The Daily Times

“What really happened with Ierulli?”

Over the last two months since the Maryville College football coach was dismissed I’m pretty certain the only other question — or a variation there of — I’ve been asked more often is, “are we going to read the next chapter of Percy Jackson tonight?”

To the latter; we continue to progress through Rick Rordan’s epics, and as to the former; the truth is I don’t honestly know.

There are two people for certain, perhaps as many as 10, who know 100 percent for certain and I doubt any of them are going to be discussing the subject within earshot of any media any time soon.

But then, I’ve been wrong before.

When The Daily Times asked Ierulli who he would pick as his replacement if given the chance, the coach replied dead pan,“Tony Ierulli."

At first that seemed a deflection, then a departure from reality, then the words of a man who feels a betrayal akin to the bride left at the altar without explanation. But now as the coaching search comes down to the nitty gritty and the four finalists have been interviewed, what does Maryville College really want in the next football coach?

• Someone who puts on the field and off the field in equal weight.

Check — that’s Ierulli and if he considered wavering, fear of his teacher wife would have halted any potential indiscretion.

• Someone who pushes his players to be their best.

Check — Sure he’s old school like a drill instructor and barks a lot, but too many players credit him with chewing them into better men to toss that out. It takes a special knack and genius to charm boys that age into pushing themselves and so far no one has cloned George Quarles.

• Someone who's a winner.

Check — Don’t let the record fool you, the number of wins Ierulli and company took far outnumber any left on the field. MC has the highest tuition and academic admission standards in the conference. Fans always want to see more wins and they without a doubt don’t want to see more losses. More graduates have complained to me over the years about the facilities than about the coaching staff.

Well save one, and that one is worth noting.

A few years ago a highly-awarded Scots player and then new MC alum ran into me — almost literally — in a crowded Murfreesboro restaurant during football’s state championship weekend.

“Coach I, he’s a good linebacker coach; he’s a good defensive coordinator; he’s a good head coach. He just not as good doing all of them at once as he could be doing any one of them,” he told me then.

• Someone who loves Maryville College.

Check — he might have left if offered D-I money but he wasn’t going to leave his alma mater to chase a minor rung up or across the ladder. If not for his Italian heritage and ugly linebacker knees, the man would have probably walked around kilted and blue-faced for game days.

Once in a rather somber moment T.I. said that if he could, he’d be buried on campus.

It doesn’t get much more Orange & Garnet than that.

Nine years ago MC needed a coach who wasn’t afraid to be harsh and serve as a tough love disciplinarian to begin resurrecting a program that had lost 25 of its last 30 games.

And if Ierulli’s makeup is now the right answer to the wrong question, the search committee still has its work cut out for it. Trying to find the right fit to its criteria with a ticking clock on the team’s retention rate and recruiting window is a tough assignment. Finding a coach that can heal some of the wounds — for some matters, not even time may be enough — and reforge the pieces of what two months ago appeared to be a promising program in his own image is a quest more fit to a fictional hero.

If starting a new chapter in Maryville College football stays this perilous, Percy Jackson has it easy.

Marcus Fitzsimmons is a multiplatform editor at The Daily Times who enjoys reading the online comments posted to this column on http://thedailytimes.com

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