Gobbler Fan
11-23-2006, 08:09 AM
SCHULENBURG - Mickey and Clint Finley haven't always been together, it just seems that way.
Mickey Finley did leave his oldest son with his wife, Patty, when he left Klondike for another coaching job in Comanche, but returned to Klondike a week later to fetch Clint, who was 4 at the time.
Clint was a ball boy for his father and became an all-state quarterback at Cuero before spending five years, including a redshirt season, playing free safety at Nebraska and three with the Kansas City Chiefs.
But truth be told, Patty remembers Mickey and Clint talking on the phone virtually every day when he was away, especially during football season, when they discussed "how workouts went and why they did this." Clint also returned to Arlington before signing with the Chiefs so he could watch his younger brother, Joe Jon, who is currently the starting tight end at Oklahoma, play for Mickey at Arlington High.
When Clint's professional football career came to an end after being released by the Dallas Cowboys and he decided to enter the coaching profession on the high school level, there wasn't much doubt where he would end up.
"I thought he would (become a coach) but I didn't know for sure," Mickey said. "I thought he might want to go the college route and because of his background he could go the college route. But if he were going to coach on this level, he would coach for me. It was a done deal. All he had to do was say he wanted to and we'd do it."
Clint gave some thought to pursuing another career but realized coaching was in his blood and high school football was his true love.
""It was always in the back of my head," Clint said. "I had looked at some other things but I couldn't find anything that came close to filling that void. I thought about coaching on another level but I just like it better on the high school level. There's something about Friday night football in Texas. The best times I had in football I had in high school. It's part of the fabric of the community. It means a lot more than entertainment and that was something I liked about it."
Click Here To Tell Us Your Story.
Clint joined his father for the third of three very difficult years in Cleburne before leaving in January after Mickey resigned and fellow Cleburne assistant and former Cuero teammate Mike Rabe took over as the head coach at Ganado. But when Mickey was hired as the head coach at Schulenburg in May, it didn't take long for Clint to join Mickey's staff.
"I knew if I was going to coach, I was going to do it under him," Clint said of his father. "I've learned so much about football from him."
Mickey hired Clint as the defensive coordinator at Schulenburg, but Clint spends a considerable amount of time coaching the quarterbacks.
"I think he likes both," Mickey said. "He works with Clayton (Besetzny) quite a bit on offense. But wherever I coach, I'm going to call the offense. The defensive coordinator is the position I had open. He's very familiar with the defense because he played there in college and the pros. He's a natural fit."
Clint has been a good teacher on both sides of the ball. Schulenburg had the No. 1 defense in District 28-2A, yielding less than 177 yards per game, and Besetzny has rushed for 1,269 yards and 18 touchdowns and passed for 1,030 yards and seven touchdowns in his first season as the starting quarterback.
"It doesn't really matter to me where I coach," Clint said. "I know more about defense because I've been exposed to it in depth having played there."
It didn't take long for Mickey or Clint to make an impression on the Shorthorns, who were coming off a 12-1 season that ended with a loss to Lexington in the Division II regional playoffs. Schulenburg won its second consecutive district championship while going through the regular season undefeated and Mickey picked up career win No. 200 along the way.
The Shorthorns (11-0) defeated Brazos Consolidated 35-21 in the Division II bi-district playoffs and advanced to the area round where they'll get another shot at Lexington (9-2) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Hays Consolidated in Buda.
"They've been real positive with us," said junior Dylan Langhamer, who has played wide receiver, running back, quarterback, defensive back and returned punts this season. "There might have been some doubt at first, but we've learned a lot from them and we've found out they know a lot. They've shown a lot of confidence in us."
Langhamer describes Clint as "real intense and very positive with a lot of energy," and says Mickey "tends to be more quiet," but he sees more similarities than differences between father and son. Clint insists, "nobody knows what's going through his (Mickey's) mind," but Langhamer has found, "They think alike. They'll tell each other stuff and one of them will say to slow it down so we can understand what they're talking about."
Patty hasn't noticed any changes in the relationship between Mickey and Clint since they've been coaching together.
"It's just the same as it always was," Patty said. "They work together when they're at work and they're father and son when they're at home, although they do talk about football."
Mickey and Clint have been talking about football almost from the moment Clint was born and it's not likely to stop anytime soon.
"When he was growing up we placed a whole lot more importance on football because this was my job," Mickey said. "We love the strategy of the game. It's a fun thing for us. It's a challenge. We want to do things right. This was a game he knew."
Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.
Mickey Finley did leave his oldest son with his wife, Patty, when he left Klondike for another coaching job in Comanche, but returned to Klondike a week later to fetch Clint, who was 4 at the time.
Clint was a ball boy for his father and became an all-state quarterback at Cuero before spending five years, including a redshirt season, playing free safety at Nebraska and three with the Kansas City Chiefs.
But truth be told, Patty remembers Mickey and Clint talking on the phone virtually every day when he was away, especially during football season, when they discussed "how workouts went and why they did this." Clint also returned to Arlington before signing with the Chiefs so he could watch his younger brother, Joe Jon, who is currently the starting tight end at Oklahoma, play for Mickey at Arlington High.
When Clint's professional football career came to an end after being released by the Dallas Cowboys and he decided to enter the coaching profession on the high school level, there wasn't much doubt where he would end up.
"I thought he would (become a coach) but I didn't know for sure," Mickey said. "I thought he might want to go the college route and because of his background he could go the college route. But if he were going to coach on this level, he would coach for me. It was a done deal. All he had to do was say he wanted to and we'd do it."
Clint gave some thought to pursuing another career but realized coaching was in his blood and high school football was his true love.
""It was always in the back of my head," Clint said. "I had looked at some other things but I couldn't find anything that came close to filling that void. I thought about coaching on another level but I just like it better on the high school level. There's something about Friday night football in Texas. The best times I had in football I had in high school. It's part of the fabric of the community. It means a lot more than entertainment and that was something I liked about it."
Click Here To Tell Us Your Story.
Clint joined his father for the third of three very difficult years in Cleburne before leaving in January after Mickey resigned and fellow Cleburne assistant and former Cuero teammate Mike Rabe took over as the head coach at Ganado. But when Mickey was hired as the head coach at Schulenburg in May, it didn't take long for Clint to join Mickey's staff.
"I knew if I was going to coach, I was going to do it under him," Clint said of his father. "I've learned so much about football from him."
Mickey hired Clint as the defensive coordinator at Schulenburg, but Clint spends a considerable amount of time coaching the quarterbacks.
"I think he likes both," Mickey said. "He works with Clayton (Besetzny) quite a bit on offense. But wherever I coach, I'm going to call the offense. The defensive coordinator is the position I had open. He's very familiar with the defense because he played there in college and the pros. He's a natural fit."
Clint has been a good teacher on both sides of the ball. Schulenburg had the No. 1 defense in District 28-2A, yielding less than 177 yards per game, and Besetzny has rushed for 1,269 yards and 18 touchdowns and passed for 1,030 yards and seven touchdowns in his first season as the starting quarterback.
"It doesn't really matter to me where I coach," Clint said. "I know more about defense because I've been exposed to it in depth having played there."
It didn't take long for Mickey or Clint to make an impression on the Shorthorns, who were coming off a 12-1 season that ended with a loss to Lexington in the Division II regional playoffs. Schulenburg won its second consecutive district championship while going through the regular season undefeated and Mickey picked up career win No. 200 along the way.
The Shorthorns (11-0) defeated Brazos Consolidated 35-21 in the Division II bi-district playoffs and advanced to the area round where they'll get another shot at Lexington (9-2) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Hays Consolidated in Buda.
"They've been real positive with us," said junior Dylan Langhamer, who has played wide receiver, running back, quarterback, defensive back and returned punts this season. "There might have been some doubt at first, but we've learned a lot from them and we've found out they know a lot. They've shown a lot of confidence in us."
Langhamer describes Clint as "real intense and very positive with a lot of energy," and says Mickey "tends to be more quiet," but he sees more similarities than differences between father and son. Clint insists, "nobody knows what's going through his (Mickey's) mind," but Langhamer has found, "They think alike. They'll tell each other stuff and one of them will say to slow it down so we can understand what they're talking about."
Patty hasn't noticed any changes in the relationship between Mickey and Clint since they've been coaching together.
"It's just the same as it always was," Patty said. "They work together when they're at work and they're father and son when they're at home, although they do talk about football."
Mickey and Clint have been talking about football almost from the moment Clint was born and it's not likely to stop anytime soon.
"When he was growing up we placed a whole lot more importance on football because this was my job," Mickey said. "We love the strategy of the game. It's a fun thing for us. It's a challenge. We want to do things right. This was a game he knew."
Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.