Gold Rush

In his 33 years as head coach, J.T. Curtis has brought John Curtis Christian High School\'s trophy case a national record 18 gold footballs. And counting ...
by: David Purdum
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In 1969, a 22-year-old college student, nine credit hours shy of graduating, accepted an offer to become the head football coach at John Curtis Christian High School – the school his father, John Curtis Sr., had founded eight years earlier in River Ridge, La. It was a dream come true for the young coach, and he eagerly arrived that summer to meet with players and organize a weight program.

The summer wound down, and on the first day of practice, he showed up with 35 carefully prepared notebooks, one for each of his players. Six players attended that first practice.

Disappointed, the coach headed to his father’s office in search of advice. “Daddy, what do you think I should do,” the coach asked. “I only had six guys here today, the first day of practice.” Never looking up from what he was doing, Curtis Sr. told his son to get on the phone and make some calls. That was the first time the coach realized the difference between school administrator and ‘Daddy.’

“It was my problem,” he said. “And I had better get on the phones, and I had better get some players.”

He made some calls and managed to field a team of roughly 23 players. That team would finish 0-10 and score two touchdowns all season. That was the last and only losing season head coach J.T. Curtis and the John Curtis Patriots have ever experienced.

In his 33 years as head coach of the Patriots, Curtis has turned the high school entrance into a showcase of success. A national record 18 gold footballs sit in the Patriots’ trophy case, one for each of their state titles. This past season – another state championship year – Coach Curtis moved up to third on Louisiana’s all-time wins list with 393.

The Patriots dominated the decade of the 80s, reaching the title game nine times, winning seven of those games. They carried that domination right through the 90s, capturing six more championships, including four consecutive, starting in 1996. During those two decades, the Patriots won an astonishing 95 percent of their games. But the statistics, records and titles don’t tell the whole story.

“You can’t overstate how great that program is,” former Wossman High School head coach Ray Gambino once said. “I also believe J.T. Curtis is one of the nicest men I have met in the coaching profession.”

An intense commitment is required to be a member of the Patriots. Curtis demands it from his players, coaches and himself. He earns that commitment with kindness and by genuinely caring about the people surrounding him.

“You really have to care about kids,” Curtis said. “I don’t know how you’re going to be successful in this game or any game unless you care about the players. You have to care about them not only as football or basketball players, but also as students and as people.

“One of the philosophies that I have tried to bring to the teams that I’ve coached is what I ask you to do, is what I do. If I ask you not to drink, it’s because I’m not going to drink. If I ask you not to use drugs, it’s because I’m not going to use drugs.

“I’m not going to ask them to do things that I’m going to do myself. That’s a part of the creditability business that we talk about ... kids know. One thing that I’ve learned through the years is that you really can’t fool them. Eventually, they’re going to figure you out. God’s given them clear eyes. And the kids can see through you. You better be genuine with what you say to them.”

The creditability Curtis has acquired not only comes from his players but also his coaching staff. Five of his 10 assistant coaches have played for him. Defensive coordinator Leon Curtis – who is also Curtis’ brother – and offensive coordinator Mike Robertson have been on the staff for more than 28 years.

“All the guys that have been here are guys that care about people,” Curtis said about his staff.

“One of the things that I’m most proud of is that, although I’ve had coaches that have left, they haven’t wanted to. I don’t think there is any coach that has ever worked here that I haven’t kept in some kind of contact with and felt good about what we had done here.”

Shortly after the tough first season, Curtis’ thoughts turned to completing his education, and with only nine credit hours remaining, he figured it wouldn’t take long. He took his transcript to Loyola University of New Orleans, visited with a counselor and found out some disturbing news.

“He told me everything looked good,” Curtis said. “But evidently, you have to take your last 30 hours at the school you graduate from.”

Never one to give up, Curtis took classes during the summer and spring until he earned his degree.

“Instead of nine hours and one semester, it took me four years. But it never crossed my mind that I was not going to get my degree.

“I tell my kids, ‘It took me seven-plus years to get my degree. It’s not when you get it; it’s if you get it.’ It’s that perseverance and the ability to work through that was an important factor in my life.”

Back on track with his education, and having overcome the struggles of his first season with amazing confidence, saying, “It never donned on me that we weren’t going to win the next game,” Curtis led the Patriots to four consecutive winning seasons. But another obstacle lay on the horizon.

Veering around trouble

In 1974, Curtis literally “veered” around an awkward hurdle and landed on a path toward history. The Patriots transformation from up-and-comer to dynasty began in 1973, when they moved up a class to 2A and finished 10-2, losing 16-13 in the state quarterfinals to the eventual champions, Notre Dame-Crowley.

“We came off that ‘73 year, and, in the spring I said, ‘you know what, we can win a state championship. We’re not that far away.’”

Then came the hurdle: The ‘74 Patriots would finish a disappointing 3-3-3 in a season Curtis calls “the biggest bump in the road” in his coaching career.

“We had a good team coming back,” he said, “but it had a drug problem that I was not aware of. It wasn’t a lot of the kids, but it was some key kids. And I just missed it.”

After that tumultuous season, Curtis was determined to stay in direct contact with his players during the off-season, forcing them to make a stronger commitment.

First, his coaching staff orchestrated an off-season running program, which, at the time, was unorthodox.

“(The running program) wasn’t a very popular thing,” he said. “Guys didn’t do that; they played other sports.” It may have not been popular, but it did require the kind of commitment he was looking for. Since that ‘74 season, football players who played other sports, either participated in the off-season running program, or they didn’t play.

“We made up our mind that everybody was going to run. If you were getting ready for track, or if you were getting ready for baseball, you were going to run. If you were going to play, you were going to run.

“I wanted to be around them more,” he explained. “And secondly, I wanted a commitment level. I wanted a guy that would be willing to lay it on the line. It wasn’t that the running was going to kill them; it was that they had to do it everyday. It was a commitment level.”

After the running program was in place, Curtis’ next step was installing a new offense – the split-back veer, which the Patriots still are torching opposing defenses with today.

“We went to a completely new offense,” he said. “We went through this level of work, which went through the summer. It was physically challenging. We were trying to make them better athletes through speed. And we knew one of two things: either we would win, or they would all quit the next day. None of them were going to do this again,” he laughed.

In 1975, the Patriots went 12-1-1 and won their first state championship.

Organization, practice and a little karate

A practice at John Curtis is a high tempo, well-oiled, win-producing machine. A normal practice lasts for a little more than two hours, but the amount of work accomplished in that time separates a John Curtis practice from your everyday high school practice.

“He has such a great staff,” said Louisiana State coach Nick Saban, who signed four Patriots for the Tigers’ 2003 recruiting class, which is ranked among the best in the nation by several publications. “Watching his practice is like watching a college practice: Nobody is standing around; everybody is accomplishing something.

“His players are very well coached. None of them lack toughness or work ethic. They possess all the things that have nothing to do with physical ability, but enables them to reach their full potential as football players.”

Curtis, who often does clinics and public speaking across the nation, will have business men come up to him ask how to become successful. “It comes down to your ability to prioritize and organize,” he said. “I’m responsible for a 100-plus players, nine coaches, 4 to 5 managers and a trainer for two hours and 15 minutes on the field. And for that time, I do not want a person not being productive. My goal is for everybody on that field to be doing something productive.

“One of the things that I have learned to appreciate is when coaches say, ‘Coach, I don’t think I’ve been to a better practice.’ That means so much to me because what it says is these are guys that do it at a much more professional level than we are allowed to do but recognize the quality of the work that’s going on the field. That’s a reflection of the guys that are doing the work, as well as the organizational plan. They have to be able to organize their drills and organize their teaching. I really think that we do that as good as anybody in the country.”

When a new coach joins the staff, they will not be assigned as a position coach. Instead, Curtis will work with them personally or have them assist another coach who has been there longer.

“The tempo, which we work, and the way we coach is a pretty high level. It’s a pretty sophisticated level of work,” Curtis said.

Normally, the new coach will be a little skeptical, but after a few practices, they are quick to understand. “They will come to me and say, ‘Coach, you were right. I haven’t worked like this before.’ It’s because I have great teachers that are highly organized and work at a quick tempo to get business done on the field.”

His practices and off-season program will be put to the test this upcoming season, as the Patriots graduated 20 of 22 starters from last year’s state championship team, including a plethora of NCAA Division-I recruits – DT Ryan Watson (USC), DT Jarrod Carter (LSU), G Jerry Sevin (LSU), DT Cornell Stewart (LSU), K Chris Jackson (LSU) and RB Kris Bush (Michigan State).

Each year, a few weeks after the last game – which is usually the title game in the Louisiana Superdome – the Patriots dive into the off-season program, which begins with weight training and the running program. In May, Curtis evaluates his talent, positions his players and teaches fundamentals.

“Our spring training is a time that we teach how to play the game,” he said. “I’m so concerned about safety, and teaching guys how to block and tackle correctly. I don’t know how coaches who don’t have those 15 days really prepare,” Curtis said.

The summer program includes four days of weight lifting and one day of running and karate. “Karate is an activity that we picked up from Pete Jenkins at LSU in the early ‘80s. I try to stretch with them sometimes, but I can’t do much,” Curtis jokes. “We’re looking to develop flexibility and hand-eye coordination. We have found through our experiences that karate gives you a lot of cross over between the foot movement and hand-eye coordination in karate that you want to get done in football. And the flexibility is tremendous.”

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