21st Century HS Football for Old School Coaches

" A new broom sweeps clean." I heard Coach Roy Walton from Tates Creek say that several years ago at a clinic. He explained it is relatively easy to show progress and generate interest in taking  over a football program in years one and two. But, what will your program look like in year five, or ten, fifteen and even 20 years? It is tough for a head football coach to stay in one place for an extended time, especially in the instant gratification climate of the 21st century. 

I experienced that first hand in my 19 seasons at Mason County.  In those 19 years, we were making progress in building our program, but it kept getting tougher to do so.  When I talk to other coaches who have been in the same program for an extended period of time, they share the same concerns about keeping their program new and fresh.

I am excited because we have come up with some great ideas to help keep our program fresh, modern & relevant.

Mercer County Titan Football will have a Twitter  & Instagram account. I understand a lot of coaches have a Twitter account. I will not. But, our football program will have one. It will be run by our administrative assistants, Morgan Reed & Gabby Banks. Morgan and Gabby are outstanding young ladies/student-athletes in our high school. 

If I tried to do Twitter or Instagram, it would appear old and dated. Obviously, with Morgan & Gabby, both of those accounts will have much more appeal to our students, fans, and younger kids in our school system that we want to recruit to our football program.  These accounts will be great for Mercer Titan Football.

Gabby Banks & Morgan Reed

Another way we will keep our program current  & fresh will be with the graphics in our locker room.  At Mason County we would permanently fasten motivational signs to the wall. Action photo posters would be placed in large frames and hung on the walls.  At Mercer County, our locker room was very generic at the beginning.

The Harrodsburg Herald has taken the motivational signs and action shots and turned them into vinyl banners with grommets.  We had a couple extras made so that every few weeks, Morgan & Gabby can switch out signs and photo posters and change up the look of the locker room. During the season, we will have some current in season action shots turned into vinyl banners that can be hung up as well. 

Finding a good system to switch out the banners was tough. Gabby & Morgan kept a sense of humor about it and I didn't have to worry about it.

In the way we run our program, I am still confident in our plan, schemes, fundamentals, and most importantly, how we treat kids. But, especially in the 21st century, there is more to it than that.  What we will do with Twitter, Instagram, & our locker room will be a big part of keeping our program relevant & appealing.

As a head coach it is critical to surround yourself with good people who can do some things better than you can. Morgan & Gabby will be much better at all of this than I would be. And, I really like that I can still do what I like doing as a football coach and they will do all of the work with our social media and the locker room. In my old age, I am trying to do a better job of delegating.  That will be tough. But on these items, this will be a little easier because I don't want to do this stuff myself and I know these projects will significantly enhance our football program. 

I would be interested in hearing from other coaches. If you incorporate these ideas, or if you have similar ideas after being in the same school for an extended period of time, please email me and tell me about it at david.buchanan@mercer.kyschools.us. 

The more I can recognize my own weaknesses and get help with those areas, the stronger our program will be.  I believe Coach Walton would like what we are doing!

Coaches' Sons & Old School Music

I had a great visit with Boone Goldsmith the other day. He came by school and hung out in the office while I got some work done and we talked a little football.

What was different/cool was that Boone enjoys the same old music that I like. We are both coaches' sons and grew up listening to the same music our Dad's listened too.  Trosper & John Combs are the same way. They enjoy most of my old music that I like because that is about all they have heard when they are around me and we are traveling in the car together.

I think for all of us, growing up with our Dad's coaching football was a great experience. This music keeps those memories alive for us.... and also keeps us addicted to the great game of HS football and all that goes with it. 

These coaches' sons have inspired me to do a Black Shoes & White Shoestrings Old School playlist.  That will be a fun & easy project to put together over the next few weeks. 

Here is a great old song from the fall of 1971 that even young guys like Boone, JCB, & Trosper appreciate!!

Whatcha See is Whatcha Get-The Dramatics

Destination: Flatwoods

Richie Cox & Billy Kouns came to visit me today. Then, tonight at the baseball game, we ended up talking about Flatwoods & the Russell Red Devils. I got so fired up I am not sure I can go to sleep tonight.

Christmas gift from Coach Bill Shower- like the road sign we would pass every other year.

Because the Russell Red Devils were so good, they were the most important game on our schedule. If we could beat them, we could probably win our district and beat everyone else. Ivan McGlone's Red Devils, their wing-t offense, and Garry Morris's odd front defense drove much of our program at Mason County. We worked on the Red Devils all year.   We worked our reads and fundamentals versus a two TE wing-t every spring and preseason as part of our base defense. We called it November Drill, but it could have been Red Devil drill.... working against the blitz in the red zone.... every week... spring, summer and fall.

Flatwoods became my favorite place to play a football game. It is nice to play a home game, but there is something special about going into your rival's home stadium, especially when your rival is good. It probably was not as hostile as I tried to make it. But, I always talked myself and my team into believing it was a hostile environment and that we were beyond prepared for a challenge that would bring out the best in our team.

My coaches at Mason would tease me that the over/under for me saying "Flatwoods" that week was around 40... or higher. I loved to talk about Flatwoods and usually had to say the words right after the previous week's game on Friday night when we gathered as a team. They also would tease me about getting there too early. But, I loved that place and that game. I wanted to get there as quick as I could on those Friday nights and soak it up.

As much as I enjoy the flame coming from the devil on the scoreboard, it is definitely a bad sign if you are seeing a lot of that during the game. Pregame is good! Usually when we were in Flatwoods, it was cold, raining, and we got a heavy dose of the Rolling Stones & Led Zepplin before the game.

2008 Kick Off- cold, steady rain, wind.... perfect

Pregame speeches are overrated. My favorite one was the night I told our guys that we were going into the Devil's Den. We were going to look the Devil in the eye, stick our hand in his chest, rip out his heart, and watch him bleed and die. The Red Devils got us in a close one. But, as I got on the bus, I get a phone call from Ray Graham, then the coach at Harrison County. I had shared my pregame speech with him before we had left. Ray proceeds to tell me that they had upset Franklin County and he had used my speech.  I said, "Ray, that doesn't make any sense. Franklin County is the Flyers." He says, "I know. I used it anyway!"

It took us TWELVE YEARS to win in Flatwoods. But, we finally did it and then won 3 in a row.

Trosper will be a senior in the fall of 2021.  I am hoping that for week 10 we can go to Flatwoods and play the Red Devils. The travel will be tough, but it would be great preparation for our team going into the playoffs. Hopefully by that time Boyle County will be in our district and week 10 will be open.  Hopefully we will BE a playoff team in 2021. It would be great for our team, and it would be cool if Trosper could experience again the trip to Flatwoods and getting to play there like his big brother did.

JCB w/ a big tackle in the 4th quarter, 2012. We came back from 3 TDs behind in the 4th to win it. 

One last time, it would be great to walk down those steps with my football team at Henry R. Evans Stadium in a cold October rain, with Kashmir ( Led Zepplin) blaring on the sound system.    Great atmosphere, venue and opponent.  Flatwoods. My favorite place of all.

Billy Kouns & Richie Cox

Billy Kouns, me, Richie Cox

What a wonderful blessing today, getting to see Billy Kouns & Richie Cox!  Billy was JCB's first football coach. Billy & Jonathan Thomas (current Mason County head coach) turned JCB into a football player when he was in Knights football. Billy has remained a wonderful family friend and his son, Andrew, played for me at Mason County.

Richie was my QB at Mason County in 2006 & 2007. He is a Harvard graduate and has started his own business, Veritas.  I am very proud of Richie & enjoyed introducing both of these guys to everyone I could find at Mercer County HS today.

If any old Royals or Greyhounds (players, coaches, & managers) see this blog, your old coach would love to see you. Football is a great game, but the best part of coaching football is the people!

Danny Weddle

I enjoyed visiting with Danny Weddle last night at the Sweet 16. I can still remember my first interview with him in 1996 when I became the football coach at Mason County.  Wonderful friend and a legend behind the microphone. 

Meeting Coach Tony Dungy

Meeting with Coach Dungy, 3/9/2016

On Wednesday, 3/9, I had a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget. I got to meet Coach Tony Dungy.   This is the way it happened.....

I first experienced All Pro Dad Day at Mason County Intermediate School in the fall of 2014 with Trosper.  All Pro Dad is Coach Tony Dungy's program which is part of the larger organization, Family First.  When I became the Random Drug Test Coordinator at Mercer County Schools, I wanted to start All Pro Dad Day here. Matt Stanfield, the Principal at Mason County Intermediate, helped to point me in the right direction and we were able to start a chapter here at Mercer County this fall.

My Dad was a huge fan of Coach Dungy. Coach Dungy is open about his faith in Jesus Christ. He is also a tremendous role model for coaches, husbands, & fathers.  When I would be a knucklehead and struggling in all 3 roles, my Dad pushed me toward Coach Dungy's materials.  My Dad & Steele Harmon got me copies of Uncommon & Quiet Strength, both written by Coach Dungy. The books did make a big difference for me and my family.  They were so good that we used them as Bible Studies at Trinity United Methodist Church in Maysville.   Coach Dungy's commitment to Christ and his family, in addition to being a great football coach, earned my Dad's respect and admiration. For me, my connection to Coach Dungy was my Dad. He was the one that pulled me in that direction and gave me those books that helped me be a better person, husband, father, & coach.

John Combs with my Dad after a ball game at Mason County

When I became the head football coach at Mercer County, I made our helmet decal a sword. I told our kids that the sword was symbolic of the sword that David used to chop off Goliath's head.  Coach Dungy had shared the story of David & Goliath prior to their victory over the Patriots in the AFC Championship game leading up to the Colts Super Bowl XLI Championship in 2007.  Coach Dungy had told the Colts to be themselves, like David had been when he defeated Goliath. He also told them to have their swords ready, to be able to "FINISH".  I told our guys that the sword was to remind them to "FINISH" a drill, a play, a practice, a game, and especially the 4th quarter. I was coaching back in my hometown, following in my Dad's footsteps, and Coach Dungy was impacting our program. 

My Dad passed away on Thursday evening October 1st, 2015.  October 2nd was understandably a brutal day with all that went with saying good bye to my Dad.  It was also a Friday, which meant that we had a ballgame to play that night, on the field my Dad had coached his teams 40 years earlier. I finally got home that Friday around 2 pm.  I had a couple hours to rest before getting ready for our game.  As I sat there, listening to the rain hit the roof, I felt overwhelmed by the loss of my Dad, what I was facing in taking care of my mom, returning to my hometown to be the head football coach of a football program that had fallen on hard times which had a current record of 1-5, and all that went with everything I was experiencing.   Thoughts like ...."I can't do this."...."How will I do this?" filled my mind.

As I sat there, absolutely in over my head & overwhelmed with grief, my cellphone began to ring and it said "Tampa, FL".  I answered the phone. It was a young lady named Kaleigh and she asked me how I was doing.  I told her not very well and why. With incredible grace, she expressed her sorrow & sympathy. Then, in the best way she could, she informed me that I had won the All Pro Dad Day Back to School Contest. I told her I didn't know there was a contest. She said I had won, and that I had a choice of prizes. One choice was they would fly me to Tampa to meet Coach Dungy. I told her, "You can stop there. That is the prize I want." 

When I got off the phone and told my family, it was a mixture of tears, joy & disbelief. It was a moment that had my Dad written all over it. It seemed like my Dad had only been in Heaven a few hours but had begun pulling strings for me.  I definitely got the message that God loved me, that He was in charge, and that He could do anything he wanted, whenever He wanted to do it.  

As I made the trip to Tampa, while there, and the return trip, I thought about my Dad. I wished that he could be with me. It felt like he was with me.  

When I arrived in the office on Wednesday morning, before meeting Coach Dungy, I got to hug Kaleigh and Candice, who had set up the meeting for me. Another young lady told me that she was sitting next to Kaleigh while we talked on the phone, October 2nd. I felt like I was meeting family members for the first time. 

When I got to meet Coach Dungy, Pat encouraged me to tell him the story about the phone call on the 2nd. Coach Dungy looked at Pat and asked. "How did he get picked?"  Pat told him that it was 100% random. I had shared with Coach Dungy about our helmet decal, his sword.  Coach Dungy concluded, "this was a God thing." 

Coach Dungy then shared with me that his Dad was alot like mine.  He shared stories that I could relate to as a father, husband, son, coach, and most importantly, a follower of Jesus Christ. 

My meeting with Coach Dungy was brief. But, it was powerful.  I really can't put into words what it was like or the impact it made on me. 

The way that the staff at Family First treated me also got my attention. Their kindness was genuine and sincere.  Those wonderful people made a big impression on me in a very short period of time. 

There is no one I admire & respect more than Coach Dungy. If you had asked me "Who would you most like to meet?", the answer would have been "Coach Tony Dungy." 

As I began the flight back that sunny morning, I was overwhelmed with joy.  I thought alot about my Dad, Stephanie, my children, my family, my players, the coaches and experiences that God has used in my life to draw me closer to him. 

God is good. He is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is bigger than anything we will ever face. He is the source of every good thing. 

I am thankful that at a time I was at the end of my rope, God chose such a wonderful way to communicate His love. I don't know what the future holds, but I know the same God that allowed me to meet Coach Dungy will be there for every step of the way.   

Did this really just happen??..... meeting Coach Tony Dungy

Meeting with Coach Dungy in Tampa

I will share more about this later, but today was a day I will remember as long as I live. I had the opportunity to meet Coach Tony Dungy.  Thank you to Candice Butner, Kaleigh Bowman & Patrick McDermott for making this happen. Thank you to Kaleigh who made that phone call on October the 2nd, less than 24 hours after I had lost my Dad, to tell me this was going to happen. I was overwhelmed by the kindness of the staff at Family First.  Coach Dungy was kind, gracious, and shared stories that that I could relate to as a coach, son, husband, father, and servant of Christ.  God Bless Coach Dungy & the staff at Family First.  And, THANK YOU for a once in a lifetime experience.