January 30, 2024 • 54 mins
In the premier episode of the new season of the Demand Excellence Podcast, we are thrilled to introduce our first guest, Brad Collier, a State Championship winning high school football head coach. He gives a riveting account of his transition from an assistant coach to a head coach and the stellar debut season. Brad credits his team's remarkable performance to great coaching staff, supportive community, and his core philosophy in coaching.
Brad discloses his hard-earned wisdom on the importance of leadership in coaching revealing the delicate intricacies of his defensive strategy. He highlights the essence of focusing on fundamentals and how a simple plan can lead to a triumphant end result. Delve into Brad's approach to practice structure, alignment, and his stern belief in the mantra "fundamentals over scheme".
Listen as Brad underscores the complexity of his beloved sport and the sweat and toil behind each victory. He endeavors to shed light on the rookies' journey towards a championship win and paints a vivid picture of how fundamentals form an essential part of overall training. Get a glimpse of the nerve-wracking thrill of play calling and the excitement of clock management.
Amid the exhilaration of the game, this episode also ventures into Brad’s more personal journey, addressing challenges of reconciling faith, family, and a fulfilling career in football coaching. Thrust into the role of an offensive coordinator despite his defensive background, Brad opens up about his experiences and the balancing act required when performing under pressure.
Our coach shares candidly about the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual stresses football coaching brings, along with his experiences with team members facing diverse challenges. He emphasizes the solution to every struggle – faith in God and surrendering one's problems to Him. Join us on this intriguing journey into the intense world of football strategy and player development, seasoned with a dash of faith-based wisdom.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right, everybody. Hey, it's the Demand Excellence Podcast.
And, you know, we're getting it cranked back up.
And one of my very first guests will be Brad Collier, who has just won a state
championship, first pair of training in high school.
And he and I got to work together for a long time. And we've actually done some
podcasts together before.
(00:20):
But now three and a half years later, he left me. He's an FPP.
First year as a head coach, wins a state championship. So I thought,
hey, why not start off a new season of Demand Excellence with Brett Collier.
So, Brett, let me ask you this as we get started.
What is your core as a football coach and man?
(00:42):
And I ask that because this is just a great question to ask because your first
year as a head coach, you won a state championship.
Relationship so like you obviously had an
identity and a philosophy so like who
are you as a football coach yeah I
appreciate you having me on and just for the listener I appreciate coach guess
(01:07):
and he had a huge impact on me working for you those three years really really
set me on a trajectory that was different than maybe I was on so I'm just thankful
for you and appreciate you having me on But, no,
I mean, I think everybody listening understands that you don't win a lot of
football games or you don't win a championship if you don't have really good players.
(01:27):
So we did have a lot of good players and a good coaching staff and good support,
good community, and all that, and all those things that matter.
And so that's first as to why we had a good year.
And I know they all won't be as good as that one.
But that's a great question. You know, what's my core philosophy?
Who am I? Well, I've been thinking about that. And, you know,
(01:49):
I really go back to what our school's mission statement is.
So our school's mission is to educate and equip students to change the world for God's glory.
And to some schools, they don't
really live their mission or you don't see follow through on the mission.
But here, that's kind of the core of what we do. And that really impacts everything
(02:09):
we do. And it goes even, it extends even to your programs and the sports programs
and fine arts and all that kind of stuff.
So I'm bought into the mission of our school.
We're a K through 12 Christian school. So that kind of permeates everything, everything we do.
So I'm bought into that. And I'll just say just this one little tidbit about that.
(02:32):
You know, maybe me and kind of how I approach coaching, which I don't think
is unique, and I don't think I have any secret sauce or anything like that.
But I heard somebody say a long time ago, and I just kind of kept it to myself
and I've always remembered it, is that I,
and I stole this from them, but I really aspire to try to be a better leader
than I am football coach.
(02:54):
I think any successful coach you study or look at, you know,
they're all great leaders also. And so you can be a great coach and not a great
leader, and maybe you don't have the impact or have the success that you might otherwise.
But I think the first piece you need to have is that leadership piece,
and the coaching will follow.
Amen. So, yeah, you know, the one reason why I started this podcast back in
(03:18):
the day was to learn, right?
So I'm calling around coaches, and most of them had been successful or they
had done something unique. unique.
So you're just, you're learning, like, what do you do that's different?
And I think that's interesting that you bring that up, like leadership versus football, right?
You know, what separates Nick Saban from somebody else?
(03:40):
Why is it that Kirby Smart can go and transform the University of Georgia?
You know, there's little things that they're doing behind the scenes,
besides X's and O's, that make them great.
And, you know, that's just kind of what this podcast is all about.
Like, what are those things?
You know, and like any coach out there aspiring to be a head coach or,
(04:02):
you know, me or anybody that wants to be a better coach, like,
we've got to become great leaders, not just understand the game of football. So, that being said.
All right, so on the defensive side of the ball, right? I think it's funny because
you and I worked together. We ran the 3-5.
You know, I don't even think that as the head coach, I would let you even think
(04:23):
about anything different. But I was like, this is what we're doing.
We've won with this. We're never going to do anything different.
I'm going to do this until I die.
Here's the funny thing. Three years later, four years later,
you're not running the 3-5, and neither am I.
So talk about defense and, you know, why you do what you do on that side of the ball. Yeah.
For the listener, when I interviewed at Elka, well, the first phone conversation
(04:46):
we had, you called me and I was young and I had all these ideas of what I wanted
to do if I ever got a chance to be a defense coordinator.
And you called me and you were like, you have any interest in coming here?
And I'm like, heck yeah, you know, absolutely.
And the next sentence out of your
mouth was, okay, well, I'm going to tell you, we're going to run a 3-5.
And I didn't know anything about it, but I learned it.
(05:08):
It and we obviously you know everybody out
there knows we had some some good teams that had really good players and they
had been in the weight room and the culture was there and anyway we had success
with 3-5 and I basically convinced myself that I'll that I'll never do anything
else you know like you and I came to FPD and we ran a 3-5 and we had success
(05:28):
with it and but the bottom line is Because, man,
we just got to a point where this year's team,
on a roster that we're going to have, our size school,
sometimes you just get put in a corner with what your roster looks like.
All right, start right there. Tell the listener what size school you're at. Yeah.
(05:51):
So we have just over 800 students in K through 12.
So in the high school that translates somewhere between, you know,
275 and 325, you know, depending on the year, depending on you got a big freshman
class or smallest freshman class.
So we might be around 300 students in the high school. And so that means your roster is.
(06:11):
On a really good year, your roster is 60 kids.
Some years you might be 45 kids. We had right at 50 kids on the roster this
year, and we had a big senior class and a good senior class.
And you don't get to choose who those kids are or what they look like.
You just have what you have.
And so with the way things went this year, we started the year in a 3-5,
(06:34):
and I'm kind of beating my head against the wall saying that's what we're going
to do. And we had, you know, one of the strengths of our team this year was
our offensive and defensive line.
And so we originally started as a package where we were going to run a four-man front.
And then we had some injuries to where we kind of had to do that out of necessity
then. And then we had success with it.
(06:55):
And we were playing good defense. And so eventually when we got all the injuries
back, we had been running a four-man front for, you know, six or seven weeks.
Weeks and it was like you know why would you change now you know that would
just that would introduce doubt
to the kids and well why did we change to begin with and this and that so,
we just stuck with it and that's what we did the rest of the year and of course
(07:16):
we had some packages and change-ups and things we could do but you know my my thought on defense is,
and I think you'd agree and I think all the all the listeners would agree is
and this is not limited to defense but it just comes down to being really good
fundamentally you know and.
When we were a 3-5, we tried to be the most fundamental team we could be at
(07:37):
every position and try to focus on the details of our package and what we were doing.
It doesn't matter if you're a three-man front, a four-man front, a 3-4.
It doesn't matter. I think all that sort of goes across the scheme world.
Fundamentals matter more than any other stuff. We didn't change our practice structure.
(07:59):
We didn't change our individual drills. We didn't change the way we do things.
We just took out a linebacker and added another lineman, you know,
and, and, and try to be the best we could at fundamentals. So that's what we did.
Yeah. So, you know, I call people like you and me, we're fundamentalists.
(08:19):
So we'll die on that hill. So it's fundamentals over scheme.
Some people are scheme over fundamentals, but, you know, I think as you were
talking, talking, you know, talk about the importance of lining up correctly
and knowing what you're supposed to do.
Because I always find this funny, like parents are like, you know,
(08:40):
you get done with a game, oh, we can't tackle.
Well, here's two things with tackling.
A, a lot of kids can't tackle because they're not coordinated and tackling takes coordination.
And a lot of times if a kid kid can't tackle is because he's not coordinated.
So not much we can do there. We're dealt the hand we got.
All right. So, and then the other thing is as a coach, our kids are not lined up correctly.
(09:07):
We are not putting them in a position to tackle.
So even if they can tackle, we're not putting them in a position.
So talk about, cause that's part of the fundamentals.
Like the very first, what is is it point of the fundamentals is can you line
up right do you know your job talk about that a little bit yeah and i think
that's why you have to and i think every coach agrees with that's why you have
(09:30):
to have a simple plan that you believe in and a simple plan that you think you can execute.
Because i i kind of football is not a simple game football is very complicated
because there's a lot of moving parts and there's 22 teenagers on the field
and you know gets pretty complicated pretty quickly.
(09:50):
And so just kind of the way I approach it is, what can we do that's simple for
our kids that kind of cuts through all the complexity and makes it easy on their end?
Not easy in terms of easy to do, but where you can execute it second nature.
And so, yeah, I believe that every single day you've got to work alignment and
(10:14):
you've got to be able to line up to to anything you see.
And that was kind of what I learned when I was working with you when we were
running a 3-5 is you've got to be able to line up to any formation and any style
of offense you might see on any given play.
Because when you're coaching, like you and I were coaching single-A private football.
(10:35):
One week, we joke about it all the time now, one week we're playing an under
center, 31 personnel, triple option team.
The next week we're playing a 22 personnel I team.
And the next week we're playing a spread team with one of the best quarterbacks in the state.
So you've got to be diverse enough to handle all those things,
but your rules have to be simple enough that your kids can execute it.
(10:56):
So we try not to change what we're doing a lot, and we try to have simple rules that they can execute.
And much of our coaching in like scale
periods and team periods is based on are you lined up right are you in the right
stance are your eyes where they're supposed to be okay now we have a chance
to execute play and that's really the foundation where it all starts and i'll
(11:18):
say this like our individual drills are all pointing in that direction so if
there's an individual drill where,
they're not in a good stance i don't understand why we're doing it there's an
individual drill why why they don't have to have their eyes in the right spot.
I don't understand why we're doing it. Or where they're not lined up,
thinking about their alignment or a block or something like that,
(11:39):
and then I don't understand why we're doing it. So it's all geared toward that direction.
And I'll just say this too, simple doesn't mean simplistic, right?
Simplistic would be just draw it up and go do it.
Well, nothing in football like that works. works so honing in on the simple
things and the details of it i think is where where you give your kids the best
(12:04):
chance to to have success,
So we're going to continue to talk about defense, but, you know,
you brought up how complicated football is.
And so, you know, for the coaches out there, like people don't understand,
like winning is really, really, really hard.
But, you know, parents sit in the stands or fans sit in the stands or Joe Blow
sits somewhere or he's just running his mouth.
You know, we see it on ESPN, all the all the pundits, you know,
(12:27):
all the little talk shows.
But winning's hard. And that's why coaching is such a fraternity.
And I like to tell the math teachers this, you know, because,
you know, they don't understand football either.
But football is kind of like calculus level 10.
And I don't even know if there's 10 levels of calculus.
But not only is it complicated like that, but all the different variables.
So when I go take a math test, the variable is set or the variable is given to me. It's static.
(12:51):
But when I take a bunch of boys to go play a football game, the problem that
we are solving, it moves and it's reacting to me.
And the coach is coaching that other team. So it's this, you know,
a lot of times football looks like chaos. Well, because it is.
And through the course of the game, you're trying to figure out and you're trying to strategize.
(13:14):
Obviously, you watch film, you're preparing all that kind of stuff,
but it's such a high level of complexity.
And then here's the crazy thing a lot
of times you have very simple-minded kids
who can't think with great complexity
doing it and so which
(13:35):
goes back to you got to keep it simple so but
you touched on something right there with defense like okay so
talk about how you're in so let's say you have an
hour and 10 minutes for defense to practice on monday or
tuesday or whatever whatever so talk about that how
this this individual drill leads
into this which leads into inside and scale or
(13:57):
which leads into team how you progress that talk about like your scale and how
you're working alignment inside drill your work and alignment how many reps
you do during team defense so that your offense is constantly trying to react
so how do you coach Coach, all of that. Give me the progression.
Yeah. I'll say one thing that's important is having people on staff that you trust and that can.
(14:22):
They can really put the drills in and know what we're supposed to be working
and manage the players, right?
Because you go down to an inside period and you got offensive linemen,
defensive linemen, linebackers, outside linebackers, and you got to manage a
lot of people and you got to have scout cards.
So having good people that can run it is first and foremost.
But I'll tell you what we do on a normal day, and the schedule kind of stays
(14:47):
the same, but what we do may change.
So on a normal Monday and Tuesday, we're going to go to practice and everybody's
going to go to what we call pre-practice.
And pre-practice is you go to your defensive coach.
Everybody on the field has a defensive position at our school.
So you go to your defensive coach and you're working your stance and you're
working, like if you're a DB, you're backpedaling.
If you're a defensive lineman, you're working your get off on the ball,
(15:10):
probably under the shoot.
If you're a linebacker, we have some stance and start drills we do and then
some drills we do to work shedding blocks.
And then if you're an outside linebacker, it's the same stuff. so
you'll go to pre-practice and then we'll stretch and then we'll
do a pretty long special teams period and
then we go to our defensive individual on monday everybody in defensive
(15:31):
individual is going to tackle and we don't do
a tackling circuit we go tackle with your
position coach one i think there's a lot of time wasted in tackling circuits
because the time you waste going from drill to drill two i would rather the
d-line coach who that's all he's thinking about teach the defensive linemen
how to tackle rather than the DB coach doing a drill with them.
(15:55):
And I coach the linebackers and I know what they need and I know who needs to
work on this and I know who my best tacklers are and who aren't.
So I need to coach those guys and their tackling drills.
So the first thing we do when we go to individual on Monday is work tackling
drill and then everybody goes and works some sort of re-drill with their eyes.
So the defensive linemen, they're in little pods and they're working basically block down.
(16:20):
I'm going to squeeze and spill reach. I'm going to fight the reach block.
How are we taking on trap blocks? So they're all working that.
We're working reads as linebackers.
Our defensive backs are working like there's two receivers.
I'm backpedaling, and I got to split the receivers or read the two receivers.
If one of them goes out, I can squeeze the other one.
Our outside linebackers are
(16:41):
working reading the in-man. So it's all really basic fundamental stuff.
And then after our reads, that'll be a pretty long period.
What we'll do is we'll split on Monday. will split
up and I'll take all the scale guys and our
defense coordinator will take all the all the inside
guys and on Monday he'll work like
a half line inside so it's like the first
(17:04):
progression to an inside period so he's got two sets
of half lines and he's running both of them and the the key is just get it doesn't
matter what offense you're facing you're going to see down blocks you're going
to see reach blocks you're going to see pullers so he's just working those fundamental
things in a half line period with the defensive line and backup linebackers.
(17:27):
And then I'm on the other end of the field working scale.
And I've got to where I run the huddle in scale and I stand behind the huddle
and I can coach. So I coach the offense in scale.
And I can coach the guys running the routes and I can coach the defensive backs
because I can see them all.
And then our outside linebacker coach and our DB coach, they're standing over
(17:48):
there with coaching their guys on every play and we have a routine we go through
in scale like they know every single day the first play in scale is going to
be hitch we run a lot of cover three so they're going to see hitch they're going
to see curl flat they're going to see four verticals,
every single day and they're going to see flood and they
can basically predict the order and then so there's
(18:10):
about there's about 16 plays that
we do every single day in scale in the
same order every single day and we're working our
you know we're working our weaknesses basically and
getting really good at the things that we need to get good at to be good in
cover three and then what happens is it goes to opponent specific so when it's
(18:31):
opponent specific like some things they do we need to work on it may be anywhere
from 24 to 34 plays just depending on what they do like we played an option
team this year and once i got through with my 16 plays,
scale turned into an option period just because that's what they needed to see.
So we'll work our fundamental things and then it goes into team specific.
(18:54):
And then from that, we go to a team period. And let me just add this in there.
The way that, so you take that exact model and you put it out on Tuesday.
If the position coach wants to tackle again on Tuesday, they can.
That's their choice if they want to tackle an Indy. But after that,
you're going to work eyes.
The half-line period will now be a full inside period. Scale period is very similar.
(19:18):
And one thing we add on Tuesday is I call it, we call it cat drill where we are.
You probably just call it screen period, but it's basically a perimeter screen period.
And we call it cat drill because all of our quick screens are named after cats,
like cougar, cheetah, cat, jaguar, all that type of stuff, lion.
And so we go to cat drill and work perimeter fits and all that.
(19:41):
We do that on Tuesday also.
And then we go to a team period. And team period is somewhere around 32 plays,
depending on the week, depending on what else we need to see.
So, yeah, and it's all fundamental-based. So that's what Monday and Tuesday look like.
So, all right, I want to get into this. You go, you're a defensive guy.
You were a defensive coordinator. You played defense in college.
(20:03):
You know, grow up, defense, defense, defense.
And then I say grow up. I meant, like, grow up, like, in your 20s.
And then your early 30s and then maybe – how old are you now?
I think I'm 35. I have to ask my wife. I think I'm 35. Yeah.
I didn't know if you were 28 or 35.
So anyways, so that being said, you go and this year as the head coach,
(20:31):
you decided you're going to call the offense.
Yeah. And you had tremendous success. I mean, obviously, you won a state championship.
Your offense did really, really well.
Talk about why you wanted to coach the offense and then talk about what offense
you ran and how you had success.
(20:53):
Yeah. It's just funny how God works things out and we stress about things and
worry about things. God really does work things out.
If we just trust Him, the Bible says it's for always ultimate good.
And I'm not saying his you know
the good part was us winning the games or
(21:13):
whatever but you know through his process you learn a
lot and you learn to trust him and so anyway when I was going
to take over as head coach our previous head coach he ran
the offense and he coached the quarterbacks and so the
and I was the defensive coordinator for him so the the transition seemed like
we would just hire someone to call the offense and I knew you know who who I
(21:35):
wanted us to be on offense and And I had two guys that I really wanted that
we were going to try to hire.
And what I didn't want to do was just hire somebody I wasn't really comfortable
with around the offense because I think it's so important.
You know, obviously it's important when you have the ball. And I think your
offensive identity really shapes who you are as a team and.
(21:56):
I've just seen time and time again, I think who you are on offense will shape
the way your defense plays and the way your team carries itself.
Like if you're a guy that's constantly promoting your offensive line,
then I think your team's going to be a little bit tougher.
You know, I just think that's the way football works. And so I knew who he wanted
to be, and I didn't want to give it to anyone.
I had two guys I was looking at, and, you know, in God's plan and,
(22:20):
you know, Providence, it just didn't work out with either one of those guys.
And simultaneously, I had a guy on staff who coached with you and I at Elka,
and he'd been here for a few years, and I trust him.
And he had been around what we wanted to do on defense, and I knew I could trust
him to do what I wanted us to do on defense.
And so I just said, you know, why not?
(22:42):
If having the ball is so important and what you do on offense is so important,
then why don't I just coach it?
And so I flipped over to the offensive side, and I'd never called plays before.
You know my first time ever calling plays was in our scrimmage this past year
and and so I learned a lot throughout the year it's really hard to call plays
it's really hard to make decisions when the clock's running but anyway so he
(23:06):
called the defense and I called the offense obviously we had really good players
had a really good quarterback receivers tight in our line was good.
But I knew what we wanted to do was this we were going to be we're going to
be physical on the front we were going to run the ball and I wanted to have
a good play action game and throw a quick quick game as needed,
you know, when we needed to.
And we had, because we had a really talented quarterback, we had probably four
(23:28):
or five drop back passing, like sit in the pocket and throw the ball concepts
that we liked and that we would build off of.
But I'll be honest with you, it wasn't a staple of what we were doing on Friday night.
You know, what we were doing on Friday night was we were running the ball,
trying to be physical, trying to pose our will with our offensive line.
Our running back this year was small. You know, he didn't play any his junior
(23:52):
year, just didn't get any playing time.
And this year he was a 1,000-yard-plus rusher. And then we tried to throw a
lot of play action off of him. And our quarterback was a runner also, so that helped.
So it's very similar. People, you know, I learned a lot from you,
and so it's very similar to what I learned from you.
It's a lot of power encounter, jet sweep.
We run a lot of power read and quarterback run, you know, quarterback run game.
(24:16):
Yeah, so that's who we are. So, it was physical run game, good play action game,
throw a quick game as we need it.
So, like, what are the things, like, you're going through the season.
Obviously, you know, you're learning, right? You're learning how to call plays,
you know. And I always say this, like, you can't call plays until you call plays.
Like, there's a strategy. There's an art.
(24:37):
Like, people, you can have a script. You can have a playlist.
It doesn't matter. You got to go in the game, and you got to react.
You got to adjust. what are some key takeaways
that that you you have at the end of
the season your first year as offensive coordinator where you learn
things you didn't know and you see areas in
which you need to improve yeah one thing
(24:59):
i learned pretty quickly is that managing the clock is a
really hard thing to do and that's something
you only learn by experience and i have
i've had a i had a really experienced older coach
on staff who helped me with that a lot but you know
i can you know learning is hard and and the
process of learning is really difficult i have a first grade daughter she's
(25:22):
in the she's reading and she's learning how to read better and it's really hard
for her well learning as an adult is no different and sometimes you make mistakes
you mess it up i had a just a terrible delay of game call in a game this year.
That was a huge point in the game. And I called a play, then I wanted to switch
(25:43):
it, and we ended up getting a delay of game.
And it goes from third and one to third and six. And that's just a huge play.
And that was an embarrassing moment for me, but it was a learning moment for me.
So managing the clock is really hard.
Here's another thing I've learned. You have to be good enough at your core stuff,
(26:05):
to call it whenever you want to.
You know, there's a lot of time where you don't have the perfect play to just
pull out of your back pocket.
And so you've got to be good enough at your base stuff to get you through the
game and kind of have those filler plays until I get to a place where I want
to take a shot and play action.
Or we had a good tight end this year, so I want to get the ball to the tight end and flat.
(26:28):
Well, I've got to get the ball in the right place on the field.
I've got to get the right down and distance.
I've got to like, you know, the clock situation and the score and all that.
And so it takes a lot to get to those places where you can make that call that you really want to make.
So I use the word filler, like you have to have filler plays, which is your base.
So our base stuff is jet, power counter, quarterback run game, power read.
(26:52):
You got to be good enough at those to get you to the place that you want to
be to call a shot play or to get the ball to a special player.
And that's hard. So what I figured out at practice is you can't ever just assume,
well, we know how to run power, we can quit practice. You can't ever assume that.
Those are daily things that you work all day, every day. And it kind of became
(27:15):
a joke at practice how many times we run power.
But I wanted to run it out of every formation versus every look we might get
versus every situation with the ball on each hash until I was confident that
we could go into the game and call it anytime we needed to. Yeah.
So those are two places that I learned pretty quickly that we had to,
you know, that just taught me a lot.
(27:37):
So talk about this. You know, you're losing. You know, you talked about your
quarterback. Your quarterback's going to Syracuse.
A great player, right? You know, I've been noticing him since he was a sophomore.
So here you are. You know, you had this great year. You know,
you're running power read. Anything you do, he can do. And now he's gone.
So what's your thought process? Here we are in January.
(27:58):
January obviously coaches from January to all the
way to May spring practice you're kind of thinking this is
what I plan on doing so what's your thought process there
with your team yeah well first thing is we're you know we're working in the
weight room and we do that year-round probably like most guys listening to but
I'm trying to get the guys we have coming back bigger faster stronger you know
(28:20):
and we have a couple candidates that can play quarterback next year and the bottom line is,
we've got to get our offensive linemen bigger and stronger and got to get those
guys really good and technical and tough.
And if that piece is there, then other stuff will fall into place.
You know, I'm like you. I want a guy at quarterback that can run and throw the
(28:44):
things that we need him to throw.
But I want a runner there. And we've got a good candidate coming up that I really
like. He's a tough kid. He started on defense this year.
And so, you know, you kind of, you had to shape what you do around the players
that you have, kind of like I was saying, we had drop back, some drop back passes.
I don't know if we'll have as many this year. I don't know if we'll throw the
ball as much, but we may be better in the run game.
(29:07):
You know, so all that just depends on your players, but I'm not going to change
who we are, you know, philosophically at our core, what we're trying to do.
I wouldn't change any of that. Cause I believe in it. I believe it works, you know,
regardless of your personnel, you just have to tweak it here and there to make it work.
One thing you were talking about, you know, you're talking about,
(29:28):
you know, quarterbacks and you like a quarterback to be, bottom line is what
you said, is you like your quarterback to be a football player.
I think a big problem for high school coaches across the state,
across the world, is, you know, these camps that all these kids,
so you're growing these, these, I see these kids, these dads are putting their
(29:48):
kids in these quarterback camps and they're in the fourth grade.
I'm not camps. I'm the quarterback coach. They have quarterback coaches in the fourth grade.
And you know, they're, they're, they're running around here.
They're going, you know, you see seventh and eighth graders,
they're flying all over the place to go to these quarterback trainers.
And then at the end of the day, what I try to tell my parents is,
(30:10):
listen, I can teach a golden retriever how to throw a football, right?
I can teach my dog Titus how to throw football.
I need a football player who's physical. He's relentless.
He is a competitor and he's confident.
And that's who we want to put at quarterback. Because I think what people fail
(30:31):
to understand is, first of all, that quarterback position is so critical.
It's why they're making so much money in the NFL.
It's why they're even making that much money in college football now.
But like you will lose five games or
win those five games based upon your quarterback and his ability to lead.
(30:53):
Talk about that a little bit, what you see. I think it's a good conversation
for any parents out there.
I tell my son, my son wants to play quarterback.
I'm like, yeah, you can play quarterback, but you also have to be able to play center.
Because at the end of the day, there's one quarterback.
And if all you do is grow up thinking, I'm a quarterback, I'm a quarterback,
(31:13):
you're going to get to your senior year of high school, and you're not going
to find a spot on the field. Because you never became a football player.
Right. I'm like, yeah, I think the word you used there that I really like is
competitor. You want a guy at quarterback that's a competitor.
And what that means is when you run quarterback power with him,
his legs keep churning and he goes and gets those extra two or three yards when he's getting hit.
(31:34):
And I just think in high school football, at my level that I coach,
I'm not speaking for the other coaches, but at the level that I coach with my
guys and the style of football we play, you need a competitor there if you're going to be your best.
And if you don't have a competitor there, you're not going to be your best.
And, you know, in terms of the quarterback trainers and quarterback coaches
and all that, I don't have a problem with my kids going to those things.
(31:56):
And several of our kids do.
And the quarterback that we were just graduating, he's been at quarterback trainers.
And I think there's some value there.
And so I don't have a problem with it. I support all that. But at the end of
the day, when you come to our school and you come to our campus and you're wearing
our uniform, you know, we're going to do what we do.
(32:19):
And if you're a competitor and you're a football player, then you adapt your
skill set to what we do and you go do it for your team.
And the team ultimately respects that. And you were talking about leading.
The quarterback's got to be a leader.
And if the quarterback's... The quarterback is the fastest way to either build
(32:40):
your team up or tear your team down, right?
And he's got to be an extension of the coach. He's got to be like the coach.
He's got to know what the coach is thinking.
He's got to have the respect of his teammates. And all of that,
like you were saying, is so critical in leading to your team's success.
And so that's why, you know, when our quarterback was a ninth grader,
(33:03):
he was a really good athlete. Like you said, he joined the Syracuse.
He was a really good athlete.
He wasn't going to start at quarterback in the ninth grade.
And I knew how critical it was for him to have experience, to be involved with
the team. Instead of standing on the sideline, I made him play corner,
and he started at corner for us.
He learned a lot, and he grew a lot.
It made him more physical. It made him appreciate the defensive guys.
(33:27):
I think it was good for him. I think he'll say that today. I still give him
a hard time about getting beat deep in a playoff game in the ninth grade.
But, you know, I think that was great for him.
And maybe the guy that plays next year, if it works out that way,
he played outside linebacker for us this year.
And he's physical, and he just wants to play.
He'll regret playing – he doesn't want to play quarterback because he wants
(33:49):
me to still play him on defense too.
And I'm like, dude, you can't play defense and quarterback, only in critical situations.
But, you know, I think back on some of the quarterbacks we had when I was coaching
with you, and those guys could have – the very best ones could have flipped over.
And been some of our best defensive players also.
And I think that's what you mean when you talk about being tough and a competitor.
(34:13):
So, yeah, those are the kids we're looking for. And maybe other programs are
different when they're going to throw the ball a lot and sit in the pocket,
and maybe they want a guy that's, you know, a little different.
But for us, I want a guy that can go play linebacker and start,
you know, on our team at linebacker as well.
Yeah. Well, I think, you know, I'm just, you know, just talking,
(34:34):
you know, I'm thinking program building.
And so, obviously, there is great value in quarterback coaches And anybody that
plays quarterback for me at the high school level, we would definitely want
them to have a quarterback coach,
a personal quarterback coach that's separate from us that they're going to and
doing and working with year round.
But I'm talking about like when you start your youth football at your school
(34:55):
and you're trying to build a culture and you're trying to build toughness and
just that football mentality, right?
Like what I've done is nobody is just a quarterback.
That's not happening, right? Like everybody's got to play defense.
Like you need another offensive position because I don't want a kid who just plays quarterback.
(35:17):
And what I'm doing is, is I'm trying to create a situation where all these kids,
when they become juniors and seniors can play high school football.
Like I don't want a kid to get all the way to a junior or senior year and not
be able to start because all he ever did was play quarterback.
And there's a guy better than him.
And so, you know, know, it's really kind of just a, just a thought.
(35:39):
Like I try to get our parents to think about like, do not raise your kid up
just to be a quarterback.
Cause he might not be one and, you know, but he very well may be,
but he very well, you know, you know, you know, every year we start off with
what four kids trying to play quarterback and one becomes the quarterback and
then three guys are sitting the bench. And I just hate to see that. So.
(36:02):
Well, as we wrap it up, you know, we got time and definitely want to get into this.
And so because really why I started the Demand Excellence podcast is I could
never find, still can't really, a podcast out there that talks about football
and living your life for Jesus Christ.
And this, you know, and it's hard, like being a football coach is hard.
(36:26):
And then being a Christian is hard. And then I find like being a Christian football
coach is so hard because it is so easy for winning to be our God and performance to be our God.
And I mean, this is a battle every day because I've been talking about this for a long time.
And then, of course, we have all the other sins of anger and wrath and lust
(36:48):
and whatever else. You know, when Paul writes out all the sins in the Bible,
he does it, I think, somewhere.
And I'm like, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. So, but man, just the struggle
of pride and just winning, becoming our God.
So, you know, and I'm really amazed
(37:08):
at you. You know, I think you're like becoming a deacon at your church.
Your growth in Christ since I've met you.
Oh, and the author is Dwight and Avery Chen.
Thank you. So your growth in Christ since I met you has probably met and exceeded me. me.
And so it's just cool to see that.
(37:29):
But anyways, talk about that a little bit, just the struggle of,
man, living a life for Jesus Christ as being a head football coach and being
a husband and being a dad. Talk about that.
Yeah, I appreciate that. And a lot of my growth.
As a believer, my growth in Christ had to do with coming to Elko to work with you guys,
(37:50):
I was just the men that were there and, you know,
you and the head of school and all the folks that were there just had so much
to do with me growing and just goes to show how important it is to be around
people that are older and wiser than you and know a little more than you do, how important that is.
But yeah, that's a struggle and that's a struggle for me this year.
(38:10):
And it's hard to even put your finger on like what the problem is because I'm,
I don't feel pressure from the outside to win, but I know I want to do my best.
And if I don't do my best, I'm disappointed in myself.
And then you know you have a lot of people depending on you.
And man, I really struggled with some things this year.
And I don't mind making this public. I went to the doctor about some issues
(38:34):
I was having and just really struggled with it.
And I think a lot of coaches struggle with those things. And,
you know, it's easy for football to be consuming because of the,
it is a consuming job because the job never ends.
I had a college coach in my office the other day and we were talking about this
and he was talking about how his job never ends.
You know, there's always a recruit that has to be called. There's always film
(38:56):
that has to be studied. There's, there's all. So even when you have your days
off, they're not really days off.
And so I really struggled with some things this year. And at the end of the
year, man, my wife told me, you know, for five weeks, you've been walking around
like a zombie, like you're not even a real human.
And, you know, you're exhausted and you're stressed and issues happen.
(39:17):
You get stressed about issues and then you got to coach the game.
You know, it's just it's just too much.
And so I don't have all the answers, but I'll say some things that I've done
that have helped me, I think, and maybe some places where I failed.
One thing that really helps me is I try to take a real Sabbath day on Saturday.
And what that means for me is if I need to do some work, like if I need to come
(39:42):
to the school and do laundry, I do it before noon.
But at noon on Saturday, I quit working on football and I go home and we like
to just stay home on Saturday. We don't go anywhere.
And we make football food. My wife makes a cheese dip and I'll grill something.
And we watch college football all day. We stay home. And, man,
(40:03):
just being at home and not opening up huddle and not doing that was really good for me.
It just gave me a chance to, man, sit in the chair and unwind and have my kids
crawl all over me and just be a dad.
So I try to make Saturday a real Sabbath day where I'm not working and I'm at home resting.
(40:24):
And there were points in the season where I didn't do that. And I could tell
that those weeks following, man, I just, it wasn't right in my chest.
And I was, I was, you know, I was burnt out basically.
And then some things that I think are really good, you know,
I learned from you, you know, get up every morning and.
I say I learned it from you, but really I saw it in practice with you.
(40:46):
I'd learned it elsewhere, but I saw someone actually do it with commitment with
you. You get up every morning, you spend time reading the Bible and in prayer.
And I failed at that a lot this year. You're so exhausted and the alarm clock
goes off and you don't want to do it.
And so I was at best sporadic at that this year.
(41:07):
And then at the end of the season, you pick back up and you start being disciplined
again. And what I learned is, you know, just like we talk about fundamentals
in football, those are the fundamental things as a believer.
And those things can't get in the way, you know, all the other things can't
get in the way of you doing those fundamental things.
And when you start putting those things as secondary, you know,
(41:29):
it takes a toll on you mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally,
and then you're not at your best.
And then when you're not at your best, you're paying for it on the back end.
And so those are two things that I really think are important, but it's hard, man.
And I need to learn to delegate a little bit more and trust people to do things more.
(41:49):
Like I'm really, I'm like, I'm probably like you, I'm involved in our youth programs.
I'm at the middle school games, coaching every day. I'm watching film with the kids.
And then sometimes it feels like the things that are the most important things
haven't become secondary things because I'm doing so much.
And if we would just take our football philosophy and we talk about this all
(42:11):
the time take your football philosophy about being simple and doing the fundamental
things right if we would actually put that into practice in our personal lives
i think we wouldn't have so many other issues.
So that's not no that's true and a few thoughts that i had while you were talking
you know you talk about so you and i used to talk about this when we were at
(42:31):
at at elka together but but Psalm 127 verses one and two, it says,
unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain,
unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
But then it says this, it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil, for he gives to his beloved sleep.
(42:52):
And it's just speaking to the sovereignty of God, the providence of God,
the omnipotence of God, like God's in control.
I don't care how much you work. I don't care how much you do.
I don't, you know, God and we, what Proverbs 21, 31, right.
Unless the horse is made ready for the day of battle, the Vic,
but the victory belongs to the Lord. Like the Lord is in control.
(43:12):
Like it doesn't matter how, like all the extra stuff, dude, if you fumble you're losing.
And, you know, so I say that because like God gives us these commands, right.
He gives us the command to, to.
To rest and to have a Sabbath. But it's for our benefit, right?
It's for our good, right? I was just talking to, you know, teenagers come in
(43:36):
here and they always ask just irrational questions.
And so they're talking about divorce and they're like, well,
I didn't know it was that if you got divorced, that God had rules on divorce.
I said, yeah, you know, I was like, divorce in God's eyes is wrong and he hates
it unless, you know, there was like two reasons why, you know,
adultery being one of them. And they're like, of course, you're talking to kids
(43:59):
whose parents have been divorced.
And I was like, listen, I was like, that isn't God saying you're going to hell if you get divorced.
What he's saying is this is what's best for you.
And is there forgiveness if you screw up? Yes. So my point is, is God tells us to rest.
(44:20):
Stressed he's like Brett would you would you
chill out like when you're worried about the Stratford game
on Thursday night 10 o'clock on your couch and you're thinking about it and
he's like Brett you're an idiot and I mean I hear him call me an idiot a lot
maybe he doesn't call you one but like and it's like we know this verse so this
(44:41):
is the struggle like we know like.
And it's what you've done, right? At 12 o'clock, I'm shutting it down on Saturday,
and I'm just going to enjoy my family for 24 hours.
Now, there might be some coach out there that says, no, you can't do that,
Brett. You won't win if you don't, or Satan's in your ear.
You won't win if you don't study this film on Saturday.
(45:03):
But like, I don't know. I mean, you get what I'm saying?
That's the struggle. No, absolutely. And it is a mental and a spiritual struggle.
And, but then there's a, there's a part of it that that's physical also where,
you know, when you get to week 10 in the regular season, then you get into the playoffs,
(45:23):
you know, because of all the things you've done all the way back to May,
your, your body just really cannot handle anymore. more.
And so, I mean, this is the way it was to me.
I got to the point to where I was physically beat down, exhausted,
and I was in this pattern of doing things that was unhealthy, working and.
(45:49):
You know, working too much and worrying about this and talking to this person.
Anytime this person calls, I have to answer the phone and I'm doing all these things.
And so you develop these unhealthy habits. And at the end of the season,
you're just, you're a mess. You're unhealthy.
And like I said, it goes back to, you got to take care of the priorities and
the fundamental things.
And we say those things, but they're really hard to put into practice and execute.
(46:12):
And so what I want to do a better job at is just managing that a little better.
So be in discipline with the Sabbath, be in discipline on the weekend,
not stand up here meeting forever.
When we watch our film, we're going to watch the film, but we're not going to
to go over overboard with it with the kids and then just control the things
you can control and manage it and, and do my best with it. But it's hard,
(46:34):
you know, and I don't have it figured out.
But I wish somebody did and they'd tell me. I think it's the,
you know, the Bible says like we're in the in-between, right?
We're in the already, but not yet, right? So Christ has come.
Christ has delivered us from sin. All right.
Spiritually, he delivered us from sin, right? We have eternal life.
There's a, but we have the flesh, right?
(46:55):
And the flesh isn't just, I mean, I think people think like the flesh is just lust.
It's not. Like our brains are diseased, right?
Like it's the anxiety. it's the
you know all these things and you know
what we have to do and is just learn how to
lay it down you know like you know lay it down and and put it before the feet
(47:17):
of the lord because at the end of the day like and and this is good to have
to talk about this but like so i know i'm 44 years old and and every christian
coach could could could talk to this but like man man,
just the stress that you're under and how isolated you can feel,
(47:38):
I mean, that can reap havoc on your marriage. It could reap havoc on your family.
And it's just constant warfare. So yeah.
You know, the answer is, Brett, I know the answer, but I don't necessarily do it.
But the answer, Paul's like, who will deliver me from this body of death?
(48:00):
And the answer is Jesus Christ, to live in Christ.
One of the things that takes a toll on me is, I think most football coaches
say this, but certainly as a Christian football coach,
working in a Christian school, and part of what we do is you're trying to build
(48:21):
relationships with people and impact people for Christ.
I really think that's first and foremost to a lot of coaches.
Then when those relationships, when you have issues and you have expectations
and then you have things that come up that impact those relationships,
that's where the worry is for me.
I'm not worried about what people think or what people say. I don't care about all that.
(48:46):
What I worry about is dealing with kids, communicating with their parents,
talking to their families, and doing it all from the worldview and perspective
that I'm called to do it from.
And it just becomes a lot. And it's a lot when, like I had a mom sitting on
my couch crying this year because her son's going through something really tough.
(49:09):
I had a kid whose dad died this year. I had a kid who was injured a lot this
year and felt like he was failing on expectations.
When you have those things happen week to week to week to week on top of what
you're doing, and they take up a lot of your time because that's what you're called to do,
man, it's just like those issues run very deep, and they're hard to deal with,
(49:32):
and they're hard to work through, and it's hard to lead through that.
And man, I mean, God's still in control. Right.
Yeah, we're called to work at it, and that can be really hard and cause a lot
of those stressors also.
So that was tough on me this year as a first-year head coach, managing all that.
I think you could be a 30th-year head coach, and that's going to be stressful on you.
(49:55):
No, man, it's crazy. I tell people all the time, man, as a head football coach,
if you care about winning and you care about being excellent and you care about
the kids and you care about the parents, you're one step away from being a crack addict.
Or an alcoholic.
Cause like, I mean, you're just looking for that rest. You're looking for that peace.
(50:17):
Obviously we know the answer, right? It's to get in the word of God.
It's, it's to live in Christ and, you know, take, take our problems and issues to him.
And that, and that's what this podcast is all about. It's like being real,
right? We have problems, we have issues.
We can't turn to drugs. We can't turn to alcohol. We can't turn to whatever
it is your struggle may be.
We have to, you know, deny ourselves, pick up our cross, follow Christ, rest in Him.
(50:43):
And that's the goal, right? To rest in Christ, right? The Bible verse,
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
And sometimes I'm like, I do not feel it, right?
And so I think the cool thing too is, you know, we're not going to find ultimate rest here.
And when you're in the middle of that and even thinking back on it now because
(51:04):
now I'm sort of in a restful period. It's the off season.
I'm coaching some sports in the off season, but it's not nearly the demand that football is.
But man, it just makes looking forward to heaven sweeter, you know,
and that's what God promises, you know, and one day we'll be there.
And he tells that you're not going to be here yet. Like the world is filled
(51:27):
with these things with tribulation and it's going to be hard.
And what that does to me, and
I think that's what it should do to us is it
should point us forward to a time where nothing's bad and it points us forward
to a time where everything's good and and that should make us want to pursue
him more and and look forward to that more and see him as perfect and and awesome and beautiful more.
(51:55):
Because we're falling, we don't always do that. We feel like we need to fix things more.
But I've tried to let that be what it does to me is point me forward to a time
when not just on a Saturday when I'm sitting in the chair, not just the offseason,
or not just after you won a big game,
that it would point me forward to an eternal time when all is good and that will be fun.
(52:16):
Absolutely. So very good stuff, Brett. Like, man, hope everybody's encouraged.
We talked a little. We were real a little bit. Hey, we all struggle.
But at the end of the day, you know, there's joy and there's such goodness in
coaching the game of football and building up kids and boys and doing it for Christ.
And so really appreciate you coming on and talking.
(52:37):
As we depart, give us like one thing, like one thing that's,
you know, on your, I'm going to be better at this in 2024. 2024?
Yeah, well, I'll give you a football one specifically.
I'm going to be better in 2024 at self-scouting ourselves, at looking at what
(52:59):
we do on offense and kind of finding some of our tendencies.
And so when people look at us, I kind of know what they're looking at.
But I'll give you one that's a little bit different, maybe on the leadership side as well.
I'm going to be better in 2024 at connecting
with every single player on our team you know
(53:21):
we get caught up sometimes and coaches are coaching our position group and or
coaching just the very best players I really want every single player in our
program to know me and I want to know them and I want all to feel connected
to the team and to the coaching staff so that those are my two things,
very good all right so I'm going to pray for us and we'll be done really appreciate
(53:44):
you hope Hope you nothing but the best in 2024.
Lord, we're coming for you today. I just want to praise and thank you for loving
us. Praise and thank you for Brett, just what you've done in his life.
Lord, how I've seen him grow in Christ.
It's motivating to me, for me to just keep on keeping on, even when I don't want to and I struggle.
But Lord, may we just continue to keep getting back up. Lord,
(54:06):
you say in your word that you're faithful to the faithless.
Sometimes we're faithless, but to your people, you're faithful.
You keep us, you protect us, and you lead us, and you guide us.
And so just continue to do that
for Brett, be with him and his family and what he's doing there at FPD.
May the gospel, may Jesus Christ continue to be proclaimed, and may people receive
(54:28):
him. Lord, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, Brett, appreciate you, man. Thanks, man. See you.
All right, everybody. Hey, it's the Demand Excellence Podcast.
And, you know, we're getting it cranked back up.
And one of my very first guests will be Brad Collier, who has just won a state
championship, first pair of training in high school.
And he and I got to work together for a long time. And we've actually done some
podcasts together before.
(00:20):
But now three and a half years later, he left me. He's an FPP.
First year as a head coach, wins a state championship. So I thought,
hey, why not start off a new season of Demand Excellence with Brett Collier.
So, Brett, let me ask you this as we get started.
What is your core as a football coach and man?
(00:42):
And I ask that because this is just a great question to ask because your first
year as a head coach, you won a state championship.
Relationship so like you obviously had an
identity and a philosophy so like who
are you as a football coach yeah I
appreciate you having me on and just for the listener I appreciate coach guess
(01:07):
and he had a huge impact on me working for you those three years really really
set me on a trajectory that was different than maybe I was on so I'm just thankful
for you and appreciate you having me on But, no,
I mean, I think everybody listening understands that you don't win a lot of
football games or you don't win a championship if you don't have really good players.
(01:27):
So we did have a lot of good players and a good coaching staff and good support,
good community, and all that, and all those things that matter.
And so that's first as to why we had a good year.
And I know they all won't be as good as that one.
But that's a great question. You know, what's my core philosophy?
Who am I? Well, I've been thinking about that. And, you know,
(01:49):
I really go back to what our school's mission statement is.
So our school's mission is to educate and equip students to change the world for God's glory.
And to some schools, they don't
really live their mission or you don't see follow through on the mission.
But here, that's kind of the core of what we do. And that really impacts everything
(02:09):
we do. And it goes even, it extends even to your programs and the sports programs
and fine arts and all that kind of stuff.
So I'm bought into the mission of our school.
We're a K through 12 Christian school. So that kind of permeates everything, everything we do.
So I'm bought into that. And I'll just say just this one little tidbit about that.
(02:32):
You know, maybe me and kind of how I approach coaching, which I don't think
is unique, and I don't think I have any secret sauce or anything like that.
But I heard somebody say a long time ago, and I just kind of kept it to myself
and I've always remembered it, is that I,
and I stole this from them, but I really aspire to try to be a better leader
than I am football coach.
(02:54):
I think any successful coach you study or look at, you know,
they're all great leaders also. And so you can be a great coach and not a great
leader, and maybe you don't have the impact or have the success that you might otherwise.
But I think the first piece you need to have is that leadership piece,
and the coaching will follow.
Amen. So, yeah, you know, the one reason why I started this podcast back in
(03:18):
the day was to learn, right?
So I'm calling around coaches, and most of them had been successful or they
had done something unique. unique.
So you're just, you're learning, like, what do you do that's different?
And I think that's interesting that you bring that up, like leadership versus football, right?
You know, what separates Nick Saban from somebody else?
(03:40):
Why is it that Kirby Smart can go and transform the University of Georgia?
You know, there's little things that they're doing behind the scenes,
besides X's and O's, that make them great.
And, you know, that's just kind of what this podcast is all about.
Like, what are those things?
You know, and like any coach out there aspiring to be a head coach or,
(04:02):
you know, me or anybody that wants to be a better coach, like,
we've got to become great leaders, not just understand the game of football. So, that being said.
All right, so on the defensive side of the ball, right? I think it's funny because
you and I worked together. We ran the 3-5.
You know, I don't even think that as the head coach, I would let you even think
(04:23):
about anything different. But I was like, this is what we're doing.
We've won with this. We're never going to do anything different.
I'm going to do this until I die.
Here's the funny thing. Three years later, four years later,
you're not running the 3-5, and neither am I.
So talk about defense and, you know, why you do what you do on that side of the ball. Yeah.
For the listener, when I interviewed at Elka, well, the first phone conversation
(04:46):
we had, you called me and I was young and I had all these ideas of what I wanted
to do if I ever got a chance to be a defense coordinator.
And you called me and you were like, you have any interest in coming here?
And I'm like, heck yeah, you know, absolutely.
And the next sentence out of your
mouth was, okay, well, I'm going to tell you, we're going to run a 3-5.
And I didn't know anything about it, but I learned it.
(05:08):
It and we obviously you know everybody out
there knows we had some some good teams that had really good players and they
had been in the weight room and the culture was there and anyway we had success
with 3-5 and I basically convinced myself that I'll that I'll never do anything
else you know like you and I came to FPD and we ran a 3-5 and we had success
(05:28):
with it and but the bottom line is Because, man,
we just got to a point where this year's team,
on a roster that we're going to have, our size school,
sometimes you just get put in a corner with what your roster looks like.
All right, start right there. Tell the listener what size school you're at. Yeah.
(05:51):
So we have just over 800 students in K through 12.
So in the high school that translates somewhere between, you know,
275 and 325, you know, depending on the year, depending on you got a big freshman
class or smallest freshman class.
So we might be around 300 students in the high school. And so that means your roster is.
(06:11):
On a really good year, your roster is 60 kids.
Some years you might be 45 kids. We had right at 50 kids on the roster this
year, and we had a big senior class and a good senior class.
And you don't get to choose who those kids are or what they look like.
You just have what you have.
And so with the way things went this year, we started the year in a 3-5,
(06:34):
and I'm kind of beating my head against the wall saying that's what we're going
to do. And we had, you know, one of the strengths of our team this year was
our offensive and defensive line.
And so we originally started as a package where we were going to run a four-man front.
And then we had some injuries to where we kind of had to do that out of necessity
then. And then we had success with it.
(06:55):
And we were playing good defense. And so eventually when we got all the injuries
back, we had been running a four-man front for, you know, six or seven weeks.
Weeks and it was like you know why would you change now you know that would
just that would introduce doubt
to the kids and well why did we change to begin with and this and that so,
we just stuck with it and that's what we did the rest of the year and of course
(07:16):
we had some packages and change-ups and things we could do but you know my my thought on defense is,
and I think you'd agree and I think all the all the listeners would agree is
and this is not limited to defense but it just comes down to being really good
fundamentally you know and.
When we were a 3-5, we tried to be the most fundamental team we could be at
(07:37):
every position and try to focus on the details of our package and what we were doing.
It doesn't matter if you're a three-man front, a four-man front, a 3-4.
It doesn't matter. I think all that sort of goes across the scheme world.
Fundamentals matter more than any other stuff. We didn't change our practice structure.
(07:59):
We didn't change our individual drills. We didn't change the way we do things.
We just took out a linebacker and added another lineman, you know,
and, and, and try to be the best we could at fundamentals. So that's what we did.
Yeah. So, you know, I call people like you and me, we're fundamentalists.
(08:19):
So we'll die on that hill. So it's fundamentals over scheme.
Some people are scheme over fundamentals, but, you know, I think as you were
talking, talking, you know, talk about the importance of lining up correctly
and knowing what you're supposed to do.
Because I always find this funny, like parents are like, you know,
(08:40):
you get done with a game, oh, we can't tackle.
Well, here's two things with tackling.
A, a lot of kids can't tackle because they're not coordinated and tackling takes coordination.
And a lot of times if a kid kid can't tackle is because he's not coordinated.
So not much we can do there. We're dealt the hand we got.
All right. So, and then the other thing is as a coach, our kids are not lined up correctly.
(09:07):
We are not putting them in a position to tackle.
So even if they can tackle, we're not putting them in a position.
So talk about, cause that's part of the fundamentals.
Like the very first, what is is it point of the fundamentals is can you line
up right do you know your job talk about that a little bit yeah and i think
that's why you have to and i think every coach agrees with that's why you have
(09:30):
to have a simple plan that you believe in and a simple plan that you think you can execute.
Because i i kind of football is not a simple game football is very complicated
because there's a lot of moving parts and there's 22 teenagers on the field
and you know gets pretty complicated pretty quickly.
(09:50):
And so just kind of the way I approach it is, what can we do that's simple for
our kids that kind of cuts through all the complexity and makes it easy on their end?
Not easy in terms of easy to do, but where you can execute it second nature.
And so, yeah, I believe that every single day you've got to work alignment and
(10:14):
you've got to be able to line up to to anything you see.
And that was kind of what I learned when I was working with you when we were
running a 3-5 is you've got to be able to line up to any formation and any style
of offense you might see on any given play.
Because when you're coaching, like you and I were coaching single-A private football.
(10:35):
One week, we joke about it all the time now, one week we're playing an under
center, 31 personnel, triple option team.
The next week we're playing a 22 personnel I team.
And the next week we're playing a spread team with one of the best quarterbacks in the state.
So you've got to be diverse enough to handle all those things,
but your rules have to be simple enough that your kids can execute it.
(10:56):
So we try not to change what we're doing a lot, and we try to have simple rules that they can execute.
And much of our coaching in like scale
periods and team periods is based on are you lined up right are you in the right
stance are your eyes where they're supposed to be okay now we have a chance
to execute play and that's really the foundation where it all starts and i'll
(11:18):
say this like our individual drills are all pointing in that direction so if
there's an individual drill where,
they're not in a good stance i don't understand why we're doing it there's an
individual drill why why they don't have to have their eyes in the right spot.
I don't understand why we're doing it. Or where they're not lined up,
thinking about their alignment or a block or something like that,
(11:39):
and then I don't understand why we're doing it. So it's all geared toward that direction.
And I'll just say this too, simple doesn't mean simplistic, right?
Simplistic would be just draw it up and go do it.
Well, nothing in football like that works. works so honing in on the simple
things and the details of it i think is where where you give your kids the best
(12:04):
chance to to have success,
So we're going to continue to talk about defense, but, you know,
you brought up how complicated football is.
And so, you know, for the coaches out there, like people don't understand,
like winning is really, really, really hard.
But, you know, parents sit in the stands or fans sit in the stands or Joe Blow
sits somewhere or he's just running his mouth.
You know, we see it on ESPN, all the all the pundits, you know,
(12:27):
all the little talk shows.
But winning's hard. And that's why coaching is such a fraternity.
And I like to tell the math teachers this, you know, because,
you know, they don't understand football either.
But football is kind of like calculus level 10.
And I don't even know if there's 10 levels of calculus.
But not only is it complicated like that, but all the different variables.
So when I go take a math test, the variable is set or the variable is given to me. It's static.
(12:51):
But when I take a bunch of boys to go play a football game, the problem that
we are solving, it moves and it's reacting to me.
And the coach is coaching that other team. So it's this, you know,
a lot of times football looks like chaos. Well, because it is.
And through the course of the game, you're trying to figure out and you're trying to strategize.
(13:14):
Obviously, you watch film, you're preparing all that kind of stuff,
but it's such a high level of complexity.
And then here's the crazy thing a lot
of times you have very simple-minded kids
who can't think with great complexity
doing it and so which
(13:35):
goes back to you got to keep it simple so but
you touched on something right there with defense like okay so
talk about how you're in so let's say you have an
hour and 10 minutes for defense to practice on monday or
tuesday or whatever whatever so talk about that how
this this individual drill leads
into this which leads into inside and scale or
(13:57):
which leads into team how you progress that talk about like your scale and how
you're working alignment inside drill your work and alignment how many reps
you do during team defense so that your offense is constantly trying to react
so how do you coach Coach, all of that. Give me the progression.
Yeah. I'll say one thing that's important is having people on staff that you trust and that can.
(14:22):
They can really put the drills in and know what we're supposed to be working
and manage the players, right?
Because you go down to an inside period and you got offensive linemen,
defensive linemen, linebackers, outside linebackers, and you got to manage a
lot of people and you got to have scout cards.
So having good people that can run it is first and foremost.
But I'll tell you what we do on a normal day, and the schedule kind of stays
(14:47):
the same, but what we do may change.
So on a normal Monday and Tuesday, we're going to go to practice and everybody's
going to go to what we call pre-practice.
And pre-practice is you go to your defensive coach.
Everybody on the field has a defensive position at our school.
So you go to your defensive coach and you're working your stance and you're
working, like if you're a DB, you're backpedaling.
If you're a defensive lineman, you're working your get off on the ball,
(15:10):
probably under the shoot.
If you're a linebacker, we have some stance and start drills we do and then
some drills we do to work shedding blocks.
And then if you're an outside linebacker, it's the same stuff. so
you'll go to pre-practice and then we'll stretch and then we'll
do a pretty long special teams period and
then we go to our defensive individual on monday everybody in defensive
(15:31):
individual is going to tackle and we don't do
a tackling circuit we go tackle with your
position coach one i think there's a lot of time wasted in tackling circuits
because the time you waste going from drill to drill two i would rather the
d-line coach who that's all he's thinking about teach the defensive linemen
how to tackle rather than the DB coach doing a drill with them.
(15:55):
And I coach the linebackers and I know what they need and I know who needs to
work on this and I know who my best tacklers are and who aren't.
So I need to coach those guys and their tackling drills.
So the first thing we do when we go to individual on Monday is work tackling
drill and then everybody goes and works some sort of re-drill with their eyes.
So the defensive linemen, they're in little pods and they're working basically block down.
(16:20):
I'm going to squeeze and spill reach. I'm going to fight the reach block.
How are we taking on trap blocks? So they're all working that.
We're working reads as linebackers.
Our defensive backs are working like there's two receivers.
I'm backpedaling, and I got to split the receivers or read the two receivers.
If one of them goes out, I can squeeze the other one.
Our outside linebackers are
(16:41):
working reading the in-man. So it's all really basic fundamental stuff.
And then after our reads, that'll be a pretty long period.
What we'll do is we'll split on Monday. will split
up and I'll take all the scale guys and our
defense coordinator will take all the all the inside
guys and on Monday he'll work like
a half line inside so it's like the first
(17:04):
progression to an inside period so he's got two sets
of half lines and he's running both of them and the the key is just get it doesn't
matter what offense you're facing you're going to see down blocks you're going
to see reach blocks you're going to see pullers so he's just working those fundamental
things in a half line period with the defensive line and backup linebackers.
(17:27):
And then I'm on the other end of the field working scale.
And I've got to where I run the huddle in scale and I stand behind the huddle
and I can coach. So I coach the offense in scale.
And I can coach the guys running the routes and I can coach the defensive backs
because I can see them all.
And then our outside linebacker coach and our DB coach, they're standing over
(17:48):
there with coaching their guys on every play and we have a routine we go through
in scale like they know every single day the first play in scale is going to
be hitch we run a lot of cover three so they're going to see hitch they're going
to see curl flat they're going to see four verticals,
every single day and they're going to see flood and they
can basically predict the order and then so there's
(18:10):
about there's about 16 plays that
we do every single day in scale in the
same order every single day and we're working our
you know we're working our weaknesses basically and
getting really good at the things that we need to get good at to be good in
cover three and then what happens is it goes to opponent specific so when it's
(18:31):
opponent specific like some things they do we need to work on it may be anywhere
from 24 to 34 plays just depending on what they do like we played an option
team this year and once i got through with my 16 plays,
scale turned into an option period just because that's what they needed to see.
So we'll work our fundamental things and then it goes into team specific.
(18:54):
And then from that, we go to a team period. And let me just add this in there.
The way that, so you take that exact model and you put it out on Tuesday.
If the position coach wants to tackle again on Tuesday, they can.
That's their choice if they want to tackle an Indy. But after that,
you're going to work eyes.
The half-line period will now be a full inside period. Scale period is very similar.
(19:18):
And one thing we add on Tuesday is I call it, we call it cat drill where we are.
You probably just call it screen period, but it's basically a perimeter screen period.
And we call it cat drill because all of our quick screens are named after cats,
like cougar, cheetah, cat, jaguar, all that type of stuff, lion.
And so we go to cat drill and work perimeter fits and all that.
(19:41):
We do that on Tuesday also.
And then we go to a team period. And team period is somewhere around 32 plays,
depending on the week, depending on what else we need to see.
So, yeah, and it's all fundamental-based. So that's what Monday and Tuesday look like.
So, all right, I want to get into this. You go, you're a defensive guy.
You were a defensive coordinator. You played defense in college.
(20:03):
You know, grow up, defense, defense, defense.
And then I say grow up. I meant, like, grow up, like, in your 20s.
And then your early 30s and then maybe – how old are you now?
I think I'm 35. I have to ask my wife. I think I'm 35. Yeah.
I didn't know if you were 28 or 35.
So anyways, so that being said, you go and this year as the head coach,
(20:31):
you decided you're going to call the offense.
Yeah. And you had tremendous success. I mean, obviously, you won a state championship.
Your offense did really, really well.
Talk about why you wanted to coach the offense and then talk about what offense
you ran and how you had success.
(20:53):
Yeah. It's just funny how God works things out and we stress about things and
worry about things. God really does work things out.
If we just trust Him, the Bible says it's for always ultimate good.
And I'm not saying his you know
the good part was us winning the games or
(21:13):
whatever but you know through his process you learn a
lot and you learn to trust him and so anyway when I was going
to take over as head coach our previous head coach he ran
the offense and he coached the quarterbacks and so the
and I was the defensive coordinator for him so the the transition seemed like
we would just hire someone to call the offense and I knew you know who who I
(21:35):
wanted us to be on offense and And I had two guys that I really wanted that
we were going to try to hire.
And what I didn't want to do was just hire somebody I wasn't really comfortable
with around the offense because I think it's so important.
You know, obviously it's important when you have the ball. And I think your
offensive identity really shapes who you are as a team and.
(21:56):
I've just seen time and time again, I think who you are on offense will shape
the way your defense plays and the way your team carries itself.
Like if you're a guy that's constantly promoting your offensive line,
then I think your team's going to be a little bit tougher.
You know, I just think that's the way football works. And so I knew who he wanted
to be, and I didn't want to give it to anyone.
I had two guys I was looking at, and, you know, in God's plan and,
(22:20):
you know, Providence, it just didn't work out with either one of those guys.
And simultaneously, I had a guy on staff who coached with you and I at Elka,
and he'd been here for a few years, and I trust him.
And he had been around what we wanted to do on defense, and I knew I could trust
him to do what I wanted us to do on defense.
And so I just said, you know, why not?
(22:42):
If having the ball is so important and what you do on offense is so important,
then why don't I just coach it?
And so I flipped over to the offensive side, and I'd never called plays before.
You know my first time ever calling plays was in our scrimmage this past year
and and so I learned a lot throughout the year it's really hard to call plays
it's really hard to make decisions when the clock's running but anyway so he
(23:06):
called the defense and I called the offense obviously we had really good players
had a really good quarterback receivers tight in our line was good.
But I knew what we wanted to do was this we were going to be we're going to
be physical on the front we were going to run the ball and I wanted to have
a good play action game and throw a quick quick game as needed,
you know, when we needed to.
And we had, because we had a really talented quarterback, we had probably four
(23:28):
or five drop back passing, like sit in the pocket and throw the ball concepts
that we liked and that we would build off of.
But I'll be honest with you, it wasn't a staple of what we were doing on Friday night.
You know, what we were doing on Friday night was we were running the ball,
trying to be physical, trying to pose our will with our offensive line.
Our running back this year was small. You know, he didn't play any his junior
(23:52):
year, just didn't get any playing time.
And this year he was a 1,000-yard-plus rusher. And then we tried to throw a
lot of play action off of him. And our quarterback was a runner also, so that helped.
So it's very similar. People, you know, I learned a lot from you,
and so it's very similar to what I learned from you.
It's a lot of power encounter, jet sweep.
We run a lot of power read and quarterback run, you know, quarterback run game.
(24:16):
Yeah, so that's who we are. So, it was physical run game, good play action game,
throw a quick game as we need it.
So, like, what are the things, like, you're going through the season.
Obviously, you know, you're learning, right? You're learning how to call plays,
you know. And I always say this, like, you can't call plays until you call plays.
Like, there's a strategy. There's an art.
(24:37):
Like, people, you can have a script. You can have a playlist.
It doesn't matter. You got to go in the game, and you got to react.
You got to adjust. what are some key takeaways
that that you you have at the end of
the season your first year as offensive coordinator where you learn
things you didn't know and you see areas in
which you need to improve yeah one thing
(24:59):
i learned pretty quickly is that managing the clock is a
really hard thing to do and that's something
you only learn by experience and i have
i've had a i had a really experienced older coach
on staff who helped me with that a lot but you know
i can you know learning is hard and and the
process of learning is really difficult i have a first grade daughter she's
(25:22):
in the she's reading and she's learning how to read better and it's really hard
for her well learning as an adult is no different and sometimes you make mistakes
you mess it up i had a just a terrible delay of game call in a game this year.
That was a huge point in the game. And I called a play, then I wanted to switch
(25:43):
it, and we ended up getting a delay of game.
And it goes from third and one to third and six. And that's just a huge play.
And that was an embarrassing moment for me, but it was a learning moment for me.
So managing the clock is really hard.
Here's another thing I've learned. You have to be good enough at your core stuff,
(26:05):
to call it whenever you want to.
You know, there's a lot of time where you don't have the perfect play to just
pull out of your back pocket.
And so you've got to be good enough at your base stuff to get you through the
game and kind of have those filler plays until I get to a place where I want
to take a shot and play action.
Or we had a good tight end this year, so I want to get the ball to the tight end and flat.
(26:28):
Well, I've got to get the ball in the right place on the field.
I've got to get the right down and distance.
I've got to like, you know, the clock situation and the score and all that.
And so it takes a lot to get to those places where you can make that call that you really want to make.
So I use the word filler, like you have to have filler plays, which is your base.
So our base stuff is jet, power counter, quarterback run game, power read.
(26:52):
You got to be good enough at those to get you to the place that you want to
be to call a shot play or to get the ball to a special player.
And that's hard. So what I figured out at practice is you can't ever just assume,
well, we know how to run power, we can quit practice. You can't ever assume that.
Those are daily things that you work all day, every day. And it kind of became
(27:15):
a joke at practice how many times we run power.
But I wanted to run it out of every formation versus every look we might get
versus every situation with the ball on each hash until I was confident that
we could go into the game and call it anytime we needed to. Yeah.
So those are two places that I learned pretty quickly that we had to,
you know, that just taught me a lot.
(27:37):
So talk about this. You know, you're losing. You know, you talked about your
quarterback. Your quarterback's going to Syracuse.
A great player, right? You know, I've been noticing him since he was a sophomore.
So here you are. You know, you had this great year. You know,
you're running power read. Anything you do, he can do. And now he's gone.
So what's your thought process? Here we are in January.
(27:58):
January obviously coaches from January to all the
way to May spring practice you're kind of thinking this is
what I plan on doing so what's your thought process there
with your team yeah well first thing is we're you know we're working in the
weight room and we do that year-round probably like most guys listening to but
I'm trying to get the guys we have coming back bigger faster stronger you know
(28:20):
and we have a couple candidates that can play quarterback next year and the bottom line is,
we've got to get our offensive linemen bigger and stronger and got to get those
guys really good and technical and tough.
And if that piece is there, then other stuff will fall into place.
You know, I'm like you. I want a guy at quarterback that can run and throw the
(28:44):
things that we need him to throw.
But I want a runner there. And we've got a good candidate coming up that I really
like. He's a tough kid. He started on defense this year.
And so, you know, you kind of, you had to shape what you do around the players
that you have, kind of like I was saying, we had drop back, some drop back passes.
I don't know if we'll have as many this year. I don't know if we'll throw the
ball as much, but we may be better in the run game.
(29:07):
You know, so all that just depends on your players, but I'm not going to change
who we are, you know, philosophically at our core, what we're trying to do.
I wouldn't change any of that. Cause I believe in it. I believe it works, you know,
regardless of your personnel, you just have to tweak it here and there to make it work.
One thing you were talking about, you know, you're talking about,
(29:28):
you know, quarterbacks and you like a quarterback to be, bottom line is what
you said, is you like your quarterback to be a football player.
I think a big problem for high school coaches across the state,
across the world, is, you know, these camps that all these kids,
so you're growing these, these, I see these kids, these dads are putting their
(29:48):
kids in these quarterback camps and they're in the fourth grade.
I'm not camps. I'm the quarterback coach. They have quarterback coaches in the fourth grade.
And you know, they're, they're, they're running around here.
They're going, you know, you see seventh and eighth graders,
they're flying all over the place to go to these quarterback trainers.
And then at the end of the day, what I try to tell my parents is,
(30:10):
listen, I can teach a golden retriever how to throw a football, right?
I can teach my dog Titus how to throw football.
I need a football player who's physical. He's relentless.
He is a competitor and he's confident.
And that's who we want to put at quarterback. Because I think what people fail
(30:31):
to understand is, first of all, that quarterback position is so critical.
It's why they're making so much money in the NFL.
It's why they're even making that much money in college football now.
But like you will lose five games or
win those five games based upon your quarterback and his ability to lead.
(30:53):
Talk about that a little bit, what you see. I think it's a good conversation
for any parents out there.
I tell my son, my son wants to play quarterback.
I'm like, yeah, you can play quarterback, but you also have to be able to play center.
Because at the end of the day, there's one quarterback.
And if all you do is grow up thinking, I'm a quarterback, I'm a quarterback,
(31:13):
you're going to get to your senior year of high school, and you're not going
to find a spot on the field. Because you never became a football player.
Right. I'm like, yeah, I think the word you used there that I really like is
competitor. You want a guy at quarterback that's a competitor.
And what that means is when you run quarterback power with him,
his legs keep churning and he goes and gets those extra two or three yards when he's getting hit.
(31:34):
And I just think in high school football, at my level that I coach,
I'm not speaking for the other coaches, but at the level that I coach with my
guys and the style of football we play, you need a competitor there if you're going to be your best.
And if you don't have a competitor there, you're not going to be your best.
And, you know, in terms of the quarterback trainers and quarterback coaches
and all that, I don't have a problem with my kids going to those things.
(31:56):
And several of our kids do.
And the quarterback that we were just graduating, he's been at quarterback trainers.
And I think there's some value there.
And so I don't have a problem with it. I support all that. But at the end of
the day, when you come to our school and you come to our campus and you're wearing
our uniform, you know, we're going to do what we do.
(32:19):
And if you're a competitor and you're a football player, then you adapt your
skill set to what we do and you go do it for your team.
And the team ultimately respects that. And you were talking about leading.
The quarterback's got to be a leader.
And if the quarterback's... The quarterback is the fastest way to either build
(32:40):
your team up or tear your team down, right?
And he's got to be an extension of the coach. He's got to be like the coach.
He's got to know what the coach is thinking.
He's got to have the respect of his teammates. And all of that,
like you were saying, is so critical in leading to your team's success.
And so that's why, you know, when our quarterback was a ninth grader,
(33:03):
he was a really good athlete. Like you said, he joined the Syracuse.
He was a really good athlete.
He wasn't going to start at quarterback in the ninth grade.
And I knew how critical it was for him to have experience, to be involved with
the team. Instead of standing on the sideline, I made him play corner,
and he started at corner for us.
He learned a lot, and he grew a lot.
It made him more physical. It made him appreciate the defensive guys.
(33:27):
I think it was good for him. I think he'll say that today. I still give him
a hard time about getting beat deep in a playoff game in the ninth grade.
But, you know, I think that was great for him.
And maybe the guy that plays next year, if it works out that way,
he played outside linebacker for us this year.
And he's physical, and he just wants to play.
He'll regret playing – he doesn't want to play quarterback because he wants
(33:49):
me to still play him on defense too.
And I'm like, dude, you can't play defense and quarterback, only in critical situations.
But, you know, I think back on some of the quarterbacks we had when I was coaching
with you, and those guys could have – the very best ones could have flipped over.
And been some of our best defensive players also.
And I think that's what you mean when you talk about being tough and a competitor.
(34:13):
So, yeah, those are the kids we're looking for. And maybe other programs are
different when they're going to throw the ball a lot and sit in the pocket,
and maybe they want a guy that's, you know, a little different.
But for us, I want a guy that can go play linebacker and start,
you know, on our team at linebacker as well.
Yeah. Well, I think, you know, I'm just, you know, just talking,
(34:34):
you know, I'm thinking program building.
And so, obviously, there is great value in quarterback coaches And anybody that
plays quarterback for me at the high school level, we would definitely want
them to have a quarterback coach,
a personal quarterback coach that's separate from us that they're going to and
doing and working with year round.
But I'm talking about like when you start your youth football at your school
(34:55):
and you're trying to build a culture and you're trying to build toughness and
just that football mentality, right?
Like what I've done is nobody is just a quarterback.
That's not happening, right? Like everybody's got to play defense.
Like you need another offensive position because I don't want a kid who just plays quarterback.
(35:17):
And what I'm doing is, is I'm trying to create a situation where all these kids,
when they become juniors and seniors can play high school football.
Like I don't want a kid to get all the way to a junior or senior year and not
be able to start because all he ever did was play quarterback.
And there's a guy better than him.
And so, you know, know, it's really kind of just a, just a thought.
(35:39):
Like I try to get our parents to think about like, do not raise your kid up
just to be a quarterback.
Cause he might not be one and, you know, but he very well may be,
but he very well, you know, you know, you know, every year we start off with
what four kids trying to play quarterback and one becomes the quarterback and
then three guys are sitting the bench. And I just hate to see that. So.
(36:02):
Well, as we wrap it up, you know, we got time and definitely want to get into this.
And so because really why I started the Demand Excellence podcast is I could
never find, still can't really, a podcast out there that talks about football
and living your life for Jesus Christ.
And this, you know, and it's hard, like being a football coach is hard.
(36:26):
And then being a Christian is hard. And then I find like being a Christian football
coach is so hard because it is so easy for winning to be our God and performance to be our God.
And I mean, this is a battle every day because I've been talking about this for a long time.
And then, of course, we have all the other sins of anger and wrath and lust
(36:48):
and whatever else. You know, when Paul writes out all the sins in the Bible,
he does it, I think, somewhere.
And I'm like, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. So, but man, just the struggle
of pride and just winning, becoming our God.
So, you know, and I'm really amazed
(37:08):
at you. You know, I think you're like becoming a deacon at your church.
Your growth in Christ since I've met you.
Oh, and the author is Dwight and Avery Chen.
Thank you. So your growth in Christ since I met you has probably met and exceeded me. me.
And so it's just cool to see that.
(37:29):
But anyways, talk about that a little bit, just the struggle of,
man, living a life for Jesus Christ as being a head football coach and being
a husband and being a dad. Talk about that.
Yeah, I appreciate that. And a lot of my growth.
As a believer, my growth in Christ had to do with coming to Elko to work with you guys,
(37:50):
I was just the men that were there and, you know,
you and the head of school and all the folks that were there just had so much
to do with me growing and just goes to show how important it is to be around
people that are older and wiser than you and know a little more than you do, how important that is.
But yeah, that's a struggle and that's a struggle for me this year.
(38:10):
And it's hard to even put your finger on like what the problem is because I'm,
I don't feel pressure from the outside to win, but I know I want to do my best.
And if I don't do my best, I'm disappointed in myself.
And then you know you have a lot of people depending on you.
And man, I really struggled with some things this year.
And I don't mind making this public. I went to the doctor about some issues
(38:34):
I was having and just really struggled with it.
And I think a lot of coaches struggle with those things. And,
you know, it's easy for football to be consuming because of the,
it is a consuming job because the job never ends.
I had a college coach in my office the other day and we were talking about this
and he was talking about how his job never ends.
You know, there's always a recruit that has to be called. There's always film
(38:56):
that has to be studied. There's, there's all. So even when you have your days
off, they're not really days off.
And so I really struggled with some things this year. And at the end of the
year, man, my wife told me, you know, for five weeks, you've been walking around
like a zombie, like you're not even a real human.
And, you know, you're exhausted and you're stressed and issues happen.
(39:17):
You get stressed about issues and then you got to coach the game.
You know, it's just it's just too much.
And so I don't have all the answers, but I'll say some things that I've done
that have helped me, I think, and maybe some places where I failed.
One thing that really helps me is I try to take a real Sabbath day on Saturday.
And what that means for me is if I need to do some work, like if I need to come
(39:42):
to the school and do laundry, I do it before noon.
But at noon on Saturday, I quit working on football and I go home and we like
to just stay home on Saturday. We don't go anywhere.
And we make football food. My wife makes a cheese dip and I'll grill something.
And we watch college football all day. We stay home. And, man,
(40:03):
just being at home and not opening up huddle and not doing that was really good for me.
It just gave me a chance to, man, sit in the chair and unwind and have my kids
crawl all over me and just be a dad.
So I try to make Saturday a real Sabbath day where I'm not working and I'm at home resting.
(40:24):
And there were points in the season where I didn't do that. And I could tell
that those weeks following, man, I just, it wasn't right in my chest.
And I was, I was, you know, I was burnt out basically.
And then some things that I think are really good, you know,
I learned from you, you know, get up every morning and.
I say I learned it from you, but really I saw it in practice with you.
(40:46):
I'd learned it elsewhere, but I saw someone actually do it with commitment with
you. You get up every morning, you spend time reading the Bible and in prayer.
And I failed at that a lot this year. You're so exhausted and the alarm clock
goes off and you don't want to do it.
And so I was at best sporadic at that this year.
(41:07):
And then at the end of the season, you pick back up and you start being disciplined
again. And what I learned is, you know, just like we talk about fundamentals
in football, those are the fundamental things as a believer.
And those things can't get in the way, you know, all the other things can't
get in the way of you doing those fundamental things.
And when you start putting those things as secondary, you know,
(41:29):
it takes a toll on you mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally,
and then you're not at your best.
And then when you're not at your best, you're paying for it on the back end.
And so those are two things that I really think are important, but it's hard, man.
And I need to learn to delegate a little bit more and trust people to do things more.
(41:49):
Like I'm really, I'm like, I'm probably like you, I'm involved in our youth programs.
I'm at the middle school games, coaching every day. I'm watching film with the kids.
And then sometimes it feels like the things that are the most important things
haven't become secondary things because I'm doing so much.
And if we would just take our football philosophy and we talk about this all
(42:11):
the time take your football philosophy about being simple and doing the fundamental
things right if we would actually put that into practice in our personal lives
i think we wouldn't have so many other issues.
So that's not no that's true and a few thoughts that i had while you were talking
you know you talk about so you and i used to talk about this when we were at
(42:31):
at at elka together but but Psalm 127 verses one and two, it says,
unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain,
unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
But then it says this, it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil, for he gives to his beloved sleep.
(42:52):
And it's just speaking to the sovereignty of God, the providence of God,
the omnipotence of God, like God's in control.
I don't care how much you work. I don't care how much you do.
I don't, you know, God and we, what Proverbs 21, 31, right.
Unless the horse is made ready for the day of battle, the Vic,
but the victory belongs to the Lord. Like the Lord is in control.
(43:12):
Like it doesn't matter how, like all the extra stuff, dude, if you fumble you're losing.
And, you know, so I say that because like God gives us these commands, right.
He gives us the command to, to.
To rest and to have a Sabbath. But it's for our benefit, right?
It's for our good, right? I was just talking to, you know, teenagers come in
(43:36):
here and they always ask just irrational questions.
And so they're talking about divorce and they're like, well,
I didn't know it was that if you got divorced, that God had rules on divorce.
I said, yeah, you know, I was like, divorce in God's eyes is wrong and he hates
it unless, you know, there was like two reasons why, you know,
adultery being one of them. And they're like, of course, you're talking to kids
(43:59):
whose parents have been divorced.
And I was like, listen, I was like, that isn't God saying you're going to hell if you get divorced.
What he's saying is this is what's best for you.
And is there forgiveness if you screw up? Yes. So my point is, is God tells us to rest.
(44:20):
Stressed he's like Brett would you would you
chill out like when you're worried about the Stratford game
on Thursday night 10 o'clock on your couch and you're thinking about it and
he's like Brett you're an idiot and I mean I hear him call me an idiot a lot
maybe he doesn't call you one but like and it's like we know this verse so this
(44:41):
is the struggle like we know like.
And it's what you've done, right? At 12 o'clock, I'm shutting it down on Saturday,
and I'm just going to enjoy my family for 24 hours.
Now, there might be some coach out there that says, no, you can't do that,
Brett. You won't win if you don't, or Satan's in your ear.
You won't win if you don't study this film on Saturday.
(45:03):
But like, I don't know. I mean, you get what I'm saying?
That's the struggle. No, absolutely. And it is a mental and a spiritual struggle.
And, but then there's a, there's a part of it that that's physical also where,
you know, when you get to week 10 in the regular season, then you get into the playoffs,
(45:23):
you know, because of all the things you've done all the way back to May,
your, your body just really cannot handle anymore. more.
And so, I mean, this is the way it was to me.
I got to the point to where I was physically beat down, exhausted,
and I was in this pattern of doing things that was unhealthy, working and.
(45:49):
You know, working too much and worrying about this and talking to this person.
Anytime this person calls, I have to answer the phone and I'm doing all these things.
And so you develop these unhealthy habits. And at the end of the season,
you're just, you're a mess. You're unhealthy.
And like I said, it goes back to, you got to take care of the priorities and
the fundamental things.
And we say those things, but they're really hard to put into practice and execute.
(46:12):
And so what I want to do a better job at is just managing that a little better.
So be in discipline with the Sabbath, be in discipline on the weekend,
not stand up here meeting forever.
When we watch our film, we're going to watch the film, but we're not going to
to go over overboard with it with the kids and then just control the things
you can control and manage it and, and do my best with it. But it's hard,
(46:34):
you know, and I don't have it figured out.
But I wish somebody did and they'd tell me. I think it's the,
you know, the Bible says like we're in the in-between, right?
We're in the already, but not yet, right? So Christ has come.
Christ has delivered us from sin. All right.
Spiritually, he delivered us from sin, right? We have eternal life.
There's a, but we have the flesh, right?
(46:55):
And the flesh isn't just, I mean, I think people think like the flesh is just lust.
It's not. Like our brains are diseased, right?
Like it's the anxiety. it's the
you know all these things and you know
what we have to do and is just learn how to
lay it down you know like you know lay it down and and put it before the feet
(47:17):
of the lord because at the end of the day like and and this is good to have
to talk about this but like so i know i'm 44 years old and and every christian
coach could could could talk to this but like man man,
just the stress that you're under and how isolated you can feel,
(47:38):
I mean, that can reap havoc on your marriage. It could reap havoc on your family.
And it's just constant warfare. So yeah.
You know, the answer is, Brett, I know the answer, but I don't necessarily do it.
But the answer, Paul's like, who will deliver me from this body of death?
(48:00):
And the answer is Jesus Christ, to live in Christ.
One of the things that takes a toll on me is, I think most football coaches
say this, but certainly as a Christian football coach,
working in a Christian school, and part of what we do is you're trying to build
(48:21):
relationships with people and impact people for Christ.
I really think that's first and foremost to a lot of coaches.
Then when those relationships, when you have issues and you have expectations
and then you have things that come up that impact those relationships,
that's where the worry is for me.
I'm not worried about what people think or what people say. I don't care about all that.
(48:46):
What I worry about is dealing with kids, communicating with their parents,
talking to their families, and doing it all from the worldview and perspective
that I'm called to do it from.
And it just becomes a lot. And it's a lot when, like I had a mom sitting on
my couch crying this year because her son's going through something really tough.
(49:09):
I had a kid whose dad died this year. I had a kid who was injured a lot this
year and felt like he was failing on expectations.
When you have those things happen week to week to week to week on top of what
you're doing, and they take up a lot of your time because that's what you're called to do,
man, it's just like those issues run very deep, and they're hard to deal with,
(49:32):
and they're hard to work through, and it's hard to lead through that.
And man, I mean, God's still in control. Right.
Yeah, we're called to work at it, and that can be really hard and cause a lot
of those stressors also.
So that was tough on me this year as a first-year head coach, managing all that.
I think you could be a 30th-year head coach, and that's going to be stressful on you.
(49:55):
No, man, it's crazy. I tell people all the time, man, as a head football coach,
if you care about winning and you care about being excellent and you care about
the kids and you care about the parents, you're one step away from being a crack addict.
Or an alcoholic.
Cause like, I mean, you're just looking for that rest. You're looking for that peace.
(50:17):
Obviously we know the answer, right? It's to get in the word of God.
It's, it's to live in Christ and, you know, take, take our problems and issues to him.
And that, and that's what this podcast is all about. It's like being real,
right? We have problems, we have issues.
We can't turn to drugs. We can't turn to alcohol. We can't turn to whatever
it is your struggle may be.
We have to, you know, deny ourselves, pick up our cross, follow Christ, rest in Him.
(50:43):
And that's the goal, right? To rest in Christ, right? The Bible verse,
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
And sometimes I'm like, I do not feel it, right?
And so I think the cool thing too is, you know, we're not going to find ultimate rest here.
And when you're in the middle of that and even thinking back on it now because
(51:04):
now I'm sort of in a restful period. It's the off season.
I'm coaching some sports in the off season, but it's not nearly the demand that football is.
But man, it just makes looking forward to heaven sweeter, you know,
and that's what God promises, you know, and one day we'll be there.
And he tells that you're not going to be here yet. Like the world is filled
(51:27):
with these things with tribulation and it's going to be hard.
And what that does to me, and
I think that's what it should do to us is it
should point us forward to a time where nothing's bad and it points us forward
to a time where everything's good and and that should make us want to pursue
him more and and look forward to that more and see him as perfect and and awesome and beautiful more.
(51:55):
Because we're falling, we don't always do that. We feel like we need to fix things more.
But I've tried to let that be what it does to me is point me forward to a time
when not just on a Saturday when I'm sitting in the chair, not just the offseason,
or not just after you won a big game,
that it would point me forward to an eternal time when all is good and that will be fun.
(52:16):
Absolutely. So very good stuff, Brett. Like, man, hope everybody's encouraged.
We talked a little. We were real a little bit. Hey, we all struggle.
But at the end of the day, you know, there's joy and there's such goodness in
coaching the game of football and building up kids and boys and doing it for Christ.
And so really appreciate you coming on and talking.
(52:37):
As we depart, give us like one thing, like one thing that's,
you know, on your, I'm going to be better at this in 2024. 2024?
Yeah, well, I'll give you a football one specifically.
I'm going to be better in 2024 at self-scouting ourselves, at looking at what
(52:59):
we do on offense and kind of finding some of our tendencies.
And so when people look at us, I kind of know what they're looking at.
But I'll give you one that's a little bit different, maybe on the leadership side as well.
I'm going to be better in 2024 at connecting
with every single player on our team you know
(53:21):
we get caught up sometimes and coaches are coaching our position group and or
coaching just the very best players I really want every single player in our
program to know me and I want to know them and I want all to feel connected
to the team and to the coaching staff so that those are my two things,
very good all right so I'm going to pray for us and we'll be done really appreciate
(53:44):
you hope Hope you nothing but the best in 2024.
Lord, we're coming for you today. I just want to praise and thank you for loving
us. Praise and thank you for Brett, just what you've done in his life.
Lord, how I've seen him grow in Christ.
It's motivating to me, for me to just keep on keeping on, even when I don't want to and I struggle.
But Lord, may we just continue to keep getting back up. Lord,
(54:06):
you say in your word that you're faithful to the faithless.
Sometimes we're faithless, but to your people, you're faithful.
You keep us, you protect us, and you lead us, and you guide us.
And so just continue to do that
for Brett, be with him and his family and what he's doing there at FPD.
May the gospel, may Jesus Christ continue to be proclaimed, and may people receive
(54:28):
him. Lord, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, Brett, appreciate you, man. Thanks, man. See you.
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