Behind the Mike

“Coach-speak” comes in many forms. The late, great John Heisman, whose name graces the trophy for the top college football player in the nation, once said to his Clemson College football team: “Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy that to fumble this football.”

Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne had many great quotes. “Show me a good and gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure.” He always challenged his teams that winning was everything. “It’s not necessary to see a good tackle; you can hear it!”

The legendary Alabama Coach Bear Bryant was known for his grumpy attitude and his plaid hat, but his players remember him more from his torrid practices. “I make practices real hard,” said Bryant. “If a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not a game.”

Not all coach quotes were motivational in nature. Georgia Southern’s Erk Russell, who first gained fame as Vince Dooley’s long time assistant at the University of Georgia, once commented: “We don’t cheat at Georgia Southern. That costs money and we don’t have any.” Nebraska’s Bob Devaney put it another way: “I don’t expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation.”

Sometimes those outside of the game get into the motivational game. A sign seen in front of an Arkansas church in 1969 said simply: “Football is only a game. Spiritual things are eternal….. Nevertheless, BEAT TEXAS!”

I have had the privilege of sharing the platform with now retired Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden. Just before his retirement, he quipped: “After you retire, there’s only one big event… and I ain’t ready for that yet.” He once told one of his gifted pass receivers “Son, you’ve got a good engine, but your hands aren’t on the steering wheel.”

And the master of all college mentors in the “coach-speak” department was Lou Holtz, who coached at so many universities that even he lost count. I had to opportunity to speak to one of his University of South Carolina teams during the team’s infamous 22-game losing streak. His quote that day: “Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.”

When Clemson beat Woody Hayes and Ohio State for the National Championship in the Orange Bowl in 1981, Hayes was quoted as saying “There’s nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.”

In a humorous attempt to motivate his Auburn team to beat Alabama, Shug Jordan said “Always remember, Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.”

And when teams got beat, the smart coaches just owned the loss. The celebrated Coach Darrell Royal of Texas defined his team’s loss to Texas A & M: “The cut us up like boarding house pie… and that’s real small pieces.” Texas Tech’s Spike Dykes said after a Red Raider loss: “They whipped us like a tied up goat.” After another loss he said “We played like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.”

Darrell Royal always found ways to state the obvious in a humorous way. “We live one day at a time at Texas and we only scratch when it itches.” He liked to boast about his running game at Texas by explaining “Three things can happen when you throw the football… and two of them are bad! We’ll keep it on the ground.”

Walt Garrison, who had a career at Oklahoma State after Royal and the Longhorns passed on recruiting him stated: “I asked Darrell Royal why he didn’t recruit me and he said ‘Well, Walt, we took a look at you and you weren’t any good.’”

After Southern Cal got their heads handed to them in a 51-0 loss to Notre Dame, Trojan Head Coach John McKay announced to his team: “If there is anybody that needs a shower, take one.” On another occasion he said “We didn’t tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.”

The King of all “coach-speak” was Vince Lombardi. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”

I first became a Steve Spurrier admirer when he coached at Florida and those of us who are fans of “the ole ball coach,” know that he is not exactly traditional in his thinking.

His recent suggestion to begin paying college athletes out of the coaches’ pocket just ain’t gonna fly. Title Nine notwithstanding, as the armchair shrink Dr. Phil would say, “What were you thinking?” There’s a whole myriad of problems associated with this idea, so numerous that I can’t even address them all in this column. Suffice it to say, it’s a bad idea. Or is it?

Having said that, I can’t help but wonder why the ole ball coach brought this up at all. He had to know it violates every rule the NCAA has. He had to know that the idea would literally die on his lips as he was sharing it. He had to know that the handful of buddies he has in the SEC that had signed the petition were only doing so to send a message to potential recruits that they too favored paying the kids for play out of their own pockets. It’s not as noble as the ole ball coach suggests; it’s a bit more Machiavellian in nature.

Of course this would never happen under the current NCAA rules because of Title Nine, which says what you do for one you must do for all. But I’m sitting here in St. Cloud, Florida on Father’s Day morning asking myself, “Was the ole ball coach up to something else?”

However, let’s play “What if?” for a moment. What if the super conferences like the SEC and others decided to secede from the union and form a new version of an NCAA that was focused only on the big boys? Would that open the door? After all, these colleges are making millions of dollars off of these kids; why not share some of the wealth?

Could the Machiavellian mind of the ole ball coach be going there? Could this be an early salvo that the BCS members have had enough of the Utah’s of the world bellyaching about not getting a shot at the title? Could this be the early stages of a new and different “super league?” Stay tuned; it’s not as farfetched as you might think.

To begin with, the NCAA needs the super powers a lot more than they need the NCAA. Even if they formed their own super league, the Utah’s of the world would still be lining up for a shot at them, so it won’t hurt the big boy’s schedules. The fact is super powers wouldn’t even waste their time scheduling a Utah when you could have your own classic matchups within the super league.

Is Steve Spurrier, often referred to as Steve Superior by his old nemesis Bobby Bowden, that smart? Before you have a dementia test done on the ole ball coach, you might want to take pause for a moment. Is he on to something here?

NCAA amateurism is the oldest joke in modern times; it simply doesn’t exist. There is no equality in college sports. Are you going to try to convince me that a $60,000 annual tuition to get into Vanderbilt is of equal value as the tuition of a typical state-supported school like the University of South Carolina? Kids don’t go to Vandy because it’s more expensive; they go there because of the quality of the education.

What about the nobility of playing at Army, Navy, or the Air Force Academy? Let’s be fair, kids don’t go to an academy to play for a National Championship. If they did, the academies would be playing for a title every year. In short, there will be some casualties under the super league idea. It doesn’t necessarily make it a bad idea. Could this be what the ole ball coach was thinking?

Actually, as creative as the ole ball coach is, I’m not sure he’s smart enough to have concocted this idea of paying athletes to pave the way for secession from the NCAA by the super powers. Given enough court rulings and other NCAA blunders that seem to happen on a daily basis, don’t rule it out.

Is that what you were thinking coach?

I’ve known Bryan and John Drafts all their lives. Both were terrific multi-sport athletes at Lexington High School in my native Lexington, SC. We share an uncle, Arthur Mack, my late mother’s brother, who is married to their mother’s sister, Annie Laurie.

There are many reasons why the Drafts brothers were such remarkable people. They lost their father at a very early age so Uncle Bubba Arthur (Mack) became a surrogate father. In some ways, he was a surrogate to me as well, always supporting all of us in a way that only a father could do.

Arthur Mack had no sons of his own so my own brothers and the Drafts boys became his adopted sons. I’m sure the way he mentored Brian and John was much the same way he mentored my brothers and me.

But the father figures in the Drafts’ boys lives had multiple faces. There were many others–their athletic coaches over the years, just to name a some. Coach James Wymon Ingram was one who touched their lives. He taught them the power of discipline.

Coach Bob Whitehead was another, helping them to develop a keen sense of competitiveness in the athletic vineyards.

Coach Carl Stegall was still another. I recall he taught me how to kick a football, and his advice was simple. Pick a spot on the football, hit it squarely, keep your head down and follow through. The crowd will let you know if it went through the goal posts. That’s pretty good advice in life as well– keep your head down and follow-through!

Coach Carl Stegall helped put the basketball program on the map at Lexington High School, where both Drafts’ brothers excelled as All-State standouts, each earning scholarships to college. He mentored another young coach by the name of Ken Long, who ultimately coached both Drafts boys to stardom.

Almost all these great coaches have gone on to their greater reward, save Bob Whitehead, who is now retired. Coach Ken Long never played a minute of basketball in his life but he probably knew more “book basketball” than any man I ever covered in my nearly forty years as a journalist.

Ken Long was not a gifted athlete. However, he was a gifted student of athletics and perhaps that’s the grandest gift he gave to both Drafts brothers. Now a coach and Athletic Director, John Drafts amassed 343 victories in his 27 years of basketball coaching excellence, including four region titles (2001, 2005, 2009, 2010), Region 8-AAA Coach of the Year (2009, 2010) and 2009 Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet All-Area boys basketball Coach of the Year.

As much as anyone, Ken Long deserves the lion’s share of the credit for any successes John enjoyed on the hardwood. And while John had athletic gifts that Ken Long never possessed, he also had the aptitude of being a student of the game, which he taught so well to his players.

One of his star athletes, Brent Evans was a two-time all-state selection who played three years under Drafts. “He always kept us focused and in line, and my basketball IQ has gone up a whole lot since I started playing for him,” stated Evans. “He helps you see the game in a whole different way.”

Evans could just as easily have been speaking to the grave site of Ken Long or any of the other coaches that impacted the lives of the Drafts’ brothers. John Drafts would be the first to tell you the influence that all these mentors had on his life.

Of all the people who have impacted the lives of Brian and John Drafts, perhaps the most important person was his late mother, Tat Drafts, who single-handedly raised both boys after the death of their father. Tat Drafts didn’t just raise her own sons; she helped raised mine as well. She was as much a mother to my three sons, Cory, Jason and Christopher, as their own mother, Christine.

To make ends meet, Tat worked part time for our family as what would be called a “nanny” today. To my boys she was very simply Aunt Tat. My three sons have gone on to become National Champion weightlifters. Jason is a microbiologist for the Food and Drug Administration in Tampa, FL. Cory is a science and biology teacher in addition to being a football and weightlifting coach at St. Cloud High School. Christopher is a Registered Nurse at an Orlando Emergency Room. Aunt Tat had as much of an impact on their lives as her own sons, and it reflects in all of what the Drafts and the Aun boys have gone on to accomplish in their lives.

This was supposed to be a tribute to the humble and kind Coach John Drafts. Instead, it has become a tribute to all who have had a hand in his life. He has gone on to help others the way all his mentors helped him. He literally has passed the baton, as they say in track and field. Is there a greater metaphor to describe what Coach John Drafts has accomplished in his life?

I have had the privilege of doing play-by-play for football and baseball at a high school level over the years, both from the press box and on radio in Lexington, SC and St. Cloud, Florida. I currently broadcast Pop Warner football at Harmony, Florida.

When my children were growing up, I had the privilege of coaching on a Pop Warner level. Occasionally, someone will come up to me at church or in a restaurant and say “Hi Coach.” I know I am speaking to one of the kids with whom I used to work. For anyone who has ever coached youngsters, that is the kindest title anyone could call you. It is a show of respect to accord you the title, despite not having done it for years.

Coaches are a special breed of people. They spend more time with children than the parents of those kids. It is quite understandable that they would bond with them as I did with my own coach and mentor, the late J. W. Ingram. A love-hate relationship evolves as kids try to please their coach with good playmaking and victories.

My youngest son, Christopher, was an All-Conference center and a pretty decent athlete. His older twin brothers, Cory and Jason, were (as they say in the movie Rudy) five-foot-nothing and a hundred-nothing.

In four years at St. Cloud High School, they never missed a football practice. In four years, they never started and about the only time they ever got into a game was when the Bulldogs were well ahead or well behind. In four years, no matter what level on which they played, their teams never lost to arch-rival Osceola in nearby Kissimmee.

They never missed a practice, a game or a class in school, receiving perfect attendance honors. Did they ever want to quit? If they did, they never shared that with their parents. Were they hurt by their lack of playing time? If they were, they never told us or their coaches. They simply showed up as if they were starting every play on both sides of the ball. I always admired that in my sons.

Recently I came across a letter that was written to them by their high school football coach, John Wallauer, who is now retired. Here is the letter.

Dear Cory and Jason,

I will address this letter to both of you because, as you well know, in four years I could never tell you apart anyway. I hope you never took this personally. During my 25 years coaching career, I have worked with at least six pairs of twins and I could not tell them apart either.

From time to time, I sit down at the end of the year to write a letter such as this one to some of the young men who have been a part of my program. This is the only letter I have written this year.

I want to thank you for all that you have done for St. Cloud High School and my football program. What did Cory and Jason do for the St. Cloud High football program? Did you set records? Catch touchdown passes? No. You contributed something more important. You gave our program “character.”

Your courage, work ethic, honesty and integrity set an example for others to follow. There were times when you could have given up and quit, but you did not. You simply accepted the challenge and worked harder.

This letter is about “respect.” Respect is what you have worked so hard to earn and so rightfully deserve. As the years pass and the memories fade, as they have over the past 25 years, I know I will remember at least two things: the win in the “Spurs” (St. Cloud’s only win in 50 years in that stadium) and the “Aun-sters!”

In closing, I would like to share one last thought with you. Do not ever forget that your success is the result of the love and guidance given you by your parents. Young people are the product of their environment and your environment, no doubt, was a special one. I know they are proud of you; I hope you are as proud of them.

Best of luck always Cory and Jason. I hope your life is filled with happiness and success.

Sincerely, Coach John Wallauer

PS- Please do not be offended when we meet and I ask, “Which one are you?”