How do you teach greatness???

[regaleagle]

Your town has an athletic director that has installed a program that reaches down to the youngsters in grade school. It's easy to spot a few diamonds....there's always a few. But how do you get not only those kids, but the rest whose natural talents are not yet evident to commit for years to becoming the best football player they can be? Maybe 4 or 5 or even 6 years later you look up and a star is born. But then you need a group of players playing together....probably in different grades....all maturing at different times and learning at different paces....to come together and play this game as a team. Then you need chemistry.....between the coaches and the players and among the players themselves. Then there's other sports or disinterest that could steer away some good ones....or Mom & Dad....or problems at home or at school. Through all of this and the years of development, you finally have a team....but here comes the injuries. Celina went thru this in 2013. And even if your team is able to clear most of these hurdles.....how do you teach greatness? A truly great team is an anomaly by these conditions. Yet, some programs continually produce maybe not great....but very high-quality, highly competitive teams almost yearly. In fact, sometimes a team is destined for greatness but never attains it, while others pop up out of nowhere. Are truly great teams a culmination of years of development with all the right ingredients coming together at one time, or just luck?

[Old Tiger]

I've always been told that greatness is something that can't be taught. It is just earned.

[regaleagle]

But somebody along the way will be responsible for steering toward earning that greatness. In my book, that's teaching.

[Old Tiger]

But somebody along the way will be responsible for steering toward earning that greatness. In my book, that's teaching.

Our lord and savior JC

[regaleagle]

Our lord and savior JC

The one true teacher.

[Rabid Cougar]

You can be the most awesome teacher/coach in the world but if you don't have talent and a bit of good fortune/luck, you will not win consistantly. Sounds like Celina finally ran into what us "common" schools face every year.

[Aesculus gilmus]

Gilmer has always had enough athletes to compete with schools in its class and even a lot of them in the class above it, but they didn't always come out for football.

That's why I know it's the coaching staff that has made the difference. Now it is a status symbol again to be a Buckeye. That hasn't always been the case.

In reading today about why Charlie Strong is considered to be such a good coach, I saw some of the same qualities mentioned that, IMO, Coach Traylor and his staff have, particularly the "surrogate parenting" ability.

[Rabid Cougar]

[QUOTE=Aesculus gilmus;1798924] "surrogate parenting" QUOTE]

Why the hell do College football players need parenting? They are freaking adults. I bet most football coaches in general, high school and college, are only worried about "surrogate parenting" only those that have an impact on thier jobs. Why not do the same for a regular student, a band member, or better yet, a drop out.

[Txbroadcaster]

[QUOTE=Aesculus gilmus;1798924] "surrogate parenting" QUOTE]

Why the hell do College football players need parenting? They are freaking adults. I bet most football coaches in general, high school and college, are only worried about "surrogate parenting" only those that have an impact on thier jobs. Why not do the same for a regular student, a band member, or better yet, a drop out.

They are adults who for the most part on their own for the first time..why would you not want a coach to be there?

and Strong did help a player he kicked off team for two DUIs..kept him on scholarship..helped him get treatment and now he is working on his MBA..kid never played a down again yet Strong did all that

[Aesculus gilmus]

[QUOTE=Rabid Cougar;1798926]

They are adults who for the most part on their own for the first time..why would you not want a coach to be there?

and Strong did help a player he kicked off team for two DUIs..kept him on scholarship..helped him get treatment and now he is working on his MBA..kid never played a down again yet Strong did all that

Speaking of the aforementioned "JC" (and I am going to assume the initials refer to Jesus Christ and not, say, Jimmy Carter or Johnny Cash), what better illustration of The Parable of the Lost Sheep could you have than what Strong did in that case?