This picture says it all. This was moments after the varsity football team defeated Fergus Falls - in Fergus Falls - 10-7. It also happened to be our first win of the season and my first win as a varsity head coach.
I chose this picture not because it's about me. Rather, I chose this picture because of the smile on Coach Henning's face as well as the smiles that Coach Mumm and Coach Hruby have. I chose this picture because it represents the culmination of all the hours we as a staff began putting in before I was even hired as head coach on February 22. Before the season even started, we met over 100 hours preparing for the season. This included weekly meetings rotating between my house, Coach Jensen's mancave, and Coach Farnlof's garage. This included several meetings with the team in which we laid out our new expectations and philosophies. This included Coach Mumm and I driving six hours down to Elk River to meet with their head coach for a total of 12 hours in order to install a new version of the T offense. This meant numerous dinners and lunches in which we met to hammer out what practices will look like, what the summer lifting program will look like, and what the offense and defense will look like.
I chose this picture because it shows the comradery of the staff. Just look at that huge smile on Coach Henning's face! No one has put in more time than Hennings between breaking down film and opening up and supervising the weight room. Yet as soon as the clock ticked down to zero, I saw him sprint to a cooler and flip it open, hoping - no doubt - to find it full of water. But it was empty. Then he dashed to the training table and the water bottles. By this time, I was hurrying away from him - as I knew what he was up to. However, Coach Winter and Coach Jensen had me in a vice grip and were holding me until Hennings could zero in on me.
The staff was so happy for me to get my first win. Now I know it's our first win - and I'll get to that in a second - but what made them so happy for that first win was that I followed through on what I swore I would do when I interviewed for the job - I would let my coaches coach. I would not micromanage them or try to intervene in any major way with what they wanted to do. That is why it was so important for me to lay out the vision for what I wanted Prowler football to be: physical and competitive. As long as what the coaches wanted to do lined up with those two things, I wasn't going to get in their way.
This meant watching film after games, something we hadn't done in years. This meant instituting a mandatory summer lifting policy, something we had never done before. This meant letting the assistant coaches call the plays on both offense and defense without any interference from above.
That is what this picture best represents.
A few moments later, Coach Mumm would hug me and lead me over to the team, which had taken a knee in the end zone. "This is your moment, Coach," he said. "Be real with them. If you're gonna cry, go ahead and cry. Just enjoy it. Let them know how much you love them."
And I did. After telling them how proud I was of them for buying in and working so hard, I asked for the game ball. Then I explained to them that I wanted them all to sign it and that we would be giving it to Mr. Gullingsrud's son, Alex, as he was battling cancer. I wanted him to know we were thinking of him and supporting him in any way we could.
Everyone cheered. It was a night I'll never forget. How often can you say that about a random Friday night in September?
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