Portsmouth Trojans' Coach Eugene Collins

[trojandave]

portsmouth 98: I am pleasantly surprised to see what we have coming back.......it looked so bleak at the end of last season, but what I saw in Athens completely changed my mind about this year's Trojans.

[jgordon0315]

No doubt in my mind Coach Collins has righted the ship. Now to get over this mental hump and finish off strong. Losing breeds a lot of bad habits, he's still working on addressing. Last year with Shoemaker things seemed to be in turmoil during the season and even in the offseason as the Lisath saga began. Kids were pondering whether or not to transfer with no clear direction evident. Mainly because of not knowing who the coach was gonna be. And wondering if it was gonna be the same ole same ole. You can see coach Collins is still putting his stamp on this team but there is no doubt we're heading in the right direction. I think Geno is gonna be here a while.

[trojandave]

I told Eugene during the summer that the toughest challenge he had was to change the losing mindset at Portsmouth.......and he has done a great job of doing that.......over the last seven years, all losing seasons, our kids didn't know what it was like to have very much success and in turn didn't handle adversity well at all.......but look at these Trojans.......a winning record, and they have been down by 10-15 points in a number of games only to come back every time and give themselves a chance to win the game.

The mindset has changed.......and with it the fortunes of the Trojans has turned brighter.......of course we do have talent, but a ship without a captain is a ship that is sailing aimlessly out in the sea.