I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

- John Lennon 

During the same week that Tubby Smith left Kentucky to coach basketball at Minnesota, Carl Kremer coached Cincinnati’s Moeller High School to its third Ohio state basketball championship in five years.   

Carl Kremer

Tubby has never seemed like a happy guy. Carl is one of the happiest people I know.

In business, or in life, there are people who don’t let fame and money overshadow their core values. Carl is one of them.    

Carl and I became close friends as  students at Eastern Kentucky University. I thought his future was in politics. He ran my campaign for student body president, and a year later, I ran his. I lost; he got 90% of the vote.      

A guy who can get 9 out of 10 people to agree on anything ought to be president of the United States, but Carl had different ideas. He wanted to teach high school history and coach. He wanted to raise a close-knit family like the one he grew up in. His goals never wavered.

Carl married his college sweetheart, but the road towards his life’s vision was bumpy. His son was born with a serious heart defect and was given little chance of survival. After several heart operations in Philadelphia, he made it.

Carl went to coach at Cincinnati Moeller, one of the top high school sports programs in the United States. Professional athletics are littered with Carl’s former students, like Ken Griffey Jr.  

In 1992, the Moeller head basketball coach resigned mid-season, and Carl took over the team. He immediately turned the team into a national powerhouse.

Carl received numerous offers to climb the coaching ladder. Many big-time college programs offered him positions, and it was obvious that Carl had what it took to coach a major program.

We spoke every time he got an offer, but in the end, Carl always said no. The personal sacrifice was not worth fame and glory.

I really didn’t understand. I’m a guy who will go as far as my talent will let me. I couldn’t see how my friend could turn down the big time.

Yet after watching Tubby, I am starting to comprehend.

Tubby left a tremendous coaching situation at the University of Georgia to come to Kentucky. He had good teams and could have stayed there for the rest of his career. Instead, he jumped into the Kentucky pressure cooker.

Tubby’s personality reminds me of Carl’s. Neither are flashy and both have strong values. Their teams win, and their players rarely wind up in jail. I can see how Carl could have wound up in Tubby’s position.

 
Tubby may have been rich and famous, but he wasn’t enjoying life. Carl is.

Carl is so upbeat that its impossible for him to be negative.   I recently wrote the following letter:

Carl,

You keep downplaying your victories and act like your opponents are not the cupcakes they are.     

If your players want to be in the NBA someday, they need to act like it. They need to trash talk opponents, run up the score and pile up a few felony convictions. Get with the 21^st century!

Covington attorney Phil Taliaferro have bailed several Cincinnati Bengals out of jail. If you encourage your players to follow the lead of these PROFESSIONAL ROLE MODELS, Phil might give  your team  a discount rate.   

Your friend  (despite the fact that you are embarrassing me),

 Don

Carl ignored me--just like he ignored my advice to coach college ball.

The ability to match your values and goals with your career is a skill that few in the business world have.  People ought to look at the model Carl Kremer offers.

Tubby’s move to Minnesota is a step out of the pressure cooker. He is no longer riding on the merry-go-round that is part of coaching a premier sports team.

He just had to let it go.

Don McNay is Chairman of McNay Settlement Group, where clients are encouraged to meet their life’s goals.  You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or read other things that he has written at www.donmcnay.com.  His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service.  He is on the board of directors for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.