March 18, 2024 • 40 mins
Welcome to this episode of the Demand Excellence podcast, where we sit down with renowned football Coach Trevor Williams. Currently at the helm of Creekview High School, Coach Williams takes us through an enriching journey, from his days as a player to his successes as one of the most influential high school football coaches in the US.
In our extensive dialogue, Coach Williams provides insights into the value of continuous learning, humility and adaptability, sharing his experience transitioning to Creekview High School and the challenges he encountered. His narrative serves as a guide to the importance of maintaining a resilient mindset parallel to exercising tactical skills.
In "Transforming Locker Room Culture: Balancing Faith, Discipline, and Athletic Performance", the episode delves deep into strategies on fostering a healthy, conducive athletic environment rooted in faith, discipline, and performance. It touches upon the nuances of managing new trainers, maximizing strength and speed, the importance of recovery and nutrition and maintaining a disciplined life.
Our guest speaks candidly about infusing Christian principles into his coaching methods and how he transforms these principles into tools of discipline, integrity, and character for the athletes. He illustrates his belief in providing service and support to others as a window of success rather than self-exaltation.
This episode is about so much more than football coaching; it's about imparting valuable life lessons. It also explores the difficult decisions Coach Williams had to make along his journey, including his approach to integrating religious principles in a public school setting.
Weaved within his stories are potent lessons, like handling the tragic loss of a player and making tough decisions to nurture the students into better individuals. The dialog concludes with Coach William's two guiding principles: "Effort, attitude, and toughness" and "Tough people win". He provides an introspective into what these codes mean to him and their role in shaping his players.
In sum, the episode is a glimpse into the inspiring journey of Coach Trevor Williams, his playbook to being an effective, impactful coach and his role in molding young athletes. Join us and gain insight into the essence of a coach's duty beyond just shaping football players.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right, everybody, we are back for another episode of the Demand Excellence podcast.
And today I have Coach Trevor Williams on the podcast with me.
And he is currently the head coach at Creekview High School, doing a super job there.
Coach, man, really appreciate you being on the show, on the podcast.
(00:21):
For the listener, tell them a little bit about yourself, where you went to high
school, college, and just really kind of how you got to Creekview High School?
Well, I was fortunate. I played for Sid Maxwell at Sequoia High School right
down the road before Creekview had opened.
Our offensive coordinator, Al Murrell, was actually the first head coach at
Creekview when it did open in 2006 after I had graduated.
(00:45):
Spent a couple years participating on the football team at Tusculum College.
Didn't get to play very much, but probably over my head at the Division II level.
But it was a great experience. You know, you got exposed to a couple different
offensive and defensive systems, met a bunch of guys that I'm still in touch
with, good friends, then went right into coaching.
You know, coaching was something that my dad was a high school football coach.
(01:08):
It was something that I knew that I wanted to do from an early age.
So got right into coaching, was hired by Chris Bennett at Forsyth Central in
2009, which was really, really good.
Started as a running backs coach and kind of played on the offensive side my whole career.
Worked my way up As a special teams coordinator Finally became The offensive
(01:28):
coordinator In year four I believe it was And,
Then moved on to South Forsyth for a year with Jeff Arnett on the offensive
side of the ball at running backs.
Then he said, hey, we need to go hire a DBs coach.
I thought at that point, hey, I want to be a head coach one day.
This would be really good to flip over, change sides of the ball, learn something new.
(01:53):
To be honest with you, I think that was probably the best thing that could have
happened to me from a coaching standpoint was was get out of your comfort zone,
challenge yourself, learn something new, learn the other side of the ball.
Worked my way up through the next four years there to be the defensive coordinator.
We had some success, won a couple of region championships, and then was fortunate
(02:17):
enough to come back home, if you will, to Creekview in the same area that I grew up in.
My wife and I had lived in Cherokee County all along, making the commute for
10 years into to Forsyth County.
So it was really nice to get closer to home and back to people we grew up around
and just been really fortunate.
Creekview is such a special place and reminds me a lot of Sequoia when I was there in high school.
(02:43):
But, you know, great kids, great community, great families and blue collar kids
that want to work hard and have a little bit of toughness about it.
Absolutely. So, you know, one of the reasons there's multiple reasons why I
do this podcast, But I remember when I was young, probably in the just got into
coaching. I was probably 24, 25, 26.
(03:04):
I just could not find a lot of information out there from high school football coaches.
I mean, yeah, you can go to clinics and, you know, but you can get a book about
Nick Saban, Vince Lombardi.
You know, I read all of that stuff, but it just wasn't necessarily applicable to me.
Obviously, the overall philosophy stuff was. But you said something very profound
(03:25):
there. I want you to talk more about, I mean, where I was going with that is,
I also do this for the young coaches out there who want information.
You talked about you're a running back coach, but you knew it would be wise
to go to the defensive side of the ball and coach defensive backs.
So what did you do to learn defensive backs?
(03:48):
Because you then became the defensive coordinator at South Forsyth.
So then kind of like you become a defensive guy. So talk about that a little bit.
Yeah. You know, it's very similar to, I guess, a lot of people's path from a
standpoint of, hey, I don't know the information.
Let me go reach out to people smarter than me and go learn it.
We started, you know, we were a 4-3 team. Coach Arnett had been 4-3 for his whole career.
(04:14):
And we had been a two-read Palms team, but knew we wanted to get more aggressive.
Anybody that's spent any time around Coach Arnett knows he's a cover zero,
cover three, blitz five, blitz six guy.
So we played probably 30% of our snaps and cover zero anyway.
So we kind of got to researching, hey, let's look at this Michigan State press
(04:38):
quarters philosophy where the corners are playing man basically every snap anyway.
And it really fit our guys. It fit our personnel. It fit our philosophy on defense.
So we bought all those DVDs. We clinic'd. We listened to Harlan Barnett and
all those guys, Pat Narduzzi, as much as we possibly could.
(04:59):
And then I went and found high school guys that were doing something similar
and tried to pick their brain.
And it was it was tough at times because, you know, it's south and here it creeped you the same thing.
Athletically, if you line up and we were to run 40s or enter a track meet,
we're not winning very many of those races.
(05:21):
And so I heard from parents, from coaches, from guys I'm clinic with,
you can't run this thing. there.
So you had to have some confidence and a head coach that believed in you to
say, hey, man, if you believe in it, you've researched it and you think it fits,
let's go to work. Let's see how it goes.
And man, it took off and it's been a really good change for us.
(05:44):
But really, it's being humble enough to reach out and ask.
I think there's so many coaches that are willing to share share information, share ideas.
But you got to kind of go hat in hand a little bit. Say, coach,
you know, you guys have done this at a high level.
Anything you'd be willing to let me come in and learn and sit down and talk
to you, I would be greatly appreciative. And most guys will do that.
(06:08):
So when you became, I guess, the next big step for you and your career was becoming
the defensive coordinator at South Forsyth.
What are some of your overarching defensive philosophical principles that you
kind of live by that you learned there at South Forsyth?
(06:29):
You know, I mentioned it earlier. Anybody that's spent any time with Coach Arnett
knows he's a pressure-first guy, guy, you know, and not necessarily blitzing
all the time, but pressure to the point of we're going to move people almost every snap.
We're going to slant a D lineman, bring a backer.
We're going to put pressure on high school age kids to execute when we don't
(06:51):
stand in the same place every snap.
So much like everybody else, effort first.
If you don't play hard, you can't play for us. It's that simple.
And you hear coaches all the time, well, we don't coach effort.
We absolutely Absolutely do. We coach it. We grade it. We evaluate it every day.
So that's non-negotiable, much like a lot of the best defensive guys around.
(07:13):
But the second part of that is we want to make you beat us left-handed.
We want to take away what you do best, put as many in the box or as few in the
box as we need to, to stop the run.
But we want to put pressure on you. We want to bring guys and make you uncomfortable
and try to confuse the quarterback back there as much as you you possibly can,
(07:34):
and create negative plays and turnovers.
You know, I think offenses now are so good that if you're stagnant.
They're going to pick you apart. The OCs are too good. They're playing with
tempo. They're checking with me.
If you can't find a way to create negative plays and get them behind the sticks,
it's going to be a long night.
(07:55):
Unless you do have guys, three big D linemen that can eat gaps and DBs that
can lock in the coverage for a long period of time.
For us, it comes down to when we're successful on defense, it's a high number
of negative plays, and we're creating some turnovers.
So as as a defensive coach or i mean you might think you're an offensive guy
(08:17):
too since you used to be a running back coach but what offense do you prefer
obviously you're probably gonna say whatever my personnel can do but like what
offense do you prefer to run as a head coach,
yeah you know it's funny you mentioned that this past
year i actually flipped back over i've got a tremendous defensive
(08:38):
coordinator named chip martin who's been with us he
was with us at south for five years and he's been
with us at Creekview all five years so he's he's the head coach
of the defense now we bounce ideas off of
each other but he he's going to be a head coach very very
soon and going to do a phenomenal job so I flipped back over I'm working with
the quarterbacks and tried to take all the things that were a pain in the tail
(09:02):
to me as a defensive guy and implement
them on offense yeah right it's formations motions and shifts it's,
trying to create a three-man service with a tight end against an odd front to
make a guy play in the box that's not used to playing in there.
Incorporating option game into that, whether that's we'll RPO some,
(09:25):
we'll zone read some, but even some Coastal Carolina triple option from the gun stuff.
Because to me, at the end of the day in high school football,
you've still got to be able to run it and stop the run.
Throwing, it's awesome, and we'll do that too. But the heart of Friday nights
is still running the football and being able to stop the run.
(09:46):
When you got the job at Creekview, you become the head coach.
Coach it's your first job as a head coach what did
you come in and how did
you try to establish yourself with your
teammate and the community with your players excuse me and the community there
you know it was a really unique situation i was the third head coach in three
(10:08):
years al morel had been here for nine years i think it was to open the school
then terry crowder came in had just won a state championship at Chattahoochee,
was here for five years, did a great job.
He moves on to Denmark, opens that school. Adam Carter comes in for a year.
They go 12-1 with a phenomenal senior class.
(10:29):
He moves on to Grayson, and then I come in.
I'm the third new guy in three years, and it was really, how do we win the player?
How do we come in, run the program the way you you think it needs to be run
without saying anything negative or without crushing any tradition that they
(10:51):
had had because the year before I got here,
they were 12 to one, you know, they had been in school history,
the first playoff wins in school history. So obviously they're doing something right.
So find out what they were doing well and build on that. Now they had graduated, uh.
20 plus seniors. I think I want to say seven of them went on to play division one college football.
(11:16):
So, I mean, they were loaded. So we were rebuilding a little bit,
but it was more about trust and buy in.
And to me, that starts in the relationships you can build with them as quickly as you possibly can.
Given the senior some buy in of, hey, obviously I just work here, right? It's your team.
It's your program there. I'm just the guy they put in charge of leading it.
(11:38):
You got to be on board with what we're
doing and then get to work in the weight room you
know the weight room I think is the heartbeat of any high
school football program you've got to do a
great job in that room to be successful so we went right to work you know I
got hired on a Thursday on Friday we were in the weight room rolling and working
and getting ready to go right before spring break so okay talk a little bit
(12:03):
about the weight room you guys do a really good job with With that,
you know, definitely have seen some of the stuff that you guys put on Twitter
and what you do in the weight room.
So, you know, philosophically, you know, there's all different types of philosophies
as well in the weight room.
So what are you guys doing in the weight room and what are you trying to accomplish
through the weight room?
(12:24):
Well, I was, like I said, hugely blessed, number one, to play for Sid Maxwell,
who may be the best strength and conditioning coach in the state overall. brawl.
We were doing things 25 years ago that people are just now kind of leaning into
and figuring out. He was on the cutting edge of it then.
So go get my CSCS through the NSCA.
(12:49):
I'm a personal trainer for a while. I'm doing speed and agility stuff.
I'm 22, 23 years old. I've got all all the answers, right? I know exactly how all this stuff works.
Get the South, walk in the weight room day one and coach, they've got monsters everywhere.
I'm talking neck, muscles, shoulder, they're all squatting 500 pounds.
(13:15):
And I kind of take a step back and I said, hold on, maybe I don't have all the answers here.
Maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am. What are y'all doing to get them like this?
And it's, you know, from a core lift perspective, it's bigger,
faster, stronger. That's been around forever.
You know, it's 10, 8, 6, 4, 5 by 5, 3 by 3, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 sets and reps.
(13:42):
But it's great effort. It's tremendous enthusiasm.
You know, it's all those things. And now that, you know, we've had a chance
at Creekview, now it's blending the two.
It's how are we cutting edge on mobility, speed work, injury prevention,
while still maintaining the fact that at a place like this, in a place like
(14:05):
South, you got to get big and strong. on.
You're not going to out-athlete people, so you've got to lift heavy things a bunch.
So it's a good mix of that. And I think one of the best things I took from Coach
Arnett was we don't do an individual leaderboard.
(14:25):
We don't do the top 10 squats, the top 10 bench. We'll post that sometimes.
But in our weight room, it's team averages.
It's this is our upperclassmen average
squat average bench average power clean this is
our ninth graders average bench average squats the average power clean so
the best player on the team and the the worst player on the team or the last
(14:51):
guy on the depth chart their increase in that max helps the team just as much
right adding every kid matters to to that number you know so So to us,
that's been a great rallying cry of,
hey, every five pounds you add matters, regardless of whether you're a scout team guy,
(15:14):
whether you're a Friday night starter or a Thursday guy that's just trying to
develop to be in the best version of you that you possibly can be. That's been big for us.
So that's a great answer. How do you or how are you finding yourself blending
the two? too. So got to get big and strong.
(15:34):
That's extremely important in football.
So is speed, right? I like to say strength without speed is dead,
right? Maybe you can play on the line.
So what have you learned over the course of your career to blend the two best?
We tweak it every year. I don't know that there is any magic pill, no magic formula.
(15:56):
We're still trying to find it but for us much
like everybody else does we break the calendar into segments
right from january to spring break is max
strength we're trying to put on muscle mass we're trying to
put on weight we're trying to get as strong as we possibly can then we'll then
we'll kind of get into a speed phase through the probably june and then july
(16:22):
and august becomes that peak power kind of phase and then you get into the season where.
You're kind of blending it, keeping a pulse on your team, finding out what they
need, how their legs are feeling.
But to me, the biggest thing has been the stretching, the mobility work,
in addition to the speed work of trying to keep them as healthy as you possibly can.
(16:47):
Taking a Wednesday every week throughout the year through the season,
that's our yoga mobility day. It's, you know, we practice Wednesday mornings
during the season, so they'll get their work in.
And then they've got a long time before we play Friday night till there's actual
strain on their legs again.
And that's been big. But just kind of finding that balance of we still got to
(17:12):
lift and we still got to be strong because for us, that's our lifeline.
But like you said, we've got to maximize the potential we do have from the speed
side of it. And Coach Josh Pritchett,
our Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, does a phenomenal job.
He actually learned, played, and trained under Sid.
So he brought a lot of that functional movement stuff with him.
(17:33):
And he's just been a huge addition to us in the weight room.
You know, like when you're talking about the weight room, you know,
I always believe, like you said, it's a lifeline of a high school football team.
Because you're able to teach so many lessons of mental toughness and physical toughness.
And if you do it right, man, by the time you start in August,
(17:58):
the kids that really weren't mentally tough and physically tough,
they've already weeded themselves out.
So, you know, but this is the question I wanted to ask you.
You talk about kind of like, you know, your speed phase in June.
I personally like the Memorial Day extra week of whatever, but then you got July 4th.
(18:21):
But as a strength guy and a speed guy, I feel like it messed the whole rhythm
up because we don't necessarily get.
I mean, if you think about it, you get four weeks and then they have a week off.
And then, man, you might have two weeks, two and a half weeks before you got to get into football.
And it's kind of messed the rhythm out. Now, so I'm asking you,
(18:44):
what have you done different because of that Memorial Day dead week?
Yeah, I wish they would have sandwiched the last week in June and July 4th and
given everybody two straight weeks to just kind of do that.
You know, I do think it's good for kids to have time off and go be kids.
I think it's good for coaches to have a breather. but it
(19:07):
does when especially if you do spring practice like we
do it gets real choppy from about mid-may
right through through that july fourth week
but for us we'll max right before spring break we'll get a good four-week cycle
in june and then we'll have a couple weeks to get back in it and then we'll
max about mid-july and speed test and do all those things so it hasn't been terrible,
(19:34):
but you do find yourself as a coach oftentimes looking for, are we doing enough?
And I think that may be the wrong answer, right? Coach Arnett was great with,
he was going to try to find them time off.
He was going to try to find them days off to recover and go be a kid.
Sometimes I think we get into doing too much because we want to outwork the next guy.
(20:01):
We not doing anything can be the best thing for those
kids it's a good reset it's a good breather for
them and they come back hungrier and more ready to work
than than if you kind of grind them a little bit yeah i
tell kids days off is a work day it's a work to rest because this is an epidemic
i know i face it here and you probably face it as well but with with all the
(20:25):
new trainers out there the speed speed trainers and the receiver trainer and
the court out and that's quarterbacks don't necessarily run a lot,
but the O-line trainers and I can, I could, you know, so, so we have a plan, right?
We have a system. It's five days a week. This is what we're going to do.
And what the problem is, is these kids are getting up early.
They got this trainer they got on the weekends. I don't think they ever take a day off and,
(20:49):
And I've really kind of just given up. I mean, I try to tell them to rest,
but I don't even fight the battle anymore. I don't know. I don't know.
You might have an answer for me.
I wish I did. You know, it's a balance because you want them to work.
You want them to work even outside of the time you have them.
But you just try to educate them on the power of rest, the power of recovery, the power of nutrition.
(21:13):
You know, we kind of look at the college model and I tell them all the time,
there's a reason they're building sleep rooms in these multi-million dollar
football facilities there's a reason there's cryo
chambers like you can't massage gun your
way out of bad nutrition bad sleep
bad hydration and that's
that's really the biggest jump that
(21:35):
college kids make and the biggest gap high school
kids have i think is the nutrition and rest side of it they don't eat enough
you know it's trying to educated to eat hot Cheetos and bonbons and drink sodas
all the time versus they get to college and somebody hands them a box of food
with the exact number of calories they need to have for their personal goal.
(21:56):
And you see the kids that really dial that in, that dial in the recovery side of it.
But as far as trainers go, I try to reach out to those guys as much as I possibly
can and say, hey, here's the plan. Here's what this kid needs to work on.
Here's his deficiencies and see if we we can work together.
Right. And working in that field prior to getting, getting into coaching,
(22:19):
I think helped me because I would call the head coaches when I was the trainer.
Yeah. You know, how does this kid need to do? What are y'all doing?
When are y'all lifting heavy?
What days can, does he need to come see me and try to work on that?
And that's the best way to go about it is, Hey, we're in this together.
You know, we've got some really good ones in the area that do a great job.
(22:40):
But at the end of the day, we want what's best for that kid and try to work
with them because you're right.
You can't fight it. You can't talk them into not doing it.
And the best thing you can do is make the best of it.
Yeah. And then, Coach, you talked about nutrition.
I always look at it like this. I always just kind of watch my 11-year-old.
(23:01):
And he told me he was going to get ripped up and he's going to get a six-pack
and all that kind of stuff.
I was like, well you need to do this he says well i'm gonna
do that and and so but every
day he doesn't do that and so you know
like i mean his dinner last night was gushers and you
know but yeah my point is is like and you we tell these kids about nutrition
(23:26):
and you know but the problem is it takes discipline you right it's the one thing
we can make you work out but what we can't do is follow you around and make you be disciplined.
So give me a better strategy than the one I have about how you try to motivate
your kids with eating and diet.
(23:49):
Oh, man, that's a great question. I don't know that we found the perfect strategy
other than, you know, just constantly on them all the time.
I'm walking through the lunchroom, you know, hey, go get another lunch.
Hey, where's the rest of your food?
You know, and we do, we email a nutrition packet to the parents and say,
hey, if your son's trying to gain weight, this is how many calories he needs.
And here's sample meals. Here's what it looks like.
(24:12):
Here's what it actually looks like. So understand it's a family investment, too.
Right. Because not everybody's got the money to go out and buy,
you know, all the protein shakes and the supplements and that stuff.
So and then we, you know, like everybody else, we've got coaches that will feed
kids and that can't do it.
But, you know, it's that discipline piece and trying to get them to be disciplined
(24:36):
in every aspect of their life is is the goal of high school football.
Right. That's that's what we're here for.
And I tell them all the time, it's it's like it's like a Christian walk.
Right. We're we're never as good as we want to be. We're never where we want to be.
But it's daily and we're going to mess up and we're going to have to reset.
But but that doesn't mean you completely get away from it. Right.
(24:58):
If you have a bad day, you don't throw it in the trash and try something else.
You reset and keep going.
And that's disciplined life, and that's being a Christian.
And I think those two intertwine so much when you talk about our jobs as coaches
is really pastoring kids to try to be the best version of themselves. else.
(25:21):
No. So that's a good segue into, you know, your walk with Christ.
And obviously the podcast is, is a Christian focus, you know,
how to be a Christian football coach.
I was thinking this morning, you know, there's leaders and then there's Christian
leaders and, you know, there, there's great leaders out there,
but ultimately that great leader apart from Christ is all about themselves.
(25:45):
Right. And other people can benefit from that and other people they'll,
they'll make make other people's career great and all that kind of stuff.
At the end of the day, it's about exalting themselves and glorifying themselves.
But a Christian leader, what God calls us to do is die to ourselves and serve.
And so we're actually leading in a different way because we're teaching our
(26:06):
players, man, it's not about you, right?
As we're telling ourselves, it's not about me.
Talk a little bit about how your Christian walk, your relationship with Jesus
Christ plays a role in your coaching?
Yeah, well, I grew up in the church. I grew up Catholic.
My grandfather was a chaplain at the University of the South at Suwannee,
(26:30):
so grew up around church.
I always was a believer, didn't always necessarily walk the way I should walk,
and then really got into coaching.
And it was, to me, it was selfish. It was I wanted to call plays and I wanted to be around football.
But, you know, God put my wife in my life early.
(26:52):
I was a junior in high school when we met, and having kids and finding a church
at Revolution up here where we're at, realizing that there's got to be something more to this thing.
It can't just be coaching football.
Coaching football has got to be about impacting lives and changing kids' lives
(27:13):
because there's never enough wins.
There's never enough championships. There's never enough film to watch or any
of those things if you're not making an impact.
You know, and I've been very fortunate through my career that,
you know, I wanted to be a head coach when I was 20 and wasn't ready.
And God closed those doors and kind of kept me where I needed to be and opened
(27:38):
the door at the right time.
You know, I tell people all the time I had interviewed for another job about
a month earlier before I got this job and thought I was going to be the guy
and didn't get a great feeling about the job and just said, Lord,
if this is not where I'm supposed to be, shut the door in my face because I
don't know if I'm strong enough to say no if I offer it.
And the next day coach we're going
(28:00):
in a different direction you know i hope you're okay i said guys
i'm fine this this was this was an answered prayer like
you're good and and not five days later i get a call hey adam's leaving would
you be interested yeah i'm in you know i want to be at creakney that's where
i want to be and it was just timing and god and you know it was funny several years Years back,
(28:23):
I had a player come to my office, and he was going through some stuff.
He said, Coach, man, all the stuff that you tell us without telling us about
God, all that stuff you tell us, I'm hearing in church, and I'm reading in the
Bible, and all those lessons tie into it.
I was like, huh, almost like there's a plan.
(28:44):
All the stuff that you hear from...
All the leadership books you read and all the nuggets you get all point back
to servant leadership, Jesus Christ, the walk, the Christian walk in general,
being 1% better, being the best version of yourself,
chasing something bigger than you, giving back to other people.
(29:05):
All those things were rooted in the truth of the Bible. And it was like, this is how you lead.
And I always feel like the biggest hypocrite, because I'm not somebody that's
going to get up here and tell people how they should lead and those types of things.
And sharing my faith has not been a strong point of mine, but you just try to
(29:25):
be the example and serve and treat people the right way that hopefully,
like the one player did, they go back and go, I've heard this before.
This is what coach was talking about. And this is where I need to be tied to.
This is where I need define my truth and my identity in a culture that tells
me it's all about me, this truth tells me it's about us and the impact we can have there.
(29:51):
So maybe the way of the world isn't the way we need to be walking.
And that's the hope, especially in public education. That's the line you walk of.
If you just show them the right way and point them to it and the ones that you
know believe lead, you can have a little deeper conversation with.
That's how you impact it at my position and in the position of leadership.
(30:13):
No, I think what you're saying is, that's always a big question.
How do I lead for Jesus Christ in a public school?
A lot of coaches ask me that. And I'm like, well, I should ask you that because
I don't coach at a public school. I coach at a Christian school.
Yeah. And I mean, I can sit there and I can preach Christ.
(30:34):
All day long. But at the end of the day, I'm a football coach.
I'm not a preacher. I'm coaching football and that's what my focus is.
But at the end of the day, as coaches, we put on Christ as we coach.
We represent ourselves in a certain way and to our players.
I don't act like an idiot during a game or I'll do something stupid that's definitely
(30:58):
not Christ-like or I'll look like an idiot.
And then, you know, we apologize to the players and all that kind of stuff.
But the best way that we lead as coaches, since we're not pastors,
is we lead by our actions, which is, you know, what you were alluding to.
So what, let me ask you this question.
I like to ask certain questions of coaches because coaches are always learning
(31:21):
and you can learn from each other, you know, over the past three years as a head coach,
or I think you've been there three years now maybe I'm wrong on
that one this is actually about to be spring number
six oh my gosh I don't I read
something I don't know I don't know why I thought three all right
number six so what in the past
three years has really been something
(31:43):
profound that you've learned that's kind
of changed you a little bit could be football could
be anything just that you think has made you a a better coach the
the most difficult one to talk about my first year here we actually lost a player
to suicide week two of of the football season and and i had to go into a room
(32:04):
full of young men who had no idea what had happened and and tell them that they
had lost a brother and that was.
The hardest thing i've ever had to do but then
to lead young men who are looking to you for an an example and
for guidance and and for all
those things that really made you
(32:27):
take a step back and like I said I had just gotten here a few months earlier but
it makes you re-examine every conversation you have with a kid to make sure
they don't leave the locker room after a tough day of practice without somebody
putting their arm around them you know if you're hard on a kid I tell our coaches
all the time go in that locker room and pick him up before he gets home you
know We're going to coach them hard. We're going to love them hard.
(32:48):
But that and I've got two sons. I've got a seventh grader and a fifth grader.
And really being cognizant of being the kind of coach and having the coaches
on my staff that I would want them to play for, right?
Being somebody who's extremely hard on them, demanding, high expectations,
high standards, but also cares about them as a person.
Yeah, I tell our parents, I tell our kids all the time, if all we do is teach
(33:12):
you football, we have faith.
If you don't walk out of here better men, and that's been really a journey through 15 years of,
man, I wish I had those first first two or three years back where it was all
about winning and all about football and all about those things.
I missed opportunities with those guys that I wish I had back.
(33:33):
Awesome. So, Coach, as we wrap it up, I always like to ask this question at the end.
What are two things, kind of like codes or creeds that you live by day to day?
Like, you know, Coach from Coffey County said crawl.
Coach, another coach, he said, oh, I forget what Now it's not even coming to
my brain, but I say demand excellence, win the day.
(33:55):
What are kind of two things that you live by?
Yeah, for us, you know, it's effort, attitude and toughness, right?
The acronym EAT starts with effort, bring a great attitude and be physically and mentally tough.
And then kind of for this year, we have an overarching that's every year.
And then every year we kind of pick out what I think we need.
(34:17):
And ours this year is tough people win. we lack
toughness as a society we we're
having a crisis in this country because we get
people that are physically mentally and emotionally
not tough and i'm not talking about not having feelings you can have feelings
but you can't let feelings dictate your actions right so our big push this year
(34:41):
is find some toughness you know and like i said we we coach really blue collar
kids kids that want to be tough, that want to do that.
But they're fighting an outside world that's telling them to be offended,
to get their feelings hurt, to let their feelings dictate how they behave.
Tough people at the end of the day win in football and in life.
(35:03):
So we want to make sure they walk out of our program tougher than when they walked in.
And you can only do that, right? I call it the furnace of affliction.
You can only do that with really difficult things. You got to put Put them in
hard situations and let those guys overcome it so that they have the confidence
that they're able to overcome.
You know, that confidence piece, I think, is huge that, hey, I am capable of this.
(35:29):
No, that's great. You know, doing this podcast, I get to talk to all these coaches, coaches like you.
And what's so cool for me to see, because, yeah, if you watch the news and you
look at the world, it's like, oh, my gosh, It's like we're going to get beat
in a war by China very soon.
But but then I started thinking about it like, I mean, there's guys like you
(35:51):
at every high school that are teaching the next generation toughness and fortitude and resolve.
And there's boys that are playing for you who want to be that guy.
Right. Yeah. I mean, they're fighting their flesh, but like they want to be
that guy. And I just I was sitting there the other day and I was just like encouraged,
(36:12):
like, man, all these coaches out there. That's why I love high school football.
Like all these coaches out there. They're all for the most part,
they're teaching the same thing I'm teaching. Right.
I watch, you know, you guys lift weights on Twitter.
I watch Bowden. I watch, you know, whoever, you know, everybody's showing their kids lifting.
(36:33):
And it's such a beautiful thing to me because those kids that are doing that
lifting, they're not choosing the easy road. They're not choosing the soft road.
And at the end of the day, not everybody in our country is going to be tough,
but it is cool to see men like you raising up the next generation. generation.
(36:55):
So I always find it that I'm encouraged when I get to talk to guys like you.
And man, this is, it's just cool.
It's cool what we do as high school football coaches, I believe.
No doubt we get this job in America. It's phenomenal and keeps you young.
And, you know, the cliche is you don't work a day in your life if you're doing something you love.
(37:15):
And I truly feel that way. I mean, I'm blessed to get to wake up every day and
come be around these kids.
I tell our guys all time, what you won't hear me say is kids these days, right?
That's like my least favorite phrase that I hear because it's not kids.
It's the adults. We allow kids to act a certain way or behave a certain way.
(37:36):
Our kids are phenomenal. And I think if you talk to coaches and you do across
the state, the kids are phenomenal.
The kids want to show up. They They want to work. They want discipline. They want structure.
We just got to provide it for them. We just got to put them on the path to get it.
Our kids are phenomenal, you know, and we're just lucky to be a part of it.
(37:58):
And they inspire me because you'll get a kid that comes in that has,
you know, a big baseball game in the afternoon and we're working multi-sport
guys. Hey, man, if you need to lift light, you can.
You know, if you need to modify the workout, coach, I'm good,
man. Throw it on. Let's go.
Yeah. And then he goes out and hits the game winner, you know,
hits a bomb, hits a walk-off, performs well, and you're like,
(38:20):
dude, that kid could have chosen the easy way out.
That kid could have taken weight off or made it easier on himself.
But instead, he came in and crushed it and then goes and performs later that night.
It's like, dude, that's inspiring because you could have taken the easy way
and you chose not to. And that's awesome.
Yeah, no doubt. You know, like I tell people, you know, I can sit around and
(38:44):
I can focus on the ones that don't, or I can focus on the ones that do.
And yeah, I'm going to be really depressed if I sit around and focus on the
ones that don't. But man, I got all these kids that do.
And it's like you talked about earlier about making sure you pat them on the
back and you're paying them attention.
And those kids need to be affirmed. A lot of times we get lost chasing the kids
(39:07):
that don't want to do, but instead of affirming the kids that do.
So, well, coach, man, it's been been awesome. I appreciate it.
Definitely learned a lot from you. If you don't mind, I'd like to pray for you
as we head out. Absolutely.
Lord, we're coming for you today. I just want to praise and thank you for loving
us. Praise and thank you for dying on the cross for our sins.
(39:27):
Lord, I just praise and thank you for Coach Williams and what you're doing in
his life and what you're doing through him there at Creek View.
It is so encouraging to just talk to men like him who are investing in the lives
of the next next generation and leading their communities and doing it in a
way that honors and glorifies you.
(39:48):
Lord, I just pray for his success, that you would just bless what he's doing,
his family, his football team, his coaches, and his community there at Creekview.
Lord, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, everybody, we are back for another episode of the Demand Excellence podcast.
And today I have Coach Trevor Williams on the podcast with me.
And he is currently the head coach at Creekview High School, doing a super job there.
Coach, man, really appreciate you being on the show, on the podcast.
(00:21):
For the listener, tell them a little bit about yourself, where you went to high
school, college, and just really kind of how you got to Creekview High School?
Well, I was fortunate. I played for Sid Maxwell at Sequoia High School right
down the road before Creekview had opened.
Our offensive coordinator, Al Murrell, was actually the first head coach at
Creekview when it did open in 2006 after I had graduated.
(00:45):
Spent a couple years participating on the football team at Tusculum College.
Didn't get to play very much, but probably over my head at the Division II level.
But it was a great experience. You know, you got exposed to a couple different
offensive and defensive systems, met a bunch of guys that I'm still in touch
with, good friends, then went right into coaching.
You know, coaching was something that my dad was a high school football coach.
(01:08):
It was something that I knew that I wanted to do from an early age.
So got right into coaching, was hired by Chris Bennett at Forsyth Central in
2009, which was really, really good.
Started as a running backs coach and kind of played on the offensive side my whole career.
Worked my way up As a special teams coordinator Finally became The offensive
(01:28):
coordinator In year four I believe it was And,
Then moved on to South Forsyth for a year with Jeff Arnett on the offensive
side of the ball at running backs.
Then he said, hey, we need to go hire a DBs coach.
I thought at that point, hey, I want to be a head coach one day.
This would be really good to flip over, change sides of the ball, learn something new.
(01:53):
To be honest with you, I think that was probably the best thing that could have
happened to me from a coaching standpoint was was get out of your comfort zone,
challenge yourself, learn something new, learn the other side of the ball.
Worked my way up through the next four years there to be the defensive coordinator.
We had some success, won a couple of region championships, and then was fortunate
(02:17):
enough to come back home, if you will, to Creekview in the same area that I grew up in.
My wife and I had lived in Cherokee County all along, making the commute for
10 years into to Forsyth County.
So it was really nice to get closer to home and back to people we grew up around
and just been really fortunate.
Creekview is such a special place and reminds me a lot of Sequoia when I was there in high school.
(02:43):
But, you know, great kids, great community, great families and blue collar kids
that want to work hard and have a little bit of toughness about it.
Absolutely. So, you know, one of the reasons there's multiple reasons why I
do this podcast, But I remember when I was young, probably in the just got into
coaching. I was probably 24, 25, 26.
(03:04):
I just could not find a lot of information out there from high school football coaches.
I mean, yeah, you can go to clinics and, you know, but you can get a book about
Nick Saban, Vince Lombardi.
You know, I read all of that stuff, but it just wasn't necessarily applicable to me.
Obviously, the overall philosophy stuff was. But you said something very profound
(03:25):
there. I want you to talk more about, I mean, where I was going with that is,
I also do this for the young coaches out there who want information.
You talked about you're a running back coach, but you knew it would be wise
to go to the defensive side of the ball and coach defensive backs.
So what did you do to learn defensive backs?
(03:48):
Because you then became the defensive coordinator at South Forsyth.
So then kind of like you become a defensive guy. So talk about that a little bit.
Yeah. You know, it's very similar to, I guess, a lot of people's path from a
standpoint of, hey, I don't know the information.
Let me go reach out to people smarter than me and go learn it.
We started, you know, we were a 4-3 team. Coach Arnett had been 4-3 for his whole career.
(04:14):
And we had been a two-read Palms team, but knew we wanted to get more aggressive.
Anybody that's spent any time around Coach Arnett knows he's a cover zero,
cover three, blitz five, blitz six guy.
So we played probably 30% of our snaps and cover zero anyway.
So we kind of got to researching, hey, let's look at this Michigan State press
(04:38):
quarters philosophy where the corners are playing man basically every snap anyway.
And it really fit our guys. It fit our personnel. It fit our philosophy on defense.
So we bought all those DVDs. We clinic'd. We listened to Harlan Barnett and
all those guys, Pat Narduzzi, as much as we possibly could.
(04:59):
And then I went and found high school guys that were doing something similar
and tried to pick their brain.
And it was it was tough at times because, you know, it's south and here it creeped you the same thing.
Athletically, if you line up and we were to run 40s or enter a track meet,
we're not winning very many of those races.
(05:21):
And so I heard from parents, from coaches, from guys I'm clinic with,
you can't run this thing. there.
So you had to have some confidence and a head coach that believed in you to
say, hey, man, if you believe in it, you've researched it and you think it fits,
let's go to work. Let's see how it goes.
And man, it took off and it's been a really good change for us.
(05:44):
But really, it's being humble enough to reach out and ask.
I think there's so many coaches that are willing to share share information, share ideas.
But you got to kind of go hat in hand a little bit. Say, coach,
you know, you guys have done this at a high level.
Anything you'd be willing to let me come in and learn and sit down and talk
to you, I would be greatly appreciative. And most guys will do that.
(06:08):
So when you became, I guess, the next big step for you and your career was becoming
the defensive coordinator at South Forsyth.
What are some of your overarching defensive philosophical principles that you
kind of live by that you learned there at South Forsyth?
(06:29):
You know, I mentioned it earlier. Anybody that's spent any time with Coach Arnett
knows he's a pressure-first guy, guy, you know, and not necessarily blitzing
all the time, but pressure to the point of we're going to move people almost every snap.
We're going to slant a D lineman, bring a backer.
We're going to put pressure on high school age kids to execute when we don't
(06:51):
stand in the same place every snap.
So much like everybody else, effort first.
If you don't play hard, you can't play for us. It's that simple.
And you hear coaches all the time, well, we don't coach effort.
We absolutely Absolutely do. We coach it. We grade it. We evaluate it every day.
So that's non-negotiable, much like a lot of the best defensive guys around.
(07:13):
But the second part of that is we want to make you beat us left-handed.
We want to take away what you do best, put as many in the box or as few in the
box as we need to, to stop the run.
But we want to put pressure on you. We want to bring guys and make you uncomfortable
and try to confuse the quarterback back there as much as you you possibly can,
(07:34):
and create negative plays and turnovers.
You know, I think offenses now are so good that if you're stagnant.
They're going to pick you apart. The OCs are too good. They're playing with
tempo. They're checking with me.
If you can't find a way to create negative plays and get them behind the sticks,
it's going to be a long night.
(07:55):
Unless you do have guys, three big D linemen that can eat gaps and DBs that
can lock in the coverage for a long period of time.
For us, it comes down to when we're successful on defense, it's a high number
of negative plays, and we're creating some turnovers.
So as as a defensive coach or i mean you might think you're an offensive guy
(08:17):
too since you used to be a running back coach but what offense do you prefer
obviously you're probably gonna say whatever my personnel can do but like what
offense do you prefer to run as a head coach,
yeah you know it's funny you mentioned that this past
year i actually flipped back over i've got a tremendous defensive
(08:38):
coordinator named chip martin who's been with us he
was with us at south for five years and he's been
with us at Creekview all five years so he's he's the head coach
of the defense now we bounce ideas off of
each other but he he's going to be a head coach very very
soon and going to do a phenomenal job so I flipped back over I'm working with
the quarterbacks and tried to take all the things that were a pain in the tail
(09:02):
to me as a defensive guy and implement
them on offense yeah right it's formations motions and shifts it's,
trying to create a three-man service with a tight end against an odd front to
make a guy play in the box that's not used to playing in there.
Incorporating option game into that, whether that's we'll RPO some,
(09:25):
we'll zone read some, but even some Coastal Carolina triple option from the gun stuff.
Because to me, at the end of the day in high school football,
you've still got to be able to run it and stop the run.
Throwing, it's awesome, and we'll do that too. But the heart of Friday nights
is still running the football and being able to stop the run.
(09:46):
When you got the job at Creekview, you become the head coach.
Coach it's your first job as a head coach what did
you come in and how did
you try to establish yourself with your
teammate and the community with your players excuse me and the community there
you know it was a really unique situation i was the third head coach in three
(10:08):
years al morel had been here for nine years i think it was to open the school
then terry crowder came in had just won a state championship at Chattahoochee,
was here for five years, did a great job.
He moves on to Denmark, opens that school. Adam Carter comes in for a year.
They go 12-1 with a phenomenal senior class.
(10:29):
He moves on to Grayson, and then I come in.
I'm the third new guy in three years, and it was really, how do we win the player?
How do we come in, run the program the way you you think it needs to be run
without saying anything negative or without crushing any tradition that they
(10:51):
had had because the year before I got here,
they were 12 to one, you know, they had been in school history,
the first playoff wins in school history. So obviously they're doing something right.
So find out what they were doing well and build on that. Now they had graduated, uh.
20 plus seniors. I think I want to say seven of them went on to play division one college football.
(11:16):
So, I mean, they were loaded. So we were rebuilding a little bit,
but it was more about trust and buy in.
And to me, that starts in the relationships you can build with them as quickly as you possibly can.
Given the senior some buy in of, hey, obviously I just work here, right? It's your team.
It's your program there. I'm just the guy they put in charge of leading it.
(11:38):
You got to be on board with what we're
doing and then get to work in the weight room you
know the weight room I think is the heartbeat of any high
school football program you've got to do a
great job in that room to be successful so we went right to work you know I
got hired on a Thursday on Friday we were in the weight room rolling and working
and getting ready to go right before spring break so okay talk a little bit
(12:03):
about the weight room you guys do a really good job with With that,
you know, definitely have seen some of the stuff that you guys put on Twitter
and what you do in the weight room.
So, you know, philosophically, you know, there's all different types of philosophies
as well in the weight room.
So what are you guys doing in the weight room and what are you trying to accomplish
through the weight room?
(12:24):
Well, I was, like I said, hugely blessed, number one, to play for Sid Maxwell,
who may be the best strength and conditioning coach in the state overall. brawl.
We were doing things 25 years ago that people are just now kind of leaning into
and figuring out. He was on the cutting edge of it then.
So go get my CSCS through the NSCA.
(12:49):
I'm a personal trainer for a while. I'm doing speed and agility stuff.
I'm 22, 23 years old. I've got all all the answers, right? I know exactly how all this stuff works.
Get the South, walk in the weight room day one and coach, they've got monsters everywhere.
I'm talking neck, muscles, shoulder, they're all squatting 500 pounds.
(13:15):
And I kind of take a step back and I said, hold on, maybe I don't have all the answers here.
Maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am. What are y'all doing to get them like this?
And it's, you know, from a core lift perspective, it's bigger,
faster, stronger. That's been around forever.
You know, it's 10, 8, 6, 4, 5 by 5, 3 by 3, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 sets and reps.
(13:42):
But it's great effort. It's tremendous enthusiasm.
You know, it's all those things. And now that, you know, we've had a chance
at Creekview, now it's blending the two.
It's how are we cutting edge on mobility, speed work, injury prevention,
while still maintaining the fact that at a place like this, in a place like
(14:05):
South, you got to get big and strong. on.
You're not going to out-athlete people, so you've got to lift heavy things a bunch.
So it's a good mix of that. And I think one of the best things I took from Coach
Arnett was we don't do an individual leaderboard.
(14:25):
We don't do the top 10 squats, the top 10 bench. We'll post that sometimes.
But in our weight room, it's team averages.
It's this is our upperclassmen average
squat average bench average power clean this is
our ninth graders average bench average squats the average power clean so
the best player on the team and the the worst player on the team or the last
(14:51):
guy on the depth chart their increase in that max helps the team just as much
right adding every kid matters to to that number you know so So to us,
that's been a great rallying cry of,
hey, every five pounds you add matters, regardless of whether you're a scout team guy,
(15:14):
whether you're a Friday night starter or a Thursday guy that's just trying to
develop to be in the best version of you that you possibly can be. That's been big for us.
So that's a great answer. How do you or how are you finding yourself blending
the two? too. So got to get big and strong.
(15:34):
That's extremely important in football.
So is speed, right? I like to say strength without speed is dead,
right? Maybe you can play on the line.
So what have you learned over the course of your career to blend the two best?
We tweak it every year. I don't know that there is any magic pill, no magic formula.
(15:56):
We're still trying to find it but for us much
like everybody else does we break the calendar into segments
right from january to spring break is max
strength we're trying to put on muscle mass we're trying to
put on weight we're trying to get as strong as we possibly can then we'll then
we'll kind of get into a speed phase through the probably june and then july
(16:22):
and august becomes that peak power kind of phase and then you get into the season where.
You're kind of blending it, keeping a pulse on your team, finding out what they
need, how their legs are feeling.
But to me, the biggest thing has been the stretching, the mobility work,
in addition to the speed work of trying to keep them as healthy as you possibly can.
(16:47):
Taking a Wednesday every week throughout the year through the season,
that's our yoga mobility day. It's, you know, we practice Wednesday mornings
during the season, so they'll get their work in.
And then they've got a long time before we play Friday night till there's actual
strain on their legs again.
And that's been big. But just kind of finding that balance of we still got to
(17:12):
lift and we still got to be strong because for us, that's our lifeline.
But like you said, we've got to maximize the potential we do have from the speed
side of it. And Coach Josh Pritchett,
our Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, does a phenomenal job.
He actually learned, played, and trained under Sid.
So he brought a lot of that functional movement stuff with him.
(17:33):
And he's just been a huge addition to us in the weight room.
You know, like when you're talking about the weight room, you know,
I always believe, like you said, it's a lifeline of a high school football team.
Because you're able to teach so many lessons of mental toughness and physical toughness.
And if you do it right, man, by the time you start in August,
(17:58):
the kids that really weren't mentally tough and physically tough,
they've already weeded themselves out.
So, you know, but this is the question I wanted to ask you.
You talk about kind of like, you know, your speed phase in June.
I personally like the Memorial Day extra week of whatever, but then you got July 4th.
(18:21):
But as a strength guy and a speed guy, I feel like it messed the whole rhythm
up because we don't necessarily get.
I mean, if you think about it, you get four weeks and then they have a week off.
And then, man, you might have two weeks, two and a half weeks before you got to get into football.
And it's kind of messed the rhythm out. Now, so I'm asking you,
(18:44):
what have you done different because of that Memorial Day dead week?
Yeah, I wish they would have sandwiched the last week in June and July 4th and
given everybody two straight weeks to just kind of do that.
You know, I do think it's good for kids to have time off and go be kids.
I think it's good for coaches to have a breather. but it
(19:07):
does when especially if you do spring practice like we
do it gets real choppy from about mid-may
right through through that july fourth week
but for us we'll max right before spring break we'll get a good four-week cycle
in june and then we'll have a couple weeks to get back in it and then we'll
max about mid-july and speed test and do all those things so it hasn't been terrible,
(19:34):
but you do find yourself as a coach oftentimes looking for, are we doing enough?
And I think that may be the wrong answer, right? Coach Arnett was great with,
he was going to try to find them time off.
He was going to try to find them days off to recover and go be a kid.
Sometimes I think we get into doing too much because we want to outwork the next guy.
(20:01):
We not doing anything can be the best thing for those
kids it's a good reset it's a good breather for
them and they come back hungrier and more ready to work
than than if you kind of grind them a little bit yeah i
tell kids days off is a work day it's a work to rest because this is an epidemic
i know i face it here and you probably face it as well but with with all the
(20:25):
new trainers out there the speed speed trainers and the receiver trainer and
the court out and that's quarterbacks don't necessarily run a lot,
but the O-line trainers and I can, I could, you know, so, so we have a plan, right?
We have a system. It's five days a week. This is what we're going to do.
And what the problem is, is these kids are getting up early.
They got this trainer they got on the weekends. I don't think they ever take a day off and,
(20:49):
And I've really kind of just given up. I mean, I try to tell them to rest,
but I don't even fight the battle anymore. I don't know. I don't know.
You might have an answer for me.
I wish I did. You know, it's a balance because you want them to work.
You want them to work even outside of the time you have them.
But you just try to educate them on the power of rest, the power of recovery, the power of nutrition.
(21:13):
You know, we kind of look at the college model and I tell them all the time,
there's a reason they're building sleep rooms in these multi-million dollar
football facilities there's a reason there's cryo
chambers like you can't massage gun your
way out of bad nutrition bad sleep
bad hydration and that's
that's really the biggest jump that
(21:35):
college kids make and the biggest gap high school
kids have i think is the nutrition and rest side of it they don't eat enough
you know it's trying to educated to eat hot Cheetos and bonbons and drink sodas
all the time versus they get to college and somebody hands them a box of food
with the exact number of calories they need to have for their personal goal.
(21:56):
And you see the kids that really dial that in, that dial in the recovery side of it.
But as far as trainers go, I try to reach out to those guys as much as I possibly
can and say, hey, here's the plan. Here's what this kid needs to work on.
Here's his deficiencies and see if we we can work together.
Right. And working in that field prior to getting, getting into coaching,
(22:19):
I think helped me because I would call the head coaches when I was the trainer.
Yeah. You know, how does this kid need to do? What are y'all doing?
When are y'all lifting heavy?
What days can, does he need to come see me and try to work on that?
And that's the best way to go about it is, Hey, we're in this together.
You know, we've got some really good ones in the area that do a great job.
(22:40):
But at the end of the day, we want what's best for that kid and try to work
with them because you're right.
You can't fight it. You can't talk them into not doing it.
And the best thing you can do is make the best of it.
Yeah. And then, Coach, you talked about nutrition.
I always look at it like this. I always just kind of watch my 11-year-old.
(23:01):
And he told me he was going to get ripped up and he's going to get a six-pack
and all that kind of stuff.
I was like, well you need to do this he says well i'm gonna
do that and and so but every
day he doesn't do that and so you know
like i mean his dinner last night was gushers and you
know but yeah my point is is like and you we tell these kids about nutrition
(23:26):
and you know but the problem is it takes discipline you right it's the one thing
we can make you work out but what we can't do is follow you around and make you be disciplined.
So give me a better strategy than the one I have about how you try to motivate
your kids with eating and diet.
(23:49):
Oh, man, that's a great question. I don't know that we found the perfect strategy
other than, you know, just constantly on them all the time.
I'm walking through the lunchroom, you know, hey, go get another lunch.
Hey, where's the rest of your food?
You know, and we do, we email a nutrition packet to the parents and say,
hey, if your son's trying to gain weight, this is how many calories he needs.
And here's sample meals. Here's what it looks like.
(24:12):
Here's what it actually looks like. So understand it's a family investment, too.
Right. Because not everybody's got the money to go out and buy,
you know, all the protein shakes and the supplements and that stuff.
So and then we, you know, like everybody else, we've got coaches that will feed
kids and that can't do it.
But, you know, it's that discipline piece and trying to get them to be disciplined
(24:36):
in every aspect of their life is is the goal of high school football.
Right. That's that's what we're here for.
And I tell them all the time, it's it's like it's like a Christian walk.
Right. We're we're never as good as we want to be. We're never where we want to be.
But it's daily and we're going to mess up and we're going to have to reset.
But but that doesn't mean you completely get away from it. Right.
(24:58):
If you have a bad day, you don't throw it in the trash and try something else.
You reset and keep going.
And that's disciplined life, and that's being a Christian.
And I think those two intertwine so much when you talk about our jobs as coaches
is really pastoring kids to try to be the best version of themselves. else.
(25:21):
No. So that's a good segue into, you know, your walk with Christ.
And obviously the podcast is, is a Christian focus, you know,
how to be a Christian football coach.
I was thinking this morning, you know, there's leaders and then there's Christian
leaders and, you know, there, there's great leaders out there,
but ultimately that great leader apart from Christ is all about themselves.
(25:45):
Right. And other people can benefit from that and other people they'll,
they'll make make other people's career great and all that kind of stuff.
At the end of the day, it's about exalting themselves and glorifying themselves.
But a Christian leader, what God calls us to do is die to ourselves and serve.
And so we're actually leading in a different way because we're teaching our
(26:06):
players, man, it's not about you, right?
As we're telling ourselves, it's not about me.
Talk a little bit about how your Christian walk, your relationship with Jesus
Christ plays a role in your coaching?
Yeah, well, I grew up in the church. I grew up Catholic.
My grandfather was a chaplain at the University of the South at Suwannee,
(26:30):
so grew up around church.
I always was a believer, didn't always necessarily walk the way I should walk,
and then really got into coaching.
And it was, to me, it was selfish. It was I wanted to call plays and I wanted to be around football.
But, you know, God put my wife in my life early.
(26:52):
I was a junior in high school when we met, and having kids and finding a church
at Revolution up here where we're at, realizing that there's got to be something more to this thing.
It can't just be coaching football.
Coaching football has got to be about impacting lives and changing kids' lives
(27:13):
because there's never enough wins.
There's never enough championships. There's never enough film to watch or any
of those things if you're not making an impact.
You know, and I've been very fortunate through my career that,
you know, I wanted to be a head coach when I was 20 and wasn't ready.
And God closed those doors and kind of kept me where I needed to be and opened
(27:38):
the door at the right time.
You know, I tell people all the time I had interviewed for another job about
a month earlier before I got this job and thought I was going to be the guy
and didn't get a great feeling about the job and just said, Lord,
if this is not where I'm supposed to be, shut the door in my face because I
don't know if I'm strong enough to say no if I offer it.
And the next day coach we're going
(28:00):
in a different direction you know i hope you're okay i said guys
i'm fine this this was this was an answered prayer like
you're good and and not five days later i get a call hey adam's leaving would
you be interested yeah i'm in you know i want to be at creakney that's where
i want to be and it was just timing and god and you know it was funny several years Years back,
(28:23):
I had a player come to my office, and he was going through some stuff.
He said, Coach, man, all the stuff that you tell us without telling us about
God, all that stuff you tell us, I'm hearing in church, and I'm reading in the
Bible, and all those lessons tie into it.
I was like, huh, almost like there's a plan.
(28:44):
All the stuff that you hear from...
All the leadership books you read and all the nuggets you get all point back
to servant leadership, Jesus Christ, the walk, the Christian walk in general,
being 1% better, being the best version of yourself,
chasing something bigger than you, giving back to other people.
(29:05):
All those things were rooted in the truth of the Bible. And it was like, this is how you lead.
And I always feel like the biggest hypocrite, because I'm not somebody that's
going to get up here and tell people how they should lead and those types of things.
And sharing my faith has not been a strong point of mine, but you just try to
(29:25):
be the example and serve and treat people the right way that hopefully,
like the one player did, they go back and go, I've heard this before.
This is what coach was talking about. And this is where I need to be tied to.
This is where I need define my truth and my identity in a culture that tells
me it's all about me, this truth tells me it's about us and the impact we can have there.
(29:51):
So maybe the way of the world isn't the way we need to be walking.
And that's the hope, especially in public education. That's the line you walk of.
If you just show them the right way and point them to it and the ones that you
know believe lead, you can have a little deeper conversation with.
That's how you impact it at my position and in the position of leadership.
(30:13):
No, I think what you're saying is, that's always a big question.
How do I lead for Jesus Christ in a public school?
A lot of coaches ask me that. And I'm like, well, I should ask you that because
I don't coach at a public school. I coach at a Christian school.
Yeah. And I mean, I can sit there and I can preach Christ.
(30:34):
All day long. But at the end of the day, I'm a football coach.
I'm not a preacher. I'm coaching football and that's what my focus is.
But at the end of the day, as coaches, we put on Christ as we coach.
We represent ourselves in a certain way and to our players.
I don't act like an idiot during a game or I'll do something stupid that's definitely
(30:58):
not Christ-like or I'll look like an idiot.
And then, you know, we apologize to the players and all that kind of stuff.
But the best way that we lead as coaches, since we're not pastors,
is we lead by our actions, which is, you know, what you were alluding to.
So what, let me ask you this question.
I like to ask certain questions of coaches because coaches are always learning
(31:21):
and you can learn from each other, you know, over the past three years as a head coach,
or I think you've been there three years now maybe I'm wrong on
that one this is actually about to be spring number
six oh my gosh I don't I read
something I don't know I don't know why I thought three all right
number six so what in the past
three years has really been something
(31:43):
profound that you've learned that's kind
of changed you a little bit could be football could
be anything just that you think has made you a a better coach the
the most difficult one to talk about my first year here we actually lost a player
to suicide week two of of the football season and and i had to go into a room
(32:04):
full of young men who had no idea what had happened and and tell them that they
had lost a brother and that was.
The hardest thing i've ever had to do but then
to lead young men who are looking to you for an an example and
for guidance and and for all
those things that really made you
(32:27):
take a step back and like I said I had just gotten here a few months earlier but
it makes you re-examine every conversation you have with a kid to make sure
they don't leave the locker room after a tough day of practice without somebody
putting their arm around them you know if you're hard on a kid I tell our coaches
all the time go in that locker room and pick him up before he gets home you
know We're going to coach them hard. We're going to love them hard.
(32:48):
But that and I've got two sons. I've got a seventh grader and a fifth grader.
And really being cognizant of being the kind of coach and having the coaches
on my staff that I would want them to play for, right?
Being somebody who's extremely hard on them, demanding, high expectations,
high standards, but also cares about them as a person.
Yeah, I tell our parents, I tell our kids all the time, if all we do is teach
(33:12):
you football, we have faith.
If you don't walk out of here better men, and that's been really a journey through 15 years of,
man, I wish I had those first first two or three years back where it was all
about winning and all about football and all about those things.
I missed opportunities with those guys that I wish I had back.
(33:33):
Awesome. So, Coach, as we wrap it up, I always like to ask this question at the end.
What are two things, kind of like codes or creeds that you live by day to day?
Like, you know, Coach from Coffey County said crawl.
Coach, another coach, he said, oh, I forget what Now it's not even coming to
my brain, but I say demand excellence, win the day.
(33:55):
What are kind of two things that you live by?
Yeah, for us, you know, it's effort, attitude and toughness, right?
The acronym EAT starts with effort, bring a great attitude and be physically and mentally tough.
And then kind of for this year, we have an overarching that's every year.
And then every year we kind of pick out what I think we need.
(34:17):
And ours this year is tough people win. we lack
toughness as a society we we're
having a crisis in this country because we get
people that are physically mentally and emotionally
not tough and i'm not talking about not having feelings you can have feelings
but you can't let feelings dictate your actions right so our big push this year
(34:41):
is find some toughness you know and like i said we we coach really blue collar
kids kids that want to be tough, that want to do that.
But they're fighting an outside world that's telling them to be offended,
to get their feelings hurt, to let their feelings dictate how they behave.
Tough people at the end of the day win in football and in life.
(35:03):
So we want to make sure they walk out of our program tougher than when they walked in.
And you can only do that, right? I call it the furnace of affliction.
You can only do that with really difficult things. You got to put Put them in
hard situations and let those guys overcome it so that they have the confidence
that they're able to overcome.
You know, that confidence piece, I think, is huge that, hey, I am capable of this.
(35:29):
No, that's great. You know, doing this podcast, I get to talk to all these coaches, coaches like you.
And what's so cool for me to see, because, yeah, if you watch the news and you
look at the world, it's like, oh, my gosh, It's like we're going to get beat
in a war by China very soon.
But but then I started thinking about it like, I mean, there's guys like you
(35:51):
at every high school that are teaching the next generation toughness and fortitude and resolve.
And there's boys that are playing for you who want to be that guy.
Right. Yeah. I mean, they're fighting their flesh, but like they want to be
that guy. And I just I was sitting there the other day and I was just like encouraged,
(36:12):
like, man, all these coaches out there. That's why I love high school football.
Like all these coaches out there. They're all for the most part,
they're teaching the same thing I'm teaching. Right.
I watch, you know, you guys lift weights on Twitter.
I watch Bowden. I watch, you know, whoever, you know, everybody's showing their kids lifting.
(36:33):
And it's such a beautiful thing to me because those kids that are doing that
lifting, they're not choosing the easy road. They're not choosing the soft road.
And at the end of the day, not everybody in our country is going to be tough,
but it is cool to see men like you raising up the next generation. generation.
(36:55):
So I always find it that I'm encouraged when I get to talk to guys like you.
And man, this is, it's just cool.
It's cool what we do as high school football coaches, I believe.
No doubt we get this job in America. It's phenomenal and keeps you young.
And, you know, the cliche is you don't work a day in your life if you're doing something you love.
(37:15):
And I truly feel that way. I mean, I'm blessed to get to wake up every day and
come be around these kids.
I tell our guys all time, what you won't hear me say is kids these days, right?
That's like my least favorite phrase that I hear because it's not kids.
It's the adults. We allow kids to act a certain way or behave a certain way.
(37:36):
Our kids are phenomenal. And I think if you talk to coaches and you do across
the state, the kids are phenomenal.
The kids want to show up. They They want to work. They want discipline. They want structure.
We just got to provide it for them. We just got to put them on the path to get it.
Our kids are phenomenal, you know, and we're just lucky to be a part of it.
(37:58):
And they inspire me because you'll get a kid that comes in that has,
you know, a big baseball game in the afternoon and we're working multi-sport
guys. Hey, man, if you need to lift light, you can.
You know, if you need to modify the workout, coach, I'm good,
man. Throw it on. Let's go.
Yeah. And then he goes out and hits the game winner, you know,
hits a bomb, hits a walk-off, performs well, and you're like,
(38:20):
dude, that kid could have chosen the easy way out.
That kid could have taken weight off or made it easier on himself.
But instead, he came in and crushed it and then goes and performs later that night.
It's like, dude, that's inspiring because you could have taken the easy way
and you chose not to. And that's awesome.
Yeah, no doubt. You know, like I tell people, you know, I can sit around and
(38:44):
I can focus on the ones that don't, or I can focus on the ones that do.
And yeah, I'm going to be really depressed if I sit around and focus on the
ones that don't. But man, I got all these kids that do.
And it's like you talked about earlier about making sure you pat them on the
back and you're paying them attention.
And those kids need to be affirmed. A lot of times we get lost chasing the kids
(39:07):
that don't want to do, but instead of affirming the kids that do.
So, well, coach, man, it's been been awesome. I appreciate it.
Definitely learned a lot from you. If you don't mind, I'd like to pray for you
as we head out. Absolutely.
Lord, we're coming for you today. I just want to praise and thank you for loving
us. Praise and thank you for dying on the cross for our sins.
(39:27):
Lord, I just praise and thank you for Coach Williams and what you're doing in
his life and what you're doing through him there at Creek View.
It is so encouraging to just talk to men like him who are investing in the lives
of the next next generation and leading their communities and doing it in a
way that honors and glorifies you.
(39:48):
Lord, I just pray for his success, that you would just bless what he's doing,
his family, his football team, his coaches, and his community there at Creekview.
Lord, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
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