Russian Tanks and Revelation

Nothing like a European ground war to send us to Revelation 6 and squirm over the symbols with one eye on the headlines and the other in the Word.

It is almost comical to read all the ping pong points Biblical scholars make when they come to passages that involve visions. At times it reminds me of that scene in the movie, The Princess Bride- "It could be that cup based on fact A- but you know that I know fact A so it is now cup 2 because of fact B.. and so on and the answer ended up being "all of the above".

But the headlines push us back into these mysterious readings....

OIL PRICES RISE 9% IN A DAY

           Inflation at an all time high ...

Warships enter Suez Canal...

Federal, state and local debt exceeds size of entire economy...

Deadly quake rocks ... 

Witnesses report bodies in streets... 

Colossal volcano eruption sends ash plume 2 miles high....

Anytime you read a book of the Bible that contains apocalyptic visions- you become a little more sensitive to the current movements of nations and events.

I have experienced this a lot during my lifetime of reading and study of the Book of Revelation- which causes me to see the books of Daniel, Jeremiah, many OT passages, and the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24) as key companions in interpretation and application.

A quick warning, however, is to avoid the temptation is to 'tea-leaf' the passages and apply them exactly to what is happening in the world of current events. A better approach is to cultivate the enduring principles and apply them regardless of how things shake out literally. Any reading of prophetic or apocalyptic passages tell a very clear message.

Here is what I try to remember every time I get pushed back into prophecy due to anxiety over the latest cable news story.

KEEP THESE THINGS IN MIND:

“When Modern prophets turn Revelation into a crystal ball, they turn their back on church history and have been wrong every single time.”  Rev. Art Azurdia

If I Am Reading Revelation (or any prophecy) Correctly

• I will feel excited, encouraged, and energized to stand boldly for Christ in a world that seems to grow darker and colder
• I will feel personally challenged to continually stay prepared. This will cause discomfort from time to time.
• I will see clearer lines of demarcation: Lion/Dragon- Lamb/Beast- Overcomer/Defeated
• I will evaluate my circumstances in light of eternity
• My desire and practice to worship will grow
• I will walk and live as a champion- Victory is in sight

And then I need to ask these questions:

Have I grown dull to damnation?
Do I see that evil that demands justice?
Do I realize I am in a battle with eternity at stake?
Do I see how much the enemy hates me?
Do I see how much Jesus loves me?
Am I missing all of the beautiful promises to those who stand with Jesus?

Examples: 

Daniel 11:32 "The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits."

and

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12 ESV)

and many more- both in the Old and New Testaments

THE MESSAGE IN THE MIDST OF MY ANXIETY

God exists- He is in control- Conflict is evidence for sin and rebellion- there will be ebbs and flows of war and persecution- there will even be periods where it looks like God has lost the day- but there will be a day when time will be ended- it could be VERY soon- so are we prepared to meet the King? Are we an enemy because of independent rebellion or an adopted son? Have we spent a selfish life ignoring /not thanking the Creator or do we acknowledge His authority and live lives of gratitude? Do we expect to stand before him touting our own righteousness or do we throw ourselves on the mercy of God by clinging to His Son's sacrifice as our only hope of forgiveness? Are we in love with the city of man or do we seek the kingdom of God? Will we incur God's wrath or will we hear the tender sound of a Father's love?

Practical Applications:

1) Regardless of your interpretation you have to get ready now. The signs are all in place ( they have been since the ascension of our Lord) and time is ticking. You can't wait for a warning signal. Your time is now. Simply bend your knee, ask forgiveness and set your heart to follow Him, and ask Jesus for His help and tell Him He is your only hope. There are some who will meet judgment day today just due to their individual life coming to an end.

2) It is likely that living for Christ will get harder as time ticks by. Whatever your circumstance- hard physically, hard socially, hard economically- find a support system to persevere NO MATTER WHAT.

I am so thankful to live in a country where I have the freedom to follow Christ and we have blessings of liberty and relative peace and prosperity- but it is not a guarantee. But we need to be of the mindset that if the bottom fell out tomorrow- we would still follow our King in confidence and joy. Think of it this way- if it got HARD quick, rejoice- the end is that much closer- and the end is sweet!

3) Search the Scriptures and pray so that we will be wise enough to follow our shepherd's voice in times of confusion.

4) Be steadfast and confident- people who know their God never hand ring or whine or collapse in despair. We walk on through in joyful peace!

Take any Biblical vision and read the comments by any true scholar and you will now see the endless debate begin- it never quite fits. So most of the time there are left views that have strong points and weak points and the scholar will tend to lean toward one and live with the weaker points in humble acceptance. We all do this- I do this.

But there are larger points here to be made that we can all agree on. 

1) God's truth is multi-layered and true from many angles and through many cross-sections and dissections. There is often multiple fulfillments of prophecy that show shadows in the Old Testament- applications in the New Testament and pointers to the Kingdom of God which is an alternate reality but just as true- in fact MORE true than the reality we occupy now. The hardest part in all of Biblical visions is to keep reminding yourself "symbol,symbol, symbol- figurative language"- the Bible images of heaven and hell are figurative and point to a reality beyond our comprehension. Still true, but related in a way that humans of all times and cultures can relate to.

2) We have a hard time making it all fit 'clean' because we are still missing a final overview of the end of time. When we see unrest in Ukraine we rush to the Scriptures and want to make sense of it. The problem is that we are in a time period of waiting. All that is in play now is the competition of the City of Man ( figurative Babylon) with the City of God (figurative Jerusalem) and whether we will be citizens of Christ's Kingdom or the Dragon's Kingdom. Citizenship in Christ's Kingdom is an open invitation to repentance and faith in the God of Mercy. But to do so means that you will incur the wrath of the un-holy trinity The Dragon, The Beast, and the False Prophet. One day, God will say, NO MORE DELAY- and we will watch the final scene brought to the close- and then there will be a massive "OH- I see now- THAT is what was meant by.....". We had a little taste of this when Christ came the first time. All the prophecy was there- but all the scholars missed it. IN the end- our human pre-suppositions make us miss the future narrative. Thankfully, we are not saved by being right on our own ability.

“The first thing for us to understand is that although the signs preceding the judgment day are many and great, they will all be fulfilled, even though none or very few men take note of or esteem them as such. For two things must take place according to the Word and prophecy of Christ and the apostles: first, that many and great signs will be made manifest; and secondly, that the last day will come unawares, the world not expecting it, even though that day be at the door. Though men see these signs, yea, be told that they are signs of the last day, still they will not believe, but in their security mockingly say: "Thou fool, hast thou fear that the heavens will fall and that we shall live to see that day?"”

                                                                                                        Martin Luther

Don't shy away from your Bibles in times like these- DIG IN AND BE BLESSED!

My Tribute to Aaron Martens

 

I had the honor to attend a Life Celebration Service for Aaron Martens on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022 in Cullman, AL. It was held in conjunction with a MLF event at Smith Lake and included a "Who's Who" of professional fisherman. It was a beautiful tribute to Aaron and it had to have been an encouragement to his family.

The success of any event like that comes down to the ability in the many stories, tears, prayers, and testimonies to give everyone in attendance a great chance to remember the person and honor a life well lived. And this event did just that, highlighting the young phenom who came from California and changed professional fishing forever with his quirky ways, relentless energy, and his childlike wonder for his Savior and creation.

When we first started the fishing program at Briarwood in 2011, I personally was not aware of the professional sport and it wasn't too long after that someone mentioned to me that Briarwood had one of the fishing greats as a parent and his children were in Briarwood elementary school.

Here is how Aaron describes his beginning with BCS and our bass team. This is part of the Foreward he wrote for our book:

   I first learned of Briarwood Christian School from a friend when my son was an infant. Up until that point, my wife and I had decided to home school our children because we wanted their educations to be centered around Biblical principles. The more we heard about what a great school BCS is, the more we wanted our children there. We put them on a 3-year waiting list, and got them in with my daughter going into 3rd grade and my son going into Pre-k4 and we haven’t looked back since. 

   I first heard from Jay Mathews, who was the Dean of Students at BCS at the time, when my daughter was in 6th grade. He reached out to me to assist him, when I could, in mentoring the budding BCS High School Bass Fishing team. I remember at the time being surprised they had one and excited for my own children’s prospects. It has been my great pleasure to pass on some of my knowledge to the kids, to become better acquainted with Jay Mathews - a man deeply committed to bass fishing and the kids he coaches, and to watch my own daughter compete on the team.

Aaron's beginning with our team wasn't easy.... his first few meeting with our anglers and dads was like having Einstein teach a kindergarten class.  Our very first meeting was in the conference room at Bass Pro Shops. 

When it was over, one of my parents who had fished a long time and competed in tournaments came up to me and said, 'That was AWESOME! I only understood about 15% of what he said, but man, he was incredible!"

So we learned and he adjusted. I think over the years, Aaron spoke to our team about 5 or 6 times. And his best year with us was 2019, where he was a boat captain at a number of tournaments and totally led our group in such a humble way.

I have so many personal stories, I just don't know which ones to write about.

Father Son/ Father Daughter Battle on Lake Caroline

Aaron came down to Lake Caroline one year to film an episode of Brent Chapman's Pro's vs Joe's. Brent and his son Mason did a show competing against Aaron and his daughter, Jordan.

It was typical Aaron. He arrived late, spent over an hour rigging up his stuff, starting and stopping a dozen times while Brent kept ripping him to hurry up. Aaron was never swayed. 

Aaron caught the first fish on his first cast, he actually waited to cast until he got to the stick up close to the bank that he was watching the entire time he was fumbling around with his equipment.

The show ended in an amazing tie and you get a real sense of who Aaron is as you watch the show.

You can see the episode here: https://www.peppercustombaits.com/chapman-takes-on-martens-in-pro-vs-joe-episode/

Taking Kids Out to Fish

Aaron took our anglers out to fish quite often. 

One time, one of the anglers came back and gave me a cast by cast breakdown of the day. He talked about how nervous he was to even touch one the the Shimano Stellas in the rod box because he said each one costs at least $1500! But he reported that he was so blown away at how the set-up Aaron had on each rod made it the best casting and fishing experience of his life.

Our anglers also talked about how fast Aaron could fish. One of my guys said that Aaron would fly down the bank and hit 25 more targets than he could in the same 5 minute time period. "No wonder he will wear you out in competition"- Aaron was so efficient that he was going to make 500 to 1,000 more quality casts than you on any given day... and that is a conservative estimate!

The fishing wasn't always 'pleasant' LOL. Our girls team of Sadie Stanford and Jordan Martens often talked of Aaron having to lay down in the boat and scream out his frustration because they were so bad and unfocused when he was their boat captain.

Aaron called me one evening after an early experience as a boat captain (boat captains can't fish or rig equipment during tournaments).

In a small quiet voice he said, "Coach Jay, I'm not so sure I can do this. That was the longest I have ever been in a boat and not been able to fish. And the girls...well... I mean, they did fine.... but I just don't know" And we both laughed.

By the way... the girls got better... they were the first all girls boat to win an ASABFA regional at Eufaula and helped us win the State Championship that year!

Another time one of my seniors found me early one morning. "Hey coach, Aaron called me last night." I said "Awesome...what about?"  The kid replied, "He saw the picture I posted where I held all the fish together and he told me to never hold fish like that again, it isn't good for them. And also to never keep fish in my livewell unless I have to." I asked, "Was he mad?" My senior looked at me and said... "No, he was just speaking up on behalf of the fish."

The Quirky Genius

I went to see Aaron launch one morning at Lake Martin at a B.A.S.S. elite event. Almost everyone was already in the water and Aaron was his usual 'almost late' arrival. 

I waved at him and asked if he wanted any help launching. "Nah, Coach Jay", and he backed up and just shot the boat off into the water. This was BEFORE the Ultrex was a thing. And the boat just floated out. He walked by me a few minutes later and squinted out into the dark and a sea of red, green, and white lights. "Oh good, I floated next to Van Dam, he will help me. And off he went."

Aaron would light up when we talked about eating habits and exercise. He often talked about what he was picking up from the Japanese and their approach to fishing. He spoke of knots, lines, wiggle rate in cold water, jerk bait tweaks around cover. I just listened with very little knowledge but total respect to his mastery.

One of my favorite moments of these deep fishing discussions was when our head football coach, Matthew Forester met him at a soccer match. Matthew knew who he was but couldn't tell you the difference of a drop shot and a spinner bait. Coach Forester walked up and said, "Aaron, how's the fishing these days?" Matthew said 5 minutes later, they smiled, shook hands, and then they walked off.

"What did he say?" I asked Matthew as a follow up. Matthew said, "Well..... it stared about something with temperature and the north end, the spawning pattern being ahead on the south end, and the wind and current making a difference in how the bait fish were relating to the structure from Tuesday and the normal movement patterns of the bass toward their post spawn locations may be different than he thought."

"Did you know what any of that meant?" 

Matthew just laughed, "No, but it was sure impressive!"

THE HUMBLE SERVANT OF CHRIST

One year, I compiled about 5 or 6 years of notes and copied them into a 'little handbook' for our fishing team. I put it in a google doc and sent it out to the team and parents.

One of my senior parents called me and said, "Coach, you ought to put this out in a book."

Now, me putting a book out on fishing is like a guy writing on brain surgery just because he stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night!

So I sent it to Aaron and asked him to read it and offer suggestions. He took it, read it, added some tips, and wrote the Foreward that I quoted from earlier. This was the three time Toyota Angler of the Year humbly choosing to encourage and improve the project and our program!

I have had so many compliments from parents of young anglers and even a few pros about this simple introduction to fishing.... and all I can do is thank Aaron for his help... and he never wanted any credit for doing it.

It is still on amazon.com: 

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Edges-Fishing-School-Handbook/dp/1731334591

We went to a late night dinner one evening after a pre-tournament meeting. Aaron and I ended up sitting together for about 30 minutes. And that night, we never once talked about fishing. It was all about his faith and especially how strong his mother was in her walk with Jesus.

At the memorial service... every tear and story was not about Aaron being 'lost'. No, Alton Jones said it best that Sunday... "Aaron is not lost. We know right where he is..." And everyone knows... He is with Jesus. Skeet Reese, Brent Chapman, Kevin Van Dam, and so many other friends and family members spoke so eloquently... and the MLF video was special as well.

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, [26] and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26 ESV)

Please pray for Lesley, Jordan, and Spencer.... What an honor it was for me to briefly know this one very special man!

Aaron Martens Aug. 24, 1972 - Nov. 4, 2021

Guest Blogger: Observations and Reflections From a Millennial, Single-Wing Coach

 

Clint Humphrey is currently the Offensive Coordinator at Excel High School in Excel, Alabama. He previously has served as OC at St. Luke's Episcopal (his alma mater) and Demopolis High School. He has had position coaching stints at Murphy High School and Stanhope Elmore High School. He is married to Morgan Williamson Humphrey and they are expecting their first child in May! 

I asked Clint to submit a post on what he has been learning and this piece is awesome!

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same. 

---

Observations and Reflections From a Millennial, Single-Wing Coach. 

Jay extended an invitation for me to write a post. I'm thankful for that and for our friendship! He has been an awesome mentor in many aspects of the game for me and I hope that what I say in this post is helpful to someone. I certainly don’t know it all but with each passing season I seem to grow, certainly as a coach, but more as a person. To me that's the beauty of it. I have changed more philosophically and schematically than I could have ever imagined. Walt Whitman once said, “Be curious, not judgmental.” I wish I could say I have spent my entire career living by this mantra but I have not. However, I have figured out that this type of mindset will lead to much more happiness in this profession and certainly many others. 

I have been so blessed to have worked under some really great coaches and to make some unlikely friendships along the way. One of the most influential men that I have worked under was Rick Cauley. Now the Head Coach at Davidson High School, Rick was a long time coordinator at Murphy and then Head Coach at the tail end of his tenure there. For a few years he had run the old single-wing offense. We were not a single-wing team during my time with them but it was clear to me how much that system had changed how Rick thought about the game. He always seemed to have an affinity for it. For whatever reason, that offense has stuck with me through all these years. I have always admired its style of play: Disciplined, Tough, Physical, and most of all, Contrarian. 

I am now coaching at Excel High School and this is the first place that I have coached that wasn’t winning when I arrived. It became clear to me that in order for us to compete offensively we needed to be different. We needed all the things that I admired that offense for being. I believed it could work, but my fears were obvious… what would happen if the kids didn’t buy in? What would we do if a team stymied the run and we were forced to throw? We decided to commit to it and I believe it has changed how I will think about the game forever. 

Of course it’s extreme but I think that the principles of a single-wing offense can be applied to many others. It’s likely that you use many of them and don’t even know it. What I didn’t expect is for it to have impacts in our program that far exceeded just Xs and Os. After all, it’s just an offense? These are just a few observations and reflections about the offense and about the impact that I believe it has had in building the kinds of young men that we want in our program, school, and community. 

1. Concentration of force is an equalizer (I could write a whole post on this alone) 

Napoleon used it to conquer much of Europe. We use it to get first downs. “Concentration of Force” in simple terms means “massing power at a single point instead of spreading it thinly over many points”. That definition, in many ways, is completely different from the modern approach to playing offense. We try to build formations that threaten more gaps than a traditional offense. Then the plan is simple, “get there fastest with the mostest”. We try to get double teams, angles, and as many hats as we possibly can in a gap. All our effort to achieve 4 yards. Anything after that is a bonus. All those things sound like normal stuff mentioned by coaches at clinics but I don’t believe they achieve it in the same sense as us or other classic single-wing teams. That’s not to say they aren’t successful in their respective offense.

I’m a history major and I have always been fascinated by the strategy of the Phalanx formation. The same principles that allowed the Macadonian Phalanx to conquer the world helps us win football games. It is a force multiplier that we believe gives our kids an edge. 

The famous stand at Thermopylae is a testament to this tactic's credibility. Outnumbered, by some estimates, 1,000 to 1. Leonidas, 300 Spartans, and about 6,000 other Greeks funneled them into a narrow corridor called The Hot Gates where they employed their Phalanx formations to attempt to hold off an onslaught of 300,000 Persians. Eventually they fell but the results were clear. Fighting as a “single impenetrable unit” as Leonidas said multiplied the force of the Greeks to be able to fend them off for as long as they did. 

2. Direct snap football is a lost art 

In today’s game we live in a world of RPO, option, and play action. Usually this requires ball handling and fakes to draw the eyes of the safeties or linebackers. We feel that to capitalize on the concentration of force that was previously mentioned we need to get to the gap as fast as possible. Plays like Power and Iso are, traditionally, somewhat slower developing plays relative to something like a Trap play. But because we step to the ball on the direct snap we feel that the plays hit with the same tenacity and with all the advantages of Power and Iso but with the speed of a Trap play. It also allows us to take advantage of multiple kids' skill sets while on the field and in the backfield together. Multiple passers, runners, and (on 4th down) kickers. It changes how we are able to play the game and stress a defense. 

Excel Base Formation

3. Psalm 144 and the warrior spirit 

Our Head Coach Jason Phillips does an awesome job of laying the foundation for our program and one of his favorite verses that I have picked up is Psalm 144:1. It says, “Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle”. In today's politically correct world many people may have concerns about this but this year has proven to me that it's true. Young men do not crave iphones. They crave discipline, honor, community, and structure. Most of them just don’t know it. Our boys didn’t. I believe they see now what it means to represent and “defend” a community. We had a tendency to play very well at home and I believe it was because of the pride they took in playing on their home turf. 

David was used to the strings of a harp or the shaft of a shepherd's hook but that was not how God made him. I believe what David was made for is what Teddy Roosevelt described as the “strenuous life”. In a now famous speech he once said this, 

“ I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”

This is the life I believe we were meant to live. I believe as coaches we should strive for our players to understand that feeling and I believe our style of offense helped to shape this understanding in our players. 

4. Selflessness matters in life and in football 

There is an old Latin phrase that says, mori in se, which means “die to self” another seemingly extreme statement in our day and age but of course it is not meant literally. It's imperative that young men learn the value of selflessness. I would rather them learn that in our program and spend their life using the ideal than to stumble through life only to figure this out later on.

A verse that comes to mind is John 15:13. It says, “no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for a friend”. Again, of course we don’t mean this literally but we very much mean it in the sense of dying to self for the betterment of the team. The success our offense experienced this year (top in our region at 32 points a game) is truly a testament to how selfless our players played. No 1,000 yard rushers. Our “QB” threw for less than 400 yards on less than 50 attempts but spent most of his time blocking for others. You could see the joy in our players when anyone scored. This is something I am very proud of. 

These are opinions and just personal observations from our season and style of offense that I hope are helpful to someone!

Joey Jones and Coach Bryant

 Every Jan. 26, I post a remembrance of Coach Bear Bryant who passed away on Jan. 26, 1983. These posts are on my blog, jayopsis.com, as well as this site.

This year, I am so happy to post a couple of memories from Joey Jones.

This is Joey's bio from wikipedia:

Playing career

Jones is a graduate of Mobile's Murphy High School. He played college football for coach Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama. Jones lettered with the Tide from 1979 to 1983, graduating with a degree in business administration. As a wide receiver, he tallied 71 receptions, 1,386 yards and 15 touchdowns. He ranked third among Alabama's career touchdown receivers and seventh in career receiving yards. He was named All-SEC as a senior and chosen to participate in the Senior Bowl. He was a member of the University of Alabama's All-Decade Team for the 1980s and played professionally with the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League and the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons.

The iconic catch when Joey was with the Birmingham Stallions

Coaching career

In 1989, Jones took his first coaching job as an assistant coach on the Briarwood Christian School staff in Birmingham, Alabama. After two years at Briarwood, he took the job as head coach at Dora where he led his team to a 24–11 record over three seasons. In 1996, Jones was hired as the head coach at Mountain Brook High School. At Mountain Brook, he led his team to the 1996 Class 6A state championship game, four region titles, two semifinal appearances and three quarterfinal appearances. Jones went 101–27 over ten seasons in charge of the Spartans.

After compiling a .767 winning percentage as an Alabama high school coach, Jones was hired as the new head coach at Birmingham–Southern College, where he led the team to a 1–7 record in its first season in NCAA Division III football in 2007. Jones was the first coach of the Panthers since 1939, when the football program was disbanded.

After only one season at BSC, Jones accepted the same position at the University of South Alabama in February 2008. He was the first coach for the Jaguars and was in charge of creating the program. The team began play in 2009, and joined the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) in 2012 as members of the Sunbelt Conference.

Jones led South Alabama to a 23–4 record in his first three seasons at South Alabama as Division-I FCS independent. After initially struggling after moving to the Sun Belt Conference with a 2–11 record in 2012, the team has since improved and posted a winning record against in-conference competition. The 2014 season saw South Alabama selected to the 2014 Camellia Bowl, their first bowl game.

On February 22, 2018 Jones was hired as Special Teams Coordinator at Mississippi State University.

Joey is now retired from football and now enjoys spending time with his family and splits time between Orange Beach and Birmingham.

JOEY JONES ON COACH BRYANT

" I have many wonderful memories about Coach Bryant...but a couple that really impacted my life in a positive way. I signed a scholarship at the University of Alabama in 1980. Upon arrival, I soon found out that my ego would be in check as I looked at the depth chart...my name was 6th on the list...crushing my world.  After all, being an All-State receiver out of Murphy HS, I was thinking maybe 5th string..Ha!  I felt as if Coach Bryant didn't even know my name. Well, I kept on working through my freshman year and didn't play much.  So hopes were high going into the next year because one receiver graduated and moved up to 5th string.  To make a long story short, at our 1st game vs LSU, four of the receivers ahead of me were injured.  Here was my chance! The next game, as I was somewhat nervously warming up for the game, Coach Bobby Marks, who seemed more nervous than me, grabbed my face mask and said 'don't you get me fired today!' The second series, Walter Lewis threw a perfect deep pass to me and all I could think as the ball was traveling 60 yards in the air was that "I better not get Coach Marks fired".  The ball landed perfectly and I caught it for a 50 yard TD pass! Soon after that, Coach Bryant came up to me and put his arm around me and just stared in my eyes and smiled.  My confidence went straight through the roof. From that point forward, I felt as if I had finally proved myself to him.  Coach Marks phrased it this way...'You have gone from the outhouse to the penthouse'.

Through this experience, he taught me to 'earn my stripes', that no one would be 'given' anything. 

After he retired, we were on the elevator together.  He asked me if I liked to bass fish.  I said yes and he responded 'when it warms up this spring, I would like to take you fishing'.  I said 'Yes Sir! Can't wait!' And then, a couple of weeks later, Coach Bryant died.  I felt like he was my second father..a man who taught me how to earn my stripes and be a gentleman off the field. I am forever grateful to have the honor to play for him....but I sure would have loved to catch a few bass with him and just talk about life.

I appreciate Coach Bryant for so many things.  He was the most sincere man I knew...what you saw on TV was the same man on the field.  A very competitive coach on the field and a 1st class gentleman off the field. He always had a plan, and a way to achieve that plan."

I also want to mention that Joey's book, "In Good Hands" is an excellent recollection of the transition from Coach Bryant's last season and Coach Ray Perkins first season at Alabama.

Click on the link below to view it on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Hands-Joey-Jones/dp/0932919014

Team Culture, Discipline, and Relationship Capital

I guess the hardest part of coaching in this current culture is the need to correct and train without getting into a firestorm of issues where misunderstanding and inappropriate responses complicate and often cancel the ability to see real progress and change.

As coaches, we need to train athletes about our clear and reasonable expectations and, today it requires a little more patience and a lot more individual time to educate these concepts. There just isn't a lot in culture right now that fosters the type of player we need to be to help a team succeed.

If my players aren't leading..... am I training them how to?

And these aren't taught by lectures, they have to be framed and modeled throughout the program.

Unfortunately,  the 'whack a mole' approach doesn't work if there isn't significant relationship capital there. I am not saying we don't give consequences for inappropriate actions or attitudes, but we have to be clear in the expectations, we need to be businesslike in administering discipline, and we need to evaluate what tools are best to use in the process.

And the reality is that parents are a huge key in this. When I used to administer school discipline as my job, the parent response was the single most important indicator of whether I could help a kid or not. If they were supportive of the process, we had a chance. If they decided right away that the kid was right and the school was stupid, I knew that it was unlikely I would ever be able to correct behavior.

This doesn't mean I was always right, but the parents willingness to support and join in the process as so important. It takes hard communication to get on the same page in those times, but crucial to any real change.

I developed a list a few years ago that tried to strike a comparison/contrast as another way of picturing the type of team we are trying to be.

Now, to use the term "Make Me Proud" or "Disappointing" does not work if I am not developing the type of relationship where that even matters.

What keeps this from merely being a weight-room sign or meaningless sloganeering?

There has to be real conversations about where players stand in these issues with a freedom to be where they are, who they are, and a positive plan for growth in the areas where a player is weak or has fallen. Honest question- is anyone ever really perfect in these areas?... sometimes it is a front where we hide from any chance to improve.

I think it would be interesting to see if a team's leaders would make up a similar chart about coaches.... what makes them proud of me or what disappoints them? Here are some guesses.

Standing up and fighting for them.... makes them proud
Spending time with them to hang out.... makes them proud
Knowing a lot about them- family, girlfriend, interests.... makes them proud
Not mocking or demeaning them in front of their peers... makes them proud

And I think each coach always needs to ask a simple question...

What am I demanding in my life that is comparable to what I am demanding in theirs?

These are never ending issues, but it HAS to be a big WHY someone is a coach. Without these efforts, we are merely twisting in the wind of a game that really never loves us back. Numbers, records,  and schemes will fade... but the relationships matter. 

Mental Mindsets and Football- Offseason Challenges

Now that high school and college football is over and we begin to prepare to watch what should be exciting playoff games of NFL football, I wanted to write some thoughts about areas we can all continue to press in on and develop as coaches.

As I spend time with other coaches and dive into the amazing content available online, I think the schemes we use today in the game are as complex and diverse as in any time in the history of the game.

No doubt football is a scheme game- but scheme alone can not consistently win games. And I think a scheme is only as good as the players ability to execute it. It doesn't matter how much I know as a coach, what can my players realistically do with explosive effort and confidence?

I am also continuously challenged to see if I can explore how the new generation of players I coach think, learn, see, interpret, interact, and adapt. This is a generation of smart phones and social media. These students have more screen time than reading time. 

I also think we can explore ways of preparing them for situations BEFORE we encounter them as a team. Can we find time and communication to process these situations and pre-dispose them to respond in the best way possible as competitors?

Mindset of Each Week

As much as I admire the process that Coach Saban has brought and the ability to prepare and play each play without expectations of the eventual outcome, even he admits that the preparation for that type of play can be influenced by rat poison, and we even learned this season about the 'yummy' rat poison. So there is a chance to address the climate of a week of preparation be exploring the team dynamics of these types of weeks.

Types of Weeks

• Games Where You are Favored by a Lot
• Games Where You are Favored
• Games that are a Toss Up
• Games Where You are a Big Underdog

It isn't enough to say 'control what you can control, don't read the social media chatter, don't listen to the talk in the hallways, etc. Instead talk about the reality of the prognosticators, how it affects teams, how it impacts 'inner talk ' and discuss strategies to preparing well and being ready to compete at the opening kickoff.

Once the game gets going, all of the 'talk' about the game is now over and the flow of each game takes on its own narrative. But we can also prepare teams on how to respond to each and every game flow by mentally rehearsing those moments and how to best respond as competitors on a team and the unique role each participant plays to create the best opportunity to win. We need to talk about these situations BEFORE the storm arrives.

Types of Games

• Early momentum or early difficulty
• Sloppy Slugfest
• Mistakes-
• Up easy early
• Down by more than 1 score
• Down by a lot
• Defensive showcase
• Offensive showcase
• Weather impacted
• Crowd noise
• Injury shake-up
• Big Hole but digging out
• Overtime
• Pressure Packed Do or Die Plays

Discussing these things, and not all at once can create mindsets to keep teams in the best mental condition to win.

STOP THE TAPE:

One thing I will do with my players from time to time is to stop the film at some point in a game and ask questions: What were we thinking? How did we feel? What were we saying to one another? What was our body language like? Did we BELIEVE? If you had it to do over, what would you do differently? Did you encounter this in practice? Can this help you prepare differently in the future?

SITUATIONAL FOOTBALL

These types of mental rehearsals should also take place among coaching staffs. Over the years I have made a list of game situations that we don't handle well because they are rare and sometimes hard to process because of  the speed of the moment.

Situations a Lot of Teams Don’t Handle Well

Sky kicks- If you study teams that like to sky kick, you can steal a big return against them if you are willing to work on it. 

Kick-offs into a big wind- prepare your team for what I call the big drop.... these kicks are often muffed

Kick-off with a 15 yard penalty help- a lot of coaches just bang it out of the back of the end zone. These are great opportunities to squib kick or sky kick or even do a surprise onside. 

Team Expecting a Onside Kick but you have time and time-outs- Against most hands teams, a kick-off team can squib or corner kick deep and rally down to pin the other team deep. Then you can use timeouts and force a punt and may be in better shape to score. 

4th and short- on defense, be careful about using your all out goal line calls to stop a 4th and short in the regular field. I have seen teams break out into a long TD without back end run support.

Pinning teams inside the 10 or 5- in high school football, you ought to consider experimenting with your field goal team and angle kicking out of bounds. It is a scrimmage kick and you can coffin corner better with your FG unit.

Overtime and 2 point plays- do our players know what we believe in?

2 minute and 4 minute situations- it's funny how much we talk about these situations... but do we really practice them live with clocks and real game situations?

Red zone mindset, especially versus spread teams- I think coaches should continue to preach a need to dig in deep as the field shrinks. A lot of teams move well from 20 to 20, but spread teams have a hard time scoring TD's if the defense knows how to use the smaller field to play in less space. A lot of spread teams have no answers for corner and safety blitzes when the top of the defense is no longer a problem.

Resting players is an art- I have always suggested we study basketball coaches and how they steal time for a good player to reserve energy. Sometimes we think running them on and off is a help, but running on and off the field can wear out a lineman if you aren't careful. I have always cringed when I see a big defensive lineman run around and celebrate a big sack in the 1st quarter of a hot early season game. Would it serve him better to save that energy?

Finally, exploring the mysterious realm of human nature and the human heart.

Have you ever considered how many factors work against the dynamics needed for team success? These factors are external AND internal. And, the foundational principles required for team success are found primarily in traditional values that are being lost in our secular society.

There is no such thing as a perfect team and I have NEVER watched a perfect football game. It's funny how mistakes that can cost you from winning are often made in games you win- it's just that a team overcame those mistakes.

But the reality of never achieving perfection is no excuse from an intentional and passionate pursuit of perfection.

A Championship Team is made up of individuals who are pursuing an ideal of a TEAM- where group success will be valued higher than individual success. But group success is enhanced by individuals giving their individual energy and talents with everything they have.

As we deal with the dynamics of the reams we coach, we HAVE to spend time on the "inner man' the place where fear, anxiety, and doubt war against the desire to fight and win. 

We have to spend time (without being boring) working with our players the transcendent virtues of championship teams.

We have to take time and find creative ways to teach trust, brotherhood, integrity, encouragement, perseverance, relentless optimism, hope, forgiveness.

For the average football player, talking about these issues in a way that is more than cliche' is almost impossible. It means learning to honestly communicate and learn vulnerability.

Without a commitment to these shared values, a team can never really become a team. 

Take time this off season to think through HOW we can accomplish these things in a way that is creative, fun, and more than ritual. It could be the missing piece of your team and the ultimate winning edge.