by Jason Strunk
Lubbock High School Head Football Coach
Follow @WestTXCoach
I keep waiting for the Pennsylvania type weather to move into Lubbock for the second half of the football season. Still hasn’t happened, so today was Toasty Tuesday. Nothing like a balmy October practice halfway through the season.
Despite the warm weather, the Westerners put together a solid effort today. We need to string together some good practices, like today, until Friday’s kickoff. We are playing a good team. We need to be at the top of our game for Friday against Lubbock Cooper.
My message to the team today was that they are guaranteed only five weeks together. If they want to extend the season, they have to be at their best in practice. The next five weeks are up to them and how hard they work. If they want it, they need to work for it.
I also harped on being able to start the game fast. We have been sluggish in the first half all year. We cannot afford to do that this week. We need to play a strong first half. It is imperative.
As I said before, the kitchen sink is being tossed at everyone we play. It’s time to let it all fly!
The Snapping Captain
Paramount to any teams success is the ability and willingness of players to accept their role. Bill Belichick has been the master of getting the most out of his roster and getting the Patriots to buy in. We need to do this at LHS, as well.
This week, one of our selected captains handles all of our snapping duties. That comprises about 98% of all the snaps he plays on Friday nights. He goes about his business. He snaps throughout our entire practice, as well as getting reps on scout teams. He never says a word. Never complains. He smiles and works hard. He enjoys being on this team. The coaches enjoy having him around the team, as well.
Craig Garcia will take the field on Friday night as a captain for our first district game. He is a great story; it is a comeback story, of sorts. Craig had two separate stints where he was not with our team. He had to earn his way back in. He has done so and in a big way.
It is kids like Craig that keep me coming back each year. A tremendous kid who just needed a nudge in the right direction. He does everything we ask him to do. He is never late. He just works hard and is committed to the Black and Gold.
I’m so thankful I have had the opportunity to coach Craig Garcia. Good luck on Friday night and congrats on earning a well deserved captain position this week!
Mental Health Tip
Do not, and I repeat, do not ever become a head coach who insists on doing it exactly the same way a head coach you worked for ran his program. Do not do things just because that is the way it has always been done.
You need to adapt to the kids today. Your philosophy needs to be ever evolving. You cannot just do things because that is how it has always been done. You need to expand and find news ways to do things.
What is the point in beating your staff into the ground? What is the point in wasting time and keeping your coaches away from their families? Because that is how you were shown to run things?
Please…you coach football. You are not a doctor performing open heart surgeries. Do not pretend that your coaching job is more important than your family and you need to be working 90 hours a week. Get a grip on reality if you think this way.
Be willing to do things different. Develop your own personality. It will keep you from burning out.
Randomness
-Former LHS trainer DJ Abascal is a close, personal friend of mine. She moved away to El Paso for a similar position. Just not the same without her. For starters, chocolate doesn’t disappear from my office anymore. She was always stealing my chocolate. Chocolate dreams, I imagine. Anyway, DJ is awesome. It is incredible how much you miss someone and your daily interactions with that person.
-I applied for an internship with Max Kattwinkel. He is starting up the once failed company of Kramerica again. Cannot wait to join that team.
–Kwami Wilborn wanted to play receiver in practice today. I said nah.
–Tyler Trout has resorted to bullying 4-year olds on Twitter.
–Nate Gensler lost his wallet last weekend. Interesting stuff, I know.
-The targeting rule in football is pure garbage. NCAA needs to eliminate it. Bunch of nonsense.
– Jeff Fisher eats spiny lobster. Probably what Bill Buckner ate before Game 6.
-The Steelers flattened the Chiefs the other day.
Ok. I said enough.
FIO.
