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Adversity, Distractions For Fenton

Jefferson: All Access

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By KATHERINE SMITH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 7, 2007

TAMPA - No amount of fencing was going to keep Mike Fenton and his friends on the outside looking in.

The hallowed grounds of their favorite NFL team awaited. Tampa Stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for a brief moment, belonged to the neighborhood kids.

"We used to jump the fence at the Big Sombrero to play sandlot football on Sundays," Fenton said. "We used to say there wasn't a stadium in America that could keep us out."

Things were definitely simpler then.

There weren't video games or hundreds of television channels. There was outside. And there was football.

It was that love of the game that led Fenton to coaching.

"You deal with all kinds of things as a coach," Fenton said. "You've got to be a football coach, you've got to be a daddy sometimes, a mama sometimes, a psychologist, a counselor, a taxi cab. There are a lot of things involved in it."

This season has tested the Jefferson High coach like no other. It began in the spring with the murder of star linebacker C.J. Mills. Since then, things haven't gotten much better for the Jefferson Dragons.

The team's five losses so far this season equal the losses the past two seasons combined. Players have struggled with execution and consistency. And that's just their on-field problems.

A variety of distractions and adversity has been thrown their way, a lot of it at the coach.

The man the players call "Coachie" has a lot on his plate. Recently it's been a series of health problems, problems he doesn't share with his team.

"We all have problems and we know he's been going through some things," senior Darrell Young said, "but we know he can go through whatever he's going through and we can help him."

Just as his players use the football field as an escape, so does Fenton. On the football field, he doesn't think about his health problems, or the negative things others may be saying about him.

"I find the things I may worry about or stress out during the course of the day, that once I'm on the field it goes away," Fenton. "My two refuges are the football field and the golf course."

One of those was taken away last week. Fenton wasn't on the sideline Friday night when his team lost the Class 4A-District 10 title to Plant.

Instead, he found himself basically wandering around aimlessly, serving a one-game suspension for his ejection for cursing in the Oct. 26 game against Alonso.

"It was difficult," he said. "It was very, very difficult. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was just kind of hanging out."

Out of frustration in trying to fight his suspension, Fenton contemplated resigning. Actually, it's a thought that crossed his mind when his health problems first began. But coaching is all Fenton knows.

When it came time to choose between the family seafood business and coaching, the latter won out easily.

Fenton got sucked into coaching in 1976. Helping out at Robinson High junior varsity practices and scouting opponents games eventually turned into a full-time gig.

"The bug just bit me," he said.

Adversity used to be dealing with a player not having enough money to go to college. This happened while Fenton was an assistant at Robinson. An article in the newspaper about one of his player's situations prompted a phone call from George Steinbrenner offering funds for college.

"It was stuff like that," Fenton said. "We never had to deal with murder and the drugs weren't as bad. Kids showed up and wanted to play. They kind of had a little different attitude.

"The situation we've been in this year, nothing tops that."

At times, it has become almost too much for Fenton, so much he thought of walking away. Then he thought again.

"At this point, no, I don't have any aspirations of resigning," he said. "I'd like to finish out my career until I'm ready to retire. I am facing a few little health issues. I don't think it's anything serious, but I'm in the middle of it now. But we're in the playoffs and we're going to do the best we can and see what happens."

Fenton gathered his team after Monday's practice, his first since his suspension. He reminded them of Friday's Senior Night festivities, the final regular-season home game for the seniors. Then he noted that their season begins anew with the playoffs.

"Yesterday is yesterday," Fenton said. "The great thing about tomorrow is you get a chance to prove yourself and prove you can be the best. I told them that 99 percent of the time, if you really, really believe in yourself, you'd be surprised the things that can happen."

COMING NEXT WEEK: The regular season is over and the playoffs have begun. We'll wrap up this series with a look back at what went right and what went wrong for the Jefferson Dragons and the lessons that were learned along the way.

Reporter Katherine Smith can be reached at (813) 259-7860 or ksmith@tampatrib.com.

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