The saying goes you can't tell the players without a scorecard.
Starting next season, it sure looks it's going to be that way with coaches as well.
I've been at this job for a lot of years and I don't remember anything like the slew of coaching changes we've seen in just the past few months.
Here's a list of the coaches who got to steppin' in the past few months:
• Helias football head coach Phil Pitts stepped down in January to take a position at the University of Missouri. Tim Rulo, coming off leading South Callaway to a Class 2 championship game appearance, is the new head coach for the Crusaders.
• Jefferson City softball head coach Lisa Dey also stepped down early this year after 21 seasons at the helm. Assistant coach Zach Miller was named as Dey's replacement.
• Helias boys soccer coach Chuck Register stepped away after the season. Register, the only head coach in the history of the Crusader program, was replaced by Helias girls assistant Michael Metzger, it was announced last month.
• Blair Oaks head football coach Brad Drehle stepped down to take the head coaching position at Waynesville. Terry Walker was named as Drehle's replacement. Walker had been an assistant coach for the Jefferson City Jays the past two seasons.
• Ted LePage's Jefferson City football staff lost another coach last week when assistant Barry Blank was named the head coach at Boonville.
• The hits kept coming for Helias as wrestling coach Jacob Wadley decided to step down after his second season with the program. His replacement has yet to be decided.
• The Jefferson City girls basketball head coaching position is open as well. That seat on the Lady Jays bench has been more like a revolving door, as whoever takes that job will the program's fourth head coach in three seasons.
• And there's at least one other position in town that's open. Or it isn't. Believe me when I tell you I am just as confused writing that as you are reading it. I'm still waiting to hear about a final, final decision on this one.
There's not one reason that can possibly explain why all of the positions have come open seemingly at the same time. Some coaches left for better jobs up the career ladder, some left for family reasons. Some just aren't coming back.
Which can make you wonder, how do some coaches stick it out? We may be in the last days when coaches like Pete Adkins, Ray Hentges, Mike Jeffries, Steve Johnson and David Fox were mainstays. If you were playing football or basketball or were going to wrestle, you knew your head coach was going to be and what was expected of you.
There are a few "old-timers" - and I mean that in the nicest way possible, since my employment predates all of theirs - still around. Eddie Horn (soccer) and Randy Bickel (golf) at Jefferson City, Mary Haskamp (cross country) and Chris Wyrick (baseball) at Helias, and Sharon Buschjost (softball) and Marc Keys (track and cross country) at Blair Oaks have stood the test of time and seasons to excel at their positions.
Reading through the list of departures one more time, there is one common thread. I do the primary coverage for at least five of these sports.
They aren't trying to get away from me, are they?
III
I want to pass along a few words about another coach who is heading down the road.
Fatima girls head basketball coach Dustin Hays is leaving to become the head coach at Rockwood Summit High School in the St. Louis area. In the past five years, Hays has turned the Fatima girls program into not only one of the best in central Missouri, it was one of the most entertaining to watch as well.
Fatima's loss is Rockwood Summit's gain, as he's as good a person as he is a coach. Dustin, congratulations on the new gig, you will be missed.