Coaching: Making Leaders and Changing

Lives Forever Jerome Learman PhDLake Michigan Catholic High SchoolSt Joseph, MI

Thank You

• Jim Ahern• Ken Hofer• John Ward• Walt Bazylewicz

Background Info

• Lake Michigan Catholic– Made the Playoffs 1996-2004– Lost in 1st Round All But 2 Years– Usually sent 1-2 players to college

per year– No JV Team– No Lifting or Off Season Program– Had 3 Returning Starters 2005

Season– On Lake Michigan, in St Joseph,

MI

Background Info

• Ran Single Wing for 5 Years at Dansville High School

• Jerry Bagierek– Former Head Coach, Retired

Teacher, Assistant Coach of the Year, Defensive Coordinator, Coaches Backs, Willing to do the Small Things, Quiet, Seasoned Veteran, Commutes, Thinks Like a Head Coach

Background Info

• Gerald Heath– Special Teams Coordinator,

Math Teacher, Military Background, Great Rapport with players, but yet the most Discipline, Calls JV Offense, Thinks Like a Head Coach

Catholic Football

• Always Unbalanced• Power Series• Spinners Series• Spread Series• Buck Series

Catholic Football

We try to have 20 total offensive plays that we can call each game. This includes “Specials”

Focus is on proper execution and starts with 440 Power and then Spin Series

Catholic Football

We will select which series we will focus on based on our personnel.

• Great BB = Buck• Good Passer or 1 good

runner = spread• Spinner and Power we think

we can do with any personnel

Things We Are Improving

• Multiple formations• Daily depth charts• Character Ed weekly themes• Weekly goals• Player film Study• Numbers (JV)• Praise drill• Power point of rules (visual learners)• Toughness• Weight Lifting & Leadership class• Winter Conditioning • Off-season Skill Work

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever (Who)

• Sports Don’t Build Character, Coaches Do!

• People will remember and talk about things their football coach said to them 70-80 years later.

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever (WHY)

• Void in Good Leaders• Last 2 presidents agreed

upon as liars• Record High Contracts for

Management (cut and save)

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever (WHY)

• People do not learn morals or math by observation.

• People no longer are working in one place for 30 years (gun for hire, use and lose)

• Current Generation expected to be the 1st not to out earn their parents

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever (How)

• Begin With the End in Mind

• People will remember and talk about things their football coach said to them 70-80 years later (AGAIN)

• If you aim at nothing you will probably hit it

How We Do It

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever

We want everyone in the program to:

1. Make sure they have a plan2. Think about how we are going

to win3. Know we are going to do

things the right way4. Never give up5. Realize that Life is Tough

Leadership: Changing Lives ForeverWe expect our players to pledge the

following: I promise to play the game with great courage and never make excuses. I will play with great intensity and give everything I have. I will finish plays and never give up. I will take responsibility for my actions and inactions. I will continue to push my teammates and myself to be the best in athletics, academics, and in life. I will support my teammates and treat them like family. I will enjoy myself and make football fun for everyone.

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever

We don’t want people who want to get by; we want people who want to get better.

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever

We want to be known for 5 things:

1) Being Physical2) Having Class (Doing things

the right way)3) Being Smart4) Never Giving Up 5) Being a Family*why 5 things

Leadership: Changing Lives Forever

If we do this, we believe our players will learn how to: be accountable, deal with pressure, be a competitor, be a team player, sacrifice, make a commitment

True Toughness (More Mental than Physical)

• Standing up to the Bully for yourself and others.

• Doing the right thing regardless of what other people will think or say.

• Pushing yourself physically so you get the best of your ability.

Work Ethic

• There are no short cuts. It all comes down to hard work.

• Short cuts you take will cost you in the end.

• You can not have the credit card mentality in sports. You must pay first.

• Work Smart.• You will get as much out of

football as you put in to it.

Work Ethic

• There are two kinds of pain, the pain of commitment and the pain of regret. You choose. (Gene Stallings)

• 10 Years from now, your going to be married with a family, your wife might be sick, you kids might be sick, you might be sick, but your going to get your butt up and go to work. That is what I am going to do for you. I’m going to teach you how to do things you don’t feel like doing. (Bear Bryant)

Never Have the Victim Mentality

• Victims are always losers• Always have a plan• Focus on what you can control--

your actions and your responses to other people actions.

• Worst kids to coach are the kids that have never done anything wrong (in their parents’ view)

Emotional Intelligence

• Book: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

• 11 Years Old • People that understand and

apply delayed gratification in life are the most successful in life

• Opposite of instant gratification or video game mentality

Emotional Intelligence

• What does it mean when someone lacks empathy?

• What are the early warning signs of divorce?

• Why can neglect be more damaging than abuse?

• Why is the ability to control impulse the base of will and character?

Look at the Whole Person

We are always working to increase excellence in the spiritual/moral, personal/family, academic, strength/fitness, football family, and caring/giving areas of your lives.

Pride

• When you are out in public, remember you represent the football team and you will act like gentlemen.

• Players are expected to show class in all situations. They are special and privileged and they are to make their families and schools proud of them at all times.

Pride

• What are you going to do when you’re thirty-five and you lose your job and you come home one day and your kids are sick and your wife has run off with the shoe salesman? What are you going to do then? If you quit in the fourth quarter, what’s going to keep you from quitting then? Bear Bryant

Character & Success

• We will only be as good of a team as the character of people that we are.

Success? The accumulation of material possession, prestige, rank, power or the inner satisfaction and peace of mind, knowing I did the best I could possibly do for the group.

Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood • by Jeffrey Marx about Joe

Ehrmann • How do you define masculinity

& what is it to be a man?• We don’t raise boys to be men;

we raise them not to be women. There hearts and their heads are disconnected.

• What does it mean to be a Human Being?

Closing Thoughts

Football is Different

• Football is harder than other sports. It takes more individual and team work. Football often funds the rest of the athletic program. It is in the public eye more. If you do something bad you will embarrass the whole program and school.

• With Much Honor comes Much Responsibility

The Modern Player

• Coaching is different today than it was in other eras. Players before had more of a need, passion, faith and determination for football. I think this is largely from a desperation that most kids today will never know and hopefully never have to know. This is not a bad thing.

The Modern Player

• Discipline in a consistent manner

• To be part of something bigger than themselves

• To work hard at something and to earn the success that results

• Develop positive relationship with other males

Communication

• Truth: find a way to put it positively.

• We want to praise as often as we can, but praise that is not warranted breeds many negative traits: indifference to excellence, inability to overcome adversity, and aggressiveness toward people that criticize them.

Closing Comments

• Addition by subtraction• Always regret the ones

that you can’t save and you can’t save them all

• Try to look at the big picture

I am only one, but I am still one;

I cannot do everything,But still I can do something;And because I cannot do

everythingI will not refuse to do the

something that I can do.

- Edward Everett Hale

Contact Information & Highlight Film

Jerome Learman915 Pleasant StreetSaint Joseph, MI  49085 Email: jerome@learman.comCell Phone: (269) 932-5122