April 28, 2025 • 27 mins
In this inspiring episode of Coach 360: Beyond The Game, we hear from Coach Lawrence Johnson, the Athletic Coordinator and Head Football Coach at Wichita Falls Legacy High School. Taking on the challenge of merging three schools into one unified program, Coach Johnson shares a raw, powerful account of what it takes to build culture, character, and unity in the face of adversity.
With a new campus, a new team, and no shortage of challenges—including an 0-10 season—Coach Johnson offers a masterclass in leadership through hardship. Rather than focusing on the scoreboard, he turns his attention to the character of his athletes, teaching them to believe, compete, and serve each other through a values-driven framework he calls the ABCDs. For any coach navigating change, struggle, or a rebuild, this conversation is essential listening.
Key Takeaways from the Lawrence Johnson Interview
- Adversity is a classroom: Coach Johnson believes tough seasons teach the most powerful life lessons—resilience, humility, and belief.
- Start with values: His team is built on ABCDS—Accountability, Brotherhood, Compete, Discipline, and Selflessness—as daily standards, not just slogans.
- Merge through relationships: Bringing together students from three schools, Coach prioritized bonding, trust, and shared experiences over immediate wins.
- Leadership is modeled, not mandated: Johnson emphasizes showing love through actions, creating spaces for student-led leadership like Unity Councils.
- Celebrate others: Selflessness is taught through intentional acts—cheering teammates, community service, and authentic encouragement.
- 1-0 mindset every day: After a winless season, the rally cry is simple: win today. In the classroom, the weight room, in effort, and attitude.
- Coaching is about belief: "Believe in your head and your heart" became a foundational mantra to help athletes push forward.
- Love first, coach second: Johnson challenges coaches to know kids beyond the field—who their siblings are, what they’re going through, what matters to them.
The Highlight Reel – The top quote-worthy moments from the episode.
- “You can’t ask for discounts when you're trying to win. You’ve got to pay full price for it.”
- “You control your response to adversity. Don’t let it control you.”
- “I told the kids, ‘Don’t believe what I say. Let me show you that I love you.’”
- “You can’t overcome adversity until you overcome your biggest excuse.”
- “The scoreboard isn’t the only way to win—life is happening between the lines.”
- “Even in success, discipl
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Hey, everyone. My name is Colton, and I'm the host of the Coach 360 podcast. Here, our goal is to come alongside and equip coaches with the resources to help develop character through sports and raise up the next generation of leaders. Not only do we do that through this podcast and interviewing coaches from across the nation about character, culture, and leadership, but we also do it through our 2 words character development curriculums. If you want to learn more about these or anything else that we offer, visit our website, 2words.tv. That's the number 2 words.tv. Or you can always drop me an email, colton at 2words.tv. Thanks for listening today. Let's get into the show. Have you registered for the Texas Way yet? The Texas Way is a collaborative campaign between Texas High School Coaches Association, Texas High School Athletic Directors Association, and 2 Words Character Development to improve the level of sportsmanship at UIL sporting events. Decrease the number of ejections at UIL sporting events and strengthen communities and the relationships between coaches, athletes, officials, and fans. Register now for this free resource at www.playthetexasway.com. The Texas Way is powered by Mammoth Sports Construction. Do something big. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Coach 360 Today, I have the great privilege of hanging out with Coach Lawrence Johnson. He's the athletic coordinator and head football coach at Wichita Falls Legacy High School. Coach, welcome to the podcast. Man, thanks for having me, Colton. Absolutely. Well, coach, you guys took over a brand new program this year. You guys had three schools. You ended up merging into two. Coach, why don't you just start us off by telling us what just that transition has been like, uh, what it was like, uh, getting ready for that and kind of the mentality you had as you approach this season. And you talk about challenges, man. It was, it was a challenge from the start, but it was also, it was also unique because it was fun. It was new. Um, and so the, the first thing that we felt like what was, was important was obviously establishing a coaching staff that, that can meet the needs of, of all of our kiddos, you know, a diverse coaching staff. And with that, then we wanted to just get the kids around each other as often as possible. And so what we did during the spring was, um, a very unique off season plan. We traveled to, we did off season at Hershey high school. We did, we did off season at, uh, At Old High and then we also did off season at Ryder High School. And so we traveled to those three schools along with the feeder schools to the middle schools. And so we were, we were all over the city of Wichita Falls, um, just incorporating and, you know, an off season plan, you know, and then, um, you know, we did, um, we called them fifth quarters where we would get all the kids together in, in one location. To, to do a, you know, a player led workout and then, um, and then do some drills outside and then, and then do some seven on seven and some lineman challenge stuff, um, just to get all those kids around each other. Cause during the off season, they were still at their three schools. And so. That was one thing we were big on in the spring was just, just trying to merge a family, you know, melt a family into one pot. And, but again, I mean, it brought it challenges because not everybody was able to make it, you know, and it still felt like we were running three different off seasons instead of one. Um, so which that'll change now that we're, you know, we're, we're all in, in, in one location at Legacy High School. And so, but, uh, the challenges were there through, throughout the summer. You know, just getting everybody around each other. And then we finally got, you know, two a days we're here and coaching. We couldn't even practice at our school for the first, you know, first several days. And so we started to travel to old how to practice. And, and again, it's still, you know, there, there were just challenges that, that we faced, but, but you know, one thing we preached to kids was, you know, you control your response. To the adversity, you know, don't don't let it control you. And so, you know, again, and then that that's just, you know, led into the type of season that we had this year was faced with multiple challenges. We had injuries early. You know, we, we just, we had a lot of adversity where it felt like we couldn't just focus on the opponent on Friday night. We were dealt with so much other, you know, outside distractions that, that, that. That caused us, you know, caused our focus to sway some, you know, but, you know, but the thing is, you know, just focus on loving kids, focus on the relationship aspect of it, you know, and just and letting the kids know that, you know, hey, we're going to get through this thing together. You know, and we're learning more about life than we are football right now. So, um, the wins on the school board will come, um, but you also got to earn them, you know, Monday through Friday in the preparation part of this deal. And so, but again, I mean, it's. It's been a very challenging year, but we're going to come out better on the other side hard. Yeah, absolutely. Coach, as you were, you said kind of as we in our conversation pre-interview, um, You guys were taking those traditions and those cultures from three programs and you spent time there at Hershey prior to coming over and starting at Legacy. Um, how did you... What was it like? What type of culture did you set out to create and how did you kind of balance that? Hey, we've got to hold on to some traditions and some culture, but we're also starting something brand new here in the district with this new campus. So what was that like and what were some of the programs that are pillars, I should say, of the new program that you wanted to establish and how did you balance that out with tradition? Well, I mean, the first thing we want our kids to know is we don't want them to forget where they came from because that's that's what made them who they are. You know, the successes they had at the other three high schools. We wanted them to bring that that winning tradition and that that winning culture just. That winning attitude over to legacy. And so when, when that was already established, now the focus didn't need to be on, on. Well, I got to teach these kids how to win because they already know how to win because they had been a part of winning. You know, they've won several gold balls at their respective schools. Um, but just bringing over, you know, some of my core values that, that, that I've learned, um, in my sixteen seventeen some odd years of coaching, um, Um, just trust, you know, being tough, um, belief, you know, brotherhood and compete, you know, are some of the things that, that we value. And so we took that, which I had at Hershey and I had it at Slayton. Um, we came up with the ABCDs, um, which were our core values. You know, the A was accountability. B was brotherhood. C was compete. The D was discipline. And then the S was selflessness. And so those are the core values we, we prided ourselves on. Um, even throughout the adversity of, of losing on the scoreboard, you know, still just getting our kids to show up every Monday for scouting report and, and just, just having a belief that we could win, you know, but also knowing that, you know, winning is not fair. You know, you have to go out and earn it each and every day and you can't take any shortcuts to winning. You know, can't ask for discounts when you're trying to win. You got to pay full price for it. You know, so those are some of the things that we're asking our kids to do that are going to help them in life. Yeah. Coach, walk me through those ABCDs again and maybe, uh, if you could maybe expand upon some of those things. Um, we, uh, Have a general understanding of, of kind of what those values mean, but maybe point back into how you, uh, how you guys exercise those or how you teach those, how you model those things for your athletes. So accountability, you know, we just, we just ask an internal question, you know, can, can your teammates trust you? Can you be trusted? Um, Can we trust you to give great effort? Can we trust you to show up? Can you do all of those things? And so a lot of that was just we're asking you to ask yourself an internal question. You know, and then you'd be able to answer it honestly with your actions. Um, and again, um, you know, you just, we modeled that just by, you know, just reminding them. Like, hey, man, um, we, we gotta be here at this time, you know, practice, we're on the field at this time, we're in meetings at this time, you know, and when, and when our standards not being met, then obviously there's, there, there's some accountability that, that we have to, to provide for our kiddos. Um, and so then you go into brotherhood and that's just the love part of it. You know, we talk about love, you know, we love kids. You know, when I first met the kids, Um, I told them, I don't believe a word. I say, let me show you, you know, let me show you that I love you. And so we talk about brotherhood. That's, that's the family piece of this deal. Um, showing your brother that you love him and you show him, you love him by just, by just giving him everything you've got. You know, him being able to trust you, you know, his front, back, side to side, you know, the trust, you know, the 360 trust, like I trust you all the way around. And, you know, again, but I, I, I gotta be able to, to show my brother, to show my teammates, to show our coaches, um, to show our community that, that we love kids. I mean, we do that, you know, through a number of things, man. Uh, just different, different activities we do with the kids, you know, uh, you know, a movie night or, you know, we, we, we were trying to do a lock in, but we couldn't get the date set up and then the district wouldn't allow us to spend the night in the new schools. Um, so we had that set up, which we, we were able to do at, at, at the previous schools I'd worked at, you know, we, we, we'd still get together. We, we'd do a. We did a leopard night. Uh, one of our local churches allowed us to, to use their facilities and we cooked out. We brought a, you know, we brought a snow cone vendor out. Uh, we had pizza and then lots of, you know, backyard games and we just hung out, you know, as, as a team. And this was during our open week. Uh, which couldn't have came at a better time because we got to get back to, to all the, you know, we got to reset, you know, I told the kids we're going to reset. We're going to do all the re's again, the re reset, you know, we're going to, we're going to recharge. We're going to, we're going to reestablish. Relationships. We're going to do all these things. Um, just to show you guys that we love you and it's bigger than football, you know? So that was the brotherhood piece of then to compete obviously is, um, you know, you can have fun when you're competing, but we're competing to win. Um, You know, we're not competing to be mediocre, we're not competing to lose, we're competing to win. And so just a reminder, That, that you're competing for, for a job, you're competing for a scholarship, you're competing, you know, you're competing for relationship, you know, everything you do in life is there's going to be some competition. So, um, you can't waver when adversity hits. And so just reminding those guys that they can't overcome their biggest excuse. Um, and they can't overcome the adversity. Uh, we, we practice this by, you know, when something bad happened in the game, you know, at practice, you know, living by the three second rule. You know, something, you know, we, we got from, from, you know, goldfish, you know, the goldfish memory, you know, just to reset for a goldfish, but we, we, we shrunk it down to three seconds and he got three seconds to be upset, got three seconds to To, to vent, but then you've got to move on to the next play, you know, so next play mentality, you know, last play, next play, um, you know. Some of those things, you know, just, just, just, you know, quick hitters on, on coaching. Like, Hey man, you got three seconds. All right. It's done. Move on. So, you know, that's the compete piece. And then the discipline. You know, the discipline is just, you know, who you are when adversity sets. You know, are you going to fold? Are you going to blame? Are you a complain guy? You know, or are you just going to run through the adversity and knock it over? And so discipline is, is, is probably one of the biggest ones, you know, the biggest values that, that we can teach kids to truly be successful outside of sports. Um, and so the, the discipline piece is, is, is, is a constant reminder every day. Like, Hey, if the, if the, the scoreboard horn, um, Hits before, if it sounds off before you're in the gym and you're in your position, there's going to be a consequence for that. Normally some towel pushes or something like that, but just a daily reminder that you got, you got to, you got to be on time. You got to have a sense of urgency with everything that you're doing. And, you know, but the discipline aspect of it, it applies everywhere, you know, not just in a football setting. Um, and obviously I'm a football coach, so I'm biased to think that football is the Is, is, is one of the best ways to, to show kids how to get through adversity. You know, we're playing elements, you know, but everybody's equal in between the lines. You know, we all got the same opportunities. You know, the, the ball sets for everybody. When the ball snapped, everybody has to react to it. And so, you know, but the discipline to, to overcome, you know, even, even, even, you gotta be disciplined even in the success. You know, we have a great play, you know, you celebrate too much, 15-yard penalty. You know, so we've even got to be disciplined, even in the good side, you know. Even when adversity is good for us, you know, we're the ones that are creating the adversity for our opponent. You know, we've got to, we've got to learn how to celebrate that. You know, these kids want to, want to, want to do all these different celebrations that they see on, on Saturdays and Sundays. And. You know, obviously, and the way we have to demonstrate sportsmanship is a lot different at the high school level. And so we can't get away with all those things, you know, so just really being disciplined, everything that we do. And then also the, you know, the last one is selflessness. Just think of myself less and my team more. You do that by doing the ABCDs. You know, you do all of those and you're being selfless. You're putting the team above you. Doesn't matter how much playing time you get. You know, or you don't get any at all. You know, your, your, your role is still valued. Um, you still, you still provide a valuable piece to the puzzle, you know, on this team. And so, You know, but selfless is also something that, you know, they got to learn to, to, to be on a team when they're, when they're on the workforce, you know, where, when they're, they're having to, to be a part of something and having to do just their part. Um, you know, just the selflessness to do their job and not try to do somebody else's. Um, you know, is that all of those are crucial. For us to be successful in our program and we've got to carry that same acronym over into off season as well. And so that's one thing we're doing now. Yeah. Coach, uh, can we unpack selflessness just a little bit more? What are some, what are the practical ways in which you help you, you get your kids to buy into that mindset of less of me, more of the team? Man, cheering your teammates on, you know, being excited when you're, you know, for instance, somebody scores a touchdown. Um, everybody, we tell them, get on his hat, go get on his hat. You know, everybody's spreading their butts to the, you know, all the offense, spread your butt to the, To the end zone and just get on your teammate's hat, man. Just, just, just slap him on his helmet, hug him up, you know, high five and, you know, chest bump and just generally be excited. But, you know, not the, not the, you know, the, Oh, I'm going to be excited because coach told me to, but like generally mean it, you know, be authentic in your excitement for your teammate because He didn't just score a touchdown for him. The team gets six points for that. You know, so all of us being excited when something, something big happens, um, celebrating emails we get from teachers, you know, celebrating working on the community. You know, we just got done doing a, you know, community cleanup with New Jerusalem Church, and we've done it for several years, you know, but just the impact we make in our community, you know, they're doing it because they're not getting paid for it. You know, so it's, you know, the expectation of, you know, you're, you're doing something for someone without expecting anything in return, you know, especially, you know, something material. You know, but generally, but generally being excited to help somebody else out or excited about their success, you know, are ways that we highlight being selfless. Every coach wants a player led team, but how do you build a player led team? That's the question that led to the creation of the captain's course, a ten week customizable leadership development course for student athletes. The captain's course will equip student athletes to lead their teammates, Promote the growth of leadership skills, create alignment on your core values from coach to athlete, and help build player-led teams. Learn more at www.2words.tv slash captainscourse. Coach, you, uh, in our pre-call conversation, you talked a lot about, about establishing that new identity coming from, you know, these students from three different programs coming into yours. Um, talk to us more about just kind of the different stages of that, what that's been like and what you've thought through as that. So you guys had a tough season this year, but there was a, A time, you know, preseason where you were, you were thinking about what this new identity looks like and how you're going to attack that and help establish that. You talked a lot earlier about just getting the kids together, building relationships, getting them used to each other, starting to build that trust within, within each other. Uh, and then during the season, what did that look like? You know, establishing that identity, you know, locking in on that, uh, pushing through that adversity. And then what did it look like now as you're transitioning into off season? What are you thinking about for that off season time period? Maybe spend some good time there for us. Uh, well, man, just valuing the, the kids. And what, and what they believe in, you know, and, and I'll take that a step further is asking kids like, hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about this? You know, what's, what should we break out to, you know? What are, what are, what are the things that matter to you guys? I mean, and our kids came up with, they came up with a breakout, you know, they put the double L's up, you know, that's something they came up with. Um, and again, we didn't, we didn't, we didn't robot them on, Hey, we're going to do it like this, you know, cause when you're, when you're trying to establish an identity, um, You've got to actually go through some adversity. You've got to, you've got to be around kids. You've got to interact with one another. We've got to actually practice some before we figure out, okay, well, this, this is what's going to stick for our program, you know? And so, You know, LP, LP three is a leopard pride on three. Um, it's something the guys came up with, you know, they put the double L's up, um, even in the weight room, you know, when we finish a set, double L's go up, that lets the coach know we're ready for the next set. You know, so those are some of the things that our kids, um, started to come up with to to really to show some pride in, you know, we we had a unity council, he was voted on by the peers, you know, and. It was a good mixture of, of, of all three schools, you know, good representation of all three schools. Um, and ways we would, we would utilize a unity council was, you know, every Monday, you know, and if we couldn't do it on Monday, we do it on Tuesday. But they would have lunch with me. You know, we'd get them some pizza. They'd have lunch with me. They'd pick out the game day swag. You know, these guys got to have, you know, all their accessories, all that, all that kind of stuff that they wear now. So the kids would pick that up and then we would do a character lesson. You know, just talk about just, just different, different, different topics. Um, and it would be interactive. We'd talk to those guys about it. Um, they, and then they would, you know, Hey, what's, what's the gossip in the locker room, man? How's the locker room feel? You know, what are, you know, and then they tell me, you know, Hey, guys are. You know, they're, they're, they're sliding, you know, the, the wrong, the wrong direction, you know, we gotta, you know, rally them back in, um, pull them back in to, to be back with us, you know, and then we've also had to make some difficult decisions, you know, when guys didn't, didn't want to be a part Of establishing the culture and, and, and, you know, just setting the standard. They didn't, they didn't want to be a part of that. And so, you know, we, we had to part ways with, with some kiddos, um, but some, some stuck it out, you know, we, we, you know, we went zero and ten together. You know, and again, there's a lot of valuable lessons that that you can take from a loss because you can get comfortable winning, you know, and get complacent. But, you know, if you stay in if you stay in survival mode and you stay in. You know, I'm hungry and I'm starving for, for a win. Um, then they'll start to come. And so again, we, we, we, we, we, uh, we got some pictures that, you know, our coaches put in their lockers just, just as a reminder that, that we never want to feel. How we feel now about going on ten So we were, we're reminding those guys, we're going to continue to remind them, you know, hey, oh, and ten you know, we've got to change our, our, our mindset. We've got to change the way we work. We've got to change the way we move. Um, just so we won't feel like this again. And so they are, we were telling them like, you're going to be reminded of people in the community are going to remind you about it because the reality is, is we did go on ten And so what are we going to do about it? You know, how, how, how are we going to change? You know, the perception of 0-10. Well, we got to be 1-0 today. We got to be 1-0 during the period. You got to get, you know, you got to get in class and be in class, you know, every day. You got to learn. And so there's so many ways that you can change that 0-10 record. Um, to a one and oh mindset, um, you know, just, just with, with our daily interactions. So, you know, but the unity council was big for us. Um, obviously had a lot of seniors that, that were on that, that, that we're going to have to. Revote again in the spring, you know, but we were still challenging guys. We pulled guys and we did in season evaluations with all our underclassmen. We pulled guys in and we're challenging. The, the, you know, a lot of our underclassmen guys to be leaders, you know, because they, they show the, the characteristic, they, they demonstrate the ABCDs, you know, but we need them to, you know, and even if they're not a rah-rah guy, you know, hoop and holler guy, we still need you to lead through your actions. You know, and lead through your influence, you know, through, uh, through mentoring some of the younger guys, you know, not just at your position group, but, but the entire team, you know, cause we've got a lot of guys that are going to other sports, but we've got, we've got, you know, fifty or so that that are that are in off season right now that we're having to to build some some leaders out of. And so we're looking forward to that because that's fun in itself when guys start challenging each other in their weight room, you know, because somebody's not doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're doing the wrong percentage, you know, or they're not standing at attention. You know, some of the, they're not loud enough when they're counting, you know, so some of those things, kids will, the leaders are going to start to, to, to come out of the crowd. You know, they're going to get out from behind people and actually get out in front of people now. And because they, because they don't want to feel like the zero and ten record, you know, we, we, we want to be, we want to be one and zero in the weight room today at eleven o'clock. We have to be, you know, there's no, there's no room for failure there. Um, you know, But also highlight, you know, the place to fail is in the weight room. We're going to go through bar adversity, you know, but we're going to fail forward, you know, because When you, when you turn that old muscle down, you're going to make room for new muscle. And so that's what we're doing to our, to our old ways of thinking is we're, we're tearing that down and creating new ways to, to attack this. And so, you know, again, the one and O mindset is going to be big for our kiddos. Yeah. Coach, can you speak to maybe, uh, those listeners that are tuning in that are, are having a rough season and they're in the midst of that adversity and it's hitting their kids hard. What were some of the ways in which you kind of kept those kids motivated, you know, pointed them back to your values, pointed them back to who you guys are there at Legacy? Uh, what were some of the ways you kept the kids going during the midst of that hard season? Man, the word that I probably wore out the most was believe. Um, I just told our guys, you gotta believe, you gotta believe. And I told them they had to believe it in two places, their head and their heart. And so believing is, is, is probably the biggest thing. The biggest word, you know, we use to, to motivate and encourage kids. Hey, just believe, believe, you know, things are good. Things are going to go right for us, you know. We may not win on and off the scoreboard, um, you know, but we're, we're going to win in life. And so just, just really just focusing, you know, your, your, your mindset on believing and also just loving on kids, man, you know, the putting your arms around them. You know, hey, you know, talking to them more, um, just getting them because you can, you can see in the body language like, oh, I'm tired of losing a lot. You know, we, we are too, but, but we're, we're going through it together. So there's some lessons on the other side of hard. Um, we just, we just hadn't, we just hadn't unfolded them yet, you know, but believe that you can win and then go out and execute. Um, is, is, is the biggest advice we can give to, to, you know, to, To some other coaches who are going through similar things, but obviously understanding that adversity happens to everybody, you know, um, but it happens for you, you know, it happens to you, but it happens for you. And so. Just, just loving on your kids and, and, and reminding them that, you know, they're, they're, they're, there's, there's something to learn from having to deal with hard. You know, and the ability to handle hard better is gonna benefit those guys in the long run. You know, even though we all want that instant Success right now. Um, just stay focused, um, reestablish relationships with kiddos, uh, continue to love on them. And obviously just a good time to remind those kids that, you know, of their value. You know, that, that, that is bigger than football. You know, a lot of life lessons happen in between those lines on a football field. Um, but they're going to be successful and they're going to be fine. Coach, they just got to continue to continue to grind, get up every day. And continue to believe. That's it. Those are the things they do have control of them. Mm hmm. That's it, coach. And you sound like the right man for the job to keep them focused in on that mentality as you guys step into that, uh, you know, one and O mentality here in the office. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, as we start to bump up against our time coach, what do you believe, uh, kids need other coaches? So you're talking to talking to all the coaches listening in now. Um, What do you believe kids need coaches in 2024, 2025 to know the most right now? I think they just need to get to know the kids outside football, you know, the brothers or sisters, what, what type of hardships are they going through? Um, what types of resources, um, do, do they have? Cause when, when you, when you merge schools, Man, you, you, you get more creative with, with resources. Um, and we've, you know, in the city of Wichita Falls, we've got a great support group, you know, and our fans showed up for us, the community showed up for us. Um, every week, man. Um, but really just get to know your kids. To where they feel like it's not just about football, you know, and even out of football, you know, they play other sports, go watch them play. They're in the choir, go watch them. You know, they're in the band, go watch them. You know, so get to know the kid and let the kid know that you love them unconditionally, you know, and then those kids will run through a wall for you. And so that's where, you know, that's some sound advice that I've been reminded of and will continue to bleed into other coaches. That's good work, coach. Hey, coach, thank you so much for your time today. If our listeners are tuning in and they want to maybe connect with you and pick your brain a little bit more about something they heard on this conversation or in this conversation, what would be the best way for them to touch base with you? Maybe email? Yes, sir. Yeah. Ljohnson at WFISD.net. Awesome. Just reach out to me. Perfect. And we can drop that information in the show notes for our listeners as well. Coach, thanks again for your time today. We truly appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Hey guys, one last note before you head off of your day. Over 1400 schools across the nation have or are using one of our curriculums. Are you ready to jump on board? If you want a turnkey program to develop character in your athletes, give us a call at 281-723-9943. We will work with you and your budget to make it as easy as possible. Thanks again for listening to the coach 360 podcast. Now let's have a good one today.
Hey, everyone. My name is Colton, and I'm the host of the Coach 360 podcast. Here, our goal is to come alongside and equip coaches with the resources to help develop character through sports and raise up the next generation of leaders. Not only do we do that through this podcast and interviewing coaches from across the nation about character, culture, and leadership, but we also do it through our 2 words character development curriculums. If you want to learn more about these or anything else that we offer, visit our website, 2words.tv. That's the number 2 words.tv. Or you can always drop me an email, colton at 2words.tv. Thanks for listening today. Let's get into the show. Have you registered for the Texas Way yet? The Texas Way is a collaborative campaign between Texas High School Coaches Association, Texas High School Athletic Directors Association, and 2 Words Character Development to improve the level of sportsmanship at UIL sporting events. Decrease the number of ejections at UIL sporting events and strengthen communities and the relationships between coaches, athletes, officials, and fans. Register now for this free resource at www.playthetexasway.com. The Texas Way is powered by Mammoth Sports Construction. Do something big. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Coach 360 Today, I have the great privilege of hanging out with Coach Lawrence Johnson. He's the athletic coordinator and head football coach at Wichita Falls Legacy High School. Coach, welcome to the podcast. Man, thanks for having me, Colton. Absolutely. Well, coach, you guys took over a brand new program this year. You guys had three schools. You ended up merging into two. Coach, why don't you just start us off by telling us what just that transition has been like, uh, what it was like, uh, getting ready for that and kind of the mentality you had as you approach this season. And you talk about challenges, man. It was, it was a challenge from the start, but it was also, it was also unique because it was fun. It was new. Um, and so the, the first thing that we felt like what was, was important was obviously establishing a coaching staff that, that can meet the needs of, of all of our kiddos, you know, a diverse coaching staff. And with that, then we wanted to just get the kids around each other as often as possible. And so what we did during the spring was, um, a very unique off season plan. We traveled to, we did off season at Hershey high school. We did, we did off season at, uh, At Old High and then we also did off season at Ryder High School. And so we traveled to those three schools along with the feeder schools to the middle schools. And so we were, we were all over the city of Wichita Falls, um, just incorporating and, you know, an off season plan, you know, and then, um, you know, we did, um, we called them fifth quarters where we would get all the kids together in, in one location. To, to do a, you know, a player led workout and then, um, and then do some drills outside and then, and then do some seven on seven and some lineman challenge stuff, um, just to get all those kids around each other. Cause during the off season, they were still at their three schools. And so. That was one thing we were big on in the spring was just, just trying to merge a family, you know, melt a family into one pot. And, but again, I mean, it brought it challenges because not everybody was able to make it, you know, and it still felt like we were running three different off seasons instead of one. Um, so which that'll change now that we're, you know, we're, we're all in, in, in one location at Legacy High School. And so, but, uh, the challenges were there through, throughout the summer. You know, just getting everybody around each other. And then we finally got, you know, two a days we're here and coaching. We couldn't even practice at our school for the first, you know, first several days. And so we started to travel to old how to practice. And, and again, it's still, you know, there, there were just challenges that, that we faced, but, but you know, one thing we preached to kids was, you know, you control your response. To the adversity, you know, don't don't let it control you. And so, you know, again, and then that that's just, you know, led into the type of season that we had this year was faced with multiple challenges. We had injuries early. You know, we, we just, we had a lot of adversity where it felt like we couldn't just focus on the opponent on Friday night. We were dealt with so much other, you know, outside distractions that, that, that. That caused us, you know, caused our focus to sway some, you know, but, you know, but the thing is, you know, just focus on loving kids, focus on the relationship aspect of it, you know, and just and letting the kids know that, you know, hey, we're going to get through this thing together. You know, and we're learning more about life than we are football right now. So, um, the wins on the school board will come, um, but you also got to earn them, you know, Monday through Friday in the preparation part of this deal. And so, but again, I mean, it's. It's been a very challenging year, but we're going to come out better on the other side hard. Yeah, absolutely. Coach, as you were, you said kind of as we in our conversation pre-interview, um, You guys were taking those traditions and those cultures from three programs and you spent time there at Hershey prior to coming over and starting at Legacy. Um, how did you... What was it like? What type of culture did you set out to create and how did you kind of balance that? Hey, we've got to hold on to some traditions and some culture, but we're also starting something brand new here in the district with this new campus. So what was that like and what were some of the programs that are pillars, I should say, of the new program that you wanted to establish and how did you balance that out with tradition? Well, I mean, the first thing we want our kids to know is we don't want them to forget where they came from because that's that's what made them who they are. You know, the successes they had at the other three high schools. We wanted them to bring that that winning tradition and that that winning culture just. That winning attitude over to legacy. And so when, when that was already established, now the focus didn't need to be on, on. Well, I got to teach these kids how to win because they already know how to win because they had been a part of winning. You know, they've won several gold balls at their respective schools. Um, but just bringing over, you know, some of my core values that, that, that I've learned, um, in my sixteen seventeen some odd years of coaching, um, Um, just trust, you know, being tough, um, belief, you know, brotherhood and compete, you know, are some of the things that, that we value. And so we took that, which I had at Hershey and I had it at Slayton. Um, we came up with the ABCDs, um, which were our core values. You know, the A was accountability. B was brotherhood. C was compete. The D was discipline. And then the S was selflessness. And so those are the core values we, we prided ourselves on. Um, even throughout the adversity of, of losing on the scoreboard, you know, still just getting our kids to show up every Monday for scouting report and, and just, just having a belief that we could win, you know, but also knowing that, you know, winning is not fair. You know, you have to go out and earn it each and every day and you can't take any shortcuts to winning. You know, can't ask for discounts when you're trying to win. You got to pay full price for it. You know, so those are some of the things that we're asking our kids to do that are going to help them in life. Yeah. Coach, walk me through those ABCDs again and maybe, uh, if you could maybe expand upon some of those things. Um, we, uh, Have a general understanding of, of kind of what those values mean, but maybe point back into how you, uh, how you guys exercise those or how you teach those, how you model those things for your athletes. So accountability, you know, we just, we just ask an internal question, you know, can, can your teammates trust you? Can you be trusted? Um, Can we trust you to give great effort? Can we trust you to show up? Can you do all of those things? And so a lot of that was just we're asking you to ask yourself an internal question. You know, and then you'd be able to answer it honestly with your actions. Um, and again, um, you know, you just, we modeled that just by, you know, just reminding them. Like, hey, man, um, we, we gotta be here at this time, you know, practice, we're on the field at this time, we're in meetings at this time, you know, and when, and when our standards not being met, then obviously there's, there, there's some accountability that, that we have to, to provide for our kiddos. Um, and so then you go into brotherhood and that's just the love part of it. You know, we talk about love, you know, we love kids. You know, when I first met the kids, Um, I told them, I don't believe a word. I say, let me show you, you know, let me show you that I love you. And so we talk about brotherhood. That's, that's the family piece of this deal. Um, showing your brother that you love him and you show him, you love him by just, by just giving him everything you've got. You know, him being able to trust you, you know, his front, back, side to side, you know, the trust, you know, the 360 trust, like I trust you all the way around. And, you know, again, but I, I, I gotta be able to, to show my brother, to show my teammates, to show our coaches, um, to show our community that, that we love kids. I mean, we do that, you know, through a number of things, man. Uh, just different, different activities we do with the kids, you know, uh, you know, a movie night or, you know, we, we, we were trying to do a lock in, but we couldn't get the date set up and then the district wouldn't allow us to spend the night in the new schools. Um, so we had that set up, which we, we were able to do at, at, at the previous schools I'd worked at, you know, we, we, we'd still get together. We, we'd do a. We did a leopard night. Uh, one of our local churches allowed us to, to use their facilities and we cooked out. We brought a, you know, we brought a snow cone vendor out. Uh, we had pizza and then lots of, you know, backyard games and we just hung out, you know, as, as a team. And this was during our open week. Uh, which couldn't have came at a better time because we got to get back to, to all the, you know, we got to reset, you know, I told the kids we're going to reset. We're going to do all the re's again, the re reset, you know, we're going to, we're going to recharge. We're going to, we're going to reestablish. Relationships. We're going to do all these things. Um, just to show you guys that we love you and it's bigger than football, you know? So that was the brotherhood piece of then to compete obviously is, um, you know, you can have fun when you're competing, but we're competing to win. Um, You know, we're not competing to be mediocre, we're not competing to lose, we're competing to win. And so just a reminder, That, that you're competing for, for a job, you're competing for a scholarship, you're competing, you know, you're competing for relationship, you know, everything you do in life is there's going to be some competition. So, um, you can't waver when adversity hits. And so just reminding those guys that they can't overcome their biggest excuse. Um, and they can't overcome the adversity. Uh, we, we practice this by, you know, when something bad happened in the game, you know, at practice, you know, living by the three second rule. You know, something, you know, we, we got from, from, you know, goldfish, you know, the goldfish memory, you know, just to reset for a goldfish, but we, we, we shrunk it down to three seconds and he got three seconds to be upset, got three seconds to To, to vent, but then you've got to move on to the next play, you know, so next play mentality, you know, last play, next play, um, you know. Some of those things, you know, just, just, just, you know, quick hitters on, on coaching. Like, Hey man, you got three seconds. All right. It's done. Move on. So, you know, that's the compete piece. And then the discipline. You know, the discipline is just, you know, who you are when adversity sets. You know, are you going to fold? Are you going to blame? Are you a complain guy? You know, or are you just going to run through the adversity and knock it over? And so discipline is, is, is probably one of the biggest ones, you know, the biggest values that, that we can teach kids to truly be successful outside of sports. Um, and so the, the discipline piece is, is, is, is a constant reminder every day. Like, Hey, if the, if the, the scoreboard horn, um, Hits before, if it sounds off before you're in the gym and you're in your position, there's going to be a consequence for that. Normally some towel pushes or something like that, but just a daily reminder that you got, you got to, you got to be on time. You got to have a sense of urgency with everything that you're doing. And, you know, but the discipline aspect of it, it applies everywhere, you know, not just in a football setting. Um, and obviously I'm a football coach, so I'm biased to think that football is the Is, is, is one of the best ways to, to show kids how to get through adversity. You know, we're playing elements, you know, but everybody's equal in between the lines. You know, we all got the same opportunities. You know, the, the ball sets for everybody. When the ball snapped, everybody has to react to it. And so, you know, but the discipline to, to overcome, you know, even, even, even, you gotta be disciplined even in the success. You know, we have a great play, you know, you celebrate too much, 15-yard penalty. You know, so we've even got to be disciplined, even in the good side, you know. Even when adversity is good for us, you know, we're the ones that are creating the adversity for our opponent. You know, we've got to, we've got to learn how to celebrate that. You know, these kids want to, want to, want to do all these different celebrations that they see on, on Saturdays and Sundays. And. You know, obviously, and the way we have to demonstrate sportsmanship is a lot different at the high school level. And so we can't get away with all those things, you know, so just really being disciplined, everything that we do. And then also the, you know, the last one is selflessness. Just think of myself less and my team more. You do that by doing the ABCDs. You know, you do all of those and you're being selfless. You're putting the team above you. Doesn't matter how much playing time you get. You know, or you don't get any at all. You know, your, your, your role is still valued. Um, you still, you still provide a valuable piece to the puzzle, you know, on this team. And so, You know, but selfless is also something that, you know, they got to learn to, to, to be on a team when they're, when they're on the workforce, you know, where, when they're, they're having to, to be a part of something and having to do just their part. Um, you know, just the selflessness to do their job and not try to do somebody else's. Um, you know, is that all of those are crucial. For us to be successful in our program and we've got to carry that same acronym over into off season as well. And so that's one thing we're doing now. Yeah. Coach, uh, can we unpack selflessness just a little bit more? What are some, what are the practical ways in which you help you, you get your kids to buy into that mindset of less of me, more of the team? Man, cheering your teammates on, you know, being excited when you're, you know, for instance, somebody scores a touchdown. Um, everybody, we tell them, get on his hat, go get on his hat. You know, everybody's spreading their butts to the, you know, all the offense, spread your butt to the, To the end zone and just get on your teammate's hat, man. Just, just, just slap him on his helmet, hug him up, you know, high five and, you know, chest bump and just generally be excited. But, you know, not the, not the, you know, the, Oh, I'm going to be excited because coach told me to, but like generally mean it, you know, be authentic in your excitement for your teammate because He didn't just score a touchdown for him. The team gets six points for that. You know, so all of us being excited when something, something big happens, um, celebrating emails we get from teachers, you know, celebrating working on the community. You know, we just got done doing a, you know, community cleanup with New Jerusalem Church, and we've done it for several years, you know, but just the impact we make in our community, you know, they're doing it because they're not getting paid for it. You know, so it's, you know, the expectation of, you know, you're, you're doing something for someone without expecting anything in return, you know, especially, you know, something material. You know, but generally, but generally being excited to help somebody else out or excited about their success, you know, are ways that we highlight being selfless. Every coach wants a player led team, but how do you build a player led team? That's the question that led to the creation of the captain's course, a ten week customizable leadership development course for student athletes. The captain's course will equip student athletes to lead their teammates, Promote the growth of leadership skills, create alignment on your core values from coach to athlete, and help build player-led teams. Learn more at www.2words.tv slash captainscourse. Coach, you, uh, in our pre-call conversation, you talked a lot about, about establishing that new identity coming from, you know, these students from three different programs coming into yours. Um, talk to us more about just kind of the different stages of that, what that's been like and what you've thought through as that. So you guys had a tough season this year, but there was a, A time, you know, preseason where you were, you were thinking about what this new identity looks like and how you're going to attack that and help establish that. You talked a lot earlier about just getting the kids together, building relationships, getting them used to each other, starting to build that trust within, within each other. Uh, and then during the season, what did that look like? You know, establishing that identity, you know, locking in on that, uh, pushing through that adversity. And then what did it look like now as you're transitioning into off season? What are you thinking about for that off season time period? Maybe spend some good time there for us. Uh, well, man, just valuing the, the kids. And what, and what they believe in, you know, and, and I'll take that a step further is asking kids like, hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about this? You know, what's, what should we break out to, you know? What are, what are, what are the things that matter to you guys? I mean, and our kids came up with, they came up with a breakout, you know, they put the double L's up, you know, that's something they came up with. Um, and again, we didn't, we didn't, we didn't robot them on, Hey, we're going to do it like this, you know, cause when you're, when you're trying to establish an identity, um, You've got to actually go through some adversity. You've got to, you've got to be around kids. You've got to interact with one another. We've got to actually practice some before we figure out, okay, well, this, this is what's going to stick for our program, you know? And so, You know, LP, LP three is a leopard pride on three. Um, it's something the guys came up with, you know, they put the double L's up, um, even in the weight room, you know, when we finish a set, double L's go up, that lets the coach know we're ready for the next set. You know, so those are some of the things that our kids, um, started to come up with to to really to show some pride in, you know, we we had a unity council, he was voted on by the peers, you know, and. It was a good mixture of, of, of all three schools, you know, good representation of all three schools. Um, and ways we would, we would utilize a unity council was, you know, every Monday, you know, and if we couldn't do it on Monday, we do it on Tuesday. But they would have lunch with me. You know, we'd get them some pizza. They'd have lunch with me. They'd pick out the game day swag. You know, these guys got to have, you know, all their accessories, all that, all that kind of stuff that they wear now. So the kids would pick that up and then we would do a character lesson. You know, just talk about just, just different, different, different topics. Um, and it would be interactive. We'd talk to those guys about it. Um, they, and then they would, you know, Hey, what's, what's the gossip in the locker room, man? How's the locker room feel? You know, what are, you know, and then they tell me, you know, Hey, guys are. You know, they're, they're, they're sliding, you know, the, the wrong, the wrong direction, you know, we gotta, you know, rally them back in, um, pull them back in to, to be back with us, you know, and then we've also had to make some difficult decisions, you know, when guys didn't, didn't want to be a part Of establishing the culture and, and, and, you know, just setting the standard. They didn't, they didn't want to be a part of that. And so, you know, we, we had to part ways with, with some kiddos, um, but some, some stuck it out, you know, we, we, you know, we went zero and ten together. You know, and again, there's a lot of valuable lessons that that you can take from a loss because you can get comfortable winning, you know, and get complacent. But, you know, if you stay in if you stay in survival mode and you stay in. You know, I'm hungry and I'm starving for, for a win. Um, then they'll start to come. And so again, we, we, we, we, we, uh, we got some pictures that, you know, our coaches put in their lockers just, just as a reminder that, that we never want to feel. How we feel now about going on ten So we were, we're reminding those guys, we're going to continue to remind them, you know, hey, oh, and ten you know, we've got to change our, our, our mindset. We've got to change the way we work. We've got to change the way we move. Um, just so we won't feel like this again. And so they are, we were telling them like, you're going to be reminded of people in the community are going to remind you about it because the reality is, is we did go on ten And so what are we going to do about it? You know, how, how, how are we going to change? You know, the perception of 0-10. Well, we got to be 1-0 today. We got to be 1-0 during the period. You got to get, you know, you got to get in class and be in class, you know, every day. You got to learn. And so there's so many ways that you can change that 0-10 record. Um, to a one and oh mindset, um, you know, just, just with, with our daily interactions. So, you know, but the unity council was big for us. Um, obviously had a lot of seniors that, that were on that, that, that we're going to have to. Revote again in the spring, you know, but we were still challenging guys. We pulled guys and we did in season evaluations with all our underclassmen. We pulled guys in and we're challenging. The, the, you know, a lot of our underclassmen guys to be leaders, you know, because they, they show the, the characteristic, they, they demonstrate the ABCDs, you know, but we need them to, you know, and even if they're not a rah-rah guy, you know, hoop and holler guy, we still need you to lead through your actions. You know, and lead through your influence, you know, through, uh, through mentoring some of the younger guys, you know, not just at your position group, but, but the entire team, you know, cause we've got a lot of guys that are going to other sports, but we've got, we've got, you know, fifty or so that that are that are in off season right now that we're having to to build some some leaders out of. And so we're looking forward to that because that's fun in itself when guys start challenging each other in their weight room, you know, because somebody's not doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're doing the wrong percentage, you know, or they're not standing at attention. You know, some of the, they're not loud enough when they're counting, you know, so some of those things, kids will, the leaders are going to start to, to, to come out of the crowd. You know, they're going to get out from behind people and actually get out in front of people now. And because they, because they don't want to feel like the zero and ten record, you know, we, we, we want to be, we want to be one and zero in the weight room today at eleven o'clock. We have to be, you know, there's no, there's no room for failure there. Um, you know, But also highlight, you know, the place to fail is in the weight room. We're going to go through bar adversity, you know, but we're going to fail forward, you know, because When you, when you turn that old muscle down, you're going to make room for new muscle. And so that's what we're doing to our, to our old ways of thinking is we're, we're tearing that down and creating new ways to, to attack this. And so, you know, again, the one and O mindset is going to be big for our kiddos. Yeah. Coach, can you speak to maybe, uh, those listeners that are tuning in that are, are having a rough season and they're in the midst of that adversity and it's hitting their kids hard. What were some of the ways in which you kind of kept those kids motivated, you know, pointed them back to your values, pointed them back to who you guys are there at Legacy? Uh, what were some of the ways you kept the kids going during the midst of that hard season? Man, the word that I probably wore out the most was believe. Um, I just told our guys, you gotta believe, you gotta believe. And I told them they had to believe it in two places, their head and their heart. And so believing is, is, is probably the biggest thing. The biggest word, you know, we use to, to motivate and encourage kids. Hey, just believe, believe, you know, things are good. Things are going to go right for us, you know. We may not win on and off the scoreboard, um, you know, but we're, we're going to win in life. And so just, just really just focusing, you know, your, your, your mindset on believing and also just loving on kids, man, you know, the putting your arms around them. You know, hey, you know, talking to them more, um, just getting them because you can, you can see in the body language like, oh, I'm tired of losing a lot. You know, we, we are too, but, but we're, we're going through it together. So there's some lessons on the other side of hard. Um, we just, we just hadn't, we just hadn't unfolded them yet, you know, but believe that you can win and then go out and execute. Um, is, is, is the biggest advice we can give to, to, you know, to, To some other coaches who are going through similar things, but obviously understanding that adversity happens to everybody, you know, um, but it happens for you, you know, it happens to you, but it happens for you. And so. Just, just loving on your kids and, and, and reminding them that, you know, they're, they're, they're, there's, there's something to learn from having to deal with hard. You know, and the ability to handle hard better is gonna benefit those guys in the long run. You know, even though we all want that instant Success right now. Um, just stay focused, um, reestablish relationships with kiddos, uh, continue to love on them. And obviously just a good time to remind those kids that, you know, of their value. You know, that, that, that is bigger than football. You know, a lot of life lessons happen in between those lines on a football field. Um, but they're going to be successful and they're going to be fine. Coach, they just got to continue to continue to grind, get up every day. And continue to believe. That's it. Those are the things they do have control of them. Mm hmm. That's it, coach. And you sound like the right man for the job to keep them focused in on that mentality as you guys step into that, uh, you know, one and O mentality here in the office. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, as we start to bump up against our time coach, what do you believe, uh, kids need other coaches? So you're talking to talking to all the coaches listening in now. Um, What do you believe kids need coaches in 2024, 2025 to know the most right now? I think they just need to get to know the kids outside football, you know, the brothers or sisters, what, what type of hardships are they going through? Um, what types of resources, um, do, do they have? Cause when, when you, when you merge schools, Man, you, you, you get more creative with, with resources. Um, and we've, you know, in the city of Wichita Falls, we've got a great support group, you know, and our fans showed up for us, the community showed up for us. Um, every week, man. Um, but really just get to know your kids. To where they feel like it's not just about football, you know, and even out of football, you know, they play other sports, go watch them play. They're in the choir, go watch them. You know, they're in the band, go watch them. You know, so get to know the kid and let the kid know that you love them unconditionally, you know, and then those kids will run through a wall for you. And so that's where, you know, that's some sound advice that I've been reminded of and will continue to bleed into other coaches. That's good work, coach. Hey, coach, thank you so much for your time today. If our listeners are tuning in and they want to maybe connect with you and pick your brain a little bit more about something they heard on this conversation or in this conversation, what would be the best way for them to touch base with you? Maybe email? Yes, sir. Yeah. Ljohnson at WFISD.net. Awesome. Just reach out to me. Perfect. And we can drop that information in the show notes for our listeners as well. Coach, thanks again for your time today. We truly appreciate it. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Hey guys, one last note before you head off of your day. Over 1400 schools across the nation have or are using one of our curriculums. Are you ready to jump on board? If you want a turnkey program to develop character in your athletes, give us a call at 281-723-9943. We will work with you and your budget to make it as easy as possible. Thanks again for listening to the coach 360 podcast. Now let's have a good one today.
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