Football Coaches That Care

[Ram]

A comment in another thread got me thinking (dangerous).

 

What coaches (Head Coaches, Assistant Coaches, or multiple coaches) helped to shape your, or your child's, life. What did these coaches teach you, not just football related, but about being a person, about life.

 

It is my experience that coaches teach more life lessons, then football lessons. I know some player/coach relationships are not ideal, but lets try to focus on the positive experiences. How football helped shape young men.

 

I'll post mine later, lets hear your thoughts.

[chicken hearted eagle]

Coach Billy Ed Johnson (JCHS) taught me to never settle for less than my best! Coach Ray Ginter (JCHS) taught me to never make excuses. Coach Mike Baldwin (JCHS) taught me to always be tough. Coach Jim Matney has taught me to be the best I can be.

 

These Coaches have taught me, like I hope to teach a son, one day.

[NineOh]

Coach Lynn Ray taught me what it is to be loyal, what I humbly consider to be one of my finest characteristics. However, he taught that more or less indirectly. Directly, he preached a good work ethic and respecting the opposition. A great coach and a great man...with a great sense of humor too.

[TC MGR 1]

Coach Poynter (TCHS) is teaching me how to step up and speak for myself. Even though I'm a manager, I still have the right to be respected. He is also showing me how to be a good leader by setting a good example. He's a great man with a wonderful family, and just knows how to bring the best out of everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[True blue (and gold)]

I agree, TC MGR 1. Coach Poynter is doing great things at Trimble County - not just with wins and losses, but with our kids.

 

Welcome to the site, TC MGR 1.

[mexitucky]

Coach Mike Wolfe showed me what it was to actually work hard. He was like a big brother, a mentor.

[lcdawg4life]

When I was younger I had many coaches that gave me a lot to live by. I still go by these thoughts and teachings. I try to now give them back to my players during every practice. I want to be someone that a kid years from now can say " that coach taught me how to be a good man and how to respect others." I dont curse or scream at my players, I think you can get more out of them just by calmly looking at them in the eye and showing them instead of getting in their head and keeping them scared of you the entire time to where they cant enjoy the game they are playing. Coach Goldsmith (LCHS ) has always been really supportive of the youth league coaches and is always willing to help with anything. So I would say that he would be the high school football coach that helps me more than anyone.

[Ram]

Coach Bill Tom Ross

Coach Ross taught me how to be a self-motivated, self-disciplined person. To be a leader, a disciplinarian, and a self-starter. Coach Ross taught me much more about life and how to live it, then he did about being a football player, and I think he taught me a lot about football. Coach Ross also taught me how to be a football coach and how to instill these same traits in the young players that I coach. Coach Ross also taught me how to be a student of the game, not just a player or spectator, but to take the whole game in.

 

Coach Randy Vanderhoof

Coach Vanderhoof showed me and continues to show me how to have a passion for football and to display that passion to energize others about the sport. Coach Vanderhoof has proved to me that it is alright for a man to be passionate about a game.

 

Assistant Coach Wendell Morris

Coach Morris showed me that anything was possible, and that a coach does not have to be a raving, screaming dictator. Coach Morris also showed me how important family is to a man.

 

All great men, that have formed many young minds.

[mexitucky]

I would be remissed not to add Mr. Bob Schneider and Mr. Dave Schneider. Those two taught me that victories (in real world, money) don't make the man, the ability to stare down the temptation and do what's right does. I may not have agreed with Mr. Schneider's philosophy when I played, I believed in his class and sincerity. I've tried to take a little of that with me.

[MountainThunder]

So many coaches have impacted me and my children over the years.

 

HIGH SCHOOL

 

Coach Tom Larkey: Pushed me to work harder and to get the most out of my abilities. He helped me accomplish things I never thought I could accomplish in a sport he MADE me participate in. It helped me pay for college and to compete against some of the best in the world. He also taught me to fight for what I believed in and what was right and NEVER make excuses. That is why he took a laughing stock program and made it into a consistent contender. He is a winner and my personal favorite coach of all time.

 

Coach Inman Sherman: Taught me that you smile at almost anything and enjoy life to the fullest.

 

Coach Glenn Polly: Taught me that you could yell at a player one minute and hug him the next. He also advised me after a TD dance I did that I was the worst dancer he had ever seen and to never do that again!

 

Coach Greg Duncum: A relative of mine played for Duncum so what I learned from him was from indirect experience. His love for the game and sense of humor made practices more enjoyable, even when he was yelling at them and consequently, he won at a place where others had failed.

 

Coaches Dusty Carloftis & Harold Robinson: A relative of mine played for him as well. I saw them care about the kids as people more than just as players. Consequently, they also win. I don't think it is by accident!

 

Coach Bill Pruitt: My favorite little league football coach taught me that the only size that mattered on a football field was the size of your heart.

 

COLLEGE

 

Coach Wayne Perry: That you can keep your soul intact, treat people right, remain ageless (the man still looks the same as he did the first time I met him 24 years ago), and that family is more important than money. he also taught me that if you have faith in someone and they KNOW it, they may surprise even you with what they accomplish. He could also find the good in almost any situation, when others may not see it.

 

Coach Mike McClure: You can have a great sense of humor and still be an intense competitor on the field of battle.

[oldonetechnique]

Hate to break it to you but most coaches care.

[Tall Trees]

So many coaches have impacted me and my children over the years.

 

HIGH SCHOOL

 

Coach Tom Larkey: Pushed me to work harder and to get the most out of my abilities. He helped me accomplish things I never thought I could accomplish in a sport he MADE me participate in. It helped me pay for college and to compete against some of the best in the world. He also taught me to fight for what I believed in and what was right and NEVER make excuses. That is why he took a laughing stock program and made it into a consistent contender. He is a winner and my personal favorite coach of all time.

 

Coach Inman Sherman: Taught me that you smile at almost anything and enjoy life to the fullest.

 

Coach Glenn Polly: Taught me that you could yell at a player one minute and hug him the next. He also advised me after a TD dance I did that I was the worst dancer he had ever seen and to never do that again!

 

Coach Greg Duncum: A relative of mine played for Duncum so what I learned from him was from indirect experience. His love for the game and sense of humor made practices more enjoyable, even when he was yelling at them and consequently, he won at a place where others had failed.

 

Coaches Dusty Carloftis & Harold Robinson: A relative of mine played for him as well. I saw them care about the kids as people more than just as players. Consequently, they also win. I don't think it is by accident!

 

Coach Bill Pruitt: My favorite little league football coach taught me that the only size that mattered on a football field was the size of your heart.

 

COLLEGE

 

Coach Wayne Perry: That you can keep your soul intact, treat people right, remain ageless (the man still looks the same as he did the first time I met him 24 years ago), and that family is more important than money. he also taught me that if you have faith in someone and they KNOW it, they may surprise even you with what they accomplish. He could also find the good in almost any situation, when others may not see it.

 

Coach Mike McClure: You can have a great sense of humor and still be an intense competitor on the field of battle.

 

I will have to second alot of these guys. I played for Coach Carloftis and Larry Welch and they did care about you as a player. Some of my relatives played for Coach Polly, he is a good man. I did not play for Coach Larkey, he came in the year after I graduated, but I have coached under him and he has helped me tons to get where I am today.

 

Kids can tell if you REALLY care about them. They will preform for someone who will fight for them!!!:thumb:

[MountainThunder]

I will have to second alot of these guys. I played for Coach Carloftis and Larry Welch and they did care about you as a player. Some of my relatives played for Coach Polly, he is a good man. I did not play for Coach Larkey, he came in the year after I graduated, but I have coached under him and he has helped me tons to get where I am today.

 

Kids can tell if you REALLY care about them. They will preform for someone who will fight for them!!!:thumb:

 

I didn't have any kids who played for Welch, but I know that those who know him as a person, really like and respect him. :thumb:

[BigColonel]

I've always said that if it weren't for Coach Lynn Ray and Coach Mark Goetz, I'd probably still be at Covington Catholic, trying to graduate.

[cshs81]

"Excuses are a poor patch on the garment of failure."

 

Legendary coach Bob Lewis reiterated that (more than once) to me and my boys in the falls of 1979 and 1980 at Conner. Its stuck with me and I can tell you that my kids are tired of hearing it.