TJEERDSMANIA: CATCH IT IN THIS WEEK’S SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Here's a pic from those rare moments when Coach Tjeerdsma isn't coaching the Bearcats in the D2 Championship Game.

Mel Tjeerdsma, Head Football Coach for  the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, is interviewed by former NFL quarterback (And QB-rearing machine) Archie Manning in the Oct 4th issue of Sports Illustrated, at newsstands now(I always wanted to say “at newsstands now”). Tjeerdsma, pronounced CHURCH-ma (In a related note, even though my last name is spelled W-O-Z-N-I-A-K it’s pronounced “Johnson”. Go figure.), led his team to their 3rd overall D2 Football Championship last December. That was the 5th year in a row that the Bearcats played in the title game, by the way. You try keeping a team full of youngsters, many of whom are shaking from withdrawal after being on the football field without access to their Twitter accounts for several minutes, focused through playoff game after playoff game just once, let alone 5 years in a row! Tjeerdsma is being interviewed as D2’s Liberty Mutual Coach Of The Year and, among other topics, discusses preparing students for life after football, a commitment to community involvement and his father.