Getting Your Team Connected

During my five years as a Head Coach at Liberty High School in Colorado Springs, I have always been proud of the class that our fans, staff and players have shown in games, regardless of the score. At every pre-season coaches meeting, I share with my staff a valuable lesson that I learned in my first year as a Head Coach at Rockville High School (CT). We were losing my first game of the 2005 season, 41-0, to Hall High School, and when they got the ball with a minute to go at our ten yard line, they took a knee. As I shook Coach Frank Robinson’s hand, I thanked him for his gesture of class and sportsmanship. Coach Robinson told me, “Jaron, we’re all in a fraternity of coaches and we’re trying to teach kids lessons that go beyond the football field. I would never embarrass another team by running the score up.” This short exchange stuck with me and I have been on both ends of lopsided scores in my 12 years of coaching. When it is appropriate, we will pull our varsity players or switch to a run-heavy offense and never will try to run the score up. I have always told our kids to “play beyond the scoreboard”, to give their full effort at all times, and to show grace whether in victory or defeat.

However, I do not believe that all programs in our country share this belief, and I believe it is a sad state for high school athletics. In Connecticut, there is the “50 Point Rule”, were if a team wins by 50 or more, the Head Coach of the winning team is immediately suspended for the next game. Although there are strong opinions on the “Score Management” rule in my native state, I believe it is unfortunate that adults entrusted to exhibit positive role modeling for their student-athletes need to have a rule like this in place.

In Colorado Springs, where I have made meaningful relationships with coaches in the area, I still am amazed by the lack of sportsmanship that is shown by several programs in the area. Almost every weekend I will get multiple text messages from coaches that will remark on some score or tactic that put a black eye on all in the coaching profession. Recently, a team continued to run a no-huddle offense and throw deep when the game was decided and taking a knee was the sensible thing to do. The lack of sportsmanship is a troubling trend and I wonder what is causing this to occur - is it pressure from parents who think statistics is the way to a scholarship? (Trust me it is not. I coached a WR who had 400 yards his senior year and got a full scholarship to Connecticut). Is it the thought that winning by significant margins is all that matters?

I can specifically point to two examples from this past year in which sportsmanship or lack thereof, taught valuable lessons to the students-athletes and fans. In our second game this year, we were leading 42-0 in the middle of the third quarter. I pulled my starters and we ended up winning by a score of 42-14. While my players were upset that we didn’t have a shutout on defense, I shared with my captains a text message that I received the next day from the opposing Head Coach - “You guys are a class program, and we enjoy competing against you.” Our players understood that treating our opponents with respect trumped any beating of our chests that we had a shutout. Conversely, this year we were down by 13 points with one minute left in the game and one timeout. The opponent ran no-huddle vertical passes, which led to outbursts from our players, their players and fans on both sides. What was a highly competitive game between two teams battling for the playoffs became overshadowed by what I perceived as a classless attempt at running up the score.

I do not believe that these trump the ideal of running a first class program and teaching your players that humility and grace, whether in defeat or victory, both on the gridiron and in life, are character traits that will transcend the football field. Isn’t that one of the most valuable lessons we can teach our players?