Dramatic Turnaround: Going From 0-11 to 12-1 In One Year

After Luke Salmons was hired to be the head coach at struggling Lawrence County High School (KY) in 2008, he did what every new coach would do. He put his plan in place and hoped for the best.

Salmons inherited a program that did not have a winning record since 2003. “They’d had a period of five or six years where they didn’t win many games, and so I got the job,” said Salmons. “I’ve always wanted to be a head coach, and you never really know when those opportunities will come.”

Before beginning his career in coaching, Salmons started for three years on the offensive line at Marshall. Under head coach Bob Pruett, the Thundering Herd won more games than any other FBS team during Salmons’ years as a starter. So Salmons was used to winning. He had a plan – a vision – of what a winning team was, and what it would take to rebuild the stagnant Bulldog program into a top-flight football team.

“I felt like, when you’ve struggled for that long, you’ve got to make a complete change from every aspect of your program. That means from the locker room to the weight room – everything,” said Salmons. “Kids are different today. We needed to be in a place where they wanted to play for reasons other than just their love for the game. That was the first step. Create an atmosphere where kids wanted to play.

“I also tried to build up that they’ve never seen anything like what they’ll see when we turn the corner,” said Salmons. “It will be something special. If you want to see the stadium packed, if you want to see the town buzzing, you know, just really trying to sell the kids on your vision, your plan.”

Salmons and the Bulldogs had a new outlook that first year, but it unfortunately didn’t translate to the field. Lawrence County finished the 2008 regular season with an abysmal 0-11 record, being outscored 359-42 and extended a losing streak to 17 games. But Salmons, his staff, and most importantly, the team, kept at it. Last fall, in Salmons’ second year as head coach, the Bulldogs finished 12-1 and won the District Championship. Salmons was named Kentucky High School 4A Coach of the Year.

How did Salmons accomplish such a dramatic turnaround? As he told AFM, there were six keys that made the difference.

#1 RECRUITING IN YOUR SCHOOL

When Salmons first got the job he found that there were a lot of kids who were good athletes but not playing football. “Everyone wants to be a winner and play on a winning team,” said Salmons. “The football program was struggling and many kids just didn’t want to be a part of it. So I recruited the halls really hard. You’ve got to have your best. If you don’t get them, you don’t get them. But it doesn’t hurt to try, and we stayed with it. We were persistent and it made a difference. Our two best linebackers last year were basketball guys who really changed their mindset and wanted to be a part of football.”
In the process, Salmons helped change the culture toward football. “We told the kids if they worked hard and really outworked their opponents, we would all be successful,” said Salmons. “To me, it’s about putting the kids in the position to be successful and finding the kids to put in those positions. When you recruit the hallways I try to lay it out to them. I go to their house, and I say, ‘You can be our defensive end. And you can play upfield.’ It’s almost like recruiting a kid for college. It’s hard today, I think, to be a guy who just says if they want to play then they’ll play, because there are a lot of choices going on in the world and football is just something else on their list. It’s a hard sport.”

Lawrence County had a better team in ’09 than in ’08 largely because of an influx in talent that was already in school. It is an untapped resource that Salmons considers one of his most important off-season projects each year. And, with winning, it is likely going to make for an easier sell for those great athletes he sees in the hallway.

#2 MAKE IT ABOUT PEOPLE

Developing average players into exceptional players often means helping them overcome distractions that compete for their attention. Salmons has found that he can avoid much of the ebb and flow of a player’s effort and achievement just by helping them through things and building a relationship of trust.

“I think that is the hardest part of my job – just trying to build relationships with all these kids who are so different,” said Salmons. “I talk to different kids every day. I pull them into my office daily, visit them at home, and I try to be up front and build a relationship so they know what we are trying to do.

“These kids may not grow up with two parents at home like I did, or grow up having a good meal every night, or have those kinds of good influences. They struggle with a lot of things and I try to be helpful in that way. I feel like a counselor sometimes, but I feel that is our role, especially as a high school coach. We talk to them every day and show them that we really care. It makes a difference.”

#3 OUT-WORK THE COMPETITION

Salmons makes it clear that the difference between 0-11 and 12-1 wasn’t just the players coming out for football and having a good relationship with their coach. It also stemmed from consistent hard work throughout the year.

“I feel like in the weight room, nobody outworks us,” said Salmons. “Everything is planned and detailed. I’ve got a good background in that area and I feel we train really hard. A lot of people work hard, but there has to be a purpose,” Salmons clarified. “We put together a consistent structure within all our practices so each minute is accounted for. This could be in the weight room, at practice, or doing conditioning drills. There can be too much dead time at practices.

“We want every minute to make a difference and make sure the players know that. Their hard work will pay-off, especially if they know they’re out-working the competition. If you’re running, why are you running? If you’re lifting, why are you lifting? We don’t just run to run because it’s time to run or it’s the end of practice. We don’t lift to be weight lifters. We are doing certain things to be better and more competitive.

“Being persistent was the difference,” said Salmons. “As a coaching staff we demanded hard work in the weight room, on the practice field and in our preparation. We were persistent every day, did not accept anything other than maximum effort from our players, and held them completely accountable. When I came here they really couldn’t comprehend a strong work ethic. They didn’t understand what it was. We told them, ‘if you don’t work hard, you’re going to lose.’”

#4 TEACH AND EMPHASIZE THE FUNDAMENTALS

Salmons holds regular meetings with the coaches at the lower programs, understanding that the more developed the younger players become, the less work he and his staff will have to do with them when they get to his program. Hence, an emphasis on the fundamentals for the younger players. “I really believe you can’t over-emphasize the blocking and tackling fundamentals for the lower and middle school players,” said Salmons.

On the varsity level, Salmons makes sure that time is spent on fundamentals as well. “The consistent routine of blocking and tackling drills as well as time spent on special teams play is a key element of every practice,” said Salmons. “Our structure is built around the fundamentals of the game.”

Salmons also makes sure all the lower and middle school coaches care about the players as much as he and his staff do. “We really work with the middle school,” said Salmons. “We’ve got a great coach there, and I try to meet with him all the time and talk about our offense and defense. We’re developing a strong feeder program. From youth league to middle school to high school, I try to create a program so that it is all one. We’ve got a ways to go of course, but if everyone’s part of that plan, then everybody is in the same business.”

#5 TEACH WINNING

“The next step for us was to teach them how to win, because they had lost so much,” said Salmons. “They needed to get that taste of winning, because there isn’t a whole lot of difference sometimes between winning and losing. The teams that I grew up with and then at Marshall always thought we were going to win. You’ve got to find a way to win. Winning is contagious, just like losing. That’s the hardest thing to do.”

Every area of every state around the country has those two or three programs that win year in and year out. In many cases, the game is decided before the teams even take the field. The great teams believe they are going to win and the lesser teams believe they can’t beat them. Salmons feels that this confidence compounded itself in ’09 and Lawrence County won games they wouldn’t have won in ’08, just because the kids finally believed they could make the plays when it mattered most.

#6 BE PATIENT

“Last year, the players felt they were working really hard, and they still weren’t winning, and that was hard on the players,” said Salmons. “That’s the hardest thing as a coach…you knew you were working hard, you knew you were doing the right things, but it was just a matter of busting through. Of course when you’re competitive, you want to win. And a lot of times we played great and still lost.

“You’ve just got to keep hammering and when that thing breaks it’s just going to explode. And even though they were losing, the kids believed that. And going into this year, they believed that. Going into the scrimmages and the first game, they practiced and took the field and they were very confident.

“The 2008 season was hard, but we had a good time. The losing part was horrible and it is often harder on the players than on me because I can see their work. I can see what they’ve put into it. As a player you can’t always understand why. The key is to help them understand that we are trying to build something. This isn’t just a one-year run. It was hard, but I knew we were doing the right thing.”

And they were. Lawrence County became one of the few teams in high school history to go from 0-11 to 12-1 in one season. Salmons is quick to acknowledge that it was a team effort. It wasn’t just him, but it was the entire staff, the players, the school, the community. And he loves it.

“I feel like Lawrence County is the place,” said Salmons. “I think you have to feel that way. It’s a great place. I love the town. This is where I’m going to win State Championships. If you don’t think that way, you’re never going to give your all. That’s why I work with the youth league, because I know that someday those kids will be our kids. For me, this is where it’s at. I have the mindset that I’ll be here for 20 years.”