Cobbers Dragons 2007 PowerBowl 9/1 – Tomeo interview 9/3

DRAGON ATHLETICS ADDRESSES POWER BOWL POST GAME EVENTS

Last Saturday’s Power Bowl IX meeting between Minnesota State University Moorhead and Concordia College is a staple of the community’s athletic schedule that held all the suspense and passion a traditional rivalry should have. Regrettably, the Dragons’ last-minute defeat resulted in a loss of composure that marred post-game activities.

MSU Moorhead head football coach Damon Tomeo has issued the following statement:

“Our original plan was to walk to the game as a team and to return to Alex Nemzek Hall as a team. Unfortunately, I allowed that plan to fall apart in the heat of the moment.

I didn’t want the players to have to defend the play calling decisions that I made. To make matters worse, in my attempt to protect my players, I made statements that I regret.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I realize I should have taken the time to regain my composure and handle the situation in a professional manner. I regret that my actions brought criticism to our football program, athletic department, and university.”

MSUM Athletic Director Doug Peters made the following statement regarding the events that unfolded on Saturday afternoon:

“I believe that our athletic department is the largest classroom on the college campus. In a very public setting our student-athletes, coaches, student body, faculty, staff and administration have the opportunity to learn how to handle failure and success.

Mistakes were made on Saturday afternoon. In the end, we take responsibility for our actions and will use the experience to grow and learn. After a variety of conversations, I am confident that our football program and athletic department will use this as a learning experience.

We congratulate the Cobbers for their hard-fought victory.”

(Rolling story) – Tomeo’s refusal to talk to media shows immaturity
By Mike McFeely

Can Tomeo change?
Mike McFeely, The Forum
Published Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Greg Peterson, like all hard-core Minnesota State Moorhead boosters, loves Damon Tomeo’s swagger. For the long down-trodden Dragon football program, the elephant-sized chip on Tomeo’s shoulder represents hope. Maybe, the thinking goes, Tomeo and that massive attitude will keep bullies from kicking sand in the face of the perennial 98-pound weaklings.

But even Peterson, president of MSUM’s athletic fundraising club Dragon Fire, was “appalled” at the coach’s actions following a 34-32 loss Saturday to Concordia.

“I don’t want him to lose that edge. I think people around him can gain from that edge,” Peterson said. “But sometimes that edge gets taken too far and this time it went too far. Hopefully, he’ll learn from this.”

That is the next big question now that Tomeo said he regrets acting like an idiot after the Cobber game: Is he mature enough to learn from his mistakes and change his ways?

He has a long way to go if Saturday afternoon’s performance is any indication. After MSUM’s play-calling handed the Cobbers a gift-wrapped upset victory, Tomeo stomped around Jake Christiansen Stadium screaming at his players to get off the field. When two reporters approached Dragon quarterback Dustin Long, Tomeo intervened and shoved Long away. He told Long, “Don’t talk to these guys. They’re just going to write something negative.”

It was pathetic.

Tomeo and his boss, MSUM athletic director Doug Peters, issued a necessary apology Monday, and so we move on.

But will Tomeo learn?

“If he can’t, he doesn’t deserve to be in coaching,” Peterson said. “Personally, I think he’s a good coach and I like Damon. Is he a head coach? We’ll find out soon enough.”

There are questions.

Tomeo’s personality and coaching style are from the you’re-either-with-us-or-against-us book. He uses slights, both real and imagined, to motivate his team. We fellows from The Forum are just going to write something negative? That conveniently ignores that the two newspaper stiffs picked the Dragons to win big in Saturday’s sports section.

That type of selective world-is-against-us nitpicking just doesn’t bode well for Tomeo. He’s looking for things over which he can be insulted. And his personality, like everybody’s, is what it is. You can’t change who you are — and Tomeo is an extremely, extremely self-assured guy who coaches with a chip on his shoulder.

A Dragon can’t change his stripes, so to speak.

“I think Damon will learn from this,” Peters said. “He recognized he made a mistake and wanted to move forward. That’s 90 percent of the battle, admitting your mistake.”

We shall see. Meantime, Tomeo could use some self-recognition when it comes to play-calling. On a WDAY-TV report Monday, the coach defended MSUM’s fourth-quarter mistakes that led directly to Concordia’s winning drive.

Maybe once he gets his composure under control, Tomeo can work on the playbook.