Letter to Second Years...

Second Years,

I'm not exactly sure what I can tell you at this point. You're less than a week from graduation, and about two weeks from the completion of your teaching experiences. I probably should be asking you how you felt at this point last year, and what you did to maintain sanity and motivation. Nevertheless, I do applaud you guys for sticking it out. Embracing new things, new people, new surroundings, and new challenges is a daunting task. You should be proud of yourselves because you are now able to say that you did more than embrace all of these new things--you excelled through all of them. I don't have to tell you that you've made an impact on your kids, or that you've grown exponentially as a person. I do have to tell you that your job, and the work you've done, is not as thankless as you may think. You are appreciated by more people than you know; they just don't tell you. For what it's worth, I appreciate you for what you've accomplished. Your direct and indirect modeling last summer, the impromptu talks, and interesting blog posts have been very helpful to me. Again, I thank you all for what you've done. I am looking forward to being in your position a year from now.....and hopefully someone will thank me too.

Coach Huff,

Boy, do I hate Millsaps. Boy, do I hate Millsaps. Boy, do I hate Millsaps. That said, I am glad we had the opportunity to get to know each other besides our Rhodes/Millsaps rivalry. Yeah, we played against each other in college, but we have so much more in common than that. We immediately clicked at summer school last summer and it blossomed into a Mentor/Mentee relationship. It was great that we were both in Byhalia because we've basically seen each other almost everyday. That was the convenience we had that was different from the other mentor/mentee relationships. We talk about teaching, school, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, and track. I call you "little man," because you are...and you always say, "I'm the little man with the SCAC championship rings, chief." I know that we've forged a true friendship and I appreciate how helpful it has been to me this year. Do it big down there at MSU, and get the Ph.D. Then we can finally go somewhere and take over a football program. That's the plan...stick to it, CHIEF!

Second Years.....congratulations on making it through the program. I know you'll all move on to bigger and better things because you have the same degree as Ben!

DK