Colorado schoolboy football almost said goodbye last week to George Rykovich, the longtime Class 2A Manitou Springs football coach.
However, it was all a misunderstanding and the 68-year-old with 214 career victories and two state championships (1987 and 1990) is back after 35 years on the job.
The school had announced that Rykovich was no longer its football coach. Rykovich said as opposed to resigning or being fired, that he and the school, from which he retired from teaching a year ago, had gone their separate ways.
But there was an uproar over losing the Mustangs’ beloved coach, including by players.
“The positive in all of this,” Rykovich said, “is that our kids came through like champs.”
Rykovich, a native of Gary, Ind., who said he didn’t know if the 2006 season would necessarily be his last, said he’s glad to be back. He said he and the administration are fine, and, most importantly, he’s coaching a group of players who wanted him back.
“It’s all water under the bridge,” he said.
Allen to Huskers
Pierre Allen, a two-way end at Thomas Jefferson, has orally committed to play football at Nebraska.
Allen, The Denver Post’s Mr. 4A Colorado Basketball who also led the Spartans to the state basketball championship, may give the Cornhuskers’ basketball team a try, too.
“I think the reality is, Pierre doesn’t know that when you get to college, it’s sort of a job,” TJ coach Dan Turnbull said. “But they’ve left the door open.”
Allen, 6-feet-6 and 220 pounds, has the frame, Turnbull said, to “get serious about the weight room and he already runs very well. I’d say he’s a work in progress, that’s the best way to describe it.
“And it’s a real good situation for Pierre.”
