” Theis- mann said. “There are amyriad of questions here. “Who’s going to play those two
preseason games? Howmuch are you going to play the starters? . . . You understand the theory be- hind it. “But in the practical applica-
tion, there are a lot of questions.” Those who favor the arrange-
ment, however, say teamswill ad- just their preseason preparations accordingly. “I don’t think four preseason
games are necessary from a foot- ball standpoint,”Goodell said.
subject in Atlanta onWednesday, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Ir- say said: “I think two preseason games are enough. . . . Every coach is going to have a different opinion. Everyone prepares a lit- tlebitdifferently.TheColts’ roster and how we prepare, with our core leaders being such veterans, versus maybe St. Louis or some- oneelse, it’salotdifferent.Butyou can plan scrimmages. You can have rookie games. There are dif- ferent things you can do. And so I think ultimately 18 and two is a positive thing.” Redskins Coach Mike Shanah-
an said he “could deal with it either way” but thinks he could make the player-evaluation pro- cess work with only two pre- season games. “I think you’d probably have
more scrimmages within your own teamormaybe other teams,” Shanahan said. “You’d practice during theweek to evaluate some of those players, so I think there’d be a little bitmore contact. I think every team will look at it a little differently.” Other changes could accompa-
ny a switch to an 18-game season and two-game preseason. Among the details that need to beworked out are the length of training camp, when a longer season would start and end and how many offseason practices would bepermittedunder thenewsetup. The deliberations are taking
place at the same time that the league and union are discussing decreasing the number of offsea- son practices and restricting hit- ting in some practices as a way of reducing the number of concus- sions suffered by players. “I thinktherearealotofadjust-
ments that maybe you make in your schedule and in your ap- proach,” Atlanta Falcons Presi- dent Rich McKay, the co-chair- man of the NFL’s competition committee, saidWednesday after the owners meeting. “But in the end . . . it can be done, looking at all the data that we’ve got with respect to injuries and everything else.” Goodellhasmentionedthepos-
sibility of launching a develop- mental league for young players, potentially giving coaches and teams’ front office executives a different venue where they can teach and evaluate. “We’ve been looking at the is-
sues and talking about the differ- entwayswe canaddress the prep- aration of the team and, just as important, the evaluation of young players,” New Orleans Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis said in Atlanta after the meeting. The Redskins play the third
game of their four-game pre- season Friday night at the New Meadowlands Stadium against the Jets. Most other NFL teams also have their third preseason games thisweekend,playingwhat traditionally is regarded as the main dress rehearsal for their starters. Those front-line players gener-
allywill rest,makingbriefappear- ances or not playing at all, in the fourth preseason game, while those players who are on the ros- ter bubble have a final chance to impress coaches and earn jobs. Such notions about how the
NFL preseason works would be- come outdated if third and fourth preseason games become relics. Giants co-owner John Mara
was askedwhether two preseason games will be enough for what teamswant to accomplish. “I guess they’re going tohave to
be,”Mara said.
maskem@washpost.com
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