Gibson and Ciancolo
Charlotte Clippers head coach David Gibson and Winston-Salem defensivecoordinator Joe Ciancolo were teammates with Kinston of the Carolina Class Abaseball league in 1973. Gibson was a 21-year-old first baseman whose careerhad surprisingly stalled after being made a high draft choice in 1970. Hehad a little power. But his tendency to get down on himself extended slumps,and Gibson's batting average settled into the high .220s. Ciancolo was a36-year-old utility player hitting below .200.
Late in the season, Kinston was in Rocky Mount for a double-header. A win ineither game would clinch the league's regular-season title. Gibson wassuffering from stomach uneasiness but started the first game and doubledhome what turned out to be the winning run in the seventh inning. When hewasn't in the field or likely to be up to the plate in a given inning,Gibson was in the restroom in the visitors' clubhouse.
After the clinching victory in the opening game, Gibson felt sure that theKinston manager would grant his request for the second game off. Gibson waswrong. Even on the night of a division-clinching win, this still felt like along, trying season for the young first baseman, who knew his career was introuble. Three straight seasons at Class A ... a first baseman hitting only.228 ... Gibson figured he had played himself out of the major-league parentclub's plans. Now here he was in Rocky Mount with diarrhea and an asshole,unreasonable manager. He felt about like he did after a strikeout two nightsearlier, when Gibson hurled his batting helmet to the roof of his homefield's grandstands. Gibson snapped at the manager, and the manager snappedback. Gibson snapped again, and the manager snapped back again. "They'reprobably going to release me, anyway," Gibson thought to himself as theargument escalated.
Ciancolo had seen plenty in his 15 years of professional baseballvagabonding, but he had never seen a teammate take a swing at his ownmanager until Gibson landed two on the jaw of this guy. It was Ciancolo whopulled Gibson off the manager when the manager wouldn't fight back, and itwas Ciancolo who ended up taking Gibson's place in the Kinston lineup forthe second game and for Gastonia's first-round exit from the Carolina Leagueplayoffs.
Ciancolo had been part of an increasingly rare breed of pro baseballplayers: an older veteran, long since ruled out as a legitimate major-leagueprospect, who was kept around as a steadying influence on younger teammatesrising through the farms. Most teams would no longer pay for this type ofluxury in the minor leagues. But Ciancolo was valued by his manager, off thediamond, as something of a team house mother and, on it, as a fine emergencythird-base coach and useful utility player who could field any positionadequately.
The following spring, Ciancolo was offered a job as a Class AA hittingcoach, but he declined -- opting instead to take a part-time job inpromotions for the Carolina League itself. Ciancolo devoted his summers forthe remainder of the decade to selling Carolina League baseball throughouteastern North Carolina. He loved it, and he managed to flesh out a living byserving as a substitute math teacher and part-time assistant football andbaseball coach at Kinston High School.
One might've expected Ciancolo to excel most at the baseball coaching, buthe might've been too hard on the high-school players who didn't take to thegame as naturally as he had. Ciancolo, however, did fine as a footballcoach. He had been a New York all-state honorable-mention safety himself,and he was quickly given full reign over the Kinston defense. His schemeswere clever, and his players listened to him. In 1982, Ciancolo took over ashead coach at the high school -- and finally gave up his job promotingCarolina League baseball.
One rainy November Friday night in Wilson, Ciancolo met the opposing headcoach at midfield following a Kinston win. As they shook hands, Ciancolosaid, "You've got some lively assistants." (One of the Wilson assistantcoaches had berated an official throughout the game for perceived slights.)As soon as the words came out of Ciancolo's mouth, he wondered if he was outof line -- vaguely criticizing a fellow coach's staff. The head coach,though, appeared to take no offense, "Yeah, that's just David." In hisperipheral vision, Ciancolo caught a glance at the "lively" assistant coachshepherding Wilson players away from cheerleaders and parents and to thelocker room for a post-loss debriefing. Ciancolo took a double-take.
David?
It was David Gibson, his old teammate.
Over the next three football seasons, Ciancolo and Gibson saw each other atleast once a fall, when Kinston and Wilson played. They traded scoutingreports on common competition, and they'd sit together in the campuscafeteria at East Carolina University's high-school coaching clinics. Acouple or three times a year, Ciancolo and his wife would have Gibson overfor dinner, and Gibson, divorced, appreciated the hospitality. He alwaysbrought flowers, and the Ciancolos were always surprised at the softness and sweetness of the gesture.
When Ciancolo learned he needed a new defensive coordinator in 1988, hequickly got on the phone and offered his old baseball teammate the job --under one condition: He back off on the sideline theatrics and get histemper under control. There was a pause at the other end of the line, andthen Gibson said, "You know, five years ago, I would've told you to fuckoff."
But, now, at 36, with a baseball career and one marriage gone, Gibson wasready to accept at least this bit of constructive, corrective criticism fromat least Ciancolo. Gibson took the job.
Some notes on the league's three new head coaches:Asheville's offense improved from ninth to eighth, to fifth and to fourth in Charles Machu's three seasons as Joe Maryland's offensive coordinator. Machu takes over as head coach with the Wilson Tobs -- and brings in former Tourists Mel Jaeger and Darrin Cavinaugh as defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively.Gavin Rucker, the former Burlington Bee wide receiver who coached the team's offense each of the last two seasons, is the new head coach in Durham. Local fans will recognize his coordinators, former Bulls Jeff Martichulski and Benny Ellis.Former Wilson coach Tom Smythe is, ironically, reunited with Marcus Musson, the quarterback he jettisoned to Kinston upon his arrival with the Tobs.Jacques Black improved Rocky Mount's offense from 10th to seventh, to third in his two seasons as Chad Rutledge's offensive coordinator. Black was the center on the very good Charlotte teams of the early 2000s, and he brings in two former teammates, Sidney Wisniewski and Tim Massimi (the former Winston-Salem defensive coordinator), as his defensive coaches.
2007 NCFA Coaching Staffs (new position holders in red)
Team
Head Coach
Defense
Offense
Special Teams
Asheville
Joe Maryland
Yuri Issaic
Sean Brooks
Burlington
Rob McCracken
Romeo Caldwell
TBD
Phil Huhn
Charlotte
David Gibson
Pat Apslund
Chet Bouwens
Durham
Gavin Rucker
Jeff Martichuski
Benny Ellis
Gastonia
Jacques Black
Tim Massimi
Sidney Wisniewski
Greensboro
Robert Walker
Tanner Williams
Ed Reynolds
Kinston
Al Woodall
James Donahue
Gene Dunnihoo
Raleigh
Tom Smythe
Tyrone Bostic
Arthur Smelt
Rocky Mount
Chad Rutledge
Redford Wallach
Fred Turk
Salisbury
Britt Brett
Brian Target
Willie Kloak
Wilson
Charles Machu
Mel Jaeger
Darrin Cavinaugh
Winston-Salem
Larry Hefner
Joe Ciancolo
Slade Harmon
