Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2019 20:30:39 GMT -6
Well, it's been an "interesting" year. I wound up coaching somewhere different than I thought I would. That's a long story. Now I'm serving as the OL/DL coach for a HS that had won 1 game in 4 years before I got here. We are badly outmanned up front on both sides of the ball, going up against teams who outweigh us by 100lbs per man and are much, much stronger in the weight room. I'm a sucker for underdogs. With the kids and coaches I get to work with, I still wouldn't want it any other way. I love these guys.
Things started out rough this season. I've coached at much smaller schools and never had I seen such a motley crew of linemen. We had a couple of injuries that took out our two best OL/DL and we've been left having to move guys who couldn't cut it at LB to the DL. We see a fair amount of DII OL and DL, as well as some D1 prospects up front. Overall, I'd say most of our opponents average about 240lbs per man and are just much, much stronger than we are. The left side of our OL averages about 170lbs. We have our work cut out for us each week.
We opened the season as double digit underdogs in our first 3 games. We then blew a big halftime lead against an archival to lose the first one by a TD. Then we lost the second week by a TD, but our kids fought hard to the end. Even though we didn't come out on top, you could see the fight in this team and how hard the kids were working. We were light years better than this team had been in years.
Finally, we broke through on Friday night! We won 34-6 on their turf, holding our much bigger and stronger opponent to under 120 yards of total offense for the game and rushing for over 200 on the ground behind the efforts of that crew of misfits on the OL I get to coach. Even our own local media predicted us to lose that one by at least 2 TDs. Our OC, who's awesome to work with and has coached at this school for 15 years, said it was the first time he can ever remember being able to run the ball to close out a win AND the first time he ever got to put the 2nd team in when we were on top. Afterwards, the kids were in tears with their arms around each other--this was just the second win our seniors have ever had after being so close in our first two games. It would have just have been a routine win for any other team, but getting to be with those young men in that moment was one of the more powerful things I've ever gotten to be a part of as a coach.
It's not been easy. At times, I've doubted myself as a position coach because we're not getting the kind of performance I feel is necessary to win... but then I look at what we're working with, how far the kids have come, and how the other coaches on staff say this is "the first time they've had 5 legit OL" in years and it makes me smile. These kids give everything they've got, are very coachable, and watching them grow as young men and football players over the summer to this point has been a real treasure. The coaches I get to work with are just plain awesome guys who are in it for the right reasons, especially our HC. I couldn't ask for a better crew to work with.
And now we're 1-2 on the year, which isn't great... but this school hasn't had a start that good in 6 years and we've already equaled our win total for the previous 4 seasons! With 7 games to go the playoffs are a very real possibility. We've got our toughest opponent yet coming up on Friday--an archival who's set offensive records last week and features a future D1 OL/DL up front. Then we play the reigning state champs and another contender in a higher classr in back-to-back weeks. We'll see how it goes, but one thing I don't doubt is that our kids are going to bring everything they've got.
To all you other coaches on here, thank you for all that I've learned from you and been able to apply with our kids this year. Good luck to you on your journeys this season!
Things started out rough this season. I've coached at much smaller schools and never had I seen such a motley crew of linemen. We had a couple of injuries that took out our two best OL/DL and we've been left having to move guys who couldn't cut it at LB to the DL. We see a fair amount of DII OL and DL, as well as some D1 prospects up front. Overall, I'd say most of our opponents average about 240lbs per man and are just much, much stronger than we are. The left side of our OL averages about 170lbs. We have our work cut out for us each week.
We opened the season as double digit underdogs in our first 3 games. We then blew a big halftime lead against an archival to lose the first one by a TD. Then we lost the second week by a TD, but our kids fought hard to the end. Even though we didn't come out on top, you could see the fight in this team and how hard the kids were working. We were light years better than this team had been in years.
Finally, we broke through on Friday night! We won 34-6 on their turf, holding our much bigger and stronger opponent to under 120 yards of total offense for the game and rushing for over 200 on the ground behind the efforts of that crew of misfits on the OL I get to coach. Even our own local media predicted us to lose that one by at least 2 TDs. Our OC, who's awesome to work with and has coached at this school for 15 years, said it was the first time he can ever remember being able to run the ball to close out a win AND the first time he ever got to put the 2nd team in when we were on top. Afterwards, the kids were in tears with their arms around each other--this was just the second win our seniors have ever had after being so close in our first two games. It would have just have been a routine win for any other team, but getting to be with those young men in that moment was one of the more powerful things I've ever gotten to be a part of as a coach.
It's not been easy. At times, I've doubted myself as a position coach because we're not getting the kind of performance I feel is necessary to win... but then I look at what we're working with, how far the kids have come, and how the other coaches on staff say this is "the first time they've had 5 legit OL" in years and it makes me smile. These kids give everything they've got, are very coachable, and watching them grow as young men and football players over the summer to this point has been a real treasure. The coaches I get to work with are just plain awesome guys who are in it for the right reasons, especially our HC. I couldn't ask for a better crew to work with.
And now we're 1-2 on the year, which isn't great... but this school hasn't had a start that good in 6 years and we've already equaled our win total for the previous 4 seasons! With 7 games to go the playoffs are a very real possibility. We've got our toughest opponent yet coming up on Friday--an archival who's set offensive records last week and features a future D1 OL/DL up front. Then we play the reigning state champs and another contender in a higher classr in back-to-back weeks. We'll see how it goes, but one thing I don't doubt is that our kids are going to bring everything they've got.
To all you other coaches on here, thank you for all that I've learned from you and been able to apply with our kids this year. Good luck to you on your journeys this season!
