Coach Corporal: Football, Military, and Internal Discipline

So there I was, a 20-year old United States Marine sitting on a giant KC-130 refueling plane. I was a part of Operation Northern Watch in Southeastern Turkey. The goal of our operation, in short, was to prevent Sadaam Hussein from traveling north of a certain point. My unit had just loaded all of our equipment and materials onto our plane in a hurried 45 minutes time, as directed by our Commanding Officer. He then informed us that we were headed for Germany. It had been brought to our unit’s attention that Hussein, and his counterparts, had scud missiles pointed in our direction, hence the rush to head west. As I sat on the plane, scared out of my mind, I was listening to what I hoped was the roar of jets taking off. However, in the isolation of the windowless airplane, I had no way of knowing if the roar was a result of jets leaving or missiles coming, assuming they might sound pretty similar. As I sat in fear, I began to reflect on a lot of things. Strangely enough, one of the thoughts that seemed to cloud my thinking the most was how in the world did I get to this point in my life? As I contemplated that question, I thought about how much I missed football, my coaches, my teammates and Friday nights. I thought about how similar the situation was to a football game on Friday night, although the outcome obviously carried a lot more weight. In this stressful military situation, as in football, everybody had a responsibility and role, and you didn’t think twice about your teammates, captains, or sergeants doing their responsibility. They just did it.

I have always thought about the structure of the United States Marines and its similarities to a football team.  One of the first things you learn in the military, and in football, is the importance of the chain of command. In the Marine Corp there is a Commanding Officer whose role can be compared to that of the head coach. The positions of captains and lieutenants could be paralleled to assistant coaches. Then there are Sergeant Majors whose position in the chain of command would be similar to the roles and responsibilities of the football team’s captains. Sergeants and Corporals are like the team’s senior players. Lance Corporals and Private’s would then be the underclassmen.

I laugh at the similarities every year when we start a season. For a lot of children and also young adults, it can be difficult to understand the concept of a chain of command, its importance, and what it means to follow it. Football players learn the importance of the chain of command the day they sign up to play youth football. Marines learn it the moment they get off the bus in boot camp. I have worked on a combination of different coaching staffs in my ten years of coaching high school football and track and field, and there is one thing that has become clear to me - the teams and organizations with the best and most clearly defined chains of command are always the best.

Learning and understanding the significance of the chain of command is the first step in becoming a strong leader. A lot of people claim that leaders are born into their roles, and that the skills and characteristics associated with a strong leader are innate. I am a firm believer in the idea that people must first learn to follow, and those experiences will aid in the development of the skills and abilities needed to be a strong leader. Therefore, it is important that we provide young people with opportunities to be successful followers, so that one day they can grow and mature into the leaders we hope they will become. The military provided me that opportunity. As I experienced the leadership of the military, it was easy to follow because there was always a reason for everything. It is no coincidence why our military is the greatest in the world. It is the leadership and discipline inside the military that puts us well above everyone else. Anyone that has been a part of great teams would probably agree that the same concepts hold true for those teams. As coaches, I strongly believe that we have the opportunity to provide that experience to the young men in our communities through football.

Remember the t-shirts that said “Football is Life”. It should have said “Football is Life’s Lessons”. There are crucial lessons to be learned through the game of football and the participation in a team, including how to follow, how to lead, and that of internal discipline. My understanding of the concept of internal discipline began as a player on my high school football team under the leadership of my Commanding Officer/Head Football Coach at Waukesha North in the mid-to- late 90’s, Chuck Bova. He had the skill and ability to mold boys into men, and taught me and many others, the lesson of being the best at whatever I do, whenever I do it. He also taught me how to do the right thing when people are watching, and also when they are not. He taught me how to be a man of character. Perhaps the reason I became so thoughtful about my choices and actions was my internal fear that Coach Bova was always watching everything I did.

Nonetheless, that’s how I started to gain what I view today as an internal discipline. In the Marines, internal discipline is taught to recruits right away in boot camp. Fortunately for me and many others who played high school football, that lesson had already been taught. I believe those lessons I learned early in my life through football set me up to be a top graduate in my boot camp class in the Marine Corp.

One thing I learned from Coach Bova, and was taught to me again in the military, was to have pride and stand tall. I believe Marines and good football coaches have a presence about them. I always tell my wife, I can pick a Marine, out of uniform, out of a crowd in a public place at any time. We all can do the same with football coaches. We walk tall with confidence, but not arrogance. I have learned over the years that real confidence is created through a real internal discipline. I am not claiming to be able to teach internal discipline. It is a learning process that is different for all young adults. However, I strongly believe that providing good football experiences is a great building block to pride and confidence through internal discipline. This is the main reason I coach today. I do my best to help athlete’s gain that internal discipline the way I was taught, and the way I am still being taught by the coaches and Marines I work for and have worked for. There are many of them.

When I was asked to write this article I really contemplated what I believed to be the most important part of football. I thought about all the athletes I have coached, many I have lost touch with and some I still hear from. I hope they have gained the confidence and internal discipline it takes to be successful in life. To me, that is far more important than any Xs and Os I tried to teach them.  Just as I hope that my players learn from me, I am also hopeful that the lessons I have learned throughout my years of experience will help some young coaches understand that 10 years from now your players may not remember how to run the bubble screen, but will remember you, your actions, and what you taught them about leading, following, discipline, and character. Hopefully, we all do for our players what Coach Bova did for me. That is, model for them how to become the best they possibly can at whatever they do.

In case you were wondering, no missiles hit the base I was on in Turkey. In fact, after sitting on the plane for what seemed like an eternity, but was actually only about 20 minutes, our Captain came back to give us a message “Sorry Marine’s, false alarm. Now get this plane unpacked.”