Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

178 FOOTBALL COACHING STRATEGIES
If we start eliminating walk-ons from this op_
portunity to b€ successful that's not the Ameri_
can way. That's not the way this country was buiit.
Gender Equity
The G€nder Equity Task Fofte that I serve on
wrll allecr proloundly e\en man in rhis room in
the uext few years. cender Equity is above the
law. There are proposals to cut scholarships to
g€t everything €qualized, without recognitior of
the importance ofthe sport and the qame offoot,
ball. I am scared. I am concemeal.
The kesidents' Conrmission that I,ve had the
privilege to speak to on two occasions has done
some good things. Unfortunately, presidents have
shorter term6 than most coaches.I get concemeal
when people in high places make decisions \.ith_
out communicating with those in the field who,
on a daily basis, have to fight the bat es and have
I begged the Presidents, Commission otr Lwo
occasions to listen to the coaches. you can trust
us. We are men of inte$it),. When we tell you
that we need "x" amount of days for phone calls,
that, we n€ed "x" amount of days for recr-uiting,
that we r dll do this or we will do that, you can
count on us doing it. We have the Ame can Foot_
ball Coach€s Association that is mad€ rp ofDen
I hav€ served on the Ethics Committee for a
long time. I can tell you that my case toad has
gone from 15 .r 20 .ase" to I rhis year I was In_
lormcd ju"r tha orhFr day thar over t00 mcmbers
ofthe coaching profession are no longer in it be_
causc lhe) decidcd rhp\ didn r wa nr to go I he $ay
lhal we are all going. thp wdy wilh inrcgriry. I
say good riddance, because w€ arc the ones that
those players took tp to.
What if Mute Kizer had been a cheater-what
$ ould.T hav. thoughrl A man of inrcgriry raughi
mc Io have inteCrir). and rhar's $har we a neFd
to d. every da)-have inregri(). I iu.r wanr rhe
Prcqidenrq Commio"ion 1o tisran to ud. Lrsren ro
us as an association. We,ll tell you how to have a
succesBful game and how to do it the mosr eco_
nomical way, because we lorow hol,: Don,t ler some
grorp of commissioners or somebody else dictate
to us what our game is going to be, how we are
going to play it, and who we play it with. I beg
you to let us help make the decisions.
fhe NFL
We are und€r attack by the National Footbalt
League. We all love to watrh the NFL. Our play_
ers arc there, and we tak€ great p de in our play_
ers being there, but I have been around tons
enough to teli you that we are under attack. We
have banded together as a profession this year m
make aloud statement to tbem. Som€ didn,tstay
rrith it, but the majo ty did, alld they heard us.
Now is the time to let th€m know we mean
business. We are in the education business, nor
in the business ofprovidins tutorial help for the
prolessional ranks. Wc wanr our young pcopte ro
ha\e lhe chancA ro pla) pro luotba and male
thos€ millions of dollars, but th€y must become
educated men with degees_
We need help in this area; we need to band
together. We can't be splintered. We have sone_
thing we have to do, and we have to do it i,ogether
Thats what an association is-it is thegathenng
together of men ofa like purpose and a tike cause,
eoing forward with those ideas and goals that are
positive for the profession and the game.
Representing the Goaching
Profession
We are the only profession I know who has very
little control ADd I say to alt of you, loudly and
clearly, we need to gain control. The only rray we
can do that is to recognize who will frght for us,
who will make a stand for us as coaches. your
high school adminishators, youl Boad, wher€
will ihey be when the heat gets hot
W}Io will stand tall and took them in the eye
and say, "This is the way it needs to be.,, Who
Nobody, that's who. Nobody wi]l stand, excepi you.
You are the one who has to stand. you say you
have only b€en in coaching for 2 years. Great, I
hope you are in it for another40, but ifyou wanr
it to be as I\e had it, as atl mv friends have had
it-you must be willing to fight for it.
The same is bpins raken awal from us by chip_
prng €way and $hi ting awa). Don r lel ir hap_
pen; be willing to take a stand. But if vuu arc
going to take a stand, I must tell you wlat you
have to do. You have got to frght-fight for rhe
game, fbr the players who play the game, and lor
our profersion. You ha\p gor ro use rhis associa_
tion as your association, notjust as a social club,
notjwt as a gathe ng once a year, but by being
activcly invnlved and caringabout $har hapl,tsn$.
You musl be professional. Nobody rF goinC lo
listen to somebody that is hatf-baked and shoots
their mouth otrone day saying one thing, and then
tumB the next day and says somethinq else. you
have to be professional and consistent.