COFFEETOWN HS SPORTS

Cincinnati’s Woodward High School hired Eric Richards to coach its track and field team when he was just 19 years old. Holy crow.

I’m not sure if I should be impressed or offended.

Talk about an over-achiever in the game of life. What is this guy trying to prove? You literally have an entire life to live, if the Lord wills it, son.

But that isn’t all to Richards’s infuriatingly remarkable story.

He also runs track as a college athlete at the same time!

I wouldn’t have even made this character up in a fictional Coffeetown story.

No one would be impressed, or find it outrageously funny. But that’s what all-too-often makes the truth more interesting than Coffeetown.

Because Richards’s story is real. And all fake-outrage aside, it is stronger than an acre of garlic.

Woodward hired Richards, now 20, less than two years after he graduated from high school

What do you do if you’re one of the other track coaches who applied for this job and lost out to a 19-year-old?

Surely, it’s time to hang up the stopwatch after that.

That isn’t to say Richards lacks qualifications as an athlete.

He won state at Cleveland’s Glenville High School in the 4-x-400 relay, then earned a scholarship to Central State University.

Ted Ginn, Sr. coached Richards in high school and influenced the young buck’s coaching approach.

“He (Ginn Sr.) gave us a lot of speeches during practices and changing the culture,” Richards told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

“That’s what made me want to coach, because my passion is to help young adults my age to get to college. Since we started in February, the message I give (the athletes) all the time is to put in the work. If you want something, you gotta work for it.”

Richards wants a lot, apparently. Check out his schedule

Richards transferred to Cincinnati after starting his career at Central State. He currently trains with the Bearcats track team as a redshirt walk-on.

His typical track day includes an afternoon at Cincinnati track practice, then he goes to Woodward HS practice, then he does his schoolwork at night.

Oh, and on top of that, he taxis some of his athletes between home and track. And he’s giving two of the seniors driving instructions.

Again, I don’t think I could have made this character up in my wildest Coffeetown imagination.

Or maybe I did, when I thought up Nacho Davis’s sister, Dawn’Tonya.

Either way, his track team is lucky to have him.

“I was in a pretty bad environment myself as an inner-city kid. A lot of kids don’t have help and don’t want to go to practice because they’re chasing the streets or afraid of the environment,” Richards said.

“The hardest thing is getting them to practice and make sure they stay.”

It seems like Richards is off to a great start, in that regard

I literally couldn’t think of a segue here that wasn’t a track pun. Sorry.

Senior Marciano Winn won the long-jump crown at the Finneytown Wildcat Invitational on April 18.

Junior Donte Ferrell won the high jump and the 200-meter dash, and took runner-up in the 400-meter dash. The Bulldogs took a first-place relay (4-x-800) and three runner-up relays (4-x-100, 4-x-200, 4-x-400) as well.

As all great coaches desire, Richards wants more than on-field results from his pupils.

“I’m not just a coach. I’m their brother and educator. I want to win their lives. I want to keep them on the right path.”

Someone check this guy’s birth certificate.