Nick Johnson just completed his first season as Earlham College’s head football coach. He was recently named the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
Writing about your friends is never easy.
Not something that is high on my list of priorities, until now.
For two of my friends and former colleagues at Earlham College, life continues to be a difficult experience.
Nick Johnson just finished his first season as the head football coach for the Quakers. He was recently named the Coach of the Year in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
“I believe it says volumes about the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and its coaches who voted for this award,” Johnson said in the HCAC press release. “Each week, I have felt such tremendous support from our competitors. I want to thank every coach in the HCAC for being a tough opponent, a great coach, and an even better man. All of the coaches in our league are great examples to their respective programs and a credit to their institutions.”
“I do not accept this award for me, but on behalf of our staff,” Johnson said. “I don’t know where Earlham Football would be without Robert Lee, Chuck Ehret, Dyrell Roberts, Elijah Ferguson, Kevin Carr, Patrick Piper, Jeff Adams, Kyle Fischer, and Rick Davis. These men are the glue that held Earlham Football together, and I am honored to be associated with them. If anyone ‘won’ this award it was our coaching staff as a whole. I was fortunate to see their dedication, work ethic, care, and concern for our young men and the game of football. It is sincere my privilege to work with each of them and to learn from them every day.”
The fact that his team didn’t win a game is only part of the story. His wife, Mel, has spent almost two years in several different hospitals with multiple surgeries.
Mel served three seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at Earlham from 2011-2014. The season before she returned to her alma mater the team did not win a game. In her third year, the team was 12-13. She was making progress with the program and then the medical issues started.
A mentor of mine, who is an incredible writer, composed an awesome story that everyone should read. Check out Mike Lopresti’s article in the Indiana Business Journal here.
Another way to follow the story is on a Web page about Mel here.
This is such a difficult time for my friends and hopefully with a lot of support they will reach a successful end to this journey.