An e-mail update from home from my Mom (abridged):

"There was a special section of the [local paper] yesterday about the team and one of the articles talks about how the season was stressful and took a lot out of dad. It mentioned at least once that dad 'had tired eyes' the day we got back home. Some of the school's staff asked dad to take off his glasses so they could get a better look at his 'tired eyes.' It says that dad will continue to coach one year at a time and that he will be 60 in November and so far he loves what he does.

"Dad was truly honored to receive the NABC Coach of the Year for Div. II at the banquet in Detroit. We watched the tape delay of the show. He was smiling as he saw himself. I asked him what he thought. He was glad that he didn't stumble over any words but his speech was really short; and he thought that he really has lost a lot of hair and that his mole has gotten bigger!?!?!

"Dad loves his new gold NCAA Championship watch and has shown it off a few times. Charlie & Dad took the big trophy to the Student Union's Cave for lunch the first day back. He is really thrilled with the win and amazed & so happy about going 36-0. He is still tired and lacks energy but when you deal with such stress for an extended period of time-since mid-October- it will take him some time to get his energy back. Oh, I was helping to respond to some emails and to one of his old teammates from his college days he said, 'I finally figured out how to win the last game.'"