In one of my previous post, I talked about how you need to
be bought into what the head football wants to do. You need to be bought into the
culture, weightlifting, team building, and everything else in order for you to
grow as a coach, to get better, and to see how that head coach does things so
when you are lucky enough to be a head coach one day you can do some of these
things. When I went from my high school to Charleston and started to coach
football there, I was bought into what the new hired head coach wanted to do. The
kind of things and how he coached was similar to how my head coach was, who I played
for all 4 years and helped coach for 3 seasons.
During the summer and beginning of the season in 2015 at Charleston,
me and the new head coach got along, but I was being a brat about my coaching
spot, as I stated in a previous post as well. I thought after help coach for 3
years before joining his staff, I thought I should have had a bigger role and
be able to do more. I was bought into what he wanted, but I thought he should
of gave me more. So, there were times we may have spoke during a practice or
before or even after one. That was all on me, and it was actually something I needed
to do believe it or not. One early morning, before we had a practice, I got to
the field house a little early that day, about 5 or 5:15 in the morning. To
this day, I don’t know what caused me to get to the field house so early. The
head coach was already there, he lived about an hour away from the school so he
had been up for much longer than me. So, I walked into the office and it was
just me and him until about 6 or so when other coaches would start showing up. We
talked about things that were not working so far in practice on offense of
defense. We talked about depth charts, and normal stuff that coaches talk
about.
This was weird to me since I was new and I wasn’t a top
varsity coach for him yet. He asked my opinion on certain things, and then
started to ask me questions. About my goals in the coaching world and then how
would I handle this situation or this one (these are still conversations we
have to this day almost 3 years later). When it was almost 6 in the morning, he
then asked me if I knew why he didn’t give me a huge role yet. He told me his
job is to give the crap job first, to see if I can be trusted, and how hard I’m
actually willing to work and learn. He wanted to make sure that I can be a head
coach one day and for him to be able to say that he pushed me hard enough to
get to that spot, and be able to say that he was able to teach me things in
life and in coaching. He could tell I wanted to do more, I just had to show it
and prove myself to him and the other coaches who have been coaching longer
than me. And he didn’t want me to see that things will just be handed to me in
life. This started a new-found friendship that we have to this day.
I know some coaches will read that and say, “well that’s pretty
obvious stuff”, but I can’t express how immature I was at that time. It is embarrassing
to say, but it’s the truth. And, if I didn’t act that way, and just went
through the motions, I don’t think me and the head coach would have the friendship
we have now and the working relationship that we had for a season and a half. The
season was a rough one for the program. We went 0-9 at the varsity level. There
was a lot that needed to change and be fixed. He was taking over a program that
went 1-8 the previous two years before. But also, the head coach that was before
him, was there for 15 seasons and was a hometown guy. To try and change everything
that had been in place for 15 seasons is not easy. Especially when he didn’t have
the full support of the community, because he wasn’t a hometown guy and those
people didn’t want to see the previous head coach be let go. And also makes it
hard when you drive an hour to practice and an hour back home.
After his first season, you could slowly start to see the
change that he was trying to do, even if it was just baby steps. The kids where
getting the offense better than the previous season, they were getting stronger
in the weight room, and where being held more accountable for their actions. He
had different athletes be in charge of their own teams with about 10 athletes
on each team and had to get them to everything so we all could get better. I
know a lot of coaches don’t put too much look into if you win 7 on 7, but that
summer we went to a few of them and played actual good competition. We competed
and the kids were having fun, which is something that didn’t happen the year
before. So, it was nice to see that happening and to see the kids getting
tougher. We could see us being able to compete for the playoffs, which would of
be great from going 0-9 the year before.
My friendship and working relationship and grown a lot with the
head coach during the offseason. I was coaching basketball and track during
those times, but anytime I could make it to a chalk talk or weightlifting session,
I made sure I was there. He even would help me with different basketball ideas,
from his days as a basketball coach. During the summer, I would always get to the
field early and it would just be us talking and helping him game plan. Or just
trying to come up with different ideas. After practice it would be the same
thing, and there were a lot of times he would call me on his way home because
he thought about something, or we wanted my advice, or again how I would handle
this certain situation. But, looking
back on it, I could tell that he was just a little bit different during the
summer than he was during the winter. The way he talked, or the way he would go
about things was just different, I just didn’t realize it at the time.
It was the day before the first official practice in 2016, I
got a phone call from one of the assistant coaches. He asked me if I was
sitting down, and if I wasn’t to grab a chair. He told me that the head coach
was going to resign. I dropped the phone out of my hand. All of the assistant
coaches were going to meet that night to figure out what to do if this was
going to happen. One coach on staff coached with him back in the early 2000’s
and was close with him as well. They had talked 2 days before and that’s when
he said he was thinking about resigning, but would make it for sure the next
day. Well, when he didn’t hear anything, he knew that we all needed to get
together just incase he actually resigns. The principal even met with us and we
had to figure out who would be the interim head coach, who was going to coach
each position, and who was going to call offense and defense. I was in total shock
during the meeting, and I kept my phone in my hand all night to see what would
happen next.
The next morning, I got to the field house right at 5. The
head coaches truck was there, I walked into the office and he was on the
computer, like he usually was. So, in my mind I thought, thank god, he isn’t leaving.
I walked and we had our hello like always, he asked me if I had heard. I then
asked if he was leaving, and he was silent for a minute, then said yes. Now, I will
not go about what was talked about next, we had a private conversation that I will
never tell anyone else, that moment was between me and him. But, it was a
conversation that I needed to hear. The other coaches showed up and he had a
quick meeting with us to say how he was resigning for personal reasons and that
we didn’t need to know everything. He then gathered all the players to say his
goodbyes. He left his keys on the desk, and he took off to head back home.
So, to start the season the defensive coordinator was made
the head coach, and I was made offensive coordinator, while the head coach
would call the defense. We went through that practice like he had done all
summer with no changes. We all met after the practice to discuss what changes
he wanted to make. We decided that he was going to make more changes on the
defensive side to more of what he wanted, but we would keep the offense the
same. We ran a pro style offense, the only change made was the passing, which I
posted in a previous post. He said the following year he would want to change
to a spread team, but it made more sense to keep the offense the same with our
first game only a little over 2 weeks away. He also changed how weight lifting
would go, drills, and other things of course.
As you could imagine, for me, that this was a tough thing
for mentally. The head coach had to leave, I got told I would be calling
offense for varsity, which was going to be my first time, and I was all defense
the year before and would be that season. The first two days, I was still in
more shock, and was incredibly busy game planning with offense.
The third day of practice, that’s when the shock wore off, and
everything started to sink in. The head coach, who I bought into, had to leave,
my friend who I was looking forward to coach with that season, had to leave,
the stuff I was bought into was changing with someone new taking over. After
practice that morning, I decided to go to the gym to get my mind off of
everything. While I was there, I had contemplated leaving myself. With all
those thoughts going through my head was very mentally draining. That evening,
the old head coached called me, and once I talked to him, I didn’t have those
thoughts anymore.
He called me to see how practices where going, how I was
doing in my new role, and how he would do anything he could to help me get
better. Just from speaking to him, he sounded like he was back to his normal
self. That whole season, we talked before our games, so he could help me with
different game plans or situations. We would talk about what the next team was
going to do since he was familiar with the teams, and he still wanted to help
me learn to be a head coach one day. We would still have those conversations
about how I would handle this situation or this situation if I was in charge.
That season we ended up going 3-6, we started 2-0, but didn’t
win again until week 8, when the kids just muscled out a win. And believe it or
not, give a lot of credit to him even though he wasn’t there to call anything.
The reason why was because those kids had the strength from his weightlifting program,
I was still running his offense and still using his terminology, and for the
first couple of weeks, we were still doing some of his drills.
Now, this isn’t me trying to talk bad about him what so
ever. He needed to resign for personal reasons, and I never held anything against
him, or even got mad at him for it. Some people in this town did, and some on
staff did as well. What some people don’t realize is, sometimes, other things
do come before football. I know some might read that and say otherwise, but if
something else in your life is going on, or something isn’t right with
yourself, it might be better to walk away from the game just for a little bit.
He is still a close friend, and he still do this day tries
to help me with anything. He introduced me to other coaches, and different
programs to try and help me if I left Charleston. Or just do see a different
way to do things. In a weird way, him resigning was a way to help me. It had me
learn on the fly to be an offensive coordinator, which was one of the things on
my check list to accomplish. And put me in that spot to start to really see how
I would be a head one day, if I’m lucky enough.
It was one of the hardest things to go through mentally for me
in my coaching life. But, it only has given the opportunity to hopefully on to bigger and better things.
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