After he was forced into retirement in Hillsborough County, Bud Hodgens has returned as a Wesley Chapel assistant.
By GREG AUMAN
Published May 22, 2003
WESLEY CHAPEL - Bud Hodgens tried retirement, but it just didn't take.
After 38 years as a high school coach, it seemed like his time had come in November, when he coached his last game at Robinson. Forced into retirement by the school district's drop program, he recommended a successor and watched him take over the program. Careful not to read over someone's shoulder, he tried to stay out of the weight room, away from his old team, not even thinking about this fall, which would be his first without football since 1964.
"I didn't give it any thought, but then it kind of crept up on me," said Hodgens, still wearing Robinson shorts and a Knights T-shirt before practice Wednesday. "When they came back in January and started working and lifting, the coaches were going about their business, and I was sitting on the outside. I said, "This is not what I want to do. I'm not ready."'
So tonight, Hodgens, 63, will finish his first spring as an assistant at Wesley Chapel, where he'll work this fall as the junior varsity coach. He's learning a new offense from longtime friend John Castelamare, who invited him to join his staff, eager to add four decades of experience to a program that is 18-4 in the past two years.
"I'm like a green kid, learning something new," said Hodgens, who lives in Wesley Chapel, 5 miles from the school. "I told him I have to carry the playbook with me wherever I go."
Wesley Chapel wasn't Hodgens' first option. He applied for the head coaching job at Pasco, which went to 46-year-old Dale Caparaso. He put his name in at Wharton only to see it hire 29-year-old Melvin Cunningham, a former Tampa Bay Storm player.
The interview process was difficult for Hodgens, who came to realize his age and experience no longer were advantages for principals looking for younger coaches. Much has changed since his first job in 1965, when even assistants were hired by the county office.
"Evidently, they wanted to go with a younger guy," Hodgens said of Wharton. "Right now, I'm not sure football carries the same prestige it once did. They're hiring kids nowadays. It tells me maybe you've run your gamut. At one time, head football coach was a prestigious job that they were very picky about hiring. They hired from the county office strictly."
He doesn't fault Robinson or the system that forced him out. He understands, especially during a budget crunch, why a school might take a novice physical education teacher instead of one at the other end of the pay scale.
"They're not overly anxious to bring someone back in at the top of the scale the way things are squeezed right now," he said. "Obviously, I would have jumped back in and stayed and let them place me somewhere. I would have worked in the school system and coached here anyway."
Castelamare and Hodgens met 20 years ago while working together at former Bucs linebacker Scot Brantley's summer camps and cultivated a friendship through years of coaching clinics and games. Despite 69 years of bay area high school experience between them, Hodgens said he can't recall them ever going head to head.
Castelamare, 54, smiles at the mention of Hodgens' name, saying he and assistant George Wortley, 55, now have someone else from their generation, someone who can appreciate the old dog-eared football cards hanging in Castelamare's office. He has nicknamed one of his JV players "Y.A." and is glad his new assistant understands the reference.
"George and I are the old-timers around here, and all these young coaches, we can't bring up Bob Lilly or Y.A. Tittle," Castelamare said. "They don't know what we're talking about unless it's Deion Sanders or one of these guys. With Bud, we can talk about the old days, the Butkuses."
Hodgens plans to work as a substitute at Wesley Chapel and neighboring Weightman Middle so he has more time around his players. He has a new enthusiasm for coaching. After remarrying 12 years ago, he has two young sons and got his first taste of youth baseball while coaching them this spring.
After this fall, Hodgens will try to land a varsity head coaching job. And now that he's coaching again, he isn't sure when he'll stop this time.
"When I get tired of it, when I start getting in the way, then I'll just get out of the way," Hodgens said. "When it's something you hate to show up for, then it's time. I still enjoy yelling at kids when I see something I don't like. My wife says, "Why don't you just stop and do the things you want to do?' I told her this is what I do."
