February 2, 2024 • 38 mins
Get inspired by Coach Rich Fendley's transformational journey on this episode of the Demand Excellence Podcast. Finley revitalized the struggling Bowdoin High School football program, turning it into a thriving powerhouse using his unique coaching philosophy that blends intense relationship-building with strength training. Discover how his emphasis on authenticity and uniformity among all players instilled a high performing culture of discipline, responsibility, and resilience.
Learn how Fendley managed to overcome initial challenges like a shrinking team, and studying his methods could deliver valuable insights for any sportscoach or enthusiast. While sharing intriguing experiences and useful advice, Finley also highlights the significance of nurturing both raw physical talent and mental toughness. His unorthodox approach includes fun but highly competitive activities that showcase potential to college scouts while preparing the squad for life's challenges on and beyond the field.
Even beyond sports management, find inspiration in the striking balance Fendley maintains between his demanding role as coach and his commitments as a father and husband. He shares his belief in the possibility and importance of achieving this equilibrium for success in every avenue. Concluding with a resonating message about being a “winner” in every aspect life, this episode provides not just practical coaching tips but timeless life lessons as well.
Hear about Fendley's fascinating journey, uncover his invaluable insights, and learn from his unflinching dedication and commitment towards excellence. Tune into this episode for an informative, inspiring deep dive into the world of high school football.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
All right, everybody, we are back for another episode of Demand Excellence Podcast.
And today I have Coach Rich Finley, the head coach at Bowdoin High School.
He has turned the Bowdoin football program around. It was at one time a really
rich tradition of high school football.
Then it kind of went down. He comes and he has turned it around.
(00:22):
And this podcast is all about calling coaches and learning and growing from each other.
Always interested in how a coach wins
what did you do to get there so coach thanks
for being on the show give the listener a
little bit of a background of who you are you
just told me that your dad was a famous high school football coach give me your
(00:43):
path to Bowdoin high school yes sir well first I'll kind of clear what you said
earlier about the videos some of the people watching right now probably know
me as the goofy guy that makes the the once a year offseason and videos.
And the other people know me as a head coach at Bowdoin.
But I'm in year 28, and the greatest piece of advice I was ever given was by a guy named Tim Barron.
(01:08):
He was the head coach at Heard County for a long time and was at Villarica the
past two years, and he has since retired.
He told me that I was a goofy, funny guy. And he said, don't ever change who
you are when you get a head job, be yourself.
Don't try to be like anybody else. So I try to do that.
But I'm in year 28 and started off up here in the West Georgia area.
(01:33):
I was a University of West Georgia football player, and I did my student teaching
at Carrollton High School.
So I ended up coaching my very first year with the legendary Ben Scott.
I learned a lot from him. I left there and spent four years at Troop High School.
And I enjoyed every bit of that, left there and spent two years at Villarica High School.
(01:54):
And then I got my first D.C. job at Alexander High School in 2003 or 2002,
became the head coach at Alexander.
So I was kind of a big school guy for a long time and went two and 18 in my
two years there and ended up leaving and going to Noonan as the strength coach the next year.
(02:15):
And then ended up at Heard County where I fell in love with the small school.
It was the first small school I'd ever been at. They were double A.
And I ended up staying nine years there with some really good coaches and learned
a lot of football there with playing guys both ways.
And we were in the same region with Bowdoin, and we played them for the region
(02:38):
championship every year.
And I thought, man, that's a really good job over there. if it ever came open,
I can't be the first guy to put in because whoever put in first was going to
follow the legend, Dwight Hostetler, who had won over 300 games.
And he's one of the top seven or eight winningest coaches in the history of
Georgia. He had won a couple of state titles.
(02:59):
And so I waited, and somebody put in when he stepped down. And then three years later, it opened up.
And fortunately for me, I was blessed to get it. And I ended up here at Bowdoin.
And it's you know, it was a tough decision for me because I've got boys that
play. My stepsons are in the program.
And, you know, I had an opportunity to go down to South Georgia for a small
(03:23):
school job or come up to the West Georgia area for a small school job.
And I just looked at both jobs and I thought they were both good.
But I thought a consistently good job year in and year out would be the Bowdoin high school job.
And so we took that and knew it was
going to take some elbow grease but very fortunate my
wife was hired as the girls basketball coach when we came and and i went one
(03:46):
and nine and she followed me with 22 and six so they knew they'd made the right
hire in her year one yeah i'm not so sure they did about me so that's kind of
how i got to bowden high school was actually a strength coach by trade made
before taking the plunge.
And that really came from my second wife. I met her when I was at Heard and
(04:06):
she kept telling me, you know, hey, the Lord puts you here to do much more than you're doing.
You're cheating your gift and you're supposed to be doing what Tim Barron has done here.
You're supposed to be a builder. You're supposed to go do this and that.
And that kind of ate at me for about two years and I knew she was right.
And so we took that leap of faith and And here we are now, you know,
(04:27):
seven years later and, you know, feeling really, really proud of what we built.
Absolutely. Well, talk a little bit about that, Coach. So, I mean,
that's very interesting to me. You go and Bowdoin was a losing program.
I know Coach was famous there, but it was a losing program when you took it over.
And you've been able to flip that around, which I think is the sign of a great
(04:51):
football coach. And so what did you do when you came into Bowdoin to turn a
losing program into a winning program?
Well, I got two beliefs of what it takes to be successful.
And by no means do I have a monopoly on what it takes to be successful.
But these two things I'm very passionate about.
(05:12):
One is relationships. I mean, relationships with your players and your kids.
When they know that you care about them, you can put them through tough and
hard things, and they're going to do it. They're going to show up for you.
They're going to play extremely hard on Friday. and I hope that's what people see on film.
So I knew that I wanted to hire coaches that were going to be great with kids
(05:35):
and get kids to want to be at everything.
And then my second, I guess, philosophy is your first sport is the weight room.
Your second sport is whatever you're playing.
For a baseball player, your first sport is the weight room, then you're a baseball
player. Your first sport is a football player.
You're a weight room guy, then you're a football player.
Girls basketball, weight room, then you're a basketball player.
(05:58):
And if you get kids to buy into that, they're going to be so much better on the field.
And, you know, the funny thing, you say that the program was two and eight and
everybody told me I couldn't do any worse.
You know, my first year that we were one in nine. So we were actually worse.
You know, so I was three and twenty seven in my first three years as a head coach.
(06:20):
And we're twenty seven and three the last two years.
But it was a process. When I took the job, I had a Division I player leaving
the program to go to a program that was more successful, and he's a great kid.
Man, he's still playing college football now. He's a graduate student,
and I sat down with that kid,
(06:41):
Now, obviously, I wanted to talk him into staying, but I wanted to know why he was leaving.
And so the first thing he said, we had 27 players returning that were on the
roster, which is small for Class A.
You know, we carry 55 and 65 now.
And I said, you know, what, what, why are you leaving? He said,
Coach, you're not going to get the kids here in the summer. They're not going to show up.
(07:02):
And, you know, I looked at him and said, I'll be able to get them here.
You know, I'm pretty confident in that.
I said, Coach, we don't, we don't kill it in the weight. The culture isn't there.
And all those things stuck to me because they're all things that I think are important.
So the first thing was to build the relationships. And we had 53 kids year two.
(07:23):
So we had doubled the number of kids who were out.
And of course, our weight program, I'm not going to say that what we do is better
than anybody, but our culture is really, really good. Our kids, they have Twitter.
They see what people are doing. And they bought into the weight room,
and we got a lot bigger and stronger from year one to year two.
(07:43):
And in year one, I did what a lot of coaches won't do. The culture wasn't where it needed to be.
We had some very, very talented young players coming up, ninth and tenth graders
and some rising eighth graders.
We actually got rid of 11 players that were not meeting the standard of what
we thought was what we needed to win. And by doing that, those young kids played.
(08:05):
And by year two, you know, we were the number two team in the state until we
got put out of the playoffs that year.
So, you know, just to kind of reiterate what my two points are.
One, you've got to have relationships where kids, you have to beat them away
with a stick. You've got to beat them out of the field house at the end of the day.
You've got to beat them out of the weight room. You've got to beat them off
the practice field. Our kids love to be at everything that we do.
(08:28):
So the relationships is very important. And then they have to understand that
the weight room is more important than anything else they're doing until it's
time to go out and practice football.
Talk about that a little bit. Like weight room is more important,
but I guess you'd have to spend a lot of time building relationships with your
baseball coach, with your basketball coach, so that they believe in it as well. How do you do that?
(08:51):
Well, that's a process. And we're still in that process here.
So it's getting better and better.
You know, I'm a firm believer. Like the way we do our weight classes, we break them up.
We have half our kids come in at 8.30. The other half are in the 9.30 class.
And and the reason we do that is because
if you have all 60 or if you're in a big problem you have 120 kids in there
(09:14):
you have less time to spend with those kids we like the relationship part we've
got three or four coaches in the weight room and if you've got 25 or 30 kids
man you can you can talk to kids about things other than football you can you
can kind of develop those relationships championships.
So if a kid is a multi-sport kid, if he plays football, he's in there.
(09:34):
And we're going to do what we're doing in that class, regardless of whether
we're playing three baseball games that week, two basketball games that week.
My kids, my own kids are football, basketball, baseball. They're your traditional athlete.
I'm going to throw it to one of mine, and I don't know if you can put that on
there, but if they come in and say, I got a basketball ball game today. I can't lift.
(09:56):
We're going to lift. Our modifications come when we're playing for championships.
We're playing for a region championship. We're in the region tournament.
We're going to modify, and we're not going to let those kids be burned out,
dead leg or dead arm that day.
They have a separate or a different workout they're going to do.
Same thing during baseball season.
We'll modify for a pitcher only. We're not modifying for an outfielder or a first baseman.
(10:19):
They're going to do what we're doing that day in the weight room.
If we're playing for region championships, region championship series,
then we're going to modify those workouts.
So I think that's a big part for people.
You've got to develop kids at the same time in the weight room as you are in
baseball, and they have to understand that, yeah, championships are more important.
(10:41):
Your other games are games you're doing just to get better for the opportunity
to play in championships.
Some of our one-sport guys, like say they're just a basketball kid or a baseball kid,
We don't let them in that class unless they come and look us in the eyes and
say, hey, you know, I want to be in the football class doing what they're doing.
And they have to sit there and tell me they're going to do what we're doing.
(11:03):
And the only reason I'm that way about that is, is if you have five kids in
there who all of a sudden, you know, it's three games that week in baseball
or two in basketball and they're wanting to do something else.
Eventually, they're going to culture is going to come down where other kids
are going to modify themselves and not do what they're supposed to.
So we have non-football players that are in there, but it takes time.
(11:27):
And we're in the process of that. The best place I've ever been with that culture
was Heard County High School.
Where, man, their basketball coach, Helen Aikens, girls' basketball coach,
she would send me a rubric every Friday, and I had to rate her girls one through
three, one being their minimum,
two being they're doing what we asked, three, they're going above and beyond.
(11:50):
And, you know, I made the mistake of rating two of her girls a two,
which is doing what we ask.
And she didn't let them play in the game that night. She wanted to be above and beyond.
And what people don't realize, it's not about what we're doing in the weight
room. It's about the accountability.
It's about the culture. It's about being a winner.
And if you have those type of kids in your sport, you're going to win and you're
(12:14):
going to play for region championships.
You're going to play for state championships. chips i tell people all the time
it's not what we do in the weight room it's the accountability,
it's it's you know hey it takes what it takes you know
and the no excuses of trying to find a way to
get out of something you know our culture right now is
so good it is square red and our kids come up with standards if a kid is late
(12:37):
because we we have a dynamic warm-up when at 8 29 the music cranks up if you're
late you have 100 yard sled push and the kids came up with that before you You
can start your workout because they want everybody.
There's no prima donnas doing their own stretching. You know,
your best players aren't standing there watching everybody warm up.
And that's been the case at schools I've been at where they're trying to do their own thing.
(13:00):
Everybody's the same. You know, I don't care if you scored 58 touchdowns,
which we had a kid do that this year, and he was our best weight room kid, which helped us.
Or if you're the guy opening holes and you're not going to score a touchdown,
you know, the standard's the same. Dang, if you miss school during the week,
you know, we had kids whose parents may not be there to get them up in the morning.
(13:21):
They're given a little bit of freedom to come to school and not come to school.
You know, we wanted to end that because we feel like if one player is in the
weight room five days a week, they all should be.
So if a kid misses without a doctor's notice, it's a 200-yard sled push the day they come back.
And we don't have to police that. Mark Blair's policed that.
Our kids know that standard. They go hit the sled, then they come in and work out.
(13:45):
If you have a doctor's note, then you're good to go.
We're just trying to prevent the kid who's tired, gotten sniffles,
or just doesn't feel like coming to school that day.
Because in the real world, you've got to be a daddy every day.
In the real world, you've got to go to work every day.
You don't work your job. You can't come in 10 minutes late. You can't come in five minutes late.
(14:05):
So we're just trying to set that accountability, doing what you're supposed to do.
Even as a kid or a player, you don't understand why. Why?
Because at some point on Friday night, you're going to have to do exactly what
your coach to do, stop somebody or score on somebody.
And we just we develop that from January to August before the season ever starts.
No, coach, that's beautiful. Love everything you just said and 100 percent agree
(14:29):
with everything that you just said.
It's cool to see how you've implemented that and just the culture that you've created.
Speaking of that, I'm going to come back to X's and O's, but you mentioned it
earlier. every year you do a little funny video.
I mean, me personally, I love it. You say a lot of things that a lot of football
coaches want to say, but talk about that a little bit, like your core philosophy in that weight room.
(14:53):
I mean, you're kind of arguing with or bantering with or poking fun at the new age strength coach.
And I think the disconnect always comes to this, like we lift lift weights to
be a better football player.
Like what you just said, like we're in that weight room. There's no better classroom
in the world to teach accountability and no excuses and toughness.
(15:17):
And there's a difference, like, cause if you're just a strength coach and you don't understand that,
it can become almost like you're a personal fitness instructor and you're not
developing that core mental toughness of the athlete. Talk a little bit about that.
Well, first, you know, I respect both avenues, you know, and I understand there's a difference.
(15:42):
A strength coach who's not coaching a sport, his job is a little different than
my job, where I am coaching a sport and I'm coaching a sport that if I'm not
successful at it, I'm going to be coaching it somewhere else.
You know, I want to have to pick up my family and move.
I think there's merits to all different types of workouts, heavy lifting,
(16:03):
explosive lifting, and speed training. There's merits to all that.
But I do think that the word mental toughness is taboo in one of those,
and it's not taboo in the sport coach world.
And I do believe that mentally tough kids...
Win championships. Mentally tough kids battle mental health issues a lot better than kids without it.
(16:26):
At some point, the team that's going to win a championship is the more mentally
tough team and the more physical team. I do believe that.
You have to beat somebody better than you to do that.
If I sat here and said that we have tremendous talent.
The last two years, we've been one of the probably top five most talented teams in Class A.
However, both of those years, there were teams who were more talented than us
(16:50):
that we had to go through and we had to be those teams.
And it was because we were mentally tougher than those teams.
But just to kind of let both sides know what we do, you know,
we break and I did a clinic presentation last Friday over what we kind of do
between January and August.
And I've heard strength coaches argue that what you do between January and August,
(17:13):
August has no bearing on your football team in the fall. And,
you know, I 100 percent disagree with that.
I think all the accountability, all the mental toughness, all the standards
you set, they're habitual.
And I think that when August comes, man, you're it's like a machine by then.
You know, the one year that I thought we weren't a very good football team since
(17:36):
I've been here was the COVID year when we didn't get to see our players from
January to August. You know, that hurt our program.
So, you know, our philosophy, number one, is we want our kids to have fun.
We want them to want to be in the weight room. We don't want kids to be hiding.
We don't want them to dread it. And it's crazy because...
(17:57):
Our kids love the weight room, but yet they work extremely hard in there.
And we had that culture at Heard County a few years ago.
And I remember Tim Bain coming to me. He was the head football coach at the
time. And we sat down and he said, all right, you're in there killing those kids.
And they come back every day smiling and like they can't wait to jump in there.
He said, what can we do to create that culture on the football field when it's 100 degrees?
(18:21):
That was our big discussion then. And we talked about, you know,
what we could do to do that.
So, you know, we feel like we have that here. Our kids love to be in the weight
room. They love to be at practice. They're not dreading it and wanting to go
home and those sort of things.
And when you got a helmet on and it's 100 degrees, you better love being out
there and it better be fun.
Or, you know, it's something a kid may not stick with or do. do.
(18:45):
But an overview of what we do, we come in January, February,
those whole two months, we do no speed work.
Not to say we don't do some explosive lifting with our heavy lifting,
but we're kind of bulking.
We feel like we got a lot of blue collar kids that need to get bigger and stronger.
(19:06):
Our steel kids need to get bigger and stronger.
And we break it up to where we have have something fun or a test for our kids
to compete every two months.
So for this one, we do the GACA weightlifting meet. We go compete for the state
championship in weightlifting.
So our kids kind of have an end game. Hey, we got eight weeks of lifting,
(19:26):
two months of lifting, and then we got to go in front of an audience in the bleachers.
We got to go compete with, you know, eight or nine different class A teams to go win a weight meet.
And so we do that. You know, we reward our kids if they win a state title, we get them a ring for it.
You know, we get them army issue, bowed in gear to wear for that weight meet,
just gives them another set of clothes.
(19:47):
And then we honor all our state champions by putting their picture and weight
class up in the weight room for everybody to see. And it'll be there forever.
So once we hit that weight meet, we go on our next two-month block where we
start our speed work portion.
So we start doing our measurables.
And, you know, we kind of tell our kids, we're getting you prepared for any
(20:08):
showcase or combine you're going to go to for recognition, for colleges.
So we start doing our speed work, and we cut back on our death by squats.
We don't do that stuff during that time. Now, we still live to max out.
And what we do at the end of that two months in May, instead of spring football
practice, we don't have all our kids anyway, not for 10 days.
(20:31):
We won't because they all run track. They play baseball.
They play tennis. They play basketball. They play soccer.
So we have a three-day combine after school. We find three days that all the
kids are not doing their second sport.
We bring our eighth graders up. Sometimes we bring our rec kids up and we do
a spring combine where, you know, we put all our kids in their bounding gear
(20:53):
and we test them in the 40.
We do the ale drills. We do the short shuttles. We do laser 40s too.
So we don't have them, our kids actually know what they run.
But we do a lot of the speed and agility testing. And, you know,
we're going to we're going to max them out on a squat, a clean and a bench.
So they get an opportunity to compete again.
We let parents come to that college coaches who are coming around to visit kids.
(21:17):
You know, they won't get to see us practice, but at least they can come see
a kid move, bend in the hips, see if they can change directions.
So we use that for that as well for for our college kids that are being looked at.
So that's kind of our spring practice. We kind of make sure we got kids in the
right positions going into summer workouts.
That summer. So school ends, and then we have our last two-month block where we go June and July.
(21:44):
And we do a big, and this is a big deal for our program, we do our Iron Red Devil competition.
We've got a six-event competition, 30-point rubric for the six events.
And we crown an Iron Red Devil champion based on three movement events,
speed events, and then three lifts.
We crown a a weight champion of the strongest overall kid in the program.
(22:08):
So those kids get their pictures put in the weight room in a different section
for being the Iron Red Devil champion, Iron Red Devil weight champion.
We honor our top 10 strongest kids by putting them in the football program and our top five freshmen.
So we make it a big deal to compete. And instead of saying, hey,
guys, we're going to start lifting in January to make us better football players in August.
(22:31):
Kids can't see that far ahead. But if we say, hey, we're lifting January and
February to go compete in state championships, you're going to get a lot out
of those kids trying to get stronger.
Then if they know, hey, the community's coming out in May, the eighth graders
are coming up and the red ball kids, and I want to show off in front of them,
they're going to work hard for that testing.
(22:52):
And then, of course, that competition, the last two days of summer before the
first two official practices, we finish up with that Iron Red Devil competition.
You know, we compete. We announce the winners. Last year, we went to a lake.
We took the whole team. We went swimming.
We went and got pizza. It's, you know, we used to in the old school days,
we would spend the night that night and do it.
(23:13):
And we still do the skits. We have our players.
It's the one day a year they can make fun of the coaches.
So each grade has to do a skit on things that have happened during the summer,
seven on seven, any practices on the field.
And, man, they have a great time making fun.
You know kids love you when they can imitate you. And our kids get us good.
(23:34):
So we pick a winning class on that each year. I think we had the best skit making fun of the coaches.
But again, it just creates those relationships and kids wanting to be around
you and wanting to hang out.
So that's kind of how we break our strength program down.
There's an end goal every two months for our kids instead of just trying to look way down the line.
(23:54):
No, that's awesome, Coach. So, man, definitely love the weight room philosophy
and how you progress it in the football season. And how does that being bigger,
being faster, being stronger, being all those things.
OK, so talk about your identity as a football coach.
Like when I say identity, like what do you want to do offensively?
What do you want to do defensively? Like when I was watching the Lions and the
(24:17):
49ers on this past weekend on Sunday night, it was just awesome to watch the
physicality of both teams.
Like you knew what both teams were all about. out.
I didn't really see that in the Ravens-Chiefs game, the physicality,
but so who are you and how do you use the weight room to make your identity
(24:39):
from an offensive-defensive standpoint?
Well, from an overall standpoint, we want to be the most physical football team
on the field every Friday night, and that's an identity we've been trying to achieve.
You know, we were not that in every game the first four years that we were here,
(25:00):
we just finished year six, we do feel like we were that team the last two years.
And the weight room has a lot to do with that. You know, on the offensive side of the ball.
We've got some good backs, some good quarterbacks, and we've got some good receivers.
But the guys that win and lose, and for us to win championships, the guys up front.
(25:22):
We tell our linemen we want to be able to run the football against everybody.
And we tell our linemen that they have to win each week.
And we also tell our skill guys if they're willing to be the most physical skill
kids on the field, that's going to help us win and be successful on Friday night.
So, from an offensive standpoint, we want to be physical and mash people off
(25:43):
the ball and be able to run the football.
From a defensive standpoint, we really preach two things.
One, we want to be physical enough to stop the run, but we also want to play fast enough.
We want to understand our fits, and when we recognize where we're supposed to
be, we want to be there as fast as we can get there.
You know, if you do those two things and keep your scheme simple,
(26:03):
you know, you force people to beat you, not help them out by making a mistake
or blowing a coverage or blowing an assignment.
So the weight room, you know, 100% helps us in that regard.
I think this year we've been number one in rushing the last two years in our
classification, but we were number two in all classifications this past year in rushing yards.
(26:26):
And we had five new linemen this year. We graduated all five.
Four of them went to play college football, our first title team.
And we had five newbies up there who were not great early in the year but got
better and better and better each game.
We return all five this year, so we're pretty excited about that.
When we're back summer, too, they know what their guys are going to do for them up front.
(26:48):
But, yes, we're a physical – we're going to take it to somebody and we're going
to be the more physical kids on the field on Friday night.
Absolutely. Now, it sounds like nobody probably wants to play you this year.
Talk a little bit about that. people don't understand that you you
you start winning and you're winning championships but at the
end of the day you're still a single a football program your numbers are still
(27:10):
single a but i always found this out at elka like i can't go down in classification
to schedule somebody like a 7a school like you know they'll pay you 15 000 to
come play them so they can beat you.
But you can't do that. You can't go lower. And really, when you're scheduling
games besides out your side, your region, nobody wants to play you.
(27:34):
You're not going to find anybody who wants to play you.
So talk about, people don't understand that, how hard it is to schedule now that y'all are winning.
Well, it was that way when we were 1-9, and it's gotten a lot tougher now that we've won.
I can promise you I probably made 200 phone calls this offseason trying to get
people from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina,
(27:59):
you know, to schedule a game.
And here's the tough part about it. Everybody says, well, man,
you need to be playing, you know, Prince Avenue or Ebron or, you know, GAC or A-Row.
And those people, they don't understand that we've got 55 kids and probably
18 of those kids are going to play both ways.
(28:22):
Now, if we have a kid start on one side of the ball, he plays 50% on the other
side no matter how good he is.
We do one-and-a-half players, but we play a lot of guys both ways.
Last year, we had a 7A opponent on our schedule.
We had a 4A opponent on our schedule.
And if I look at our schedule right now the five
(28:43):
games that we scheduled all of
them are are larger classification schools except for
one and that's Macon County and they were a quarterfinal team so I mean you
know you're you're playing good people and the problem's not playing good people
the problem is when you start playing the big schools we played Central Carrollton
this year and they were a 12 and 1 you know 4a school and and we played hard
(29:05):
and hung with them it was 14-6 at the half,
but in that second half, when none of their kids on offense are playing D and
none of their kids on D are playing O,
our kids get wore down, and then you get one or two of those kids hurt.
It can cost you playing deep during your season.
So it's not that you're scared to play better people.
(29:27):
I think that's how you get better. We love to play bigger people,
but if you play too many of those bigger people, you're beat up when you get in the region.
It can can affect you winning a region title and getting that one seed coming out.
You know, last year or two years ago, I think we had one of the toughest schedules
in the state because we played, I think, five quarterfinal teams and two semifinal
(29:48):
teams in the regular season. You know, that's not counting playoff teams.
And we made it through that healthy, and we were battle-tested when it started.
You know, this year we were kind of banged up when we rode into the playoffs
and kind of had to heal up in that playoff process by playing those bigger teams.
And I get it, too, because everybody wants to schedule a few wins.
(30:11):
You know, I like to schedule somebody that I think is way better than us.
And then you want to follow up with one you think you can play in,
you know, where you're not just physically getting beat down.
Then another one where, you know, you find out. And if you look at our schedule
now, we're going to play at Ayersville in our opening scrimmage because I know
they're going to be a big physical team.
And then they'll give us a test of whether we're where we think we are with
(30:34):
our kids and our physicality. Right.
Then we're going to turn around and scrimmage Callaway, who were the 2020 state
champions. And, you know, they're going to be extremely fast and look like some
of the South Georgia teams, Irwin, Brooks, Clance, that we're going to see if
we make it to round three.
So we're trying to get a look at that. And, of course, those teams are good,
but they're not 4A teams.
(30:55):
Their kids are going to play both ways, too.
And you can handle playing some of that in that schedule.
So Georgia High School, you know, they changed the classification.
How does that impact Bowdoin, if it does at all?
Well, it really brings Brooks and Irwin and Meador back down.
(31:18):
But me personally, you know, I'm excited about that.
I know when I took this job, we went one and nine.
I went to the Dome. They still play that. That was one of the last few games
at the old Georgia Dome. And Clinch and Irwin were playing for the title.
And I went to that game because I wanted to see what the best price.
(31:39):
I think they played each other about three times in a row.
That's right. I wanted to see what the best programs were doing.
Kind of like what you're saying.
You're interviewing people that are winning and successful.
I want to see how many kids, what they look like. And I remember telling another
head coach in class A school, you know, hey, that's what we want to be at Bowdoin.
And I know there were some snickers then and some laughs because we were not
(32:02):
that. We were one and nine and not very good.
But now after winning back-to-back, what we just did with those teams, did.
So, you know, when we have yet to play Clinch, we've yet to play Irwin,
and we would like to see where we stack up, you know, even if we get beat by 21.
You know, can we play with those guys? And, you know, Clinch had been down here with us.
They hadn't made it to us yet, you know. And, you know, so we want to know.
(32:27):
What we're doing and, you know, speaking of visiting schools,
and I probably should have said this back with the weightlifting piece because
it just popped in my head.
But when I was at Heard County, you know, doing what you're talking about,
visiting the successful programs, when we were trying to create our weight room culture,
the head coach there, Tim Baird, like we planned a trip and went and visited
(32:47):
what we thought was the premier program in the state in small school back then.
It was beautiful. so you go up there and watch
them in the weight room and you see that culture of kids working out
no coaches really in there having to push them it's on
the board they're doing it the culture was tremendous and
we wanted to create that so you know a lot of what we've done here is we've
gone to the to the best programs and tried to mimic what we thought was good
(33:10):
out of those programs and create those things here and what we didn't like we
don't do all right so coach as we wrap it up It's been a great interview,
actually. I've learned a lot.
What do you think? There's young coaches out there. There's old coaches out
there. There's guys in between. I think you and I are still in between.
What is one of your biggest struggles as a head coach, just managing life and
(33:36):
family and being a dad, not just to your kids, but the kids you coach?
You're very relational. and
what's the biggest struggle and what have you done to try to overcome it?
Well, I think you always look at year 28 for me, you know, the things that were tough for me.
(33:57):
Obviously, the day and age that I came into,
And I hate using the word entitled, but it's just different now where I knew there was a process.
I needed to be the best linebacker coach I could be for the guy that hired me.
I needed to be the best assistant coach. I needed to be the best field liner offer.
You know, wanted to. And there are still coaches like that. But finding the medium.
(34:20):
I think that being too old school is not good in this day and age.
I think that being too millennial is not good in this day and age because you've
got guys. I've had guys interview with me fresh out of college,
you know, saying, hey, coach, I can run your defense if you want me to.
And I'm sitting here thinking, you know, it took me 28 years to learn how to win as a head coach.
(34:41):
And you're telling me you're ready to stop somebody year one.
And maybe that's a one percent of the population could do that.
But I think, you know, learn football, be great at whatever you're hired at,
you know, be great at that. And, you know, obviously, I think that coaching
is the greatest sport in the world for a kid.
(35:02):
Like my dad was a coach and I thought he had the greatest job in the world.
And a lot of my time with my dad, I mean, I was a ball boy.
I stood on the sidelines. I thought that everybody else in my first,
second, third grade classes, their parents had boring jobs.
I thought they were all envious of what I got to do.
I think that it's time, family time well spent. You know, we have five kids in my family from 20.
(35:26):
My oldest son is actually a coach. He is a student teaching at Carrollton High
School, and he's their JV soccer coach. He was a soccer player.
I'm all the way down to my three-year-old son, who's still grabbing my leg when I come home.
Them involve your kids all our kids they know what the b means about them they
wear it they'll tell you if they see somebody in a blue shirt that's our rival
they'll say boo there's a there's a blue devil and it's great family time and
(35:51):
and you know as much as i want to be a role model.
As a coach and then i want people when i'm done to
say hey he was a really good coach he was really great for kids but
but when i'm gone i want my kids to say man he was
one of the best dads ever you know he was one of the best daddies
that he could be and you know the moment i get home i shut it down and i'm gonna
(36:11):
give my kids you know those couple hours before bedtime and i'm gonna give that
to my wife and you know when it's time to come back to work before i go to bed
i do a to-do list of all the things I need to accomplish so that I'm ready when I get to school,
but I want things done before I leave. I think there is a balance.
When I got in this, I was told, you're either going to be a great coach or a
(36:33):
great husband. You can't be both. I think that's false.
I don't think you can be a great coach without being great.
It's not a switch. We tell our kids that all the time. Winner's not a sometimes
thing. You're going to do it all the time.
I want you to be a really good football player on Friday night,
but I want you to be a a good boyfriend to your girlfriend you know i want
you to be a good son to your mom you know i want you
(36:55):
to be a good person in the school building it's not a
it's not a sometimes thing and that's the biggest thing that you preach to to
coaches and kids especially young coaches you know being a good coach isn't
just when you're in the film room watching film because you're excited about
your rpos and what you know as a player and what you did in college it goes beyond Beyond that,
(37:16):
you know, hey, let's get the field set up. Take as much passion with that.
You know, let's make sure our players are out of the locker room on time.
Take as much passion with that. Hey, this kid needs his wrist taken. Take passion with that.
Be a winner, you know, in everything that you do, and you'll be successful.
Absolutely. Well, Coach, this has been great. I really appreciate it.
There's really, really good stuff on here.
(37:38):
Just really appreciate you being on the show. If you don't mind,
I'm going to pray for us as we end.
Yes, sir. Lord, we're coming for you today. I just want to praise and thank
you for Coach and just everything that he's doing there at Bowdoin.
It's just awesome to hear him talk about relationships and how that's the core of who they are.
And that's how he builds the program and gets the kids to buy in.
(37:59):
And, Lord, he's there working and he's helping every one of those boys to become
better and to reach their dreams.
And then also while being a great husband and a great dad.
And, Lord, we just really appreciate him. him. I just pray that you would just
continue to bless him and continue to give him success.
Lord, we love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. All right, coach. I appreciate it.
(38:20):
Hey, I appreciate it. And it was awesome to put a face with the name.
So next time I see you, I'll come up, shake your hand and strike up conversation with you.
Absolutely. All right, coach. Enjoyed it. Thank you very much. Thank you.
All right, everybody, we are back for another episode of Demand Excellence Podcast.
And today I have Coach Rich Finley, the head coach at Bowdoin High School.
He has turned the Bowdoin football program around. It was at one time a really
rich tradition of high school football.
Then it kind of went down. He comes and he has turned it around.
(00:22):
And this podcast is all about calling coaches and learning and growing from each other.
Always interested in how a coach wins
what did you do to get there so coach thanks
for being on the show give the listener a
little bit of a background of who you are you
just told me that your dad was a famous high school football coach give me your
(00:43):
path to Bowdoin high school yes sir well first I'll kind of clear what you said
earlier about the videos some of the people watching right now probably know
me as the goofy guy that makes the the once a year offseason and videos.
And the other people know me as a head coach at Bowdoin.
But I'm in year 28, and the greatest piece of advice I was ever given was by a guy named Tim Barron.
(01:08):
He was the head coach at Heard County for a long time and was at Villarica the
past two years, and he has since retired.
He told me that I was a goofy, funny guy. And he said, don't ever change who
you are when you get a head job, be yourself.
Don't try to be like anybody else. So I try to do that.
But I'm in year 28 and started off up here in the West Georgia area.
(01:33):
I was a University of West Georgia football player, and I did my student teaching
at Carrollton High School.
So I ended up coaching my very first year with the legendary Ben Scott.
I learned a lot from him. I left there and spent four years at Troop High School.
And I enjoyed every bit of that, left there and spent two years at Villarica High School.
(01:54):
And then I got my first D.C. job at Alexander High School in 2003 or 2002,
became the head coach at Alexander.
So I was kind of a big school guy for a long time and went two and 18 in my
two years there and ended up leaving and going to Noonan as the strength coach the next year.
(02:15):
And then ended up at Heard County where I fell in love with the small school.
It was the first small school I'd ever been at. They were double A.
And I ended up staying nine years there with some really good coaches and learned
a lot of football there with playing guys both ways.
And we were in the same region with Bowdoin, and we played them for the region
(02:38):
championship every year.
And I thought, man, that's a really good job over there. if it ever came open,
I can't be the first guy to put in because whoever put in first was going to
follow the legend, Dwight Hostetler, who had won over 300 games.
And he's one of the top seven or eight winningest coaches in the history of
Georgia. He had won a couple of state titles.
(02:59):
And so I waited, and somebody put in when he stepped down. And then three years later, it opened up.
And fortunately for me, I was blessed to get it. And I ended up here at Bowdoin.
And it's you know, it was a tough decision for me because I've got boys that
play. My stepsons are in the program.
And, you know, I had an opportunity to go down to South Georgia for a small
(03:23):
school job or come up to the West Georgia area for a small school job.
And I just looked at both jobs and I thought they were both good.
But I thought a consistently good job year in and year out would be the Bowdoin high school job.
And so we took that and knew it was
going to take some elbow grease but very fortunate my
wife was hired as the girls basketball coach when we came and and i went one
(03:46):
and nine and she followed me with 22 and six so they knew they'd made the right
hire in her year one yeah i'm not so sure they did about me so that's kind of
how i got to bowden high school was actually a strength coach by trade made
before taking the plunge.
And that really came from my second wife. I met her when I was at Heard and
(04:06):
she kept telling me, you know, hey, the Lord puts you here to do much more than you're doing.
You're cheating your gift and you're supposed to be doing what Tim Barron has done here.
You're supposed to be a builder. You're supposed to go do this and that.
And that kind of ate at me for about two years and I knew she was right.
And so we took that leap of faith and And here we are now, you know,
(04:27):
seven years later and, you know, feeling really, really proud of what we built.
Absolutely. Well, talk a little bit about that, Coach. So, I mean,
that's very interesting to me. You go and Bowdoin was a losing program.
I know Coach was famous there, but it was a losing program when you took it over.
And you've been able to flip that around, which I think is the sign of a great
(04:51):
football coach. And so what did you do when you came into Bowdoin to turn a
losing program into a winning program?
Well, I got two beliefs of what it takes to be successful.
And by no means do I have a monopoly on what it takes to be successful.
But these two things I'm very passionate about.
(05:12):
One is relationships. I mean, relationships with your players and your kids.
When they know that you care about them, you can put them through tough and
hard things, and they're going to do it. They're going to show up for you.
They're going to play extremely hard on Friday. and I hope that's what people see on film.
So I knew that I wanted to hire coaches that were going to be great with kids
(05:35):
and get kids to want to be at everything.
And then my second, I guess, philosophy is your first sport is the weight room.
Your second sport is whatever you're playing.
For a baseball player, your first sport is the weight room, then you're a baseball
player. Your first sport is a football player.
You're a weight room guy, then you're a football player.
Girls basketball, weight room, then you're a basketball player.
(05:58):
And if you get kids to buy into that, they're going to be so much better on the field.
And, you know, the funny thing, you say that the program was two and eight and
everybody told me I couldn't do any worse.
You know, my first year that we were one in nine. So we were actually worse.
You know, so I was three and twenty seven in my first three years as a head coach.
(06:20):
And we're twenty seven and three the last two years.
But it was a process. When I took the job, I had a Division I player leaving
the program to go to a program that was more successful, and he's a great kid.
Man, he's still playing college football now. He's a graduate student,
and I sat down with that kid,
(06:41):
Now, obviously, I wanted to talk him into staying, but I wanted to know why he was leaving.
And so the first thing he said, we had 27 players returning that were on the
roster, which is small for Class A.
You know, we carry 55 and 65 now.
And I said, you know, what, what, why are you leaving? He said,
Coach, you're not going to get the kids here in the summer. They're not going to show up.
(07:02):
And, you know, I looked at him and said, I'll be able to get them here.
You know, I'm pretty confident in that.
I said, Coach, we don't, we don't kill it in the weight. The culture isn't there.
And all those things stuck to me because they're all things that I think are important.
So the first thing was to build the relationships. And we had 53 kids year two.
(07:23):
So we had doubled the number of kids who were out.
And of course, our weight program, I'm not going to say that what we do is better
than anybody, but our culture is really, really good. Our kids, they have Twitter.
They see what people are doing. And they bought into the weight room,
and we got a lot bigger and stronger from year one to year two.
(07:43):
And in year one, I did what a lot of coaches won't do. The culture wasn't where it needed to be.
We had some very, very talented young players coming up, ninth and tenth graders
and some rising eighth graders.
We actually got rid of 11 players that were not meeting the standard of what
we thought was what we needed to win. And by doing that, those young kids played.
(08:05):
And by year two, you know, we were the number two team in the state until we
got put out of the playoffs that year.
So, you know, just to kind of reiterate what my two points are.
One, you've got to have relationships where kids, you have to beat them away
with a stick. You've got to beat them out of the field house at the end of the day.
You've got to beat them out of the weight room. You've got to beat them off
the practice field. Our kids love to be at everything that we do.
(08:28):
So the relationships is very important. And then they have to understand that
the weight room is more important than anything else they're doing until it's
time to go out and practice football.
Talk about that a little bit. Like weight room is more important,
but I guess you'd have to spend a lot of time building relationships with your
baseball coach, with your basketball coach, so that they believe in it as well. How do you do that?
(08:51):
Well, that's a process. And we're still in that process here.
So it's getting better and better.
You know, I'm a firm believer. Like the way we do our weight classes, we break them up.
We have half our kids come in at 8.30. The other half are in the 9.30 class.
And and the reason we do that is because
if you have all 60 or if you're in a big problem you have 120 kids in there
(09:14):
you have less time to spend with those kids we like the relationship part we've
got three or four coaches in the weight room and if you've got 25 or 30 kids
man you can you can talk to kids about things other than football you can you
can kind of develop those relationships championships.
So if a kid is a multi-sport kid, if he plays football, he's in there.
(09:34):
And we're going to do what we're doing in that class, regardless of whether
we're playing three baseball games that week, two basketball games that week.
My kids, my own kids are football, basketball, baseball. They're your traditional athlete.
I'm going to throw it to one of mine, and I don't know if you can put that on
there, but if they come in and say, I got a basketball ball game today. I can't lift.
(09:56):
We're going to lift. Our modifications come when we're playing for championships.
We're playing for a region championship. We're in the region tournament.
We're going to modify, and we're not going to let those kids be burned out,
dead leg or dead arm that day.
They have a separate or a different workout they're going to do.
Same thing during baseball season.
We'll modify for a pitcher only. We're not modifying for an outfielder or a first baseman.
(10:19):
They're going to do what we're doing that day in the weight room.
If we're playing for region championships, region championship series,
then we're going to modify those workouts.
So I think that's a big part for people.
You've got to develop kids at the same time in the weight room as you are in
baseball, and they have to understand that, yeah, championships are more important.
(10:41):
Your other games are games you're doing just to get better for the opportunity
to play in championships.
Some of our one-sport guys, like say they're just a basketball kid or a baseball kid,
We don't let them in that class unless they come and look us in the eyes and
say, hey, you know, I want to be in the football class doing what they're doing.
And they have to sit there and tell me they're going to do what we're doing.
(11:03):
And the only reason I'm that way about that is, is if you have five kids in
there who all of a sudden, you know, it's three games that week in baseball
or two in basketball and they're wanting to do something else.
Eventually, they're going to culture is going to come down where other kids
are going to modify themselves and not do what they're supposed to.
So we have non-football players that are in there, but it takes time.
(11:27):
And we're in the process of that. The best place I've ever been with that culture
was Heard County High School.
Where, man, their basketball coach, Helen Aikens, girls' basketball coach,
she would send me a rubric every Friday, and I had to rate her girls one through
three, one being their minimum,
two being they're doing what we asked, three, they're going above and beyond.
(11:50):
And, you know, I made the mistake of rating two of her girls a two,
which is doing what we ask.
And she didn't let them play in the game that night. She wanted to be above and beyond.
And what people don't realize, it's not about what we're doing in the weight
room. It's about the accountability.
It's about the culture. It's about being a winner.
And if you have those type of kids in your sport, you're going to win and you're
(12:14):
going to play for region championships.
You're going to play for state championships. chips i tell people all the time
it's not what we do in the weight room it's the accountability,
it's it's you know hey it takes what it takes you know
and the no excuses of trying to find a way to
get out of something you know our culture right now is
so good it is square red and our kids come up with standards if a kid is late
(12:37):
because we we have a dynamic warm-up when at 8 29 the music cranks up if you're
late you have 100 yard sled push and the kids came up with that before you You
can start your workout because they want everybody.
There's no prima donnas doing their own stretching. You know,
your best players aren't standing there watching everybody warm up.
And that's been the case at schools I've been at where they're trying to do their own thing.
(13:00):
Everybody's the same. You know, I don't care if you scored 58 touchdowns,
which we had a kid do that this year, and he was our best weight room kid, which helped us.
Or if you're the guy opening holes and you're not going to score a touchdown,
you know, the standard's the same. Dang, if you miss school during the week,
you know, we had kids whose parents may not be there to get them up in the morning.
(13:21):
They're given a little bit of freedom to come to school and not come to school.
You know, we wanted to end that because we feel like if one player is in the
weight room five days a week, they all should be.
So if a kid misses without a doctor's notice, it's a 200-yard sled push the day they come back.
And we don't have to police that. Mark Blair's policed that.
Our kids know that standard. They go hit the sled, then they come in and work out.
(13:45):
If you have a doctor's note, then you're good to go.
We're just trying to prevent the kid who's tired, gotten sniffles,
or just doesn't feel like coming to school that day.
Because in the real world, you've got to be a daddy every day.
In the real world, you've got to go to work every day.
You don't work your job. You can't come in 10 minutes late. You can't come in five minutes late.
(14:05):
So we're just trying to set that accountability, doing what you're supposed to do.
Even as a kid or a player, you don't understand why. Why?
Because at some point on Friday night, you're going to have to do exactly what
your coach to do, stop somebody or score on somebody.
And we just we develop that from January to August before the season ever starts.
No, coach, that's beautiful. Love everything you just said and 100 percent agree
(14:29):
with everything that you just said.
It's cool to see how you've implemented that and just the culture that you've created.
Speaking of that, I'm going to come back to X's and O's, but you mentioned it
earlier. every year you do a little funny video.
I mean, me personally, I love it. You say a lot of things that a lot of football
coaches want to say, but talk about that a little bit, like your core philosophy in that weight room.
(14:53):
I mean, you're kind of arguing with or bantering with or poking fun at the new age strength coach.
And I think the disconnect always comes to this, like we lift lift weights to
be a better football player.
Like what you just said, like we're in that weight room. There's no better classroom
in the world to teach accountability and no excuses and toughness.
(15:17):
And there's a difference, like, cause if you're just a strength coach and you don't understand that,
it can become almost like you're a personal fitness instructor and you're not
developing that core mental toughness of the athlete. Talk a little bit about that.
Well, first, you know, I respect both avenues, you know, and I understand there's a difference.
(15:42):
A strength coach who's not coaching a sport, his job is a little different than
my job, where I am coaching a sport and I'm coaching a sport that if I'm not
successful at it, I'm going to be coaching it somewhere else.
You know, I want to have to pick up my family and move.
I think there's merits to all different types of workouts, heavy lifting,
(16:03):
explosive lifting, and speed training. There's merits to all that.
But I do think that the word mental toughness is taboo in one of those,
and it's not taboo in the sport coach world.
And I do believe that mentally tough kids...
Win championships. Mentally tough kids battle mental health issues a lot better than kids without it.
(16:26):
At some point, the team that's going to win a championship is the more mentally
tough team and the more physical team. I do believe that.
You have to beat somebody better than you to do that.
If I sat here and said that we have tremendous talent.
The last two years, we've been one of the probably top five most talented teams in Class A.
However, both of those years, there were teams who were more talented than us
(16:50):
that we had to go through and we had to be those teams.
And it was because we were mentally tougher than those teams.
But just to kind of let both sides know what we do, you know,
we break and I did a clinic presentation last Friday over what we kind of do
between January and August.
And I've heard strength coaches argue that what you do between January and August,
(17:13):
August has no bearing on your football team in the fall. And,
you know, I 100 percent disagree with that.
I think all the accountability, all the mental toughness, all the standards
you set, they're habitual.
And I think that when August comes, man, you're it's like a machine by then.
You know, the one year that I thought we weren't a very good football team since
(17:36):
I've been here was the COVID year when we didn't get to see our players from
January to August. You know, that hurt our program.
So, you know, our philosophy, number one, is we want our kids to have fun.
We want them to want to be in the weight room. We don't want kids to be hiding.
We don't want them to dread it. And it's crazy because...
(17:57):
Our kids love the weight room, but yet they work extremely hard in there.
And we had that culture at Heard County a few years ago.
And I remember Tim Bain coming to me. He was the head football coach at the
time. And we sat down and he said, all right, you're in there killing those kids.
And they come back every day smiling and like they can't wait to jump in there.
He said, what can we do to create that culture on the football field when it's 100 degrees?
(18:21):
That was our big discussion then. And we talked about, you know,
what we could do to do that.
So, you know, we feel like we have that here. Our kids love to be in the weight
room. They love to be at practice. They're not dreading it and wanting to go
home and those sort of things.
And when you got a helmet on and it's 100 degrees, you better love being out
there and it better be fun.
Or, you know, it's something a kid may not stick with or do. do.
(18:45):
But an overview of what we do, we come in January, February,
those whole two months, we do no speed work.
Not to say we don't do some explosive lifting with our heavy lifting,
but we're kind of bulking.
We feel like we got a lot of blue collar kids that need to get bigger and stronger.
(19:06):
Our steel kids need to get bigger and stronger.
And we break it up to where we have have something fun or a test for our kids
to compete every two months.
So for this one, we do the GACA weightlifting meet. We go compete for the state
championship in weightlifting.
So our kids kind of have an end game. Hey, we got eight weeks of lifting,
(19:26):
two months of lifting, and then we got to go in front of an audience in the bleachers.
We got to go compete with, you know, eight or nine different class A teams to go win a weight meet.
And so we do that. You know, we reward our kids if they win a state title, we get them a ring for it.
You know, we get them army issue, bowed in gear to wear for that weight meet,
just gives them another set of clothes.
(19:47):
And then we honor all our state champions by putting their picture and weight
class up in the weight room for everybody to see. And it'll be there forever.
So once we hit that weight meet, we go on our next two-month block where we
start our speed work portion.
So we start doing our measurables.
And, you know, we kind of tell our kids, we're getting you prepared for any
(20:08):
showcase or combine you're going to go to for recognition, for colleges.
So we start doing our speed work, and we cut back on our death by squats.
We don't do that stuff during that time. Now, we still live to max out.
And what we do at the end of that two months in May, instead of spring football
practice, we don't have all our kids anyway, not for 10 days.
(20:31):
We won't because they all run track. They play baseball.
They play tennis. They play basketball. They play soccer.
So we have a three-day combine after school. We find three days that all the
kids are not doing their second sport.
We bring our eighth graders up. Sometimes we bring our rec kids up and we do
a spring combine where, you know, we put all our kids in their bounding gear
(20:53):
and we test them in the 40.
We do the ale drills. We do the short shuttles. We do laser 40s too.
So we don't have them, our kids actually know what they run.
But we do a lot of the speed and agility testing. And, you know,
we're going to we're going to max them out on a squat, a clean and a bench.
So they get an opportunity to compete again.
We let parents come to that college coaches who are coming around to visit kids.
(21:17):
You know, they won't get to see us practice, but at least they can come see
a kid move, bend in the hips, see if they can change directions.
So we use that for that as well for for our college kids that are being looked at.
So that's kind of our spring practice. We kind of make sure we got kids in the
right positions going into summer workouts.
That summer. So school ends, and then we have our last two-month block where we go June and July.
(21:44):
And we do a big, and this is a big deal for our program, we do our Iron Red Devil competition.
We've got a six-event competition, 30-point rubric for the six events.
And we crown an Iron Red Devil champion based on three movement events,
speed events, and then three lifts.
We crown a a weight champion of the strongest overall kid in the program.
(22:08):
So those kids get their pictures put in the weight room in a different section
for being the Iron Red Devil champion, Iron Red Devil weight champion.
We honor our top 10 strongest kids by putting them in the football program and our top five freshmen.
So we make it a big deal to compete. And instead of saying, hey,
guys, we're going to start lifting in January to make us better football players in August.
(22:31):
Kids can't see that far ahead. But if we say, hey, we're lifting January and
February to go compete in state championships, you're going to get a lot out
of those kids trying to get stronger.
Then if they know, hey, the community's coming out in May, the eighth graders
are coming up and the red ball kids, and I want to show off in front of them,
they're going to work hard for that testing.
(22:52):
And then, of course, that competition, the last two days of summer before the
first two official practices, we finish up with that Iron Red Devil competition.
You know, we compete. We announce the winners. Last year, we went to a lake.
We took the whole team. We went swimming.
We went and got pizza. It's, you know, we used to in the old school days,
we would spend the night that night and do it.
(23:13):
And we still do the skits. We have our players.
It's the one day a year they can make fun of the coaches.
So each grade has to do a skit on things that have happened during the summer,
seven on seven, any practices on the field.
And, man, they have a great time making fun.
You know kids love you when they can imitate you. And our kids get us good.
(23:34):
So we pick a winning class on that each year. I think we had the best skit making fun of the coaches.
But again, it just creates those relationships and kids wanting to be around
you and wanting to hang out.
So that's kind of how we break our strength program down.
There's an end goal every two months for our kids instead of just trying to look way down the line.
(23:54):
No, that's awesome, Coach. So, man, definitely love the weight room philosophy
and how you progress it in the football season. And how does that being bigger,
being faster, being stronger, being all those things.
OK, so talk about your identity as a football coach.
Like when I say identity, like what do you want to do offensively?
What do you want to do defensively? Like when I was watching the Lions and the
(24:17):
49ers on this past weekend on Sunday night, it was just awesome to watch the
physicality of both teams.
Like you knew what both teams were all about. out.
I didn't really see that in the Ravens-Chiefs game, the physicality,
but so who are you and how do you use the weight room to make your identity
(24:39):
from an offensive-defensive standpoint?
Well, from an overall standpoint, we want to be the most physical football team
on the field every Friday night, and that's an identity we've been trying to achieve.
You know, we were not that in every game the first four years that we were here,
(25:00):
we just finished year six, we do feel like we were that team the last two years.
And the weight room has a lot to do with that. You know, on the offensive side of the ball.
We've got some good backs, some good quarterbacks, and we've got some good receivers.
But the guys that win and lose, and for us to win championships, the guys up front.
(25:22):
We tell our linemen we want to be able to run the football against everybody.
And we tell our linemen that they have to win each week.
And we also tell our skill guys if they're willing to be the most physical skill
kids on the field, that's going to help us win and be successful on Friday night.
So, from an offensive standpoint, we want to be physical and mash people off
(25:43):
the ball and be able to run the football.
From a defensive standpoint, we really preach two things.
One, we want to be physical enough to stop the run, but we also want to play fast enough.
We want to understand our fits, and when we recognize where we're supposed to
be, we want to be there as fast as we can get there.
You know, if you do those two things and keep your scheme simple,
(26:03):
you know, you force people to beat you, not help them out by making a mistake
or blowing a coverage or blowing an assignment.
So the weight room, you know, 100% helps us in that regard.
I think this year we've been number one in rushing the last two years in our
classification, but we were number two in all classifications this past year in rushing yards.
(26:26):
And we had five new linemen this year. We graduated all five.
Four of them went to play college football, our first title team.
And we had five newbies up there who were not great early in the year but got
better and better and better each game.
We return all five this year, so we're pretty excited about that.
When we're back summer, too, they know what their guys are going to do for them up front.
(26:48):
But, yes, we're a physical – we're going to take it to somebody and we're going
to be the more physical kids on the field on Friday night.
Absolutely. Now, it sounds like nobody probably wants to play you this year.
Talk a little bit about that. people don't understand that you you
you start winning and you're winning championships but at the
end of the day you're still a single a football program your numbers are still
(27:10):
single a but i always found this out at elka like i can't go down in classification
to schedule somebody like a 7a school like you know they'll pay you 15 000 to
come play them so they can beat you.
But you can't do that. You can't go lower. And really, when you're scheduling
games besides out your side, your region, nobody wants to play you.
(27:34):
You're not going to find anybody who wants to play you.
So talk about, people don't understand that, how hard it is to schedule now that y'all are winning.
Well, it was that way when we were 1-9, and it's gotten a lot tougher now that we've won.
I can promise you I probably made 200 phone calls this offseason trying to get
people from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina,
(27:59):
you know, to schedule a game.
And here's the tough part about it. Everybody says, well, man,
you need to be playing, you know, Prince Avenue or Ebron or, you know, GAC or A-Row.
And those people, they don't understand that we've got 55 kids and probably
18 of those kids are going to play both ways.
(28:22):
Now, if we have a kid start on one side of the ball, he plays 50% on the other
side no matter how good he is.
We do one-and-a-half players, but we play a lot of guys both ways.
Last year, we had a 7A opponent on our schedule.
We had a 4A opponent on our schedule.
And if I look at our schedule right now the five
(28:43):
games that we scheduled all of
them are are larger classification schools except for
one and that's Macon County and they were a quarterfinal team so I mean you
know you're you're playing good people and the problem's not playing good people
the problem is when you start playing the big schools we played Central Carrollton
this year and they were a 12 and 1 you know 4a school and and we played hard
(29:05):
and hung with them it was 14-6 at the half,
but in that second half, when none of their kids on offense are playing D and
none of their kids on D are playing O,
our kids get wore down, and then you get one or two of those kids hurt.
It can cost you playing deep during your season.
So it's not that you're scared to play better people.
(29:27):
I think that's how you get better. We love to play bigger people,
but if you play too many of those bigger people, you're beat up when you get in the region.
It can can affect you winning a region title and getting that one seed coming out.
You know, last year or two years ago, I think we had one of the toughest schedules
in the state because we played, I think, five quarterfinal teams and two semifinal
(29:48):
teams in the regular season. You know, that's not counting playoff teams.
And we made it through that healthy, and we were battle-tested when it started.
You know, this year we were kind of banged up when we rode into the playoffs
and kind of had to heal up in that playoff process by playing those bigger teams.
And I get it, too, because everybody wants to schedule a few wins.
(30:11):
You know, I like to schedule somebody that I think is way better than us.
And then you want to follow up with one you think you can play in,
you know, where you're not just physically getting beat down.
Then another one where, you know, you find out. And if you look at our schedule
now, we're going to play at Ayersville in our opening scrimmage because I know
they're going to be a big physical team.
And then they'll give us a test of whether we're where we think we are with
(30:34):
our kids and our physicality. Right.
Then we're going to turn around and scrimmage Callaway, who were the 2020 state
champions. And, you know, they're going to be extremely fast and look like some
of the South Georgia teams, Irwin, Brooks, Clance, that we're going to see if
we make it to round three.
So we're trying to get a look at that. And, of course, those teams are good,
but they're not 4A teams.
(30:55):
Their kids are going to play both ways, too.
And you can handle playing some of that in that schedule.
So Georgia High School, you know, they changed the classification.
How does that impact Bowdoin, if it does at all?
Well, it really brings Brooks and Irwin and Meador back down.
(31:18):
But me personally, you know, I'm excited about that.
I know when I took this job, we went one and nine.
I went to the Dome. They still play that. That was one of the last few games
at the old Georgia Dome. And Clinch and Irwin were playing for the title.
And I went to that game because I wanted to see what the best price.
(31:39):
I think they played each other about three times in a row.
That's right. I wanted to see what the best programs were doing.
Kind of like what you're saying.
You're interviewing people that are winning and successful.
I want to see how many kids, what they look like. And I remember telling another
head coach in class A school, you know, hey, that's what we want to be at Bowdoin.
And I know there were some snickers then and some laughs because we were not
(32:02):
that. We were one and nine and not very good.
But now after winning back-to-back, what we just did with those teams, did.
So, you know, when we have yet to play Clinch, we've yet to play Irwin,
and we would like to see where we stack up, you know, even if we get beat by 21.
You know, can we play with those guys? And, you know, Clinch had been down here with us.
They hadn't made it to us yet, you know. And, you know, so we want to know.
(32:27):
What we're doing and, you know, speaking of visiting schools,
and I probably should have said this back with the weightlifting piece because
it just popped in my head.
But when I was at Heard County, you know, doing what you're talking about,
visiting the successful programs, when we were trying to create our weight room culture,
the head coach there, Tim Baird, like we planned a trip and went and visited
(32:47):
what we thought was the premier program in the state in small school back then.
It was beautiful. so you go up there and watch
them in the weight room and you see that culture of kids working out
no coaches really in there having to push them it's on
the board they're doing it the culture was tremendous and
we wanted to create that so you know a lot of what we've done here is we've
gone to the to the best programs and tried to mimic what we thought was good
(33:10):
out of those programs and create those things here and what we didn't like we
don't do all right so coach as we wrap it up It's been a great interview,
actually. I've learned a lot.
What do you think? There's young coaches out there. There's old coaches out
there. There's guys in between. I think you and I are still in between.
What is one of your biggest struggles as a head coach, just managing life and
(33:36):
family and being a dad, not just to your kids, but the kids you coach?
You're very relational. and
what's the biggest struggle and what have you done to try to overcome it?
Well, I think you always look at year 28 for me, you know, the things that were tough for me.
(33:57):
Obviously, the day and age that I came into,
And I hate using the word entitled, but it's just different now where I knew there was a process.
I needed to be the best linebacker coach I could be for the guy that hired me.
I needed to be the best assistant coach. I needed to be the best field liner offer.
You know, wanted to. And there are still coaches like that. But finding the medium.
(34:20):
I think that being too old school is not good in this day and age.
I think that being too millennial is not good in this day and age because you've
got guys. I've had guys interview with me fresh out of college,
you know, saying, hey, coach, I can run your defense if you want me to.
And I'm sitting here thinking, you know, it took me 28 years to learn how to win as a head coach.
(34:41):
And you're telling me you're ready to stop somebody year one.
And maybe that's a one percent of the population could do that.
But I think, you know, learn football, be great at whatever you're hired at,
you know, be great at that. And, you know, obviously, I think that coaching
is the greatest sport in the world for a kid.
(35:02):
Like my dad was a coach and I thought he had the greatest job in the world.
And a lot of my time with my dad, I mean, I was a ball boy.
I stood on the sidelines. I thought that everybody else in my first,
second, third grade classes, their parents had boring jobs.
I thought they were all envious of what I got to do.
I think that it's time, family time well spent. You know, we have five kids in my family from 20.
(35:26):
My oldest son is actually a coach. He is a student teaching at Carrollton High
School, and he's their JV soccer coach. He was a soccer player.
I'm all the way down to my three-year-old son, who's still grabbing my leg when I come home.
Them involve your kids all our kids they know what the b means about them they
wear it they'll tell you if they see somebody in a blue shirt that's our rival
they'll say boo there's a there's a blue devil and it's great family time and
(35:51):
and you know as much as i want to be a role model.
As a coach and then i want people when i'm done to
say hey he was a really good coach he was really great for kids but
but when i'm gone i want my kids to say man he was
one of the best dads ever you know he was one of the best daddies
that he could be and you know the moment i get home i shut it down and i'm gonna
(36:11):
give my kids you know those couple hours before bedtime and i'm gonna give that
to my wife and you know when it's time to come back to work before i go to bed
i do a to-do list of all the things I need to accomplish so that I'm ready when I get to school,
but I want things done before I leave. I think there is a balance.
When I got in this, I was told, you're either going to be a great coach or a
(36:33):
great husband. You can't be both. I think that's false.
I don't think you can be a great coach without being great.
It's not a switch. We tell our kids that all the time. Winner's not a sometimes
thing. You're going to do it all the time.
I want you to be a really good football player on Friday night,
but I want you to be a a good boyfriend to your girlfriend you know i want
you to be a good son to your mom you know i want you
(36:55):
to be a good person in the school building it's not a
it's not a sometimes thing and that's the biggest thing that you preach to to
coaches and kids especially young coaches you know being a good coach isn't
just when you're in the film room watching film because you're excited about
your rpos and what you know as a player and what you did in college it goes beyond Beyond that,
(37:16):
you know, hey, let's get the field set up. Take as much passion with that.
You know, let's make sure our players are out of the locker room on time.
Take as much passion with that. Hey, this kid needs his wrist taken. Take passion with that.
Be a winner, you know, in everything that you do, and you'll be successful.
Absolutely. Well, Coach, this has been great. I really appreciate it.
There's really, really good stuff on here.
(37:38):
Just really appreciate you being on the show. If you don't mind,
I'm going to pray for us as we end.
Yes, sir. Lord, we're coming for you today. I just want to praise and thank
you for Coach and just everything that he's doing there at Bowdoin.
It's just awesome to hear him talk about relationships and how that's the core of who they are.
And that's how he builds the program and gets the kids to buy in.
(37:59):
And, Lord, he's there working and he's helping every one of those boys to become
better and to reach their dreams.
And then also while being a great husband and a great dad.
And, Lord, we just really appreciate him. him. I just pray that you would just
continue to bless him and continue to give him success.
Lord, we love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. All right, coach. I appreciate it.
(38:20):
Hey, I appreciate it. And it was awesome to put a face with the name.
So next time I see you, I'll come up, shake your hand and strike up conversation with you.
Absolutely. All right, coach. Enjoyed it. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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