Preps

TBT coach believes better days will come

By JOHN C. COTEY, High Schools Columnist
Published October 6, 2007

TAMPA - Gazing from the sideline, Tampa Bay Tech watched a team, the mighty Armwood Hawks from Seffner, singular in its mission.

It saw mean, nasty, hard-hitting players eager for contact.

It saw speed, desire, strength.

It saw an offense meant merely to grind you up and a defense that spits you out.

That's what the Titans saw.

Their coach, he saw something else.

He saw the future.

For first-year TBT coach Corries Culpepper, the 26-0 licking the Hawks put on his team wasn't a lesson but more of a lesion. A scab to be picked off Monday at practice. Then it's back to trying to be like the Hawks, which is to say great.

"It's about dedication," Culpepper said. "That's what makes them that way."

Culpepper would know. He played for Sean Callahan as a do-everything athlete and started on the Hawks' last 0-10 team.

He served as an assistant coach during the great rebirth. He thinks he can make TBT in Armwood's image, or something pretty darned close.

The nature of TBT, being a technical school that draws students from as far away as Wesley Chapel and St. Petersburg, will make that difficult.

In the neighborhood where the school sits, it still has to fight for the local kids with King. A long history of coaching turnover has hindered. The stadium, other amenities, aren't up to par.

But they will come, if the Titans keep winning.

Won't they?

"It will take time," Culpepper said. "But everyone here, they already believe."

That's what happens when you inherit a program that had lost 21 straight games and you start 4-0.

An ugly brawl in that fourth victory, though, proved costly. Culpepper lost five players and an assistant coach, then the following week his first game.

"Emotionally, (the brawl and the fallout) it was rough," he said.

Friday was not quite as rough.

The Hawks are, without question, better than the Titans. Give them the added bonus of great field position and top that off by not wrapping up on tackles, and you get predictable results.

Maybe next time?

"The ingredients are here," he said. "We just gotta bake the cake."

There have been lots of cakes baked at TBT, but not too many tasted good.

Joe Severino's cake tasted good back in the 1990s. Then he took his chef's hat over to Gaither.

John Colbert made a tasty cake in 2000 and 2001. But health problems forced him out after two straight playoff appearances, the only ones in school history.

Otherwise, lots of bad cake.

Remember, this is a team that once went 1-59 over six seasons, and that was only 25 years ago. Didn't have cheerleaders, or a band, not too long ago. Has never been able to establish an identity.

Culpepper hopes to forge that, one Friday at a time. His players usually wear khakis and blue shirts to school on game day. For Armwood, he had them all wear dress shirts and ties.

"All business," he said. "A business-type frame of mind."

The Titans took the opening kickoff and drove nearly 60 yards. Maurice Hagens couldn't be stopped. TBT had a first down at the Hawks 26. The sideline was buzzing.

Once the drive stalled, so did the enthusiasm.

From that point, the Titans saw Armwood dominate, stuffing Hagens and harassing quarterback Mario Tucker and running star back Eric Smith through the defense at will.

Culpepper, he saw what his program could be.

[Last modified October 6, 2007, 02:06:48]