Respect

There are few people in our building . . . actually, our district, whom I have more respect for than our head football coach.

Now, this is not a lovefest or suck up job. I'm perfectly content with coaching freshman football. I have no aspirations to move up. What comes next is simply the truth.

One reason I respect our coach so much is that he does so much more than coach his players. He molds them into young men, productive members of society, and leaders.

Monday night was our annual parents meeting. Each player must have a parent attend - or they must attend in place of their parent.

Coach did two things that totally amazed me - because I have never seen them done anywhere else.

First, he put up a survey that he sends out to all players and parents. The final question is "Should Jeff Mumm remain head football coach for the Thief River Falls Prowlers?"

That's admirable. But he doesn't stop there.

He compiles the results and prints out copies for the school board and superintendent!

When he first did this with our previous superintendent, the first words out of the supers mouth were, "Are you nuts?"

Jeff's philosophy is simple, "When the results show that parents want me to go, I will."

Brilliant.

Second, coach works hard to make parents feel like they too are part of the team . . . and not just their sons.

This is vital for building support.

In fact, coach asks parents for a list of goals THEY have for the team! I mean, come one, where else have you seen that?

Most coaches set up a we vs. them attitude when it comes to parental involvement.

How refreshing it was to see this new approach.

Coach Mumm also displayed all of the various goals parents sent him -- all 154 of them!

And he read through them all with the parents and coaches at our meeting!

Imagine another coach doing that? Imagine the goals some parents would tell the coach if given the opportunity?

Now, not all goals were positive either, so to speak. One mentioned "conditioning" the players instead of running them through "boot camp." Yet, our coach still manned up and showed the negative feedback as well.

He even ended the night with the one and only letter calling for his resignation, which he received last year. Of course, it was unsigned.

But he had the guts to share it with everyone.

These are but a few reasons why more coaches need to coach like him and actually construct a team that feels more like a family. The majority of coaches out there give this concept lip service, but few actually follow through with it.

Just look at how he turns a simple football season into an extravaganza.

First, for the 'pre-season' he has a watermelon feed, a paintball trip for his juniors and seniors, a car wash and hot dog feed where the varsity players pump gas and wash windows while coaching staff serves food, the adopt a freshman night where a senior is paired with a freshman and coach orders pizza. And that's before school even starts.

Then he has weekly dinners with his captains.

He has weekly leadership meetings for his seniors.

He has his now famous "Do the Right thing at all Times" T-shirt where the varsity players where an ugly blue shirt with a large gold dot on it and the slogan previously mentioned on the back. The players are also given a gold dot to put on their cell phones as a reminder to do the right thing at all times.

He has a home game that honors a past team and coach.

He has a big supper at a local restaurant after the parents night - instead of simply listing the parents over the PA as many local teams have begun doing (and not even having the parents come out onto the field).

He has the entire football program come out with the varsity squad during the homecoming game (last year he actually had the 8th graders, who barely had enough to field a team but stuck with it to get one together, lead the varsity out on to the field prior to the homecoming game. Can you imagine how good those 13 and 14 year old boys must have felt?).

And these are just off the top of my head.

And those are a few reasons why he has my total, utmost respect. And why he has it of his players, coaches, and parents too.