An unlikely football coach

ROCKWALL (November 10, 2013) Unprepared for the interview, I rehearsed my words while driving to the high school. My family’s future rested on this final meeting. No teaching contract, no income, and we’d lose everything. After finally discovering that educating teenagers was my path, there was but one obstacle: to teach, I must coach. It wasn’t a big hurdle; in high school, I lived on the ball diamond and the basketball court. The problem wasn’t coaching; it was coaching the one sport I’d barely played… football.

Like many Americans, I enjoyed the gridiron, and like so many, I didn’t realize my ignorance. Ten minutes to prepare for an interview with a varsity coach is just enough to reveal it. I was clueless, and if I lied, tossed around references to spread offenses and the wing-t, he’d probe and learn that my knowledge extended only to their pronunciation. So, I led with truth, showed my greenness, and argued I could learn anything.

“You went to seminary and worked as a youth pastor?”

“Yes sir.” (Dead in the water. Crash and burn. Hebrew and Greek had no words for I-formations)

“Scott, you have something that others lack; we can teach you football, but what you bring is needed in the class and on the grass.”

And a few weeks later, as a new middle school football coach, I sat in summer coaching meetings, drowning in the minutiae of offensive plays and defensive schemes. Now, I’m pretty educated; earned two degrees, wrote a novel, read Plato in Greek, but I’ve never felt so moronic. Coaches rambled about “reading the mesh,” “keying the guards,” “fan, and Siamese blocking,” “zone reads,” and “5 techniques.” Heads shook, pens scribbled, and somebody spouted something about “checking down the number three receiver when the corner presses.” They spoke English, just not my English, and no way would I ask for definitions or for the guys to slow down and clarify. This was football, inTexas, and I’m a man—I could’ve been deported or, at the very least, have my “man card” revoked!

Thankfully, my co-workers read faces well because mine blared, “CLUELESS.” They tutored me from drag routes to draw plays until finally, after a couple of seasons, I actually understood. I saw the whole picture of football and finally realized why so many can’t get enough.

It’s beyond violence and the big hits; it’s more than powerful runs or deep passes in the end zone. Football mirrors the complexity, pain, challenges, defeat, and (hopefully) the victories in life. On the field, everybody has a job, some glorious (quarterback, running back, receivers) and some not so (offensive line, the kickers, cornerbacks), but without everybody doing their job; making their blocks, or running their routes, talent means little, and you’ll lose. The team must work for the team; the sum is more than the individual parts. As soon as one player turns selfish, the whole crumbles.

And I witnessed the sport’s grandeur just the other week as I stood on the Rockwall Yellowjacket sideline. Coach Rodney Webb encourages the entire staff, including middle school coaches, to be present to support the players. I stood with my own son (junior half-back, Aidan Gill) along with boys I’d coached just a few seasons prior. An insurmountable challenge lay before them. They needed to beat a speed-loaded Mesquite High School team to have any chance at the playoffs, and they had to win without some of their best players. Plagued with injuries, so many Jacket starters have broke legs, arms, tore ACL’s, and received concussions this season that we’ve nearly become “poster children” for anti-football campaigners. Rockwall dominated the first quarter, but Mesquite took the reins the rest of the game and led by 16 (61-45) in the final five minutes. The Skeeter juggernaut showed no sign of slowing. Most kids would’ve quit, and to be honest, I’d given up hope. I’ve seen enough games and teams now to know these boys faced an Everest.

But what do I know?

Rockwall scored quickly, bringing theMesquitelead to eight, but they had to get the ball back fast with only three minutes left in the game. An “on-side kick” would be their only hope. It was a gamble and, remarkably, it paid off with a quick recovery of the ball. Rockwall drove again and scored and completed another two-point conversion with seconds left, forcing an overtime (61-61). In overtime, the Jackets intercepted aMesquitepass and sealed the win with a field goal (64-61).

I’ve never witnessed a greater game, one of those rare moments when a true underdog accomplishes the impossible; a moment that men remember and retell with a glimmer and a smile. Without that interview just a few years ago, I would’ve missed it, and I would’ve missed this honorable profession. Coaching football is more than teaching a popular American sport; it builds men for the real world, and sometimes, like the Rockwall-Mesquite game, I get to witness the heroic. And in this struggling world, what could be better than that?

By Blue Ribbon News special contributor Scott Gill of Rockwall. Scott is a teacher, coach and author of Goliath Catfish. Follow his blog at scotttgill.tumblr.com. Follow him on Twitter @scottgill5.

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