Day 3. Working HARD.

Today ended our third day in just shorts and helmets.  Tomorrow, we will strap it up and see who really wants to play.  Four of our coaches Wilson, Perry, Jefferson, and Fleming will not be here the rest of the week.  They went to the state track meet with four of our student/athletes.  Since we are so short-handed, the remaining coaches had to really pick up the slack left by their absence.  Luckily, most of us have coached multiple positions, so it was no big deal....for a couple of practices.  We just had to coach a little harder.  Today, the kids seemed to sense that we were short-handed,  and I noticed some of the Seniors helping to fill in the void.  We may have found some leadership today.  Miller is doing a great job with the defense.  Those guys are really flying around the ball. This time of year, we expect the defense to be ahead of the offense, and they are right now.  On offense, we are working on timing things, and bringing the JV kids up to speed; consequently, it just takes a little more time.  We will get there.  We always do. 

I remember my first Spring with Sebastian River High School (SRHS.)  I was coaching for the Sebastian Panthers, and the head coach (at the time) at SRHS used to come down and watch practices. He asked me to join his staff the following year.  One week later he was fired.  SRHS offered the job to Randy Bethel, and the rest is history.  Bethel assigned me to the JV staff.  I was working with / for Dan Smith the JV Head Coach.  I did not know Coach Smith at all, but we sure seemed to hit it off right away (it's a Kentucky thing.) Dan was a defensive guy without a doubt, and he wanted me to run his offense.  I was way ahead of the game, because I bought most of my former players from the Panther Senior Team with me to the JV team.  I already knew the kids, and I knew where they needed to play.  Coach Smith gave me full run of the offense; moreover, he never put any restraints on me whatsoever.  Dan had a couple of plays a year that he liked to run, and I would install those plays just for him.  I usually named the plays after him as well:  The play would always have the name "Smitty" associated with it.  Smitty had a real feel for when he wanted to see "His Plays" during a game,and I would call the play without hesitation.  I liked watching Dan when the plays were successful.

I worked with Smitty for several years, and we had some really good teams.  Dan usually gave me one time-out to use (per half) as I thought necessary; however, I would always ask before I called it.  Sometimes, if I was stuck on a tough offensive call, I would ask: "DAN, what do you want here?"  He would always say: "A Touchdown" and smile.  I would always say: "Thanks a lot!"   We worked together so well that we never really had to communicate verbally in some cases.  He would give me that look and I would say: "OK, I got it!"  More often than not, we would be on the same page with our thinking. 

I am going to bed now.  Like PETEY, I need to sleep!

GZ