Coaching Football's "Little Things"

I attended the funeral of one of my former players on Saturday. He was a Believer (I know, cuz we talked about it the last few weeks he was alive) so he’s with the Lord now. The joy of knowing he’s in heaven was mixed in with the sorrow of losing such a fine young man. He was 37 years old, a dad and a well-respected employee for his company. He had a lot going for himself. Except… lung cancer got him. He never smoked a day in his life!

Seeing so many of my former players in one place for the first time in 15 years was exciting— except for the reason we were all gathered together. It was hard for me to see them as mid-30’s men… when, in my mind, they were still 17 and 18 year old boys. To be able to put an arm around one guy and give a consoling hug to another brought back memories of “being there” for those guys when they were still in high school.

You see… their senior season of 1997 was a special year. We’d just come off the worst record in 6 years the fall before (5-5) and the rising seniors were determined to turn things back in the direction they’d been. What ended up was an undefeated regular season (10-0) and the first District championship for our school in 20 years. They went on to finish 11-1 and set the course for our program for the next 10 years.

There were a lot of great players on that team. The young man who’s life we celebrated at the funeral was a starting defensive back. He wasn’t one of the “stars” but he was a perfect example of our philosophy of “BIG Team… little me.” Always had a smile on his face until it was time to play. Then… his intensity and his burning desire to win came out. He told me in July after we’d lost a 7 on 7 passing league game (nothing important in the big scheme of things!), “Coach J…. we’re not losing again! Scrimmages, games… nothing!” He was right for the next 13 weeks! That quiet fire that he possessed rubbed off on his teammates and drove them to play at a high level every week.

We will miss you Troy. Your legacy shows in the number of guys who drove hours to be at your funeral. For coaches who are reading this: never underestimate the influence that one quiet guy can have on the rest of your team. That guy might be the one who everyone else is looking to when things get tough. You need to look to him too.

We played our first preseason scrimmage last Friday and play our second one this Friday. The state of Virginia allows 2 scrimmages before our regular season opens.

The question came up: “How much do we ‘show’ in our scrimmages? Our first game opponent will be looking at our scrimmage videos… I’m not sure how much to show him.”

My response is: Who’s more important… your own team or that opposing coach? I have always subscribed to Coach John Wooden’s philosopy when preparing my team. We are going to work very hard to get our players technically sound so that they can play with confidence and a high level of efficiency. What our opponent does (or knows, in this case) is secondary. I spend as much time scouting as anybody. But, I think we sometimes get hung up on what the opposing coach is going to do instead of focusing on “proper preparation” for our own team.

So, my response to the question of “how much to show in the scrimmages” would be along the lines of… what do you need to work on? What plays/packages/fronts, etc. do you need to see? We work from the perspective that scrimmages are “practices against other teams.” What do you need to evaluate that week? Are there particular plays or players that you need to see perform in a live scrimmage setting? Hiding stuff from opponents means that, in essence, you’re hiding it from yourself too! When are you going to see if a play “works” unless you run it against someone else? I select those series that we need to evaluate and concentrate on those during the scrimmage. You’re going to be running these plays the most during the year so who are you fooling by hiding them? It just hurts you.

Now… if you’re the type who likes to throw in a little “Boise State trickeration”… that’s a different story! I will share with you that this is an objective that I’ve set for our Offense this year. We are going to have a “Trick of the Week” this year. We have already started working on the first couple since we have more time in preseason. The kids are excited and it adds a little zest to Offensive practice. If you need some examples of “tricks” feel free to contact me!

We are reading a book church-wide right now. It’s having the same dramatic effect on me and our entire congregation that Purpose Driven Life did 5-6 years ago! The name of the book is The Circle Maker by Pastor Mark Batterson. Pastor Mark says to: Dream BIG… pray HARD… think LONG!

I wrote last week about one of our players having to stop playing because of a serious medical condition. I started praying (a LOT of people starting praying for our player!) and was about to give up (on God— cuz that’s in essence what you do when you give up praying for someone!!!) yesterday. I persevered though and spent a few minutes asking God one more time if He would heal and restore the young man’s health. I have to tell you… I wasn’t praying very boldly. The other thing Pastor Mark says is: “Bold prayers honor God and… God honors bold prayers!” Thus, his challenge to: pray HARD!!!