Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

I have been meaning to post this ever since Saturday after the women clinched the tourney title. After the game was long over and we were headed back to our hotel to leave from the tournament I ran into coach Kest in the hotel lobby watching the end of the Ohio State vs. Illinois game in the Big Ten Tournament. She noticed my BGSU Cheerleading shirt and immediately said congratulations about the tournament. She was a very friendly person and spoke very highly of our program and Coach Miller. We talked for roughly five minutes or so after that and I walked away with a respect for her that I now understand what Freak was talking about in previous posts. She said that she wants to model her program after ours and has high praise for how Curt has been able to sustain our dominance over the years. Before I left I congratulated her on turning around her program and wished her luck all of next year except for 2 or possibly 3 games, to which she said she just wants one... all she wants is to get one from us. She had also mentioned how some of the Ak-rowdies had waited around for roughly 45 minutes just to get pictures with Curt because of the respect they have for our team.

I thought this was a pretty cool experience that I wanted to share with you. I've been on the cheerleading team for a while here and this was the most memorable moment I've had with another school. I truly believe that Akron will be a team that will make some noise in a couple of years.

I echo those sentiments about Coach Kest. She sat beside me during the championship game and we spoke at length about MAC basketball. She and Curt coached together as assitant coaches on the Cleveland State staff in the early 1990's. She has a lot respect for Curt and he said a lot of great things about her to the media inhis press conference after the Akron game. Jodi is a class act.

I think most of you know by now how I feel about Jodi. I was the first on here to defend her a couple of years ago when she got rid of McCoy, and I told you that she would turn that program around. She is one of the best people I have ever met. She is fun to hang around, and one of the hardest working coaches in the country. I am going to miss not talking to her at the Final Four, but I did email her and congratulate her on the COTY award. She said thanks, and then asked about my girlfriend. She is just that great of a person. Add Curt into the mix, and you have two class acts in the MAC. It just makes the conference that much better.

Kest is the kind of coach we can be proud of, as a whole, in the MAC. She has done a great job at Akron and they WILL continue to get better.

I am glad she won COTY this season as she deserved it.

A close friend of mine just pointed out that Kest is a Mayfield HS grad...he'd not thought about it while we were at the tournament.