For many high school football players, their coach was a big deal. It’s probably one of the few school faculty (or adults for that matter) that you remember. Maybe a few teacher make the grade if there’s more than that, you went to a great school. The football coach is different. They seem to come in a few different flavors from our experience…some that are good and some that are really, really bad. You can probably say that for every profession but high school magnifies everything and the football coach’s personality is no different. Let’s take a look at the your typical prep football coach and understand that’s he’s putting in a lot of effort and time of his own for the love of the game.

Our team had a great coach. Coach Ancich. He wasn’t one of the screamers who always looked like he was about to pop a vein in his neck. He had been around the game for too long by that point to get terribly upset. Coaches, like men in general, learn to smooth out the rough edges with time and experience and Coach A definitely did this. He did command respect however. All the players looked up to him and genuinely wanted to please him on the field. It’s hard to command that type of dedication by respect and the typical fear of reprisal. Coach A could do this and that made him a great coach. He was also really funny when he needed to be and that made the sport fun. He was a great Coach.

Now contrast that with my buddy’s high school football coach. All you needed was clown paint and he’d be done. He once walked into the locker room during half time and wrote a “F” and “O” on the board. The team had a rough 1st half and this was his chance to get them back in the game. They were demoralized..they needed something from coach to turn the tide. He calmly pointed to the letters and said “Look guys. You can either FIRE OUT or F&^K OFF”. That was it. The room of 16, 17, 18 year old kids all looked at him with confused faces. A few couldn’t hide the chuckles under their breath. If only mom and pops knew what he was saying to us. That’s an example of what not to do but it brings up a good point.

As bad as that coach was, we still tell that story and it’s still funny. Even the bad coaches had an impact on us almost 20 years out. To young kid, the high school football coach takes on a pretty dominant role in his life. Football’s a pretty big part of his life and this person decides whether he plays or catches splinters on the bench. Look…the coaches don’t get paid barely anything for the amount of time and energy they dedicate to coaching and that’s especially true for all the DB, Line, Special Team, and ancillary coaches beneath the head coach. They’re doing it for a love of the game of the competition at that level. As a kid, you can feel that and that’s what makes Coach such a respected figure and a great memory from high school football.

Author Bio: Dennis Jarvis writes about the world of Prep Sports including high school sports such as high school football, basketball, and baseball.

Category: Sports
Keywords: high school football coach, high school sports,prep football,high school football