Former BYU coach Ingle has a Hollywood story
Dick Harmon
He'd walked the plank for BYU in that infamous 1996-97 season, absorbing a 1-25 record. He took care of the players, watched over the program, took bullets, had that losing record tacked on to his resume forever and at the end was told: "Thanks, Tony, now we're going to move on and give the job to Steve Cleveland. As we said, it was never promised you'd be the guy."
Tony left BYU at the end of that season. But the bullets he took hurt, even for a stand-up comic like Ingle.
He ended up taking on as many as seven jobs to take care for his family and pay his mortgage on his North Orem home. He sold carpet, went on the Toast Master's speaking circuit, did commercials for a debt consolidation loan company, worked as a part-time scout for the Utah Jazz, did color commentary for the Mountain West Conference and sold insurance.
Today, Ingle is the toast of an Atlanta suburb. His Kennesaw State team sits atop the Atlantic Sun Conference after sweeping a road trip at Stetson and Mercer. He's already won a Division II national championship (in 2004), been national coach of the year, and his Tony Ingle TV coaches show is currently seen in parts of 11 states.
Another snapshot: When Roger Reid was in the epitome of pain with his hip, Ingle would humbly go to Reid's hotel room and put Reid's shoes on and tie them for his boss.
This year Ingle's Owls returned just one starter from a year ago and is patched together with diminutive-sized players and recruits he had to pick up late in the recruiting process last spring and summer. Kennesaw State is 9-1 in league play, 11-7 overall, and on an eight-game win streak. ESPN.com just ran a long feature on Ingle last week, prompting more national recognition and smiles from those who know him.
"We've had a great stretch the last few weeks, now we've got four of our next six on the road. Our bubble is about to burst," Ingle said Saturday from his hotel room.
"We're just trying to keep the helium in the balloon."
What's kept afloat is this remarkable personality, an attitude out of a Victor Hugo novel.
Tony Ingle should have quit a long time ago but he loves people too much. And basketball?
The game was his first love, a sport he learned to play as a kid with a pair of mismatched tennis shoes fished out of a dumpster.
From dumpster diving, to getting dumped at BYU, Ingle has proven a magnanimous survivor, the stuff they make movies out of. "Glory Road" and UTEP's Don Haskins? Script writers ought to take a shot at the Ingle saga.
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