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Post by option1st on Mar 24, 2019 12:11:00 GMT -6
Not everybody that agrees to coach knows that it is going to become a lifelong commitment when they come out for that first year or two.
I knew when I agreed to finally help the HS that it was something I wanted to get a taste of, at least for a few years. Little did I know what a focus it would become and how impactful it would become on my life.
So, when did you know this was your thing? - Something you were meant to do and something you knew you’d spend many years of your life committed to?
For me, that moment occurred in one instant in the back of an old yellow school bus.
We were in the middle of a tough JV season and we had an away game that night. To be honest, I was pissed all day because I really didn’t feel like traveling pretty far away on the road for a JV game and getting back late on a week night with work early the next morning (traveling for work). I flat out didn’t want to go and got this weird thought in my head earlier in the day (is this really for me? Should I remain committed to this? Is it worth it?) For the first time I was questioning my time commitment to this game.
Anyhow, we go to the game and win on a 4th and goal stop. The most unlikely little, slow, football deficient - kid on the team comes up from Cornerback to stuff a TB on a toss sweep on the goal line. The kids went absolutely nuts and rushed the field and rushed this kid. No way Joey freaking made that play to win the game, no damn way!!! The kids were wild over the victory but mostly wild over their boy Joey getting it done! It was incredible to see how happy they were for a teammate that they realized struggled. It was a powerful powerful thing to see.
On the ride home, after much celebration the kids go silent and it’s dark and peaceful. I’m the only one awake in the back of a stinky ass yellow dog school bus late on a Monday night. I happen to look out the window and up to a huge glowing moon and in that moment the big man hit me with a thought from nowhere “I could have you anywhere in America looking at this moon right now and I have you on the back of a stinky JV bus late on a Monday night, and this is exactly where you need to be.”
That was the moment I realized coaching young men and this game was the best possible thing I could be doing to make an impact on the lives of others and my own. I knew when I got off the bus that night that I was, in fact, exactly where I needed to be.
Thanks for the space to share and I look forwarding to hearing other folks stories.
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Post by wolverine55 on Mar 24, 2019 12:26:21 GMT -6
For me, it happened back in the 2004 season, my third year of coaching. I was a freshmen coach, but we had a very successful varsity season that year making it to the semifinals. While I wasn't there for that teams freshmen year, it wasn't a single defining moment that hooked me into coaching, it was seeing the culmination of the hard work that went into that season being rewarded. I went into coaching out of college primarily because I was afraid of not having football be a part of my life, not necessarily the draw of coaching. Unfortunately, because I wasn't sure that coaching was ultimately what I wanted to do, I hadn't really put in the work necessary either on the field or in the classroom, so it was a mutual decision between me, the HC, and the principal that I should move on after that school year.
Not to add a negative to this thread, but over the years I've sort of now swung the other way. Between parental pressures, the neverending and ever increasing paperwork load of teaching, the summer coaching demands, etc. I've gotten to the point where if I'm coaching beyond five more years, it'll surprise me. But, if that is when I decide to hang up the whistle, it'll definitely be 23 years well-spent!
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Post by coachjo14 on Mar 24, 2019 13:47:42 GMT -6
I never had a chance. I was back home for the summer after I had just finished my freshman spring in college. I was getting a workout in and one of my old HS coaches asked me if i would mind helping with the JV team one day because he was shorthanded. I went home that day immediately panning to declare as an education major so I could be an in the building coach.
The point was driven home when i left a job to help with a family emergency during the off-season. That was the most brutal stint I ever had as a teacher. As soon as my family situation calmed down i started looking for coaching jobs.
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humble
Sophomore Member
Posts: 204 
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Post by humble on Mar 24, 2019 18:09:10 GMT -6
Not everybody that agrees to coach knows that it is going to become a lifelong commitment when they come out for that first year or two. I knew when I agreed to finally help the HS that it was something I wanted to get a taste of, at least for a few years. Little did I know what a focus it would become and how impactful it would become on my life. So, when did you know this was your thing? - Something you were meant to do and something you knew you’d spend many years of your life committed to? For me, that moment occurred in one instant in the back of an old yellow school bus. We were in the middle of a tough JV season and we had an away game that night. To be honest, I was pissed all day because I really didn’t feel like traveling pretty far away on the road for a JV game and getting back late on a week night with work early the next morning (traveling for work). I flat out didn’t want to go and got this weird thought in my head earlier in the day (is this really for me? Should I remain committed to this? Is it worth it?) For the first time I was questioning my time commitment to this game. Anyhow, we go to the game and win on a 4th and goal stop. The most unlikely little, slow, football deficient - kid on the team comes up from Cornerback to stuff a TB on a toss sweep on the goal line. The kids went absolutely nuts and rushed the field and rushed this kid. No way Joey freaking made that play to win the game, no damn way!!! The kids were wild over the victory but mostly wild over their boy Joey getting it done! It was incredible to see how happy they were for a teammate that they realized struggled. It was a powerful powerful thing to see. On the ride home, after much celebration the kids go silent and it’s dark and peaceful. I’m the only one awake in the back of a stinky ass yellow dog school bus late on a Monday night. I happen to look out the window and up to a huge glowing moon and in that moment the big man hit me with a thought from nowhere “I could have you anywhere in America looking at this moon right now and I have you on the back of a stinky JV bus late on a Monday night, and this is exactly where you need to be.” That was the moment I realized coaching young men and this game was the best possible thing I could be doing to make an impact on the lives of others and my own. I knew when I got off the bus that night that I was, in fact, exactly where I needed to be. Thanks for the space to share and I look forwarding to hearing other folks stories. When I was 12 years old (no kidding) & coached my own Youth League Baseball team (& played First Base). I was 'hooked" from then on. This is the most aceback76 thing I've seen so far. Lol Love it! |
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Post by fantom on Mar 24, 2019 20:17:58 GMT -6
Pretty much when I realized that the NFL was not clamoring for 5'9" LB's who can't run and are part time starters for a bad D. 3 team.
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Post by CoachUndershirt on Mar 25, 2019 5:59:03 GMT -6
For me, it was my first senior night coaching and it happened to be our last game of the year. Tough season 2-7 finish had a lot of issues in and around the program but I just kept my head down and coached our DB's as hard and as well as I could in a program that I didn't know if I wanted to be continue being a part of.
One of the Corners who really overachieved that season because of pure determination and hard work, the kid was probably our second best tackler on the team and led the area in INT's, really became a leader of the team despite a horrible homelife, high school with some college classes and working to support his family.
He comes to me bawling his eyes out and just grabs me and won't let go. He just keeps saying "Thank you, Coach. Thank you."
I think that's the day I realized this is it for me. Being a positive force in the world and just being there for kids who don't have someone in their corner teaching them more than football.
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patts12
Sophomore Member
Posts: 104
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Post by patts12 on Mar 25, 2019 7:46:25 GMT -6
I knew when I was a soph. in high school that I wanted to coach football. My head coach, was a brilliant man, who also could make the game fun. He became my mentor. I have been coaching football for 39 years and will continue to do so as long as I can. The game has its hooks in me, and I am loving it.
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Post by coachwoodall on Mar 25, 2019 7:58:11 GMT -6
I don't know if I had an epiphany moment, but I kind of always knew going back to when I was 8-10 that I would always be involved with the game b/c that is all I did or cared about, and I wanted to give back like my little league coaches had done. I figured I'd be the little league coach that is always there, not just when his kid is playing. My birthday present every year was a new football and it would get worn out over the course of the next 364 days; it'd wind up slick as a baby's arse we'd use it so much.
When I met my high school counselor about future plans, I got the wonderful advice of, "You're a smart kid, you can be anything you want to be. There'll be a need for engineers in the future and they make good money". I couldn't change majors fast enough my freshman year.
My @aceback76 moment was in 6th grade. 1st period SS, 2nd period PE. SS teacher literally didn't make us doing anything except not get loud and bug her. PE was football everyday weather permitting. 1st period Monday morning was draft day and captains picked on a rotating basis, teams were locked in for the week. If you missed school on Monday, the kid that we wouldn't let play got to take your spot and you had to watch for that week. After picking teams, the rest of class was strategy and who was going to cover whom.
Once this pattern was established, my best buddy came over to my house and we made up our own pass route tree by literally using a little tree my dad had planted in the middle of the yard as the 'defender'. I still remember the routes.
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Post by Down 'n Out on Mar 25, 2019 8:19:33 GMT -6
I first knew I wanted to coach because of a coach I had in JV. He unfortunately just passed away this past week, but he was the first school official who ever made me feel good about myself, made me feel like I was good enough and was capable. I wanted to give that to other kids. When I first really fell in love with the game was in high school I remember watching a film from a decade before of a team my school played in the state semis running the Single Wing Bucksweep. It was completely different than what we did and opened up this whole new world to me schematically.
I really decided that I wanted to do this (and that coaching was worth it) when I had kids from a very average team come up to me a few years later really excited and wanting to talk and reminisce about a very average season. What I did was important to them.
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Post by jgordon1 on Mar 25, 2019 8:21:40 GMT -6
sometimes I still wonder
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Post by dubber on Mar 25, 2019 11:20:28 GMT -6
My freshman year of high school I coached our powderpuff football team.
Seeing the light go on in our offensive line women’s eyes when they understood reach blocking.......hooked.
Also, I’m never coaching girls again
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CoachK
Sophomore Member
Posts: 185
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Post by CoachK on Mar 25, 2019 11:31:04 GMT -6
Pretty much when I realized that the NFL was not clamoring for 5'9" LB's who can't run and are part time starters for a bad D. 3 team. Yeah I started fitting myself for whistles as a freshman in high school when we went to scrimmage Gavleston Ball during summer camp. They had a little guy named Casey Hampton that set me straight on my NFL ambitions. |
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Post by jstoss24 on Mar 19, 2022 22:10:09 GMT -6
Bringing this old thread back.
I was a below average high school player. Never started a game in my life. 6th or 7th guy on the OL/DL. I wasn’t athletic or physical enough to be a good player, but I was smart about the ins and outs of the game and I was the best teammate I could possibly be. I loved being part of the team and loved the game of football.
From about midway through my junior year, my DL coach started telling me I was gonna end up replacing him by the time I graduated. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because I wanted to go to school to be a lawyer. After my senior season, my HC started asking if I would come back and help coach in the fall. I knew I was going to college in my hometown, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to coach. Mid-summer after graduation I decided I would help out with the freshman team as a favor to my old coach. After 2 weeks of practice and 1 week of Political Science classes, I knew coaching was the path I was made to go down. 8 years later and I’ve never looked back.
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Post by kylem56 on Mar 20, 2022 16:24:35 GMT -6
I didnt realize it then but when I was 19 or so and looked back and realized my high school head coach was the man that guided me through tough times, even though I was a pain in the @ss and should have been given up on. Now my first son is named after him and his lessons have been passed on to my players and former players who have become coaches
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Post by coachirish on Mar 21, 2022 7:50:50 GMT -6
I think when I was 15 and creating playbooks and workout programs. I had more of an idea when it was time to get out though.
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Post by KYCoach2331 on Mar 21, 2022 18:30:28 GMT -6
I was interested in scheme in high school. Actually, I was interested in looking at playbooks. I found playbooks online and thought I was the coolest.
I decided to be a coach after watching the Friday Night Lights TV show for some reason lol
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Post by coachcb on Mar 24, 2022 9:05:31 GMT -6
I was 24 or 25 years old and was on the fence about sticking with it.. I had a few years of middle and high school coaching under my belt but the previous season had left a bad taste in my mouth. Long story short, myself and an entire freshman/sophomore staff had gotten ourselves canned, rightfully so. We did an awful job but I was too young and dumb to admit it to myself.
I was coaching a 4th grade youth team that season and having fun with it but still didn't know if I'd stick with it. Our second game of the year, the coaching started to click with our kids. Particularly with one diminutive LB who had a mean streak in him. That kid was a tiny guided missile, every single down. You'd see him disappear into the thick of a play and then hear a loud "WHACK" as he popped somebody. He'd hop out of the pile with a gigantic smile on his face every time. His teammates would damn-near mob him; they were as excited as he was.
Watching that kid play convinced me I was a lifer, one way or another. I almost hate to admit it, but I still revel in the fact that I get to teach kids to learn the love the violence of the sport. Because that's what I always enjoyed about the sport; cracking pads.
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Post by CoachMikeJudy on Mar 24, 2022 12:00:19 GMT -6
First year coaching after college (GA position). I felt connected in a much different way than I had ever felt. The challenge of not physically being able to affect the game anymore, the planning and scheming, the behind-the-scenes work...loved it. That was 22 years ago.
Have I questioned myself at times since then? Absolutely. There have been great times and bad times. All of it has been one HUGE lesson about life for me, and new problems/challenges pop up all the time. In the end it has shaped me to be a better husband, father, and person. It serves as a tough means of therapy at times as well. I am also proud that my wife and son have been along for the ride, and they are 100% supportive of what I do.
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Post by morris on Mar 25, 2022 14:07:00 GMT -6
I’d say sometime in MS. I knew I wasn’t going to probably play past HS and I loved the game. I still remember the SI article about Building a Better Mouse Trap with all the route conversions when the Lions hired Mouse. Georgetown College started running Red Faught’s version of the Shoot. In late elementary and MS I would read this Old Spice book about the history of the NFL. Reading about the 50s Rams and guys like Sammy Baugh.
When I got to college I started coaching women’s flag football. I started reading anything I could find. Magazines, books, playbooks, and anything on the internet. I stumbled across Coverdale’s Bunch Attack book and that was such a huge influence. I use to look through all the Bill Williams tapes and think about what I wanted to watch years before I ever joined.
I just love the game and love teaching and learning it. I think my dream job is to do something like what Bill Williams does.
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Post by dubber on Apr 5, 2022 16:58:38 GMT -6
One other thing that molded me…..my freshman year our coach installed the Short Punt as a change up.
I had never seen anything like that, and it got my creative juices going…….stayed up late trying to come up with every direct snap formation I could think of…..
Fast forward 4 years, and I’m a freshman on a D3 football team that ran Red Faughts version of the run and shoot (Ellison with rocket toss in place of orbit/belly sweep).
Opened my eyes to the value of utilizing the forward pass as an equalizer.
I believe it was later my freshman year in 2005 that I found Hueys
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Post by dubber on Apr 5, 2022 17:01:12 GMT -6
Edit: I registered 10/17/06, so a couple years later.
I also registered on a public computer at the ungodly hour of 12:21 am…….must’ve had a paper due the next day I wasn’t ready to start yet.
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