In the City of Portsmouth in the 1980’s and 1990’s, if the topic of coaching high school football were to surface, two names were bound to pop up, the late great Joe Langston of I.C Norcom High School and Darnell Moore of Woodrow Wilson High School on Willett Drive. In Portsmouth, being a hard working city, residents didn’t have all that much, but we had our football.
Like many other playoff teams, our season came to an abrupt end with our second round playoff loss. As I looked across the empty field before boarding the bus home, my mind was stuck on two things. One, if we had won the game, how much farther could we have gone? And, two, I can’t believe it’s over and these seniors will be moving on. Losing a playoff game is the toughest type of loss, because it all ends right there.
Western Branch Head Coach Greg Gibson focuses on themes while coaching, and one of his themes is on excellence. There’s so much content in his presentation on excellence, that we’re breaking it up into five parts. There’s a lot to cover, and here’s the first taste…
When asked “What is the most important aspect about coaching a high school football team?” My answer was teaching accountability to your athletes.
– Bill Stachelski, Head Coach, Cox High School
The “Word of the Week” for my team is: PURPOSE. I challenged them with a question today during our team’s “ceremony”: What is your purpose in playing football for this team?! I let them think about it for a minute and then responded with a variation on a great line from the football movie, Facing the Giants: “If you said ‘winning football games’ as your purpose then…. your vision of what you are playing for is too small!”
A coach I really respect once said “One good coach equals four or five good players.” This is absolutely true! Coaches who are highly motivated will create the desire and passion in young people to want to please that coach and reach their God-given physical and mental potential.
