Year 26.... plenty of Bad & Ugly, but much more Good, especially at the End.

Year 26 as a head coach was unlike any other. I am use to our teams playing their best football in November. But, this season was different because our September and October were so rough.

I love our kids, but practice for most of the preseason and regular season was a struggle. We fell into a cycle. They loafed. I yelled. We ran. Not good at all. To make it worse, we were hit with some rough injuries, losing 4 starters that played alot on both sides of the ball in September in one ballgame. Even the ones that were still playing were hampered by injuries. And, we were hit with a bunch of illness as well. It was brutal. The 2017 regular season was not fun. Fortunately, November was much more enjoyable.

When we walked off the field after losing on 10/13, we were at a low point and facing our open week.  We were not tough and we were not playing well.

I credit our staff for doing a great  job of planning our practices during the open week. Our assistants were precise in pinpointing the skills that needed improvement and then designing the drill work to make us better.  Instead of taking out our frustrations on the kids, our coaches simply coached to make them better and continued to hold them accountable. But, it was a POSITIVE week. It was not run our kids into the ground, who were already struggling, and were facing a very good Boyle County team in week 10 who would eventually be the state champions in 3A.

Another positive of the open week was it gave us a chance to work on a formation we had never used before. I have never seen anyone use it. It was very different. We had trips to one side, a center and two linemen on the ball, and two linemen split opposite of trips with a WR. We were in the shotgun with one running back. We were trying to create space for our skilled athletes and help our linemen with pass protection. And, Boyle County is extremely well-coached. The set allowed us to negate some of their coaching and preparation because it was so different. Although we didn't win the game, we were able to make it 7-7 early. We did some good things in a loss that helped our kids going forward. And, that set became a big part of our game plans going into November.   

We struggled stopping the run most of the season. But, beginning with the 2nd half of our 1st round playoff game, we began to play significantly better stopping the run. As an entire team, we began to play some really good football, reaching the state quarterfinals. 

 When the season ended, only 10 points separated us from the 4A State Champion, Franklin-Simpson. They defeated Collins by 4 points, who defeated us by 6 points the week before. On October 13th, Franklin-Simpson & Collins would have both put a running clock on us.... easily. The improvement our kids made in such a short time was incredible and it became one of my best experiences, ever, as a HS football coach.  Our kids and assistant coaches did a phenomenal job keeping the wheels on and making us a very good football team.

Going forward, I have to figure out a better way to navigate the early part of the season. I did a terrible job for our kids. We had no energy/juice in September. I have some ideas and we will work through those as a staff.

I also have to figure out a better way to navigate injuries and illness. Those are part of the game.  It is my job to figure that part out. There were many Friday nights that we looked like we had not practiced. That is because we had so many guys that had missed so many practice reps. It was not their fault they had been sick or hurt and not practiced. But, it was my fault for not coming up with better answers. I do believe if we can navigate the early part of the season better, that will help with the injuries as well.

Another change going forward is that I must be more deliberate in building the right culture. Previously, if you hired good men as assistant coaches and ran your program the right way, culture took care of itself. That is no longer true. We will take some steps as a team, involving our kids, including our incoming freshmen, to build the culture we want. I would not say we have a bad culture. But, there is alot of room for improvement.

A very tangible change / improvement is that we are going to "turf" an area in the top of the complex that will be 8 yards wide and 100 feet long. This area, combined with the turf we already have in the complex, will allow us to have a full scale indoor practice facility. We will have RBs/LBs on one end upstairs, OL/DL on the other end upstairs, and the WRs/DBs down on the main turf. Team offense and defense will be on the main turf.  I am excited about what this addition will mean to our kids and program.  Our offseason drill work will be enhanced and we will be able to have much more productive practices when we must stay indoors.

After we lost in the quarterfinals, the two weeks leading up to the state championship games were brutal. Those days get tougher every year. The only way I could cope with the fact that we were not playing was either spend time with my family or work to make our program better. The Saturday after our Quarterfinal loss (which came down to the last play of the game), Trosper, John Combs & I made the trip to South Bend for the Notre Dame - Navy game. It was our 7th year in a row for that trip and it has become one of the best things we do.  But, when I got up Sunday morning and there was no game plan to prepare, staff meeting, etc. ... it hit me like a ton of bricks that our season was over. I am a horrible loser and I hate it now more than ever. But, I am better at handling it on the inside and not allowing it to take such a terrible toll on my family, especially the greatest wife a football coach could have in Stephanie.

In fact, I asked Stephanie if she was up for 26 more years of coaching football. I would be 78. Her response was , "Sure!"  

I am still learning. One reason I want to keep coaching football is that I have been around the game my entire life and it is by far my best shot at being good at something. The maintenance guys at Mason County told me nothing else was in my brain because all it had in it was football. I have no hobbies.... unless football is both my hobby and my job. 

Coach Floro allowed me to speak at our Middle School banquet today. I suggested Christmas gift ideas for those young men.... Why We Can't Wait by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Dr. King's book explains that the only way to truly lead and bring about change is to change the way people think and what they have in their heart. Viktor Frankl's book helps us understand that no one can take away our freedom to choose our attitude, our reaction to our circumstances, and most importantly, our freedom to serve others.  If we want to have a great culture and achieve at a high level, we have to THINK differently.

As I spoke today, I got a little wound up, and somewhat loud. Some of Trosper's teammates wondered why I was mad! Some even told him,  "Your dad needs to be a preacher." He explained to those guys, my dad is not mad, but he is excited and that is when he starts getting loud.

 I am thankful that I am already excited about Year 27.  

Thank you Arpan Dixit of the Harrodsburg Herald for the photos!