Coach Patina

Simplicity isn't lazy. Too many coaches confuse a short playbook with a short practice. We aren't doing less. We're repping the same plays until they're automatic. Would you rather run 20 plays mediocre or 10 plays excellent?

Real talk.

Every once in a while, we should have a PD session where all school staff talk about teaching simply. No jargon. No acronyms. No data slides. Just an honest, human conversation about what really happens in classrooms—free from all the pedagogical clutter.

"If I'm hiring a coach, I'm hiring a culture builder. Every coach will know the game but can they connect, communicate a clear vision, hire/recruit/develop people well, multiply their leadership? Coaching is about X's and O's. Leadership is about culture." ~ via @KevinDeShazo

The hardest battle is between your old habits and your new standards.

It's not often you coach a group of young men that care so much for each other and gave me every ounce of perspiration they had in them. Loved every day I was with them. Thank you Men!!!

Kelvin Sampson: "I don't have to be their life, but they are my life" 🥺 He is truly one of one. (🎥: @ChrisYBaldwin)

John Thompson kept a deflated basketball on his office desk. He always told his players: “ A basketball is useless without 9 lbs of air. Do you want to pin your future on 9 lbs of air. Make sure when basketball is over, you have your degree. Get an Education. “ @HoopsWeiss @dandakich @TimBrando @DickieV @SethOnHoops @DanWolken @NILnotNLI

If your coach is being tough on you and demanding consider it a gift. They probably see some things in you that you don't see in yourself.

“Learn how to take crisis and turn them into positives” - Coach Mack Brown

Just fell in love with this quote: "I asked God for flowers and He gave me rain." When you understand this, life starts to make sense.

Baseball teaches patience. You don’t win with one swing. You just keep stepping up to the plate. Jalen-isms 1:1

React. Reflect. Own it Life doesn’t always go as planned, but God gives us the grace to pause, reflect, and take ownership of our choices.

Dream big. Your dream should scare you. Be inspired & then show up and work. Success takes sacrifice & hard work. It takes working in the dark. It’s work that no one sees until success shows up in whatever it is that you’re doing. It may look like overnight success to others, but only you know the true hard work & sacrifice that went into it. Only you know the late nights, early mornings, extra time & energy. It’s earning everything everyday. No one is going to hand anything to you. You must pay the price and earn it. You are built in the dark. You set the foundation in the dark. You are transformed by the journey and the process. Joshua Metcalf quoted, “The work you do in the dark is revealed under the bright lights.” It takes what it takes. Have a dream & a vision. Be willing to be the price. Put your head down and go to work. Go earn the right to be successful.

Your legacy isn’t what you achieved, but what you left behind. What you’re remembered for matters. How you treat people, the lessons you taught, the values you instilled. Those are the things worth being remembered for. Eventually champions are forgotten, trophies collect dust, records are broken and memories fade. Winning beyond the game is the biggest thing. It’s bigger than you. It’s about others and the impact you had in their lives and in generations. People won’t always remember what you said, but they’ll remember how you made them feel. Always remember people are more important than a task. That’s servant leadership. That’s a legacy worth leaving.

“Y'all gotta accelerate through contact” Why isn't Kevin Smith teaching his backs to widen their base and “buzz” their feet before contact? Because that would be ridiculous, we all know that... Meanwhile defense is busy training "Anti-Acceleration" by widening/buzzing their feet (parallel) , rolling around with bags & diving at tackle wheels. Backs run hard and it's tough to bring them down one on one. We say things like "lower your pad level", "Be physical" and "Run your feet" - but the drills we do are often counterintuitive to how it actually works on the field.

Classroom discussion. Student: "School isn't for grades. It's for learning, bro. How are you supposed to grow if you never fail." 🤔 👏👏👏👏 #DoHardThings

Always pray for alignment. To be at the right place, at the right time, around the right people who will help you get to your destiny.