Life of Reilly
There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.
by Rick Reilly (ESPN the Magazine)







They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

"I WOULDN'T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!"

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

This is a great story about a coach faced with one of the toughest challenges a coach can face--how to get a team to rebound from initial setbacks to get this team back on track to achieving their goal. Often, this is an overlooked part of a coach's skills--how he/she can teach athletes to overcome adversity. Surely, a life-lesson used over and over again.




Copyright 2008 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)


February 14, 2008 Thursday


SECTION: NEW ORLEANS PICAYUNE; On Preps-Orleans; Pg. 1

HEADLINE: A coach's strength shows in adversity;
Jesuit's Bertot: Better next year

BYLINE: Pierce Huff


Sometimes the true measure of a coach isn't what he does when he leads teams to championships, but what he does when he and his team fall short of winning title.

Nobody would have blamed the Jesuit wrestling team if they crumbled after dropping from first place to 28 points back in third place after the Division I semifinals in the LHSAA state wrestling tournament last Saturday at the Pontchartrain Center.

But Blue Jays coach Carlos Bertot has always told his team that state wrestling championships are won in the wrestle backs, and not just the championship bracket. With that in mind, Jesuit responded with five wrestlers finishing in third place, which helped it reclaim first place by nine points going into the championship matches.

Jesuit finished second to Baton Rouge Catholic (214-210) in Division I. It was a momentous loss for Jesuit, because it marked the first time since 1983 that neither Jesuit or Brother Martin had won at least a share of the Division I title. It also marked the first time since 1988 that the Blue Jays or Crusaders didn't win the state championship outright.

But no one can question Bertot's leadership of Jesuit when it mattered the most on high school wrestling's biggest stage of the season.

Only a good coach can rally his troops when faced with failure. Only a good coach can get his players to focus on the big picture when the smaller picture seems so dark.

That's what Bertot did at the state wrestling championships.

The Blue Jays administration owes Bertot some gratitude for being a good example in victory and defeat this season. The Jesuit parents owe him thanks for teaching their sons how to overcome adversity. And the players owe him a pat on the back for being their mentor and their friend.

I remember last year when Jesuit finished second to Brother Martin and had their streak of three consecutive Division I state championships snapped. Bertot looked me in the eye and told me things would be different the next year, and they were.

The Blue Jays were arguably two state champion wrestlers away from winning the Division I title. When was the last time Jesuit did not have at least one state champion wrestler? (It's proof that fate was on Baton Rouge Catholic's side last weekend.)

This weekend, Bertot, in his quiet, soft-spoken manner, told me again that things would be different for Jesuit next year.

And I believe him.

After all, the proof is there.

Anyone can be a leader in good times, because that doesn't take much effort. But leading a team in tough times takes faith, perseverance and hard work.

Anyone can coach a great team, because in a lot of ways great teams coach themselves. They have talented, smart and dedicated athletes who know how to win games. But not many people can teach good teams how to be great.

The bar for the Jesuit wrestling team is set high every year, and for good reason. The Blue Jays are always contenders and are one of the state's winningest programs ever. The school has enough material from its championship wrestling banners over the years to clothe five different wrestling teams.

But when the roll call of great Jesuit wrestling seasons is remembered in the future, this Blue Jays 2007-08 season deserves as much appreciation as some of the championship-winning teams of the past.

And Bertot deserves his due.

He kept Jesuit together in the face of adversity, and that gave the team a chance to win another state title even though it eventually fell short.

And that's always championship coaching.

. . . . . . .

Pierce W. Huff can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3809.

Several longtime high school sport coaches were recently fired or temporarily suspended due to their use of foul language in front of their athletes. According to the Bergen Record on May 12 (http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTMyMTI3), the issue of profanity and verbal assault in high school athletics has sparked a debate as to what is unacceptable vulgarity and abuse; what is appropriate, time-tested motivation; and what is just understandable frustration.

It is clear to me that quality coaches do not swear or use foul language when communicating with their teams, parents, members of the media or school administrators. Vulgarity is not an option for leaders which sport coaches are.