Upon Further Review

To call April, you know, that month that starts with a day for fools, a bad month for Wilson Memorial baseball would be a grand understatement.

It started with players not respecting the Hornet and ended with a 10-2 loss to Luray that had first-year coach Derek McDaniel stating that his Green Hornets, upon further review, were “not a good team.“

In that loss to Luray, the Hornets committed six errors and the one-time star pitcher in Fishersville turned coach came to the realization that his team was more like kitty litter than the cat’s pajamas.

“We don’t make plays we need to make,“ McDaniel lamented after the April 30 loss. “And good teams do that.“

It wasn’t any better earlier when complaints from teachers regarding the behavior and classroom work ethic of some of his players got back to McDaniel. You didn’t need a pair of binoculars to see that that would not turn out well for the players. The last thing McDaniel, a guy who wore the green and white with pride under legendary coach Bo Bowers, wanted to deal with was cocky players not taking class seriously.

So the skipper called his team out. Let them know that it’s an honor to wear the Green Hornet uniform. To summarize, he tore into his team and didn’t let any objections from the players get in the way.

“I’m tired of your teachers coming to me and telling me you’re not doing your work and how you’re late getting to class,“ he lectured to his team before a practice. “I don’t want to hear from your teachers anymore.“

Since that loss to Luray, May has been much kinder to the Hornets and, more importantly, the team’s 6-1 record capped by a 1-0 upset win over No. 2 Buffalo Gap on Monday in the Shenandoah District semifinals shows that the players, finally, are buying into what McDaniel is selling.

He’s not just selling a team, he’s not selling a class. He’s selling a once-mighty program that he helped build as a player and, much like that football team he’s turned around over the course of four years, he’s selling them as a winner.

“Five years from now these guys will be gone, but the program remains,“ he said. “Everything we do is for the program, so it’s important what we do now.“

The best part about all of this is all you heard from the bleachers at Bo Bowers Field were the crickets. No one in the stands called for McDaniel’s head when he called out the boys. The savvy skipper wasn’t asked to go see the athletic director—a coach’s version of being sent to the principal’s office—like the school’s girls basketball coach, Jackie Bryan, was forced to do after she disciplined her team. (A team, by the way, that went to the Group A, Division 2 tournament under her tutelage and, we would like to think, in spite of the parental popcockery that rained down from the stands.) There were no rumblings from parents or nasty e-mails sent out to the local media.

Instead, there were calls from support on this newspaper’s comment board.

“It’s about time someone like Coach McDaniel will be in charge of that baseball program,“ wrote “Exhornet.“ Wilson has a long history of excellence with baseball. I always remember my days with coach Bo Bowers. It was all about fundamentals. He could take a team with average talent and make it a winner. Coach Derek will do the same.“

“100% in agreement,“ wrote “Bosox” after McDaniel’s Respect the Hornet rant. “Hope the little-league politics is gone forever. Performance, respect, attitude, & responsibility. Core baseball! The tradition of baseball @ wilson.“

And McDaniel, after his team ended a fun run by Buffalo Gap, for reasons known only to him and the baseball god he grew up playing for (Bowers), refused to take credit. Opting instead to push the kudos off on starting pitcher Alex Fisher for holding a red-hot Bison offense scoreless and assistant coach Rodney Cullen for calling the pitches.

Cullen, in turn, pushed the credit off to Fisher. Fisher too passed the buck.

“It’s not just me,“ the hurler said. “We all did it.“

Yeah, but McDaniel got it rolling. And there was never any doubt he would.

And another thing: Now imagine for a second if a coach at Waynesboro did what McDaniel did back in April. Go ahead, take a second and think about the maelstrom that would have erupted along the mercury-soaked banks of the South River. Yeah, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

But hey, this is what you get when you hire a coach who knows what it’s like to wear the same jersey the kids are wearing. McDaniel never once closed a practice and told the media they couldn’t talk to the players about their early-season struggles like the Waynesboro volleyball team did under a decree from the King of Giantom himself, athletic director Mel Morris. No way, McDaniel wanted the players to know that they were better than that. He wanted the players to face the music, fess up and tell us what the heck they were thinking.

“I didn’t start because I was tardy for my class again,“ Fisher said back in April when all heck was breaking loose. “It was hard at first to get used to the way coach disciplines us, but I think the discipline has really helped me and the team do better.“

Yeah, ya think?

Alas, we have to ask ourselves how long this will last. McDaniel is one of the last true folks from Fishersville. It’s no longer that quiet hamlet along Va. 250. It’s slowly turning into a bedroom community for those that work in Charlottesville but are sick of paying to live in the Virginia’s version of the Left Coast and they’re bringing that false sense of entitlement witth them over craggy Afton Mountain. So you gotta think it’s only a question of time before “those” kind of parents start invading the Wilson sports programs. You know, kind of like they already did with basketball.

For McDaniel, it’s always been and always will be about hard work and respecting the uniform he excelled in.

“I don’t care if you are a senior,“ he said. “No one is entitled to play unless it’s earned. As a coach, you are fighting against society. Kids think when they see a professional athlete on television that they will have things handed to them. I’m good to these kids, I treat them with respect, but I have expectations too. How they act on the field is how I want them to behave in school and on the streets. It’s a respect factor.“

It’s a philosophy that took a while to grab hold, but now it’s working all the way to the Region B tournament.

And McDaniel isn’t taking any of the credit. But fans of the Green Hornets, true fans, know where the credit goes. Whether McDaniel accepts it or not.

You’re killin’ me Smalls.