Long time no post.
I had fully intentioned to have some new articles up on Veersite over these past weeks. Funny how things can change! I accepted the position of offensive coordinator about 6 weeks ago at a 4A high school in Tennessee which has traditionally been a 2 and 3 win team - until the last coach managed to get them hovering on the edge of respectability. I had two other offers from quality programs but decided on my eventual choice because I especially empathized with the coach ...and thought if there ever was a place I could make a difference, it would be at this school.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
I've noticed in my 15 or so years coaching high school football that very few programs have middle-of-the-road records for long. Teams at the top tend to remain there and teams in the basement tend to linger and rot. You're either on your way up or on your way down ...and seldom does the escalator stop and leave a program hanging in the middle.
This is probably due to several factors: the inertia of a winning tradition... and the inertia of a losing one. Winning seems to have a way of "recruiting" kids for you because everyone wants to be associated with a winner. On the other side of the coin, once a mindset of losing sets in, it's awfully hard to change it. As Coach Bennett says, "In 21 days you've built a habit - either good or bad." I believe that. And while it's pretty obvious that a lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into the building of a quality football program, I've come to believe that it takes just as much negative energy to keep a bad program just that - down and out.
You Reap What You Sow.
Take my prospective school in queston. Bring in a good coach and turn him loose with a team of eager young men anxiously searching for the solution to what many may come to refer to as "the curse." If you sit back and watch only the coach and the players, you've already missed the action. Look a little closer. See who covets the job... and who is insanely jealous of any success the new coach might have. Listen to them sow the seeds of doubt among the fans and parents and players who are gullible enough to listen. Watch as they never miss an opportunity to belittle and complain... all the while hoping with each new barb that it will be one one that finally "does in" the coach. In this person's mind, it should be them heading the program and receiving the accolades - regardless of whether or not they actually were the best man for the job. No, their plan is simple: destroy the program, run off the coach, and then "graciously" step in and pick up the pieces for the humbled and thankful school.
Unfortunately, it never works out that way. You see "the Backbiter," as I like to refer to the sorry bastards, while they are persistent and single-minded, they are definitely not the sharpest tools in the sled. The very process needed for them to steal the team from the good coach renders it incapable of winning without a huge effort later. These coaches are invariably "no-go showboats" or as some call them "A Bag of Hot Air" and sometimes "Old Yeller." Regardless, they are going to need a lot of quality assistants on staff if they are to have any hope of looking good - or even competent.
This is not going to happen.
For one, the word always get's out. I had heard that this school had a tradition of bad luck. It was my hope to help turn things in the other direction. Oh, the boundless enthusiasm of youth! My Grandfather Bob had a saying that, "you make your own luck." The same might be said for football programs.
Coaches aren't stupid (well, with the possible exception of one I know... hardy, har, har...) They know when trouble is afoot. So quality coaches may just decide to pass that job on up for the next one down the road. "El Tigre" (as the Backbiter is also known in some circles) will not be a magnet for loyal assistants. It will worse when the losses start to pile up.
Next comes apathy on the part of the administration of the school itself. By this time, the Principal and Superintendent have heard so much wailing and gnashing of teeth by the fans, parents and boosters, they just want a quick fix and feel that simply changing one personality (i.e. the head coach) is all they have to do in order to "turn it around" or "rebuild the program." Many will hand it off to a committee and just wash their hands of the whole process.
It's never quite that easy.
A great teacher I had at Tennessee Tech, Doctor Romines, had a wonderful saying that summed-up his views on making decisions by concensus:
"For God so loved the World, He did not send a committee to save it."
Doctor Romines, I couldn't agree with you more.
So what do you have left at the end of the day for your troubles?
What you're left with is a man in charge with questionable morals, no principles, and probably not as much of a football mind. At least not a great as they would like you to believe. You also have a beat-down staff and a beat-down team. And you get the win-loss record to go with it. Thus you have a self-perpetuating system which breeds more "Backbiters" ...and so the sorry tale just recycles itself again with new faces but with the same old results.
It takes a lot of effort to keep a program on it's knees. But if you really try hard, and a few of the right people just look the other way, it can be done.
On Monday night of this week, I was told by the head coach that hired me roughly six weeks ago that he was taking a job at another school. He had just "had enough," as he put it. I can't blame him really. Shitty timing for me,I thought to myself, but I understand his sentiment more than he will ever know. I only went through one year of that crap as a head coach while he has hung in there for five.
No, I was pissed, but I could not bring myself to stay mad at him for long.
He was apologetic and gracious and suggested that he would love to have me go with him. But the school he is going to has recently consolidated and it will be late into the summer before staff openings are known.
This, my friends, is how I'm now standing here "holding the bag." And trust me, you don't want to know what's in the proverbial "bag" or what it smells like. Trust me on this.
It has been suggested to me by the former head coach and a few others that I might consider applying for now-vacant head coaching position. None of these people has done so with much enthusiasm, however. In fact, I can sense that in his heart, the former coach hopes I stay as far away from it as possible. As for myself, having gone through a poorly-executed coaching transition during my single year as a head coach, I know all too well how hard it is to keep a program on it's feet with little or no support.
It's downright impossible with people in the system actively trying to destroy you at every turn.
So now, at this late date, I'm faced with having to start the process over and search for a job after turning down coordinator positions at two quality programs.
And I thank God for it.
The alternative would have been to have gotten tangled-up into a bad situation that will rapidly get worse in a big hurry. This will happen as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow - of that there is no doubt. Players are already roaming the halls with petitions for and against possible coaches (two days after the head coach has unofficially resigned!!) The word "boycott" is also being bandied about. This is very similar to the situation Coach Bennett walked into two years ago when he took the Suwannee job.
No, the next coach at this unnamed school has my sympathy. And by game five the Principal may want to consider putting the poor bastard on suicide watch.
No, I had my dose of this at Sequoyah High School, and I'm just not stupid enough to want another. Regardless of what I have to do, I will not repeat this mistake ever again. I feel sorry for the Principal at this school. He seems like a great guy. But I don't envy what he's about to go through with his football program. Not one bit.
Epilogue
Oh, you'll get a kick out of this. I know I did.
As far as I have heard, I'm on one of the negative petitions. Seems that I was "too tough" on the players and didn't seem to really "care" about how they "felt."
Too tough? Chief, I don't know who you are, but let me tell you something. A real football player would know better. I shudder to think how soft a kid would have to be, both mentally and physically, to think that the sugar-coated Coach Smith they experienced during spring practice was "too tough."
Kid, my advice is this: go buy a soccer ball.
So I guess some didn't like my four days installing the option. I'd say my brusque manner could be attributed to attempting to fine-tune a finesse offense in a matter of four days. And here I thought I was on my best behavior! No worries, though. The true football players, the kids you could really go to war with, they seemed intrigued and somewhat hopeful that the option might prove to be an equalizer. Now those guys, I'll miss getting to know you and to coach you in the upcoming season. It was just not meant to be.
So, that's my current situation. Not the best in the world, but far from the worst. I was very happy with running the Veer, Midline, Trap and Trap Option from the flexbone and it's variations. In fact, transitioning from split backs to the flex will be the subject of my next series of articles on Veersite.
And yes, I'm keeping the domain as veersite, even though I've changed the underlying title somewhat. I'm going to be looking at different formations and series and the pros and cons of each as well as keeping the flame burning for the split back veer. Who knows, maybe in ten years I'll even switch over to the shotgun option!
Some say the Veer is a formation, a series, and a football play... and they're right. I say it's more a way of thinking... a mindset... a thought process that looks at a defense and says, "now here's the dive read and here's the pitch read... boy, this is going to be fun!"
I also say that it's a word that when translated correctly simply means "the best damned play in football." Period.
So don't worry about me. I'm going do do more than just "be around."
I'm back with a vengeance.
Coach Smith
