UALR on the rise

Coaches are a lot like businessmen. How they run their programs from the ground up often parallels the success they have on the court.
In my job as sports editor, I've been working the phones for the past few months trying to procure a guest speaker for our upcoming AmerCable/News-Times Scholar Athlete Awards Banquet.
It's not easy for a guy from El Dorado to lure a big-name college coach to town for an unpaid speaking engagement. I had more emails go unreturned than one of those male enhancement ads.
A couple of weeks ago, I sent out a new batch of emails. All of them were unanswered except one. UALR coach Joe Foley didn't reply to my email. He telephoned me at home.
Unfortunately, I wasn't available to answer his call so he left me a message, explaining he would be out of town at the Sun Belt meeting on the date of our banquet. He asked me to call him and gave me his cell number.
Before I could return his call, Coach Foley called me again. The coach said he wanted to double check the date just to make sure he couldn't be there. He wanted to make sure he got in touch with me so as not to "leave me hanging."
A coach who returns emails is unusual. A coach who returns phone calls is even more special.
Coach Foley expressed regret that he couldn't speak in El Dorado. He said he would love to make his presence known in this part of the state.
Hey, he made a impression with me. I was already happy with UALR's run in the NCAA Tournament. Now, I'll be rooting for the Lady Trojans that much more.
Plus, you guys know me, I didn't waste an opportunity to do a little hometown selling of my own. While I had Coach Foley on the phone, I asked him if he knew about El Dorado's Whitney Frazier and Parkers Chapel's Savanna Langston.
He said UALR is already on Frazier but, surprisingly, he didn't know about Langston.
He does now.