BACK TO INTERVIEWSHEAD COACHJared MoffattMarch 17, 2025Van · Denton Ryan · Sulphur SpringsCoaching across Van, Denton Ryan, and Sulphur Springs.BEST MOMENTS“The values that our young kids get out of playing high school sports are immeasurable, and if we're not careful, I think we can lose some of that in pursuit of other things.” PLAY AT 13:21“The kids know if you love them and you care about them. You ask any kid at any grade, 'Hey, what teacher loves you and cares about you?' They'll rattle some off without hesitation.” PLAY AT 15:37“One thing I remember about my father is he got up and went to work every single day. I saw my dad get up and go to work when he was sick, when he didn't feel good and he didn't want to.” PLAY AT 28:39“Sometimes in a season that had one of your worst records, you maybe did your best job coaching.” PLAY AT 44:11“We lost him to cancer, and you can't explain it. I truly believe God could have healed him, and he didn't. So what was the plan? I don't have any idea.” PLAY AT 53:58CHAPTERS0:0027 years in coaching: meet Van's Jared Moffatt1:52Why coaching: 'You're in the kid business'7:45The downsides: pay, hours, and transfer portal fears13:46Know your why — love kids, love the game, work hard17:31Culture talk is overrated — be it, don't post it22:47Toughness, competing, and being there every day30:24Running into Tavo, 30: 'A man does what has to be done'31:50Passed over at 25 — why young coaches must go learn37:09Setting kids up for life: persevere, don't quit41:21How he defines success — and why winning still rules45:59The 6-4 year, his son's senior season, 'Next to Him'47:40Faith: God's plan in Joseph and David's hard years53:13Losing Coach Matt Young — faith without answers55:17'He was my hero': his dad and the Denton Ryan mentorsTRANSCRIPTHide −0:01I'm here in Van Texas today uh home of the van vandals and uh I'm really grateful for the opportunity to interview coach Jared Moffett uh he he's been he's been a good friend and he's done a great job here at van and uh so I'm really excited about today and and this opportunity to give you a a coach's perspective uh with Coach Jared Moffett all right coach uh tell me about yourself uh how long you've been coaching a little bit about you how long have I been coaching a long time now uh0:32this is 27 years uh it seems like uh an eternity to an extent um you know when you're young and you're thinking about coaching you're just starting out and you look at the old guys U and where they are in their profession and you're like man those guys are real old they know everybody you know you walk through the convention I used to walk through the convention with uh coach Joey Florence and we couldn't take five steps without stopping for him to talk to someone I'd0:59never seen before and they they knew each other and then we go with somebody else and when you're young you don't know anybody you're just dying to see somebody you know and now you know I'm on the other side of this thing I'm the old guy uh that I used to look at and the guys that I thought were real old at 49 well that's me I'm the old guy so yeah I've been in it for a while now um and anyway U I got into1:22coaching my dad was a coach my mom taught English and really that's the only thing I ever wanted to do and I'm not sure why I look back now and wonder man are there some other things maybe I should have done or thought about doing but I didn't I didn't this was it and um and you know I've got four kids I don't know how many of my four boys are going to coach or not uh but I tell them all the time I don't have any regrets i'1:43I've Loved this profession and uh what I've gotten to do now for 27 years and I wouldn't trade it for anything yeah awesome uh well uh the next question is why did you choose coaching you yeah kind of already you know it's funny uh because you coach for a long time too and you dealt with kids and you know when you're in this profession you know when um and I'll probably refer to coach Florence a lot I've obviously been influenced by him I spent nine years2:12with him at didn't Ry um but you know he always told us you know when you're in education you're in the kid business that's that's the actual business that you're in you deal with kids every single day um so I've thought about this now as I because kids came through that weren't mine I watched other people's kids grow up they graduate from high school they go to college or whatever it is they do after high school and you watch them go on um some kids do really2:40well uh some kids have a plan and they follow that plan it works out exactly some kids have a plan that never that's not what happens to them and they end up doing something and so there's a lot of different paths for kids to take when it's yours my oldest now is 23 uh and he's out of college and so you know you're looking at these kids and man you want them to find what it is that maybe the Lord has for them or you know um something they3:08enjoy doing or they're passionate about or you know pays the bills uh you know and so but for me I I never considered doing anything else and I really don't know why other than the fact that well that seems like something fun that seems like something I would enjoy doing like I said dad was a coach so I grew up in the profession and was always around it um and so for me it's just uh that's what I want to do and as a kid I always thought man I'm a3:39coach I'd like to be a head coach what do I have to do to be a head coach I need to do those things um and so to be here now uh after being a head coach for 15 years all of them here at Van you know again to look back you know um I feel really good about that and I've appreciated the journey um to get to where I thought I wanted to be and uh like I tell my boys you know looking back I don't have any regrets uh about4:06my career choices and the things I've done um because one thing that I know a lot of people will say as they talk to you about this is the rewarding aspect of coaching and uh the ability to impact uh so many uh young people's lives uh through the profession of coaching yeah awesome uh okay what do you what are some things you enjoy about coaching well uh you know we get to coach a game for a living I mean come on that's what we do we we coach and I tell the boys4:39that I I I'll refer to my boys a lot too I got four of them they've all played here for me um and so but you know in this profession I coach the game of football for a living and I don't think I ever thought about that when I set out to coach and and obviously when I started you know I taught history um for I don't know how many years but I taught history and uh then when I became obviously the head coach I haven't5:06taught you know since I've been here in Van but you know one of the things I enjoy about this is I love the game of football and I love what it represents and uh the toughness that you have to have and the day in and day out competitiveness uh of this Sport and um Athletics in general and what it teaches young people and I get to do that every single day and you you know uh there are a lot of people that go into work I5:37think every single day that you know maybe they don't enjoy what they do yeah uh one of my best friends in life uh works at a bank he's the president of the bank and Regional director and I remember uh my son asked him one time cuz we went and talked to him he asked him my son saidwell do you see yourself doing this till you retired and he Saidi hope not I thought that was interesting uh because I do and you know he makes a great living and he enjoys what he does6:06but at the same time he didn't hesitate on his answer with I hope not yeah and I think there are a lot of people too that look at what we do for a living and they think man if I could have done anything else I would have liked to have done that now I like to remind those people well y'all are seeing Friday night or game night and you're thinking that you want to do that part of coaching right which is actually a really small part of6:31it yeah you know and uh you probably never had to clean or see the young guy clean uh the refrigerator in the team meeting room you know and do the laundry and all the things that we as coaches know that go along with this profession and pick kids up and take it home and make sure they got their English homework done or they studied for their History exam or you know you and I could start rattling off all of the things you know that people do in this profession6:59but you know I think there is something about this job that other people especially that play sports look at what we do for a living and think man I bet that would have been fun um and I think the reality of it is they're right you know uh they're right and so you know when you start like well what do you love about coaching most of it you know what I mean that's the easy part um most of it there's not many things that that there7:26aren't about this job um like I said said 27 years in I still enjoy coming to work every day um and honestly when I think about the boys that's what I hope they can find I hope uh they can find something in their lives and the profession that they can get up every day and enjoy going to work uh because I still do yeah what are some things you don't like about coaching you know I I think in this profession um you know the hardest thing about this7:58profession and it's not gotten easier is you what you make especially starting out and not only starting out because now you know you get paid more to start than what's ever been the case and so because you're getting paid so much more to start your ceiling's not very high as where you can go in terms of if if you just coach and teach you're a positional coach and you teach um so my dad was and you know what you make in this profession no one gets into this8:34profession because of what you're going to make and we all know that um and in fact you know I think when you get into this profession you have to know um hey you know this is what I'm going to make in coaching and teaching um and even if I start here as a positional coach this is what I can make as a coordinator as a head coach if I get out of coaching into the administration part of Education yeah uh because that's the reality yeah it is I mean that that's reality and9:04with you know home prices you know these days and uh interest rates nothing as you know about mortgage nothing has gotten seemingly easier in terms of living on what you make um and so for me you know what do you not like about coaching um I'd love for all these guys that work here in Van and around the state of Texas to make more money um you know when it comes to I've got kids in college there's nothing cheap about that as we know uh none of minor division one9:36scholarship athletes either by the way um you know but outside of that you know when you start looking at what do you not like about coaching you know because a lot of people might say well the hours you know the hours and during the season and there's truth in that there is at the same time I'm like yeah there are a lot of hours but we're coaching the game you know like my long hours consist of watching more film of football you know and uh so but you know the time that it10:05takes and it does it takes What It Takes and uh you have to put the time in to have a chance to be successful and so I think a lot of people might say the hours but I'm like yeah yeah but you know I used to think I'd work smarter as I got older I think I have to work longer now than I did 10 years ago I'm not sure what that means about me um you know I think the hours and then I do think where we are in10:30um High School sports and uh at the coach profession is we've turned it into a year-long venture uh used to you know even when I was in high school that was before you could work out kids in the summer and there was a somewhat of a dead period so to speak where the coaches weren't with the kids every single day or four days a week or whatever it is all summer long and I always thought that was valuable time now that we're on side of it where the11:00kids work out most of the summer and depending on where you are and how you handle it some people bring in other people to work their kids out they're not U you know at a place like van the last thing we want to do is charge our kids to be up here in the summer so we don't do that so we're the ones working them out and um you know I do think it's you know the time in season may have always been that way I think we've11:23increased time over the course of the year um and I think too you know it's it's not necessarily something that maybe I don't like about coaching maybe I don't like where we are um things seem to trickle down to high school sports sometime and sometimes they move up and things move down but uh the aspect of the nature of high school sports with where we are um I hope that we don't lose uh what makes high school sports valuable and important for kids and the community aspect and growing up11:58somewhere and playing with your buddies and your friends who you grown up with and um seems like there are some instances where we're losing some of that and U I know I read an article the other day um by coach seberry at a Terell it was basically The Unofficial transfer portal in high school and there are some things that worry me about high school sports and about where um we might be headed um and I think we you know we might lose some of the things that make12:33high school sports so valuable um if we're not careful um you know and everybody wants to win and and you know coaches are some of the most competitive people out there and so at the same time though you know I do believe there's a bigger picture and there's um what high school sports should be about um and uh we're not professional sports uh we're not division one we're not Collegiate um every single one of these kids to my knowledge aren't making any money um and that's not why they're13:09playing sports um and I think it's important for us to remember that and the values of high school sports um that's what makes it special and we need to remember that and uh the values that our young kids get uh out of playing High School sports are immeasurable and if we're not careful I think we can lose some of that in pursuit of other things um I think maybe for me that ties into uh maybe things I'd worry about with high school spores yeah yeah it's a great Point13:45uh uh okay Coach what are uh what are some guiding principles that you would recommend for a coach to help guide him along his path I think first you have to know why you do this you know why why do you do this uh when I was at Dent Ryan coach Florence would usually start the year uh going around the room I say usually at times start the year but you know why do you coach um and you know for a young coach uh what's your reason for being in this14:19profession and uh we all have to have that why and why do we do what we do and why do we make the choices that we make and um yeah I think it's easy to identify why we're uh or the reasons we're not in the profession obviously starts why I didn't get in this to make money I didn't get in this to become wealthy um but why are you in this profession and I think that's the thing if you can remember why you're doing this and so you know for14:47me obviously started off what was something I wanted to do because I love the game um and uh the ability to do something that I enjoyed for a living obviously appealed to me and um and the second thing is is you know I mentioned being in the kid businesses I tell people that are starting out in their careers here and I'm interviewing people who are young and just starting and coaching you know do you love kids uh do you love kids um if you don't this is not for you15:23um you know if you don't like being around kids well this is not the profession for you how much you love sport you know the sport is secondary to but I better love kids and and everyone in this profession who's been in knows this the kids know if you love them and you care about them um you ask any kid uh at any grade probably you know hey what teacher loves you and cares about you they'll rattle some off without hesitation and that goes the same thing for coaches um and15:59as with any profession that in life they going to be ups and downs they're going to be goods and bads uh be a lot of successes there'll be failure all those things but why do you do what you do um and if you understand why you're doing what you're doing um well that makes everything else easy and if you're in this profession because first you love kids and you're hoping you can impact kids throughout the course of your career because you will you will um secondly you know uh you got to love16:30kids and you got to love the game you know are you passionate about the game and so you know for me when I'm trying to find people to hire and we end up hiring a lot of young kids here we really do um and I like hiring young kids because I feel like we can mold them and we can turn them into um you know for good or bad guys that resemble us um but when I find someone who I feel like loves kids and they're passionate about the game17:01and they're going to show up every day and work hard well I found someone who can be successful in the profession yeah um and we like to make that I think we like to make things complicated and our world likes to complicate things um when in fact man you can make things real simple um and there are very few people that have those three characteristics uh that I've been around in the course of my 27 years who haven't been successful as long as they've kept those things consistent throughout their17:28career excellent awesome good stuff coach um okay how do you develop the right culture in your Athletic program but that word culture the guys that know me will laugh at this question uh because I feel the word culture is just Hammer you know it seems to me to be the answer to every question you know uh you hire a new coach we got to change the culture we got to pange the culture we got to fix the culture we got to establish culture we got a17:56culture culture like I think I could go on on and interview and answer every question by saying culture culture and I don't downplay it that's not to that's not the downplay the important that's not what that is I just feel like in our world today that's the answer for everything um and so and again to me it's like well I sure think we complicate that we were talking about the other day I think Nick sa said one time uh hey you create a good Culture by18:24winning you know if you want to have a good culture win a bunch of games that that that's a good start um and so and I know what he means by that um my thing like you about who you are you just culture you know we got to do all these things to have great culture you know and I'm like yeah I'm not saying those things can't impact or benefit your culture I'm not saying that all but your culture of your organization of your team it's just who you are you know and18:53so just simply be just be who you want your culture to be if uh and you know if if me as a head coach and athletic director if I can embody who I feel like we need to be and the coaches that we hire can embody that well then we live out our culture every day by just being who we are and who we think we need to be um because at the end of the day when you talk about a positive culture or a good19:27culture well don't most of those all contain the same characteristics you know um well we want our kids to uh work hard well who doesn't and and what profession do they not need everybody to work hard um and so how do you go about creating that culture well you work hard you know um and you work hard the coaches work hard and then they expect the players to work hard and then if they weren't working hard over time if you keep doing that then they start working hard um you know20:00well we expect we expect toughness you know we expect part of our culture we need toughness well how do you do about well you just you be tough you know and you're tough and you're physically and mentally tough and your coaches are physically mentally tough and you're you know and I I don't know I don't downplay the word culture I do not because I know how important the aspect of culture is to an organization and to a team I also think that it's it's a buzzword that20:24people use all the time to Encompass every single question um and I think we can over complicate it um you know to me you be who your culture is don't make it any more complicated than that yeah um be who your culture is you know and I'm old I'm 49 which is which is getting older every day as you know but I say I'm old because I've lost touch with uh social media and I'm not a social media guy I'm not on it I need the young guys to do20:54that kind of stuff but in our world too you know if you don't put something on social media media it's like it didn't happen you know if I don't post every day that we worked hard in offseason well we must not have worked hard or if I don't post you know uh you know picking up trash somewhere well we didn't do it or if I don't post if I don't post and I don't like that I don't like that because that's just not who I am you know um and to me it goes21:24back to hey let's just not worry about posting everything we're doing all the time how about we just do those things you know how about we just be that way and then be that way all the time and be who you are um you know but this aspect of social media is well if I don't post it no one knows it's happening you know and well maybe they don't you know maybe they don't know everything that's happening maybe they don't maybe they don't need to know everything that's21:51happening but if you just be who you are well it is happening just maybe the whole world doesn't know about or the whole whatever yeah and so you know I'm on the I I know I'm on the other side of uh I don't know if I would say the my career but in the I probably am but in the aspect of the social media World um and pumping out everything you do to me it ties in the culture too I'm like well just because you don't post it22:22on social media doesn't mean it didn't happen yeah uh the people who are most important to the organization they know what Happ well they were there they know what happened they were there and that's why you're doing it um anyway I took a left turn on that no it's great it's things I think people need to hear well anyone hears that the guys that know me they'll laugh yeah before I answer the question they'll start off laugh that's awesome well are there things that you stress to22:48your kids every day I mean we all do you know and you know here in Van I've been fortunate to be here 15 years and I've learned a lot about this place because you know this too coach you've coached out a lot of different places they're all different they are and they're all the same but they're all different you know and so um I have learned a lot about the kids of B and the community of B over 15 years and some of the things that make23:18this play special are obviously some of the things that we continue to stress um on a daily basis yeah and I could ask you what those things were and you probably get the list as well because you Coast it um but we do stress and talk a lot about toughness you know toughness and mental and physical toughness um and part of the reason is two one we do have tough kids we're fortunate to have a community that is a tough-minded community and so because of that kids come into our program23:59with uh aspect of mental and physical toughness yeah you know we're not trying to turn a bunch of guys who aren't tough into tough guys because I think that's hard to do and so but we talk about that all the time but you know this at your age just like I do at mine well you're going to need mental and physical toughness throughout the course of your life and things are not always going to go your way um and sometimes you're going to turn the ball over and24:27sometimes you're going to deal with inuries um and whatever the case may be you're going to find yourself in the same spot in life as you know and how do you respond you know how do you respond in those moments when things aren't going your way yeah um and what we want out of our players and our team and response to those situation is a mental and physical toughness to keep going and to play the next down um you we tell them all the time hey I25:01can't win the game on the last down uh but I can on the next and it's just a mindset that you know develops over time but we need our kids to be mentally and physically tough and so we talk about that all the time and we value toughness um and what we hope is that when kids leave our program and and figure out what they're going to do in life um we know they're going to need m pH physical toughness throughout the course of their life and so what I25:31hope for these kids is when they hit tough times in their life and things don't go the way in their life and their marriage gets hard or they're having financial problems or uh having issues that work fill in the blank what I hope they can refer back to is the mental and physical toughness that they developed growing up in B and playing sports here in b um and they can apply that to their life um and so we you know again I I could talk about that for a long time26:06yeah but but we preach about that and then we can preach about the competitive nature of sports and life yeah and we are always competing yeah we are always competing um and there's very few moments in your life when you're not and if you find yourself in a place where you're not competing well then you're probably losing because someone else is competing and so it's just that mindset of um you know coach Lawrence told us and I heard him tell teams countless times over the years you're either26:39getting better or you're getting worse you're not staying the same and I think when you look up and find yourself in a non-competitive environment you're getting worse and so this mindset of competition there's always something that I can do to get better and that goes for me me the coaches the players hey we have got to be trying to find ways to constantly get better and if we don't have a competitive mindset then you can fall into uh the complacency of not getting better um and so you know I think for us27:15you know toughness competition you know and then I say that we still have kids all the time there's there's really one thing we can't work with we feel like here and you coached with us and I was a lot younger then as you know but I feel like we can work with just about anything except not being here and you have to you have to be somewhere you you got to be there you know like hey if you can just be here we can work with27:41that we can't work with you not being here right you know like I like you know man I I can work with a lot of things but if you're not here you know and the value of showing up every single day and the value of being somewhere when you don't feel like being somewhere uh I go back to just being present every day uh I've heard coach Ry say I know he probably got this from Eugene Rogers but uh your best ability best ability is availability being here just simply28:18showing up every single day and I was fortunate I had one of the best ads um man I had one of the best dads dad passed away a couple years ago um I was fortunate to have for 47 years and I talk a lot about Dad um to the players and the teams I coach so much of who I am is because of my father but one thing I remember about my father is he got up and went to work every single day he he got up and went to work and I saw my dad28:47get up and go to work when he was sick I saw my dad get up and go to work when he didn't feel good and he didn't want to and so what I assumed as a young kid and and then young adult is That's what everyone did you get up and you go to work you have a responsibility to the organization that you worked for to get your tail up and go to work every single day uh that's what you've committed to and I assumed everybody was that way29:14and as I got older and saw people in different professions I learned real quick not everyone has that mentality um and I always appreciate that's what one of the many things I learned from him and we try to tell that to our kids too hey you got to be here like there going to be times um that you don't want to get up and go to work we all have that it's even me I love what I do well yeah there are times uh you don't feel good you don't like29:43but what what do you do in those month well get your tail up and go to work get your tail up and go to work and these kids you know we preach to them about being here every single day because it's a mindset hopefully it'll carry on to their life too um you know know again I said I said coach Florence you know I was so fortunate it's probably in some of these questions but I was so fortunate to be at Denton Ryan for nine years um and I said that I tell these30:09guys all the time here hey we didn't make any of this up we didn't make this up if y'all think I dreamed all this up I didn't almost everything I know about coaching and running a program I learned there at didn't Ryan for Coach with Coach Florence for nine years um you know but uh I don't know if you remember tyo lius t was played left tackle earlier early in my career probably second third year I was here probably after you just left he was sophomore but yeah I ran30:34into him at brookers the other day he was coming out of brookers I was going in Tavo was 30 I had seen him in years and so I stopped to talk to Tavo I asked him how old he was said 30 I couldn't believe it like you're old but as we were talking he said coach I come to almost all the home games man I support you guys I love what you do he said uh but I always you know I remember a lot of things that you told us he said30:57but one of the things I remember that you always told us is a man does what has to be done when it has to be done whether he likes it or not and I didn't admit to him that I stole that from coach Lawrence I didn't make that up I stole it from coach Lawrence I don't know who coach Lawrence got it from maybe he made it up but I bet he stole from somebody else but he told me that I told him man said Tavo you made my day31:16yeah you made my day because it's just one of those moments with a player you know he's 30 years old and he tells me something that we talked a lot about during his time and he said coach I do a lot of things I don't want to do yeah um so for me it goes back what are you stressing every day we all stress things to our kids I think for us in Van yeah you know toughness competitive mentality and simply being here every day I think31:44those are some of the main things yeah I guess maybe that's our culture that's awesome uh okay uh what would you recommend you've kind of already talked about this a little bit but what would you recommend for a young man or young woman that is going into coaching yeah uh one of the one of the greatest things that ever happened to me was working with Coach Florence I actually started my career in Iran County it was a small school 1A then be 2A now out in West Texas just west of32:16San Angelo uh my wife was a year behind me in college uh and they were looking for a coach and I applied and got the job didn't know one thing about Iran County uh bunch of stories came out of that place we stayed there three years well after the third year um they were making a head coaching change I was real young right my third year is that right third year in coaches I was what 25 24 25 years old um had a good relationship with the32:45kids and a lot of the kids wanted U the superintendent to hire me as the head coach which he had no business hiring me as the head coach I was 25 I didn't think that then so they interviewed me for the job they interviewed me everything he was my next door neighbor we live next door to each other but he interviewed me for the job and uh he told me later at the end of the deal we're going to hire somebody else so and so of course I didn't33:08appreciate that I told him I said well I'm Gonna Leave You know I didn't feel like you should stay if you try to get the head coach the job don't get it you need to go you need to go so anyway I told him I was going to leave but I remember him he told me two things that I remember maybe more but specifically in those moments one was when I told him I was going to leave he said well we're not going to put dirt in your gas stank33:30I'm like I don't think that's a compliment uh you know uh but I know what he meant but he also said this is what you need to do he said I could hire you for this job he said you need to go get under someone that knows what they're doing right and learn how to do this job and he say that man you're going you're going to have a great career you you will be a head coach I just don't think now's the time you need to get somewhere33:54under somebody and learn how to do this job yeah um and how right he was yeah you know how how right he actually was yeah fortunately I knew coach lawence coach Florence coached in Sulfur Springs that's where he started his career I was in the eighth grade um you know he likes to bring up how terrible our eighth grade basketball team was because it wasn't uh he probably says I was the worst player on the team maybe I was uh but i' known him from that he worked34:24with my dad so for me to be able to get on he had just gotten a dent run going in his second year so I I started at the junior high my first year was at the junior high but I spent nine years with Coach Florence at Denton Ryan and as I previously mentioned it's you know most of what we do here I learn there yeah I didn't have to invent any of this yeah I was able to learn it all and then implement it uh and of course we do some34:52things that are different here in Van that we didn't do at Ryan and we've changed over the years um but the blueprint for Success that we use here came from there it came from my nine years of being there so I I've lost the question but in terms of a young coach going in the profession yeah man the invaluable experience you can get by being at a place that knows what they're doing learn something yeah learn something and you know if you can get on somewhere and coach for a great35:24defensive staff and learn the defense man you've created a tremendous amount of value for yourself yeah because you can put that in I talk to these young guys hey learn the weit room while you're here learn what we're doing and why we're doing it and when we do it and the programs that we use learn that while you're here it makes you valuable in your next job because you'll be surprised that you'll go someplace and half those guys don't know anything about what they in the white room they35:51just do what they're told and so for a young coach you have to be in a place where you can create value for yourself and to create value for yourself you have to be surrounded by people who can pour into you and that you can learn from yeah and I think all of us at this point of our profession they've been doing a long time can point back to those specific people in coaches and programs in our lives absolutely that poured into us and we're so much of the36:18coaches that we are because of them yeah um and so now that's what we are yeah you know uh Scott Reynolds is the coordinator walk aah hatchee he coached here for nine years um and the coaches here and I take a lot of great pride in what he's accomplishing sure um because he learned so much of that here with us yeah and for him to be able to go on and find success on the biggest stage and one of the most competitive 6A districts in the state if not the most we take a36:50lot of Pride yeah in him and what he's doing his success um and so that's my advice the most important to a young Coach man you better get somewhere that knows what they're doing yeah that you can learn from because the faster you do that the faster you can actually create value for yourself on someone else's stuff yeah absolutely uh coach what are some of the ways you can help a student athlete to be successful in life man I feel like if you if you knew37:20the full answer to that you could write a book and make a lot of money you know and there's so many way kids are so different you know kids are so different and people forget that um it's amazing to me how many times we forget that kids are different know we should treat them all the same you know which is always been interesting to me and like I said a lot of My Philosophy comes from coach Florence I'm sure I remember him saying at some point in time well they're not37:46all the same why would we treat them all the same that make sense no like we don't teach them all the same right you know uh anyway you know but for for kids you know how do you help make them successful in life well you know how can we pour into them and help build a strong foundation for the things that they will need to do to be successful in life and it goes back to you know what are we trying to teach here you know and38:11I talked about being tough and being competitive and being here every single day you know if like if you can just do those things you know if you can just do those things you got a shot yeah um and the problem and you know this too the problem with you see so many people in life when it gets hard that they quit um I'm gonna do something else I'm I'm done with this I'm gonna do this you know and how many stories are there about the people who persevered and they38:45found success because they persevered and so for us we're trying to help kids be successful in life man how can we pour into them and help teach them the traits that they're going to have to have and rely on right to be successful in life yeah you know can you show up every day for work yeah whether you want to or not can you show up every day can you respond in a positive way uh when things aren't going your way when things are tough um you know again that I39:13always say like man we want to make things difficult I don't think things are that difficult I think sometimes we want to make them difficult because the simple things might be hard you know can you just do those things um I Heard coach Randy say the other day uh Jaren R is our defensive coordinator coach for 20 years I think he was talking about uh Dana White telling his kids man if you just got a little bit of savage of you there's a little bit of savage inside of39:39you um man you'll be successful I don't think those were his exact words probably can't say him on this dude but the deal is like man if you can just have you know refusal to quit you know to persevere to persist uh to move forward when other people stop if you can just do those things I don't care what line of work you're in you can find success and the level of success obviously will be different right we all know that but man you can uh you can find success and be40:13successful and hopefully when it go back to impact hopefully that they see that in here with us on a small scale you know we always say and you said this too I know you know uh the life lessons you're learning in sports and football in particular uh are going to come into play throughout the rest of your life right if you can learn those things and apply them here in what we're doing on the small scale of football um and take that out and apply it to your life when you're 30 Tavo40:43Li coach I do a lot of things I don't want to do every day but you used to tell me a man does what has to be done when it has to be done whether he likes it or not that's why it made my day yeah right that's why it made my day I'm like man you're well on your way to Ben do you that show up every day well what's left you know you can compete while you're there what's left you know so we make it complicated but man I don't41:06think it's that complicated so if we can teach those kids and give them a foundation yeah hopefully they can fall back on their experiences of playing sports and the things that happened to them here man maybe they can apply to their life and find success there too awesome uh coach the next question I I think I'm going to tie these two together uh one of them is uh what does success look like how do you define success then there's another question is how important is winning in41:31this profession so maybe if you can kind of answer both well I'll start with winning because winning is extremely important in this profession and and you know that and everyone that coaches know that um you know coach Florence I remember him telling me one time about the platform you have as a coach to influence people's lives and to influence young kids um and how important that platform is but I'll never forget he told me real fast if you don't win enough games you will lose that41:58platform because they'll try to hire somebody that's going to win more games than you're winning yeah so hey winning is important and depending on where you are you know how much you have to win changes and so you have to find ways again this is a competitive environment um um you know no one no one coaches um with the mindset of being average and no one starts off the season you know man boy it'd be great if we were three and seven this year you know42:29no one starts with that M and you have you have to win gam if you don't win enough games in this profession you'll ultimately be looking for a job and you know people always say that well of course it's not always true you know and how you treat the kids and the impact that you have on them and you know all these things then they were and I'm like all those things are true but if you don't win enough games over time they're going to replace you and try to find42:53someone who's going to win more games and that's the nature of it and you've seen it and so have I uh I've seen some really good people um change jobs because they didn't want enough game and you have to sure and so you have to you got to find ways to win yeah and so now you know coach Florence also said many times you know what's your job as a coach well win the games you're supposed to win and give your kids a chance to wins the one43:21win the ones you're not it's always made sense to me yeah and so you better win the gamees you're supposed to win and then how do you find your kids uh how do you give them a chance to win the ones maybe are not supposed to win um and like I said you know this too that's different everywhere you know I said you know sure so many places are the same and so many places are different and so you've got to win games and you know if you lose enough games43:48they're gonna they're going to move on from you I don't really want to get fired so I want to win as many games as I need to win so I can get fired that's the first thing you know then success you know people look at success so many different ways yeah but I you know I think they're all connected too like I said you have to win you have you know uh but you you will know this too um sometimes in a season that had one of44:14your worst records you maybe did your best job coaching right right you know you maybe did your best job coaching you had a lot of injuries to overcome things happened to you that were unfortunate um and you kept battling you kept finding solutions to your problems and you kept replacing players um and you thought you did a great job coaching and you were 3 and seven or you were whatever the case may be right and now the reality of that is while you can find success in that season no one else44:43cares they just care that you were 37 that's why you have to win uh you know so that success deal is uh but there's it's so hard for me to Define because there's so many levels of it and you know at the end of the day what did uh I'm not good with quotes what John wouldn't say about success one time it's you know doing the absolute best you can you know in the moment with what you have or you know that's completely inaccurate something along45:11those lines and I think for us in this profession is you know you have to tie that into your success um you know did we do the best we could with these players um and coaches did we get everything we have out of these players and this staff and this team um hopefully you can look back and and not have a lot of regrets about the things you didn't do um and the solutions that you found to your problems um all that ties into your success too um what type of impact45:47did you make on the players that were part of your team right uh what type of impact did you make on the players that were part of your program uh um one of I would say one of the worst years here um man was so unfortunate it was it was Jon my oldest son's senior year uh we were six and four and we were in a tough District you know we lost the Carthage Kilgore and Henderson and District finished six and four in the season we tied for I guess46:20there was like a three-way tie for third and fourth whatever we lost on points didn't make the playoffs only years only year we had made the playoffs happened to be my son's senior year which was no fun no fun at all yeah and so our slogan that year was next to him it came out of Nehemiah when they were rebuilding the wall you know and it just talked about the defense of the wall and you know we pulled it from you know the verse it's talking about you know and next to him46:46was so and so and next to him was so and so and next to him and the mentality of hey we're all next to somebody that depends on us and I remember re was talking about the season after uh it was over maybe it was on the sports banquet or maybe it was on his top 10% banquet or whatever but I remember him talking about the next to him aspect of the season um and so you know our season was not successful we were didn't make the47:17playoffs we were six and four and didn't make the playoffs but you can't lose that aspect of success as well the impact that you made on the players even on the seasons that aren't a successful as you would like um so there's a lot of different levels of success yeah uh but I tie it to the first question of winning yeah because if you don't win enough you're G have to find another job yeah all right um coach how important is uh faith in our profession uh faith in47:47your coaches faith in your players faith in others faith in God just what do you think about any of that well how important is it in all of our lives um you know things things are going to happen in life that you don't appreciate and that you don't understand um you know I told this to you earlier just me and you talking um 27 years and 49 years old sometimes I feel like I know less now than what I did at 35 um but I do know this and you do too48:24things are going to happen in your life that you don't appreciate apprciate you don't understand and what do you fall back on yeah when those things happen um you know anybody when things are going good well anybody can do that it's it's like our Seasons when we're winning games and we haven't lost well it's easy to fill in the blank all those things are easy well what do you do when you're 0 and five to start the season we've been 0 and five to start the season what48:51do you do then and so in our life you I've always found it difficult to understand how people face those situations when they don't have a foundation of you know Christianity um and what they believe in and who they are um one of the things I know about Christianity and my beliefs is that you know God's got a plan for us he's got a plan I do think we're part of that plan and we have choices to make throughout the course of that plan but he does have49:21a plan for us um and it's not always the plan that we want and it's definitely not always the plan that we understand um and all of us who are in our late 40s maybe Beyond could say the same thing about our lives and so many times when those things happen in our life we don't understand it and sometimes it may take years for us to look back and to get a sense of maybe what was going on um I always refer back to you know49:54Joseph and David you know David was anointed king of Israel at a really young age and the time from when he got anointed to the time he became king those weren't the best of times no they wer they were they were not the best of times and you wouldn't want know and he was running around caves and King saw was trying to kill him you know and a lot of times he was questioning what's going on yeah you know um and then uh Joseph as well Joseph had the dreams50:25yeah you know of what things were going to be like then he was solding the slaver and then he was a slave and then he got thrown in prison the time between him Joseph having those dreams and becoming the second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt right not good years and they weren't short either well I think it was like 13 years from Joseph right you know and so you think back like well does it surprise you that you have some of those years it I mean should it50:54surprise you it always does doesn't it seems to always surprise that we have those years yeah or those multitude of years or whatever it is you know but I look back at those guys in my simple understanding which is simple but I look back at those guys and always feel like you know God needed that time to make those men who he needed them to be at this point and there were a lot of things that happened in both those guys lives in those in those years they weren't51:26easy and they were hard they went through some hard things in those years yeah and I and for my understanding cuz I I try to find ways for me to make sense of things isn't always the best right but in my understanding like the only thing that can make sense of those Hard Times To Me is man God had to do things in their lives to get them to the point and make them the man that he needed them to be for this stage and if he hadn't done51:53those things and they hadn't gone through those hard times and they hadn't had the experiences and to overcome and to fight through them he could never have made them the person he needed them to be for this stage right you know because like Joseph well as bad as it was when it got good for Joseph it got real good for Joseph yeah you know and I'm not saying that we're all going to be the second in command to the Pharaoh in Egypt that's not what I'm saying52:15that's all going to be as good for us as it was for Joseph but I do know that we are going to experience Hard Times yeah and so are all of our kids that come through our programs yeah and so you know one of the abilities that give us or the ability to respond to those situations as I believe and I know you're the same is the faith that you have um and the relationship that you have with the Lord that you've given your life to Jesus and you're depending52:40on him and you're seeking answers from him and you're seeking guidance from him and wisdom you know I'm no Bible scholar but I know the Bible tells us if hey if you like Wisdom ask I'll give it to you I I tell people a lot time I'm sure I ask for wisdom every day because it says in there if I so I'll just keep asking that's right um and so you know how how important is that for all of us whether it's in in the coaching profession in your life in53:07general um because we're all going to have those times yeah and you know we just lost a coach Matt Young to cancer he fought cancer for two years two and a half years uh I've known Matt since I was a kid we grew up together our dad's coach together um and he has kids and he has a you know some kids in in high school and you know and couple but anyway you can't make sense of that to me you know Matt Young is one of the53:38greatest guys I've ever known he was a tremendous man um strong Christian and uh completely selfless the most positive person I would say uh I can't imagine anybody more positive than him that's why we worked so well together he was Ultra positive I was half empty uh and we lost him to cancer and you can't explain it you know I can't explain I won't be able to explain it I know what I believe u you know and I I truly believe that that God could have healed him I believe that and54:13we and we pray for healing We Believe for healing there's not a doubt in my mind I believe God could have healed and he didn't and so what was the plan I don't have any idea I don't have any idea I don't think I will so what do you fall back on to and you had those times what we fall back on to and you know for us um that have a Christian belief and you know seeking God for wisdom and Direction and believing that he has54:41plans when things happen that we don't understand I don't know how people get through those times that don't have that so the value on the importance of that how do you get through it if you don't what do you fall back on if you don't have that yeah um and everybody's different you know I get it everybody's different I know for me in my life um in those times you know my Christian faith and the belief that I can God's got a plan for me and God's uh got a plan in55:10this situation even though I don't understand it I don't know how people get through it maybe they don't yeah uh coach uh last question will you share some thoughts on what helped you become the person and the coach that you are yeah I've talked about some of those things you know starting with uh you know my parents and my family it's who you are um and I talk a lot about my dad in terms of who I am as a man um as a kid you know when you grow up I55:47was so fortunate to have a great father and I didn't realize how fortunate I was until I got older and started to realize that not everyone has a great father um and so how blessed was I to have you know D mofet people called him Bubba to have him in my life and you know so much of who I am is because of him and you know I say this a lot how I go about living my life I learned from him you know I mention he got out went to work56:16every day so do I you know because that's what Dad did you know uh dad was loyal sometimes to a fault I remember uh I was a kid three or four years old and he threw his keys on the table in Malikov Texas because he didn't like the way they treated the head coach he was loyal so I think I'm loyal because he taught me loyalty yeah and he was honest so I try to be honest he was hardworking I try to be hardworking he was all the56:48things that he was um you know I emulate and try to be because as a young kid he was my hero um and so you can't remove that from any aspect of my life whether it is a husband a father a coach an employee you fill in the blank whatever it is you know we talked about culture just goes back to who you are so much of who I am is because of my father yeah and you know and obviously my mother as well um and then specifically in this57:20profession you know we talked about too having guys in your life that can pour into you um and mold you in this profession I remember when I started coaching you know because my dad was a coach I thought I knew something I'd probably say I thought I knew a lot right probably I think a lot of us think that yeah and as I got into coaching early on I realized real fast how little I actually knew I didn't know very much um and I didn't realize until I started doing it and so57:55for me you know after eron canals that didn't RH for nine years and those years that didn't run um and there were a number of coaches there that obviously impacted um me and Coach Rainey and all the guys that were on that staff but joy Florence and David Thomas um and Eric loky um and chief Blair and you know these guys that were older than us um that we could learn from and emulate and try to replicate um through our careers and uh you know coach58:27Florence was the head coach and uh David Thomas was the defensive coordinator and both those guys coached me at sulur Springs and so the value of those guys uh pouring into me as a as a coach um and I don't mind tell it wasn't always easy you know it wasn't always easy um you know they were hard times there they were hard times too uh there but you can't place a value on uh the impact that those coaches at Dent Ryan had on me and the young coaches on that staff59:02um and so you know again you know my dad and those coaches there at Denton Ryan and you know again the coaches that you played for I played for James Cameron at Sulfur Springs um and I think there are times that I make decisions here and I think back to something coach Cameron would have done you know I'll never forget the time it's pouring down rain and we practicing the pouring down r rain this is before we had Turf for the kids that don't know anything about59:29grass foods but uh there was a there was a low spot and a bunch of puddled water water and we had a sliding contest and Coach Cameron was first you know you don't forget those things I'm 49 you don't forget those things but you know so the impact of the coaches in my life that I played for and that I worked with and obviously my parents my dad especially um obviously is who I am today uh coach I'm I'm just tickled to death as as older people say for you1:00:00younger guys I'm really happy uh for Coach that he was able to uh he's got a wonderful wife wonderful kids I mean he was able to raise those kids here in in a town that uh it's a good place to raise your kids no doubt and uh and and he's had that other side of it with his wife and the kids and and so that that's been a real blessing and so uh I'm always excited every time I think of that for him and his family um uh also1:00:26you know I don't know if I've told you this but you know one of the reasons why I do this why I'm interviewing you right now for you to pour out there into so many coaches lives the wisdom and the experience that you've had is you know I I had an uncle who passed away my uncle knew he knew he knew about everything he knew a little bit about everything and uh I I just always thought man you can't ask a guy a question he's not an expert1:00:55you know uh of course you know the definition of experts just knowing more than the person that you talk to and so obviously everybody's the expert to me but anyway when he passed away you know it occurred to me that everything you all that that he knew if he didn't pass that on you know you can't go ask ji a question you know and right now you know coach Mo he's got so much wisdom and so much to pass on to us and it's like he said you1:01:22know he's he may not be necessarily the biggest social media guy you know he'd rather you know uh do things because it's the right thing to do not just so we can show everybody and uh and and I so respect that but uh for me to have the opportunity right now to talk to you and to get you to pour out uh you know that I know that that's it's rare it's a commodity it's something very special so uh I really appreciate it coach I appreciate your time this has been a a1:01:51coach's perspective with Jared mphin
INTERVIEWCoach Doug Wendel shares valuable insight from a successful journey coaching high school sports.MidlothianMEET DOUG
