Longtime Southridge softball coach Gloria Satterfield passes away

   Miami-Dade County lost one of its softball coaching
pioneers Sunday when former Southridge coach Gloria
Satterfield died of lung cancer at the age of 69.

   Satterfield was the Spartans' first-ever softball coach,
hired in 1976, and led them to a record of 288-97 during her
17 seasons. She led Southridge to the state's slow-pitch state
championships five times in six seasons from 1983-1988.

   After the transition to fast-pitch softball under the
Florida High School Athletic Association in 1988, Satterfield
guided the Spartans to the playoffs twice, including a berth
in the 1992 Class 4A state championship game.

   Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Satterfield graduated from Daniel
Webster High School and later from the Oklahoma College for
Women. In 1961, she moved to Miami and spent 15 years teaching
and coaching at Riviera Junior High before working at
Southridge.

   Satterfield was named The Miami News Softball Coach of the
Year in 1983 and 1987. She moved back to Oklahoma two years
ago. Last spring, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. After a
brief illness, she passed away early Sunday morning surrounded
by family members at her home in Jenks, Oklahoma.

Our sincerest condolences go out to Satterfield's family.

Several Dade and Broward athletes and coaches honored

Hey fans,

Over the past 10 days, a bunch of Dade and Broward's top performers from a memorable season were honored by the Florida Dairy Farmers Association.

Over the years, the group has not given many awards to this talent-rich area, but this season has been different.

Pat Dorsey and I compiled a list. Enjoy.

   • Palmetto's Kelly Saco, who led her team to a state
championship, collected another prestigious honor recently
when she was named the Association's Softball Player of the
Year.

   Saco is the first Dade recipient of this award since its
inception in 1993. She finished with a 16-2 record, 168
strikeouts, six shutouts and a 0.40 ERA. Saco, The Miami
Herald's Class 6A Pitcher of the Year, will play this fall at
Syracuse this fall.

   • Southridge runners Brandon O'Connor and Ebony Eutsey were
named the Track and Field Athletes of the Year.

   O'Connor was a state champion in the 200 and 400-meter
races, finishing with some of the fastest times in the country
this season. He ran a 20.82 in the 200 and a 47.12 in the 400.

   His coach, Rodney Wright, was named the Overall Boys' Coach
of the Year. Wright led the Spartans to their first state
championship and his teams have not lost a dual meet in five
seasons.

   Eutsey, who was recently named the Gatorade State Athlete
of the Year, ran a 23.79 in the 200 meters and a 53.85 in the
400 at state to win state titles in both. She recently ran the
fastest time in the nation (53.23) at an invitational meet
this summer.

   Her coach, Sam Burley, who is retiring this season and is a
member of the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of
Fame, was named Overall Girls' Coach of the Year. Burley led
the Spartans to their first state title in five seasons.

   • Thanks to Cypress Bay star Brennan Boyajian, boys' coach
Vince Grossi and St. Thomas Aquinas girls coach Carol
Deopsomer, Broward County accounted for three of the four high
school tennis award winners announced Thursday.

   Boyajian, bound for the University of North Carolina this
fall, won the Boys' Player of the Year award after going
undefeated and winning the 4A overall singles title. Grossi,
who led Boyajian and the Lightning to the 4A boys' team title,
took Boys' Coach of the Year honors.

   Deopsomer, who led the Raiders to their second consecutive
3A girls' title, won Girls' Coach of the Year. Only Girls'
Player of the Year Jacqueline Kasler of Gulf Breeze -- the 2A
state champion who edged finalists Amelia Martinez (Cypress
Bay; 4A overall singles winner) and Courtney Clayton (St.
Thomas Aquinas; 3A overall singles champion) -- kept Broward
from sweeping the awards.

   • Southwest senior outside hitter Jonathan Roldan was named
the Boys' Volleyball State Player of the Year after posting
459 kills, 107 aces, 157 digs and 63 blocks. Also The Miami
Herald's Player of the Year for Dade, guiding the Eagles to a
state championship.

   His coach Mauricio Diaz was named the Coach of the Year
after winning his second state title in six seasons after
leading Southwest to a 27-2 record. He has a career record of
230-31 and has led the Eagles to the state tournament four
times.

For a full list of winners chosen for the 2007-08 School Year, go to www.floridamilk.com/sports

Ely football taking resumes

Blanche Ely athletic director Connie McGirt sent out a release today, announcing the school is taking applications for its football coaching position, which opened when James Jones resigned last month after one year at the helm.

Resumes can be sent to McGirt at 1201 NW 6th Avenue in Pompano Beach (33060) or at connie.mcgirt@browardschools.com, and will be accepted through June 18.

Whoever lands the position will take over a team that went 6-5 last year (losing to eventual 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas by just one point in the regional quarterfinals), but won't have LSU-bound defensive back Patrick Johnson. Still, senior-to-be Michael Carter -- Broward's No. 4 recruit, according to Larry Blustein's rankings -- returns to the defensive backfield.

--Patrick Dorsey (e-mail)

Ladies first (in injuries)

On Tuesday, author Michael Sokolove answered questions about his new book, Warrior Girls, on WashingtonPost.com. The book examines the high rate of injury to female high school athletes as compared to males.  During this summer's intense off-season softball and basketball training regimens, it would be wise for coaches and parents alike to at least give Sokolove's Warrior Girls a cursory glance.

The first question of the discussion is asked by "Fairfax, VA.", a girl who has had three ACL surgeries and a meniscus repair. Sokolove stresses how important it is for female athletes to protect their knees, saying "[W]e have to make changes in the youth sports culture and tackle issues of over-play and early specialization, becasue at the moment we're manufacturing injuries."

St. Thomas' Smith gets honor

Longtime St. Thomas Aquinas football coach (and athletic director) George Smith, who led the Raiders to the 5A football title after three consecutive years of championship-game hearbreak, will be honored by the American Football Coaches Association.

From the FHSAA:

GAINESVILLE – George Smith, the football coach and athletic director at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, will be honored by the American Football Coaches Association as the 2008 Power of Influence Award recipient during the association's Coach of the Year dinner at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. on Jan. 13, 2009.

The Power of Influence Award was created by the AFCA to honor a deserving high school football coach for his effect on his players, school and community, including community service, mentoring and role modeling. It is the first AFCA award specifically designed to honor a high school coach.

"The FHSAA would like to add its gratitude and thanks to George for all that he has done for the student-athletes in our state," said FHSAA Executive Director John A. Stewart. "No one we know is more deserving of this honor."

--Patrick Dorsey (e-mail)

Win at all costs?

Two interesting conversations came about while writing stories about Nova baseball and Cooper City boys' volleyball -- both playing today with their seasons (possibly) on the line.

Sure, the teams led by Nova coach Pat McQuaid and Cooper City coach Warren Denise have plenty at stake (with both McQuaid's Titans and Denise's Cowboys fighting for a spot in their respective final fours) but during phone interviews this week, both coaches offered plenty of refreshing -- and pretty much unsolicited -- perspective on the importance of this weekend.

McQuaid (whose Titans won back-to-back state titles in 2004 and 2005):

"People don't realize how hard it is to get to this level, even the regional final game, because there's good baseball teams in South Florida ... and to get to the final four, that's phenomenal.

"You've got to be a little bit lucky, a little bit good, and things have to fall your way."

And Denise, whose team is at state for the first time in the sport's six-year FHSAA history:

"Only one of the eight teams is going to be the state champion. ... I think, in our culture today, that if, 'You didn't win it all, then you didn't do anything,' and, 'Second place is first loser' and all that stuff, I don't think that stuff is all positive.

"If it was only about winning a trophy or something, then none of it would be worth it. ... It's about teamwork and friendships and how you play the game. I know all that is cliche and sounds old, but there's a reason why it's a cliche: Because it's true."

--Patrick Dorsey (e-mail)

1,000 wins for Hofman?

Piper baseball coach Rich Hofman, inducted Sunday into the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame, has plenty of numbers:

• Ten state championships (eight at Miami's Westminster Christian, two at Fort Lauderdale's Westminster Academy)
• Two national titles (at Westminster Christian)
• Ten state coach of the year awards
• Seven national coach of the year awards
• More than 200 former players who went on to play college baseball
• Forty professional baseball draftees
• Even one honor as Baseball America's High School Coach of the Decade (in the 1990s)

But Hofman, who entered Monday with 963 career wins, said he has an "arbitrary goal" of 1,000. Whether he gets there, though, is to be determined -- and not because he's on Piper's hot seat.

The 63-year-old native of Racine, Wis., came to South Florida in 1967 and has been coaching since, leading players such as Doug Mientkiewicz and some guy named Alex Rodriguez to big, big things. But, Hofman told The Miami Herald on Monday, the game might be passing him by. He loved being honored for his past, but wasn't as optimistic about his future.

How much longer does he plan on coaching? "Not too much," he said.

"The game is changing," he said. "The whole dynamics of coaching [are] changing."

What's changing: the rise of travel baseball and showcases, which Hofman said have "increased the ability level of a small group of players," but mostly are eroding the fundamentals of young players. Also, they've decreased the importance of the high-school coach.

"The high school coach isn't looked upon as the person that is most needed to be successful," he said, "and I think that has hurt the game quite a bit."

Travel baseball isn't all bad, to Hofman -- "I'm not opposed to kids playing baseball a lot," he said. "I'm just opposed to them not being taught the fundamentals of the game." -- but it's just not a game Hofman plays.

So that's what Hofman said he's trying to figure out. How much does he want to "fight" this trend? Enough to grab about three years' worth of wins, enough to get to that magic number?

Maybe, Hofman said. But if not, he still wanted to make one thing clear:

"I'm a little disappointed in the way high school baseball [is changing] and the direction that it's going, but I am absolutely ecstatic about the opportunity and the privilage that I've had in my career."

--Patrick Dorsey

Traffic school -- for coaches

Anyone who's gotten a speeding/traffic ticket might have been forced to go/sit/suffer through online traffic school -- which sometimes takes a legit six hours.

Well, the FHSAA announced Monday that coaches might soon face something similar. Not for their driving, but for their tempers:

Coaches who are ejected from contests because of unsportsmanlike conduct will be required to complete an online coaches education program before being reinstated to sideline duty, the Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors voted at its April business today. ...

Coaches who are ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct currently must serve a minimum suspension from sideline coaching of seven days and at least two contests (one game in football). The length of the suspension can be increased depending upon the severity of the unsportsmanlike act. During the suspension the coach cannot attend a contest in which his or her team participates, accompany the team to the contest, or have any other contact with the team during the contest. The coach, however, is permitted to conduct practice.

Under the proposal approved by the board, however, the coach also will be required to complete the six-hour "NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching" provided by the National Federation of State High School Associations before the coach can resume sideline coaching duties. If the coach completes the course within the suspension period, the coach will be able to return to the sidelines once the suspension is served. If not, the coach's suspension will continue until the course is completed. The school will be required to pay the fee associated with the online course unless it chooses to pass the cost on to the coach.

FHSAA executive director John A. Stewart's quote, in the statement:

"Today's action sends a strong message to our coaches that the FHSAA Board of Directors holds them to a high standard when it comes to sportsmanship. ... Student-athletes model their behavior after that of their coaches. So, it is imperative that coaches exemplify sportsmanship in the way they conduct themselves during contests."

Pretty much anyone who's ever taken the online traffic test will agree: This certainly is a "strong message." (No word on how it affects insurance rates, though.)

--Patrick Dorsey