MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — When Derek Mason announced he was taking a sabbatical from college coaching after serving as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator in 2022, he noted that he’d spent 30 consecutive seasons in coaching and cited a desire to take a break and spend time with his family.
“I just felt like I was tired and needed a rest,” Mason said. “The good Lord told me it was time. Coaches don’t step away sometimes when they’re supposed to, and when you don’t step away, you don’t get refreshed.”
What may have gone overlooked in Mason’s announcement was that he never planned to be gone for long. He’ll be back in familiar territory on an SEC sideline Saturday as the head coach of Middle Tennessee as the Blue Raiders travel to face No. 6 Ole Miss.
“I never said I was retired,” Mason told CBS Sports last month inside his new office. “I said ‘sabbatical.’ A sabbatical just means you’re taking a little bit of time off.”
In his 2022 announcement, Mason noted that – in addition to resting during his sabbatical – he also planned to “reflect on opportunities within the game I love.”
That reflection ultimately led him just 40 miles down I-24 from Nashville, which is a city his family never stopped calling home after Mason’s seven-year run as Vanderbilt’s head coach ended with one game remaining in the COVID-19 season of 2020.
The Commodores were so adversely impacted during the wackiness of that year that they turned to the goalkeeper on their SEC championship women’s soccer team, Sarah Fuller, to handle kicking duties.
“There were games where we shouldn’t have played, but we played,” Mason said. “You just had to push through it because of TV contracts, this, that and the other.”
Despite the unusual circumstances, Vanderbilt’s…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/reinvigorated-derek-mason-finally-feels-like-hes-got-a-chance-at-middle-tennessee-after-coaching-sabbatical/
Author : David Cobb
Publish date : 2024-09-06 16:33:35
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