WHEELING - One of the absolute best things about this job, if you stick around long enough, is the opportunity to see some of the athletes you've covered go on to succeed in life. Whether they turn out to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, construction or sanitation workers, it doesn't matter.

But I've got a soft spot for those who never get out of the sports business. Guys like former Wheeling Central multi-sporter Kurt Stein.

He tore his ACL during a pickup basketball game before his senior season, and as luck would have it, ended up getting a birds-eye view of what coaching was all about. After six years as an assistant coach at Catoctin High School in Thurmont, Md., Stein, 28, was recently given the keys as the head coach of Oakdale High School in Fredricktown, Md., which will open its doors in 2011.

Oakdale will play a junior varsity schedule that first season, but it shouldn't be long until the Marshall University graduate has the program up and running.

Congratulations, Kurt

Why Bother?

High School softball season kicks off in West Virginia this week, at least in a technical sense. Color me a cynic, but I've never been able to fully understand why the games are scheduled this early to begin with. The weather is awful and a large number of Ohio Valley fields are still trying to thaw following one of the most brutal winters in recent memory.

Instead of starting the season so early and causing so many logistical nightmares for local administrators, why not load up the schedules beginning at the middle of April?

Isn't that what's going to happen anyway?

Salem's Out

A charter member of the West Virginia Conference dating back to its berth 86 years ago, Salem International University athletics director Keith Bullion announced Friday the school is dropping its affiliation effective May 1.

About 10 years ago this would be nothing short of devastating to the WVC. But Salem, both financially and athletically, has fallen on some serious hard times.

It all started in 1989 when the school dropped football, and it was later hit with sanctions. For much of the 1990s Salem remained a basketball powerhouse, but has since dropped off the map completely. The men's team finished 3-25 overall this season, and 3-19 in conference. The women didn't win a game.

If nothing else, Salem's decision to seek independent status is a boost competitively for the WVIAC.

Kudos to Nailers Staff

The Wheeling Nailers are in the thick of the race for the eighth and final American Conference playoff spot, but the job the front office is doing off the ice might be more important in terms of the team's longterm future in our town.

All you have to do is pick up a game summary to realize attendance, and subsequently interest, has been on a steady decline. In an effort to combat that, there have been more community appearances by the team's players recently, including last week at Perkins Family Restaurant and Bakery.

Then came word Friday that three lucky fans have won an upcoming lunch with some of those players at the Salsa Cafe. On Monday, Wheeling's Kathleen Walters will dine with goalie Adam Berkhoel and forward Aaron Boogaard; Jordan Fox and captain Andrew Lord will entertain Wheeling's Gary Trabert on March 23, and Bethesda resident Becky Goff will eat with T.J. Fox and a yet to be named Nailer on March 30.

This is a great step in the right direction.

Shawn Rine can be reached via e-mail at Rine@theintelligencer.net