This past week, I was reminded of a commercial that aired on television during National Football League games some years back.

The commercial, for one of those collect phone numbers that were so en vogue in those days, featured legendary NFL kicker Morten Andersen.

In it, Morten lamented his life as a kicker, saying that one day he was the hero, and the next day he wasn’t.

It appears that Morten didn’t truly know of what he spoke.

Because the truth is, kickers aren’t the only people in football whose jobs are balanced on the razor’s edge between glory and humiliation.

The profession of head coach is also one that leaves you largely at the mercy of those in charge. And sometimes, that can be quite unfortunate.

As you probably know by now, UTM head football coach Sam McCorkle was let go last Thursday.

Over about two and a half seasons, McCorkle compiled a record of 5-25, including 0-16 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Athletic director Phil Dane also cited “philosophical differences” between the two as another one of the central reasons for his decision.

Now I’m not writing this to comment on the latter part of that.

Since I didn’t hear what happened in private, that’s not for me to say.

However, the part about a 5-25 record being insufficient in the third year of a rebuilding project bothers me.

Yes, I said it bothers me. I know, as well as anyone who knows me does, that I often stress about winning more than anything else when it comes to sports.

But there comes a time in life when you realize that in some situations, you have to be objective and read between the lines when evaluating someone’s success (or interpreted lack of it).

We all know about the football team’s recent struggles. But what a lot of people fail to realize is that before McCorkle’s arrival, it was even more inept.

Jim Marshall left his successor nothing to build on when he left following the 1999 campaign. Therefore, McCorkle and his staff effectively had to build a team from scratch.

That is quite difficult to do in four years on the job at a Division I-A program, much less three at a D I-AA school, where the feat is much harder.

And why is this? It’s all because of a simple fact, really – exposure. The truth is, most of the best high-school recruits will go to the larger (I-A) schools, if for no other reason than to play on national TV for a chance in the NFL.

This doesn’t mean we have no quality players to recruit, because plenty of NFL stars have attended small schools.

But that too can be difficult when you offer fewer scholarships and inferior facilities in comparison to competing schools.

Under McCorkle’s tenure as coach, full scholarships awarded annually increased from 45 to 52. The long-awaited Bob Carroll Football Complex opened three weeks ago, and represents a major step forward for the program, remedying these problem areas to a degree.

I say to a degree because to some, this means that wins must come immediately for these actions to be a success.

I must stress to these people that the mere presence of these things will not translate into wins overnight.

Even after three years, this is still a relatively young team that will need time to learn and take advantage of what has been given to them.

But I have seen how the team has improved. They play with heart, they play hard every down and earlier this season, played Southeast Missouri (a team that beat Middle Tennessee, for crying out loud) pretty close for most of the game. The same can’t be said for the time before McCorkle arrived.

I still have unwavering faith that we can win games with regularity one day. Sam McCorkle was unable to finish the job, but he really did some great things for this program. A lot of area sports personalities agree with me on this point.

But whomever Phil Dane chooses to appoint as his replacement will need to be ensured more than three years to accomplish this.

Because even though much work has been done, success will only come if we have the patience to allow it to happen.

Justin Bowden is a junior Communications major from Jackson.