It’s cold and it’s hoops season so how about some football ...
No sooner was Catawba College’s 11-1 football season complete than all of the Indian fans had head coach David Bennett leaving Salisbury to become a coordinator at a Division I school or a head coach at a smaller Division I school.
“He’s too good for Catawba,” the fans cried. “He’ll be scooped up quickly.”
Attention, football fans: Ain’t gonna happen.
Bennett is loyal to Catawba College. He loves Catawba College. He is going to continue coaching football at Catawba College.
Got that?
“We’re not going anywhere,” Bennett said Saturday afternoon while entertaining some recruits during Catawba’s basketball doubleheader.
There’s still a couple of weeks before the official signing date but the coaching staff is excited because some pretty talented high school players are looking hard at this program.
And it will help those recruits to know that the head coach is being highly-recruited by the powers to be at the school to stay.
In fact, athletic department sources said a contract extension is in the immediate future. It’s up to president Fred Corriher now.
So here’s some advice, Fred: lock Bennett up for a long time — and then, throw away the key.
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TURNING DOWN WINGATE: Someone who didn’t have to stay is feeling the same loyalty to Catawba as Bennett.
Linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator Curtis Walker was offered the job as defensive coordinator at South Atlantic Conference foe Wingate for new coach Joe Reich.
It would’ve been more money. And more prestige. So why didn’t Walker take it?
“It was David Bennett and the Catawba family,” Walker said. “It was a great opportunity but I felt at home here.”
Walker, a 4-year starter and All-American at Catawba during his playing days (1989-92), just finished his sixth year with Bennett.
“When we became a staff, Curtis was the first person I hired,” Bennett said.
Bennett remembers an assistant telling him once that Walker “could spit things out before I say them. He’s a coach on the field.” So he quickly offered him a job while Walker was coaching at Salisbury High.
“I’m as close to Curtis as my own two brothers,” said Bennett. “It says a lot about him that Wingate wanted to hire him. He’s a special person.”
Walker talked with every member of the Catawba staff.
“Everybody made me feel wanted, moreso than Wingate,” he said. “It was a promotion, career-wise. It would’ve been a huge challenge for me to go there and help turn them around.
“But it’s always great to be in a winning program. I didn’t think it was the right time to go down there.”
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CACTUS BOWL: Catawba’s 6-4, 260-pound defensive end Radell Lockhart was one of the Division IIall-stars selected to play in the Cactus Bowl recently. He played well, that is, until he drank the water at halftime. The game was played in Kingsville, Texas, close to the Mexican border.
Uh-oh.
“I got sick and didn’t play anymore,” Lockhart said.
But before drinking, he was a force in the game.
“We used rock-paper-scissors to see who would start,” Lockhart said, “and I lost. But we rotated every three plays. I knocked down two passes, made two tackles and had two pressures.”
Lockhart was thrown in at noseguard.
“I was in good shape,” he said, “but my weight against those big boys — that was a bad combination.”
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GETTING READY: The NFL scouts were out in record numbers for the Cactus Bowl.
“Scouts would call guys’ names out and give them tests with common sense questions on them,” Lockhart said. “The Giants called my name. Their test had 434 questions on it. It took me two days to finish it.”
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REPRESENTATION: Lockhart and All-American defensive end DeVonte Peterson are close to signing with the same agent, according to Bennett.
“We haven’t signed yet,” Lockhart said, “but they think we have a good chance to be drafted. I don’t really think about it. I just go day by day.”
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COMEBACK: Peterson, a 6-4, 280-pounder, is thinking about his professional options more than Lockhart. He is battling his way back from a broken leg, suffered in the last regular season game at Lenoir-Rhyne.
“I’m about 75 percent right now,” he said last week.
Peterson is currently going through some extensive rehabilitation with trainer Bob Casmus but he wasn’t able to join Lockhart in the Cactus Bowl.
“Coach Bennett told me it wasn’t in my best interests to go if I wasn’t 100 percent,” Peterson said. “That would be working against me.
“I’m not 100 percent in running yet. I’ve been working out, lifting, riding the bike and using the rowing machine. I’ve jogged but I haven’t run a full-out sprint.”
But the potential is there and that’s why pro teams are staying in contact.
“I was talking to one guy who said we’d get drafted between the second and eighth rounds,” Peterson said, wearing his Dallas Cowboys cap.
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WHAT ABOUT MITCH? Another Indian recovering from an injury is quarterback Mitch Ellis, who finished his career leading Catawba to its last two victories on a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
As of this week, he had yet to have surgery.
Bennett said pro scouts looked at the rocket-armed quarterback.
“They said he wasn’t big enough and he wasn’t fast enough,” he said. “But like we’ve said before, Mitch has got the heart.
“I think Mitch would be a great coach.”
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NOTES: Replacing Ellis is a big concern for next season. The leaders to take over are both redshirt freshmen: Antwain Hillary of South Carolina and big Luke Samples of East Wilkes. ... North Rowan offensive lineman Jarrett Wishon is still very high on Catawba’s recruiting list. ... Wingate coach Reich is the younger brother of former NFLquarterback Frank Reich. ... There’s a reason Walker talks about the Catawba family. He and Chip Hester have been with Bennett since he was named head coach. Defensive coordinator richard Kent has been at Catawba 10 years. Offensive coordinator Jamie Snider has been here for a whopping 13. ... In 6 years, Bennett is 52-16. ... Bennett has kept busy, not only with recruiting but with speaking engagements. In fact, he will be the speaker tonight at the Salisbury Merchants Association banquet.
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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports editor of the Post.
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