Red Foxes balancing past, future

HARTSVILLE -- There is a rich football tradition at Hartsville High School. The Red Foxes have won three state championships and they’ve played for five others over the years.

Coach Jeff Calabrese might wonder sometimes how many students at the school know about that history, though.

Hartsville has not played for a state championship since 1997, when this year’s seniors were kindergarteners.

Senior tight end Will Lucas said his knowledge of his school’s football tradition stems from stories his dad has told him.

“Hartsville High School is an outstanding place and they have a lot of enthusiasm for their football program,” Calabrese said. “The problem is, that tradition, we’ve had to educate our kids because the last state championship appearance was in 1997. Some of these kids didn’t even know that.”

With the Red Foxes off to a 4-0 start this season, there is plenty of excitement around Hartsville these days, as well as a heavy dose of high expectations.

A win tonight against the defending Class 3A state champion Myrtle Beach and their prolific passing quarterback, Everett Golson, would no doubt spawn even more talk about whether the Red Foxes are back.

Calabrese is grateful for all the support, excitement and great expectations. But his optimism comes attached with a large bag of caution.

“It is such a process,” Calabrese said. “I don’t think we’re at the stage where we can roll out there and win 10 games every year. But I think we can be very competitive. And if we have a couple of good classes back to back, then we’ll have a shot.”

Traditional education

Calabrese could tell his players all about playing and coaching in state championship games. He’s done both.

In fact, he was a player on the 1988 North Augusta team that lost to Hartsville in the 4A Division II state title game.

He was an assistant at Hartsville when the Red Foxes played for the title in 1997 and led West Florence to the 3A championship game in 2003.

But, Calabrese said, there is a time and place to talk to a team about how great it is to be involved in a state championship game. Now is not that time, he said.

Why? Calabrese doesn’t believe his team is ready for that yet. Like he said, it’s a process.

“I’m excited that people are excited,” he said. “But I know our holes. I know every problem we’ve got. We’re not that kind of team today. I told our team the other day, ‘Guys, we haven’t done anything yet.’ We just need to focus on a day-to-day basis.

“Could we be that kind of team? Maybe. Could the kids lose sight and go the other way? Yeah.”

So until then, history lessons will have to serve the purpose of regaining the confidence players in the program seemed to lose in the few years before Calabrese took over in 2005.

T-shirts help.

If the Red Foxes win on Fridays, they get to wear a t-shirt on Monday that reads “409 and counting.” Heading into the season, Hartsville had won 409 games dating back as far as Calabrese could find records, which was 1958, he said.

“Hartsville’s winning percentage since 1958 is like 65 percent,” Calabrese said. “Our kids, up until a couple of years ago, had no clue.”

Most schools keep all their athletic trophies in a case in the gym lobby or maybe in the front lobby of the school. Hartsville’s football trophies are in a case just inside the football locker room.

“We also give them shirts that say, ‘Pride and tradition,’” Calabrese said. “But you can’t just say ’tradition.’ They’ve got to see it.”

Under pressure

It’s understandable that Calabrese might feel like he’s under the gun somewhat in the race to get his team back to contender status on the state level.

Despite the fact that the Red Foxes struggled to be competitive the final few years of Lewis Lineberger’s tenure before Calabrese took over in ’05, the expectations that stem from a winning tradition did not go away.

And Calabrese came to Hartsville just two seasons removed from leading West Florence, a school with little football tradition, to the Class 3A state championship game, a feat most would have considered improbable at best.

But those might be the very reasons that make Calabrese’s job at Hartsville even more difficult.

“In a lot of respects, this has been harder than the West Florence job,” Calabrese said. “There have been high expectations since I walked in the door. It’s just a place where it’s a hard situation, not that I would change it for anything. We are definitely ahead of the game.”

And Calabrese is not likely to have to deal with a particular situation he said happened to him at West Florence.

The year after the state championship appearance, Calabrese experienced something he said he will never forget. It was the first day of practice, he said, and eight offensive linemen came in and told him they had decided not to play football any longer.

Recalling the incident is where Calabrese’s sense of humor comes through.

“That,” he said, “was a great day to be a coach.”

One coach, many faces

That sense of humor, though, is one quality that endears the coach to his players.

On the one hand, Calabrese is funny and laid back, senior corner Ryan Simon said. Lucas said he sees that as well, but has also seen Calabrese’s tough side.

“He’s hard when he needs to be,” Lucas said.

Observers often put coaches into one of two categories: They’re either the old-school guys who yell almost constantly on the practice field, or they’re from a more modern, player-friendly mould.

Calabrese might be a hybrid of sorts.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give the kids tough love and coach them hard and sometimes you’ve got to give them a big hug and tell them you love them,” Calabrese said.

Calabrese said he learned what he knows about how to coach from three good sources: His high school coach at North Augusta, Bill Utsey; his defensive line coach in high school, Joe Long; and Lineberger, who had Calabrese on his staff for seven years at Hartsville.

“You learn something from everybody,” Calabrese said. “Coach Lineberger taught me how to work my ass off and what hard work was, not just talking about it, but doing it. Coach Long taught me that I was important, not just me as a player. He taught me to love the kids. Bill Utsey taught me about thinking big, about expecting the best.”

Don’t think Calabrese’s efforts to embody those traits go unnoticed by his players.

Lucas said players appreciate the fact they know their coach keeps some late nights watching tape and working on game plans.

“He’s a people person,” Simon said. “The only thing that makes him mad is when we don’t do our best. On those days, he’s disappointed in us. And you can tell because he won’t say anything to us. If he sits back in his chair in his office and puts his hat on, cocks it a little bit to the side and doesn’t say anything, you know he’s mad.”

Mad, maybe. Driven might be a better adjective.

Calabrese is not one to just let a potential player go on his way without at least seeing if he’s interested in playing football. The coach has been known to pull a student over the hallway and ask him if might want to try it out.

“You’d be surprised how many players I’ve gotten that way,” Calabrese said.

All in an effort to return the Red Fox program to where many in the community believe is its rightful place: playing for state titles.

Calabrese knows his team has a long way to go. And tonight’s game against the Seahawks will most certainly give the Red Foxes a better idea of exactly where they are.

“But I wouldn’t trade where we are right now,” Calabrese said. “When you start out hot, it validates to the kids that their hard work pays off. It’s hard to sell that when you’re 0-4.”

But Hartsville is 4-0.

And at 413 — and counting.