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Monday, March 18, 2024
HomeSportsOpen Letter from APSU Football Head Coach Will Healy

Open Letter from APSU Football Head Coach Will Healy

APSU FootballClarksville, TN – I have been hurting the past 36 hours. You probably have been, too. Sunday morning was as difficult of a moment as I could ever imagine. At 8-1 against FCS competition, we felt deserving of a playoff bid.

We looked at what we’d done and felt like we belonged among the best 24 teams in America.  Our name wasn’t called, though. We didn’t get in. It hurt. It still hurts so bad. My heart shattered for 14 seniors who have gone through so much.

APSU Football - Will Healy

But I’ll tell you this: The further I get from Sunday morning, the more I start to step back and realize how truly incredible this season was. And there’s nothing on this earth – no committee, no person, nothing – that can take away those memories and experiences. (We went to freaking Disney World as a team! How awesome is that?)

I know that we didn’t exactly get the ending we wanted, but these players and this senior class accomplished their most important goal: A culture has changed.  Because of their work and sacrifice, Austin Peay football will never, ever be the same. Those players will never be forgotten here.

And this wouldn’t have happened without an unprecedented level of commitment from our administration, including Dr. Alisa White and Ryan Ivey. So many people had a hand in this, and I’m so appreciative of those individual and collective contributions.

Man, though, I just wanted to see those kids keep playing. The teams that love and enjoy playing with one another usually go deep in the tournament. I can assure you that no team that plays this weekend or next weekend has a love for one another like our guys. I really don’t think anyone would have wanted to see us on their bracket line.

I’m sure a lot of you have nitpicked the committee’s choices or dissected the chairman’s explanation why we were left out. I get that. But those people have a very difficult job, and I believe that they ultimately have the sport’s best interest at heart.  We’ll all be tougher, more resilient people for this adversity. I believe that. We’ll also work to figure out how to position ourselves better in the future. Destiny was in our hands even this season. If we’d won our conference championship, we would have earned a bid. So winning the OVC will definitely be one of our goals in 2018.

But at the end of the day, how can we not have joy in our hearts? How can we not be grateful for this year and this time in the life of our university? (Pulling for our volleyball team in the tournament! You make us proud!)

I urged this team in August to “be the first.” All those players did was respond. They accomplished so many firsts.

Stop and think about it: We started the year dying to win one game, and we hugged and cried Sunday morning about not going to the FCS playoffs! And literally at our feet was the Sgt. York Trophy – something that had never before been on this campus until now!

Max Ewoldt, our only fifth-year senior, was 1-47 in his career until the middle of September. Then he got to experience eight victories – as many games as Austin Peay had ever won in a season – in about two months.  Malik Boynton and Tiny Moore were senior leaders on a team that won seven OVC games, more than any other Austin Peay team before it had in one year. 

Like I tell the team all the time, get used to it. Get used to winning. Get used to celebrating. Get used to being in that playoff conversation. Get used to pushing for conference titles. Get used to being in the national polls. Expect it. We do.  Now, understand that we’ve got work to do between now and next August, all of us. Let’s use that motivation from the selection show heartache. Let’s put in the work.

First, though, let’s step back and give thanks. As I spend time this week with family, I’ll be thankful for a special team and a special season.

As amazing as it was, the best is yet to come. #MissionPossible isn’t complete.

 

Your coach,

Will Healy

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