Work, Work, Work.

I am not sure what you do for a living. I am not sure if you love your job or hate it and what your plans are in the future. I will say that I really enjoy coaching football. It is a mental and brutally physical game that I was not good at as a boy but that I really enjoy teaching to young men. Teaching history is fun but I am not all that great at it and my kids are most likely missing out on some significant details that they need to know. For that I am sorry and I will work to improve on that as I do every year.

The one thing I am pretty sure of is I have no clue what I would do for a job if I was not teaching and coaching. It just might be one of the greatest jobs in the world. Similar to youth ministry which I have considered in the past, teaching kids is just great. But even better is the time and opportunity you have to build a relationship with kids. I love it. I could write all night sharing the events of just one day. There is something really special about high school kids and I get to be around it, the good and the bad, every day.

I am grateful for my job and my career, and I am amazed at how God used Dr. Jim Mankin all those years ago to nudge me in this direction.

""For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord.""

Welcome Back.

The beginning of football season beats me up. We have just finished 2 a days for this year and will begin school and regular practice on Monday. Let me just tell you my daily schedule these past 2 weeks. Not complaining, just sharing.

Monday through Friday of Week 1.

Wake up: 5:45 a.m.

Arrive at school: 6:30 ish.

Meeting with staff and prepare for 9th grade work out.

9th grade practice: 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Coaches meet and watch film from previous day. 10:30 to noon.

Noon to 1:30 p.m.: Lunch.

Back to field house for practice organization.: 2 p.m.

J.V. and Varsity arrive at Field House: 3 p.m.

Pre Practice begins: 4:14 p.m.

Practice begins: 4:30 p.m.

First practice ends: 6 p.m.

Dinner: 6 to 7 p.m.

2nd Practice begins: 7:15 p.m.

2nd Practice ends: 8:30 ish p.m.

Coaches meeting: 9 p.m.

Defensive meeting to plan the next days work: 10 p.m.

Home before 11 p.m.

Now for week 2 I would like you to place school in-service in there from 8:30 to 3:30. So much fun.

Tonight was our first test against Hebron. Good team and a pretty good showing by both groups. Film on Saturday morning will most likely change my opinion of that but at 1:34 in the morning I think it was o.k.

Tomorrow is Blake's Birthday and Shar as planned and organized and prepared the entire thing by herself. It will be a great party.

Indians!!!

The Keller Indians are 6 & 1!!!  With a win tonight (Thursday night game) over Northwest we are set to play L.D. Bell next Friday Night.  It has been a while since I was with a winning team.  Great kids and coaches at previous schools, but winning is so good for the school, team, coaches and families.  It makes the job that much better.

J.V. Nights

Coaching for a living is really a lot of fun. Thursday nights are J.V. nights and for these guys it is the biggest night of the week. Tonight we played cross town rival Fossil Ridge, and had a great game. Down 21 to 0 at half (I call the defense) we came back and with 1 min. left on the clock the defense forced a turnover and went in to score and win 27 to 21. The guys were going wild and could hardly control their emotions.

We watched the game in the field house after the players were out of the locker room. Looked at good plays and mistakes and we will show the kids the film in the morning. I left the house this morning at 7:05 and got home tonight at 10:50. That is just how game nights are. Now I am going to have a large bowl of Coco Crispy's for dinner and go to bed. Big game tomorrow against Fossil. I'll let you know how it goes.

COACHES

Coaches are a strange and special breed of people. I have been around some great and some lousy coaches in my short career and life, and each place I coach I learn more about how I should act and how I should not.

To make sure I don't leave anyone out, I would like to give a short thank you to the many coaches over my 9 year career that have been influential to me, both as a coach and as a person. Not all of these men are saints, but each had special qualities that helped me grow as a person and coach.

At Mann Middle School and Abilene High there was Steve Warren who gave me my first job. Del Van Cox and Henry Willis were very kind to a young college kid begging for knowledge. Jasper Wilson, Foy Pinson, and Ricky Paris were good instructors to a young coach a Mann M.S. They put up with me for a whole year. Steve Cunningham was my first coaching parter. We had the 7th grade b team together. I remember the first game we won, we gave eachother a hug and the kids attacked us.

At Deerpark in Round Rock I was introduced to Jim McDermott who was from Milwaukee and had a Northern attitude that the kids and coaches loved.

When I came to Belton in 2000 I spent one year at the Junior High with legends in Bell County like Gene Bartz, Donny Brown, Terry Hood, James York and Danny Spradley. All in their 50's and truly amazing at working with the younger kids in the last years of their own careers. David Simmons ended up being the closest friend from that staff, and Jeff Hammond taught me how to pitch quarters.

When I went to the High School in 2001 Gene told me not to; that the hours were to many and that it would be bad for my family. He was wrong, but I really did appreciate him caring enough about me to say something. At Belton High there were so many good men to learn from. David Tidwell, although he was hard on me, taught me a lot about working in the coaching field. Joe Brown, the D.C. took care of me for the first few years and taught me what I know today about defense. Paul Williams, Zane Bode, David Warehime, Don Hasley, Casey Winters, Mark Kruger, and T. Woods. All great guys to work with.

I am looking forward to working with the staff here at Keller High. It is a primarily young staff and that creates a lot of energy and fun around the field house and football practice time. One thing that we do here at Keller is that the coaching staff maintains the football practice fields and the grass, trees and bushes around the coaches office and locker room. The grass, field and office, is mowed every day with a reel mower. This sounds odd, as it did to me when I came, but the entire staff takes part in the work and the players take care of the field. I say all of this to tell you about Jack Gibson.

Jack began coaching his first season of high school football in 1964. He eventually became the Defensive Coordinator at L.D. Bell and held that position for 22 years and was the Head Coach for 3 years before retiring. He took 3 years off for knee replacement surgeries and sold various sporting goods equipment before coming back to football. This year he is beginning his 40th season. He coaches the inside linebackers here at Keller and is so very wise in football and in life. But what impresses me the most about Coach Gibson is that the other day he cleaned 45 feet of flower beds in front of the field house. He did it because it needed to be done. Others would have ignored it, or used their seniority to put the job on someone else, but Coach Gibson brought his tools from home and spent 3 hours pulling weeds and raking dirt. The rest of the defensive staff was also working, but on assigned jobs. Jack did what needed to be done.

I have worked with a lot of great guys, and I admit that I have only known Coach Gibson for a few weeks, but the impression he has made on me so far will impact me for many years to come. You should have seen the care and detail he gave the freshman today as he was fitting them for shoulder pads and teaching them how to tighten the new web strapping he had put on. The guy is something special.

Day 1

This was my first full day of work for the Keller Indians. Out of bed about 6:30 this morning and to the FH by 7:15. I was way early but better to be early than on time. Defense had meetings with the Junior High staff from 8:15 until noon. I spoke for about 18 minutes on the corners responsibilities in coverages Blue and Green.

After the talking we went to the game field and showed the JH staff some specific drills to accomplish what we feel is important.

After lunch the entire high school staff began to get ready for the 7th, 8th and 9th grade camp that began tonight at 6 and lasts until Thursday. I had the corner drill which worked on 1 on 1 vertical coverage skills.

Back in the FH by 8:15 p.m. and a short meeting to wrap up the workout and set the plan for tomorrow morning. Home by 8:40 and after bath time I sat down for dinner at 8:50. Blake and Anna watched Snow White until 9:30 when I put Anna to bed. Talked with Shar for a few minutes, and after a quick shower and shave and folding my laundry from the day it is off to bed and the whole thing starts over again tomorrow.

Football season is great, after Labor Day, but until then it is non stop. The next 3 weeks will be Junior High Camp (this week), followed two weeks of two-a-days which will go from 4:30 to 8 p.m., only to be preceded in the day by teacher in-service in the morning and after lunch.

Hope you have good day.

It Is Official!

For some time now we have been slightly withholding information concerning the possible idea that we might be moving. This has been a very difficult time for us as a family and the stress and uncertainty of not knowing where you will work or live has caused us much anxiety. I know that it shouldn't and more people than not got through this process very often, but it has been a strain on our family.

This whole process began back in January when the new A.D. was hired at Belton High School, where I have been coaching for the past 6 years. I was nervous at the time but fairly optimistic about the possibility of staying at Belton. Well I was wrong. I received my 8 minute meeting with the new head coach and then he requested that I resign my position at Belton High so he could hire his own people. I have to say that I was really crushed at this moment. Shar cried when I told her. It was partly the idea of not getting to coach at Belton and be with these kids, but the real kicker was that I was told that "we don't want you here." Those are not very fun words to hear.

To complain about the fact that this is not fair, or that the coach did not give me a chance and all of the other realities about the "firing" would be pointless. This is the unfair part of my job and I understand that. I do think God was protecting me from some obvious negative factors that would have been present if I had not been asked to resign, and I am grateful for that now but it took a while for me to see that. I wonder when others will notice those things?

After many job interviews and driving all over the state of Texas, a good job at a good school working for a good coach came open. I applied for a job at Keller Central High School on a Tuesday. I got a call from Keller High on Friday. Those are two different schools. The Central job had already been filled, so the A.D. at Central emailed my stuff to the Keller High A.D. who had a job open but was not advertising it. Keller Highs A.D. called me on a Friday morning in May and asked me to come visit with him. That next Sunday at church I was telling this to another coach whom we go to church with and he says, "I know that guy. Let me give him a call for you." This might not sound like that big of deal, but the coaching world is political and a phone call from a friend can go along way. This phone call made a huge difference. I went to the interview and was offered a job.

I am now, as of Tuesday when I signed my contract, a Varsity Secondary Coach at Keller High School. We have sold our house here in Temple and are actively looking for housing in Keller. The coaching staff at Keller High is going to be a very good staff to work with.

The are so many great possibilities that come with this job in Keller. I will share more about that in the future, but there is a negative and that is leaving Temple. So many great friends and relationships here and replacing those will not be possible. The greatest struggle will be moving away from my in-laws. I have wonderful in-laws and it is great to live in town with them and go to church with them. I really struggled with the idea of moving the kids away from their grandparents, and there will be some difficulties that come with that, but Ron and Diana have been so very perfect in there support and encouragement of what will be best for our family. I am grateful for the love and support that they continually offer us and I appreciate and love them so very much.

This is not goodbye to those of you in Temple. We will be here a few more weeks and I will address the dear church friends we have at that time. For those of you in the DFW area, look out. For the rest of you, thanks for your prayers and support.