A shovel helped CPA turn around its boys basketball season
Tom KreagerTennessee football had a trashcan.
Memphis football has a Takeaway Robe.
CPA boys basketball has The Shovel.
Yes, a shovel.
The Lions (26-10) roll into Lipscomb University's Allen Arena on Friday to face Knoxville Webb (28-6) at 1:30 p.m. in a Division II-A boys basketball semifinal on the heels of their first state tournament appearance since 2015. They'll do so carrying a shovel.
"It goes to the player that exemplifies the traits on what it means to be a CPA player – a great teammate, works hard and executes what we ask," CPA coach Drew Maddux said.
Seniors Jack Gregory and Jacob Stopkotte came up with the idea after an FRA game in January. The team was 14-7 at the time and wasn't meshing yet. It wasn't playing CPA's style of basketball.
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Maddux said that was partly because of the large number of football players on the roster. The football team won the DII-AA state title in December. That meant some needed time to get back in to basketball shape and in a mindset for basketball.
This was the hardest I'd ever seen a group in making that switch (to basketball)," Maddux said. "We're used to it and love that over 80 percent of our students are playing multiple sports. We love that.
"But this was the hardest time I'd seen them to make that mental and emotional switch."
Enter The Shovel.
Gregory and Stopkotte came up with the idea as fans of Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast. The podcast had a "Low Man Trophy" for college football.
"They attached an empty beer can to a tire," Gregory said. "We made it the glue guy award for our team. It's for the unsung hero of the basketball team."
CPA is 13-3 since the shovel was introduced. All three losses are to Webb School of Bell Buckle, which also is playing in the DII-A state tournament.
"We were struggling to find our way at the start of the season," Stopkotte said. "We weren't beating teams as badly as we should have been."
The award doesn't go out to the team's top scorer. It goes to the guy who takes the most charges or dives on the floor, for example.
The recipient signs his name on the shovel.
No one expected the shovel to have this impact or fame.
It has its own Twitter account (@CPAShovel)," Maddux said. "It's traveled to Waffle House. Employees there took pictures with the shovel.
"The shovel goes everywhere we go," Maddux said. "Little kids here were getting little Valentine's Day gifts with shovels."
The Shovel has been a part of CPA pep rallies. It once was visible at basketball games until it was determined that it might not be safe waving a shovel around in a student section during a game.
Now it stays in the locker room, where Gregory and Stokotte hand it out after Maddux concludes his postgame breakdown.
"The most fun part for me as a coach is seeing a teammate bestow it to another teammate," Maddux said. "It is a serious thing. It means the world to them if they win the shovel award.
"To see your player giving that award to another teammate, it's so special to watch them. Jack doesn't just hand them the shovel. He tells them why they are receiving it and what they did in the game."
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Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com or on Twitter @Kreager.