We finished our first 5 days of spring practice this morning. We are making progress and showing improvement. I would also add that there have been times that we have looked absolutely ugly.... which is to be expected with a young team in its first few spring practices.

 

I think the football parts will work themselves out and we will have an opportunity to have a good team. Two things that make me feel good about our team and reinforce to me that I am coaching great kids:

 

1- Our practice on Tuesday was for 2 hours and the wind chill was 23 degrees. It was cold and even tough for me. Normally, hot or cold, if I am coaching football, I don't pay much attention to the weather. If our kids complained, I never heard it. We struggled in spots, but overall the effort and attitude were very good. I thought our kids showed some toughness during that practice. Kids don't get many opportunities to be tough. Maybe they are tougher than we give them credit. But, Tuesday showed me that our kids are certainly capable of being tough and I was very pleased with them.

 

2- We had donuts, juice, & chocolate milk for our guys before practice this morning. With out telling them to do so, I think almost every young man said thank you. I did not tell them to clean up. But, there was no mess or trash when we were done today. That is how it should be, but I don't see that much. These guys were appreciative. No signs of entitlement. I HATE entitlement. If we can keep entitlement out of our locker room, we will have a much more enjoyable season.

 

I am old school. I believe if we are tougher, and we are not dealing with entitlement, that we will be a better football team and we will win more games. I think it is difficult to be a winner on the field and a loser off the field. For me, it is either you are a champion or you are not. I am excited. I think we have some guys that can be champions.

 

Black Shoes and White ShoeStrings: Toughness versus Entitlement

Chief,

Keep up the great work with your guys. They are better off for commitment they and you have made to your program.

I like the things you say.

The more Chief does these, the more I see comparisons to Coach Haywood's philosophy

 

I see big things at Mercer in the next 3-4 years.