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Coaches Night Blossoming

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By EDDIE DANIELS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 7, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Zephyrhills athletic director and softball coach Craig Milburn has watched his glimmer of hope transform from an idea to an event.

Since 2006, he has coordinated the Coaches Appreciation Night at Saddlebrook Golf and Tennis Resort in Wesley Chapel and has seen it grow from 230 guests to this year's roster of nearly 400 coaches and significant others.

Call Milburn a dreamer, but he wants Pasco's shindig to grow into a comparable affair to the one held in Hillsborough County, created and sponsored by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a Tampa resident. The 2008 version of the 19th annual Coaches Banquet in Tampa drew about 1,200 attendees, with 25 receiving gifts, including a 2008 Ford Focus from Bill Currie Ford won by Armwood football coach Sean Callahan.

That's the kind of event Milburn envisions for Pasco County.

"Just from an idea in my head, to grow to where it is in three years, as big as it is, has been exciting," Milburn said. "It makes you feel proud to see what has happened to it in three years. It is quite a bit of work, but getting a few more people on board has helped."

In the three-year history of the Pasco banquet, prizes totaling nearly $20,000 in value have been doled out. Some coaches have scored flat-screen televisions, while others have won weekend trips.

The banquet's donor list has been growing, as well. It now has five $5,000 donors: Tom Dempsey, Paul and Lisa Smith, Dewey Mitchell, John Hudson and The Tampa Tribune.

"I've seen Mr. Steinbrenner do it for the Hillsborough County coaches," Milburn said. "I used to coach down there, but I never did get to go to one of those. He's done it down there, and I just didn't see any reason why we couldn't do it up here."

Milburn has traveled to numerous businesses, bought $250 gift cards and the companies match it. There's also help from the two Major League Baseball team with ties to the area. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Yankees each donate tickets. The Rays give packages to their regular-season games, while the Yankees give tickets to their spring games, which are held in Tampa.

Coaches who led their team or individual athletes to the state playoffs have their names entered into a jackpot, making them eligible to be one of six coaches who receive a $200 coaching bonus.

Making the event more special is the support from the school board, Milburn said. Members of the Pasco County School Board, from the superintendent down, have become regulars at the banquet.

"I really think it's a night that coaches can feel proud for being a coach and a night they can feel appreciated for being a coach," Milburn said. "I think that particular night accomplishes what I really wanted to do."

The first draw is for coaches with 25 years of coaching in Pasco County. This year's winner at the banquet, held May 24, was Zephyrhills girls basketball coach Jerry Stacy, who won a 42-inch flat-screen television. Gulf JV baseball coach Jerry Young won the Saddlebrook package worth $2,000, which included a three-day, two-night stay, golf and dinner at Dempsey's.

The next group of coaches had 20 years of high school coaching experience in the county. Zephyrhills football coach Tom Fisher won a 37-inch flat screen TV.

The pool also included a 10 years-and-up division, and then a pool for every coach in the county.

Eventually, Milburn wants to see names pulled in a drawing for a new vehicle.

As he contemplates his own timetable to leave coaching, the banquet will serve as the perfect way for him to stay involved when his days of tutelage are done.

"The one idea in my head when I started it was, I'm down to my last one, two, three years, whatever I've got left, and I just wanted to kind of stay involved with the coaches, so that was one reason," Milburn said. "The second reason is, it's extremely hard to find anybody who wants to coach, period.

"There's not a lot of money in it, there's some headaches in it, there's some ups and downs, a lot of times there's more downs. At the end of the year, I think this is a great way to end on a positive note."

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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