AFM RSS Feed Follow Us on Twitter       
AMERICAN FOOTBALL MONTHLY THE #1 RESOURCE FOR FOOTBALL COACHES
ABOUT |  CONTACT |  ADVERTISE |  HELP  



   User Name    Password 
      Password Help





Article Categories


AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Breaking the Mold

The truth behind the success of Evangel Christian Academy football.
by: Aaron S. Lee
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

Imagine a day when young men still stood at attention when young ladies entered the room or when a teacher could put their arms around a kid in need or when coaches led more by example than strong words. Imagine a day when kids would say “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.” Or when kids lost they graciously accepted defeat and proudly shook their opponents hand. Imagine a day when students and faculty combined for a perfect combination of extended family and quality education.

These are days that existed decades ago and can no longer be found in today’s fast-paced, high-stakes society that produces undereducated, desensitized youth, right? Wrong.

There is a place where school is still community, where morals and manners are still prized virtues and where champions are made both on and off the field.

That place is Evangel and this is their story.

In the beginning ...

When Evangel Christian Academy chancellor Denny Duron felt a calling to create a football team at Evangel Christian Academy, a fledgling private high school in Shreveport, La., no one ever dreamed of the success the program would achieve.

“Very few people understand the real story,” said John Booty, Head of School and ECA quarterback coach. “When we started the Evangel football program, we were just trying to give a bunch of kids a football experience, that was it.

“Denny Duron was our first head coach, I was our first quarterback coach and on our very first team we had maybe 15 boys and only one had ever played a quarter of high school football. And that was only 13 years ago. From there it exploded. None of us can fully explain what happened. We just turned around 13 years later and you can see we had two boys be the USA Today Offensive Player of the Year in 13 years and most people coach 40 years and never even see one of them.”

From that beginning, the Evangel phenomenon – which includes 11 district titles, seven state championships and one national championship – took off with no signs of letting up.

“Initially we were just hoping that we would complete a schedule, field a team and play jayvee teams,” said Coach Booty. That was all we were trying to do. Then the third year we won the state championship in 1A.

“We were really just a bunch of choir boys that was it, we did not have but maybe 50 people in the school. This was a tiny, tiny school. Our first practice was in the church parking lot. We did not have helmets or shoulder pads.”

In fact, Evangel contacted Shreveport’s Woodlawn High School, then coached by current Evangel head coach Dennis Dunn, and asked what equipment he was throwing away. Humbly, Evangel asked Dunn if they could have the unwanted equipment rather than them throwing it into the trash bin.

“He gave us stuff that was 10-12 years old and we got our church ladies to sew up the pants and jerseys,” said Coach Booty. “So, from there we started a schedule, borrowed a playing field – a church team that wasn’t playing football anymore let us use their field for a game field – and that was it. We laughed and had the best time.

“From the start we put in a spread offense and said that this is the only way we would survive because if we run against these teams we might not even finish the season. So we spread everybody just to protect people. They beat us like crazy and wrote the sweetest letters back to us that we were the most hospitable, wonderful people in the whole world. But in five years, you would have thought we were the enemy of the state.”

School administrators and educators are quick to point out that Evangel is not in the football business, but rather the education industry. They believe in not only building better bodies, but also better minds. Their system is indeed a throwback in style but completely modern in technique.

“It’s not rocket science,” said Coach Booty. “Education has degenerated, period. When we started, we said OK we are going to go back to the ‘50s and ‘60s and see if we could turn back the clock. We were going to have students who wanted to come to school and get an education or they were not going to be here. We’ve had people ask us how we do it and we simply say that we made kids mind or we said there is the highway. It’s as simple that. When I went to school, you didn’t look back, you didn’t even act like you wanted to talk back to a teacher.”

“We feel like we are very blessed,” said Evangel head coach Dennis Dunn. “A lot of people feel hopeless about education and we still feel there is a lot of hope. We can’t be afraid to retrace our steps.”

Fact or fiction ...

Most every scholastic football fan or college recruiting fanatic has heard of Evangel football and most everyone has an opinion. At times, the local media has not been kind to the homegrown product. After all winning often breeds jealousy and rumors of the Eagles’ ruthless approach to winning and recruiting players from around the region are notorious. However, the first thing that strikes you when traveling to Evangel is the lack of fanfare, glitz and glamour that one would imagine coincides with such an infamous gridiron juggernaut and perennial national title contender.

There are no trumpet players, flowing fountains, neon marquees or golden arches. No, there are no indoor practice facilities, no shoe contracts, no soft drink endorsements and no 50,000-square foot weight rooms. In fact, most of the buildings on campus are used portable rooms purchased for a mere $50. Yes, $50. The buildings are mostly made of aluminum, not platinum. There are no signs that even indicate the championship school, which is hidden on a shabby old farm road. And believe it or not, the stadium is of meager size and accommodations and not a dome with a retractable roof.

“It’s like a bushel of crabs,” said Coach Booty, father of Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Josh Booty and current Evangel quarterback John David Booty. “When one crab starts to make his way to the top of the bucket to get out, another crab will reach up and pull him back down. About the time someone is saying, ‘Hey guys, it’s not that hard,’ another guys pulls you down because if you get out you may make them look bad.

“Almost every year now, we play the most well-heeled school in the state – they should be 6A (Louisiana’s highest classification is 5A) – and they are the school of West Monroe (La.). They will have five uniforms, three game helmets, (shoe) contracts, thousands of people, and we will have a school of 400 but we’ll play them. But yet everybody from the outside who has not done their work does not understand that almost every boy that we have in our school will be dressed out. So, the only reason that we are playing in 5A is not because we think that we are so hot, it’s just that every year they get so mad at us when we win a state championship they tell us that we shouldn’t be in this classification rather than see this wonderful story about these beautiful kids that just work hard. They ask why are you playing down, and we go, ‘What do you want us to do and we go up, and up, and up.’”

Every year Evangel struggles to fill non-district playing dates as schools simply refuse to play the Eagles. More often than not, Evangel has to resort to scheduling teams from Texas and as far away as Alabama and South Carolina.

“We couldn’t even get some of the most high-powered schools in the country to schedule us,” said Coach Booty. “We begged them to play us. They wouldn’t even come into play. They said ‘No, it’s impossible. Why would we come and play Evangel.’ And we are just scratching our head asking what is happening.

“When we started out 13 years ago, we didn’t even have helmets. We had to borrow our equipment. People forget that part of the story. So when people see us run out onto the field and say, ‘Wow, this is Evangel,’ they don’t realize that we can’t believe that we were able to purchase new pants this season or that we are just happy that our bus doesn’t break down when we travel. We found our trophies in closets and had them repaired. We still have to get a trophy case.

“People say that we are the best recruiters in America. Listen, if we wanted to recruit guys, just think what we would do. People have to understand that I grew up – all of our coaches – knowing the game. I am a preacher and I am the head of school for both the elementary and high school campuses, but I grew up with Terry Bradshaw, Joe Ferguson, Bert Jones and Pat Tilley. We all new how to play ... we never intended to be seven rings later and be playing for a national crown every year. We can’t believe that we get the media attention that we get. Here we are at this little, tiny school and we have done the most simple things and any school can do them.”

The coaching staff ...

Ask anyone associated with Evangel football what the secret to Evangel’s success is and they will tell you – the coaching staff. The Eagles’ staff – including four former All-Americans, two former NFL receivers and two former Evangel players – is a cohesive unit built around a common desire for excellence and longevity.

“This group of coaches is like a brotherhood,” said Coach Dunn. “We have established a friendship and unity that enables us to withstand the winds of adversity.”

“Evangel has the best coaches in the world,” said University of Miami quarterback Brock Berlin, a former Evangel player. “They don’t just care about an athlete’s ability, they genuinely care about the athlete. They are like fathers to all the players they coach. I love them all and I simply can’t get enough of them.”

Former LSU quarterback Josh Booty agrees.

“I have been around coaches my entire life,” said Booty, currently with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. “And the coaching staff at Evangel is as good as any high school, college or professional program in the country. Schematics-wise, no staff is better at preparing their players. They do a remarkable job.

“If you look at game film, the Evangel offense looks as complicated as anything you’ll ever see on the field, but in reality it is very basic. Even the elementary team runs out of the shotgun with a four-receiver set. Evangel has fourth graders that can run a post route better than most high school receivers.”

Former St. Louis Cardinals wide receiver Pat Tilley is just one of the many talented coaches that make up the Evangel staff. Tilley, who was most recently the head coach for the Bossier City Battlewings of the Arena Football League (Arena 2) is so enthused about the Evangel program that he volunteers his time as their wide receiver coach after former Evangel star and All-SEC wideout Abram Booty was called up to attend an NFL camp this summer.

“Really to get involved with this program at this time was something that I had been kicking around for the last couple of years,” said Tilley. “Really the past five years since my brother (offensive coordinator Chris Tilley) got involved here. What prompted this move right now is that they needed somebody, in a system like this where you have four wide receivers in the game at a time, one guy can’t sit back and watch it unless you are Joe Gibbs or something.

“The secret to Evangel football is no secret if you get out here and watch,” Tilley added. “The key word is work. The coaches work hard and are out here every time it is legally possible to get these guys out here on the field. Whether it be the off-season or in-season, they are taking every advantage to get out here and work.

“The reason the coaches are sticking around is because this is a great place to be. I’m a volunteer coach, so that means that I don’t get paid. Now that should say how much this school and this football program means to me.”

The future ...

Evangel’s success both on and off the field is immeasurable with no signs of letting up. The Eagles entered the 2002 season ranked No. 2 nationally, and although they suffered a 31-29 loss to Longview High School (Texas) to open the season, the Eagles know that their goal is still well within reach.

“Longview did a good job and we shook their hands and congratulated them,” said Coach Booty. “People have such a picture of us that we would pitch a fit and be childish.

“All we’ve done is turn the clock back and we went back to find out what was America like when schools were strong and when schools, community and family were one. What did they do, what were they thinking like. It wasn’t hard. We basically said whether you are white or black, it was not going to make any difference. Either you are going to do your grades, do your studies, going to play ball or you are going to be out. We have to comply with state standards, but our grades are better.

“A recent article in the USA Today said that there is a correlation between academic and athletic success. De La Salle’s (Concord, Calif.) coach (Bob Ladouceur) had a big picture on the front page. Basically what they did in their studies was trying to find out if they did correlate and what they discovered is that where you have athletic prowess you almost always have academic excellence.”

No school could build a football program in such a short amount of time. No football program could become so successful so fast. No successful football team could maintain the players or coaching staff year after year. No players or coaching staff could create a relationship built on trust, respect and love. Maybe not, but Evangel did.

“We just enjoy it every day,” said Coach Booty. “And we just love these kids. This has been quite a ride and it has been much more than any of us have ever dreamed. Thirteen years of common sense, that is all we have done.”





NEW BOOK!

AFM Videos Streaming Memberships Now Available Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach



















HOME
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE COLUMNISTS COACHING VIDEOS


Copyright 2024, AmericanFootballMonthly.com
All Rights Reserved