By Joe Rector
I interviewed for my first job as a high school English teacher in 1974. Only a week of summer was left before teachers reported for in-service training for the coming school year. Luckily, Mildred Doyle honored a request from my mother to help in securing a job for me, and the principal at Doyle High School that year was Billy K. Nicely. He’d been my high school principal at Karns High, so I hoped that he would take that into consideration without holding against me that I was a terrible high school student.
Yes, Mr. Nicely hired me, a fact for which I was forever grateful to him. That first school day, I entered a classroom with students who were only 3-4 years younger than I was. In one case, a student was the same age (19) as my new wife, Amy. Somehow, most likely by the grace of God and plenty of bluffing by me, I survived that first year.
One primary goal was to secure this new job for the coming years. The school was looking for a freshman football coach. I’d played freshman football as a teen, but my future playing career was cut short when explosive headaches followed any severe contact during my remaining high school career. With little experience as a player but plenty of BS skills, I offered my services. Evidently, no one else applied, and I was chosen.
Jim Pryor and I coached that team. We had skilled players who were ready to work. We both were taking evening classes at UT, so practices lasted an hour or just a bit more. I’m not sure how well we played that year, but the point was to keep as many players as possible interested enough to play the following year.
When I was hired at Karns in 1985, I again offered to coach freshman football, and again, my goal was to keep as many players as possible playing through high school. The last team I coached had 44 freshman players. However, the new varsity coach took control on game days and broke my promise to the boys that if they practiced, they would play.
The point of all of this is that coaching football is not some kind of mystical job. Yes, having years of playing experience is a good thing, but that’s not the most important part. I studied playbooks and asked varsity assistant coaches to explain blocking schemes, passing trees, defensive coverages, and blitz packages. After grasping those things, I stepped on a patch of ground that was sure to cause as many bruises and abrasions as the hits by players and held practice. My primary concern was teaching simple steps to offensive linemen. Back then, a much smaller boy could block or at least get in the way of a hulking linebacker.
I’ve always maintained that the most successful coaches were the ones who were able to teach. The job of a teacher is to explain even the minute details of a player’s responsibility. Next, a coach walks his players through every phase of a play, whether it is offensive or defensive. Half-speed run-throughs preceded full-contact practices.
I also believe that successful coaching demands truthfulness. Blowing smoke at a player works only so long. Eventually, players expect a coach of any sport to stick to the things that he promised. Rick Barnes and Josh Heupel have records of shooting straight with recruits and players. They stick to promises but expect athletes to keep their ends of bargains.
Lastly, I am convinced that discipline is a key component of good coaching. Players must remember that they represent more than just themselves when they participate in a sport. No one player is bigger than the entire program. I respect Kim Caldwell for holding players’ feet to the fire and for making tough choices when individuals fail to follow simple rules.
No, I wasn’t a great coach. I was plugged in to fill a hole that existed. I tried the best I could to teach freshmen how to play positions. Together, we had some successes and more than enough failures. Still, I enjoyed being a coach of boys who were raw and ready to learn. In many cases, they were more willing than my students in English classes. Of course, playing is more fun than using correct verb tenses or reading a book about a woman with an embroidered “A” on her clothing. Still, it all comes down to teaching. I’m not one, but I know the best coaches at all levels are more teachers than athletes.
