Red & Black is the New Orange & Blue

I recently alluded to some big decisions we've been making lately.  Last week, Darrin resigned from UT Martin to accept the head coaching position at Union University in Jackson. You can read his press release here.  So....here's the low down, b/c this is my blog and I can say what I want to say, right? 

First, we love, love, love UTM.  We both went to school here, I got my MBA here, we got married in Martin, we have GREAT friends here, this was Darrin's first college coaching job....there are just so many wonderful friendships and memories that we have b/c of UTM. 

With that said, a new athletic director was named a little over a year ago and everything changed for us. It became clear from the start that he & Darrin were never going to be able to co-exist. I don't feel bad saying that b/c the feeling is 100% mutual. They just aren't the same kind of people & they certainly don't see eye to eye. We wanted to outlast him here in Martin, but that just didn't happen.

In terms of seasons, we've had the great, the good, the bad, and the ugly during our time here. Last year did not go well, and we felt every second of it.  Coaching is pressure. We get that & we respect that. Last year went beyond pressure. After a lot of praying and soul searching, we evaluated several different options. We truly believe that God has lead us to Union. We will miss so many people from the UTM program terribly, but we could not be happier about our future.  We look forward to new friendships & successes.

We've had a ton of people ask if we will move. Since Union is an hour away, we don't have to make that decision right now. Darrin can drive back and forth until we feel that a change is needed.  Unfortunately, Darrin's job is not the only job that has been causing a little angst.  My company announced last May that we were being acquired.  The transaction actually went through last Friday. I work for the corporate office, which obviously poses some questions during a merger.  My company does have an office in Jackson, so we'll just have to see how some of this plays out. In the long term, I don't see us being happy with a 2 hour commute for Darrin every day. His job requires weird hours and a longer commute will just take away from precious family time.

So that's it, friends. Now you have the rest of the story with the new car and all the shopping.  I couldn't send him on a 2 hour commute in the Equinox and he had approximately 2 articles of clothing, including shoes, that weren't orange & blue and have 'Skyhawks' on them.  Change is stressful and sad and hard, but it's also new and exciting and hopeful.  Gooooooo Bulldogs!!