PHILOSOPHY.MOTIVATION.
AND MANAGEMENT 201
. Trust the instinch ofthGe more experienced
than yoffself. Just like players, experrence
means a gyeat deal, and as detailed as we
get, instinctplays a key role in daily success
and failltreB.
. G€nuin€ concern and caring for €ach other,
and for all parties and facets of a program
needtobe combined(in a proper blend) with
strict discipline. These two entiti€s can co-
exist.
. Assistants must carry out the discipline of
the prcgram and accept and want the respon-
sibility for their players. Too often, assistants
sidestep dtucipline for the sake of "making
ftiends" with their player8.
. Acceptthe responsibilityfor successand fail-
ure (winning and losing).
. Realiz€that all problemscanbe solvediftwo
people(orhowevermany are involved) truly
want to solvethem.
We're all blessedwith the opportunity to im-
pact young lives. Not only must we s€e it as an
oppoftunity, but equally as a responsibility This
is a most difficult time lor young people in the
age goups with which you work.
Youngpeop)ehare greateraccessro informa-
tion and, at th€ same tim€, morc diffrcult deci-
1994 Pr@ee'l.ings. C@ch Snld.er is head.oach dt Kansas Stote UniueBitr.
: , I : L l i I l $ I *i : rq i ii
Goaching Plrilosophy and Obiectives
DONNEHLEN
al Q * I I :l:.,,1 | \ ff ,. i :,,:: : : i
i t rr i tr 4,& r t a:i i ):i.,,t
In every decisionI make as a head lootball coach
with my team, the most important thing to me rs
the morale olmy staff and our football play€rs. I
thinh therc are a lot ofways to throw the post or
whatever you want to do, but the only thing that
really matiem is the attitude ofthe guys who set
that done for you.
If any ofyou hav€ followed our football team,
the only thing that you'll find out is lhat folks
normaly will say,"They cometo play."Theycome
to play becausethat's what I work on the most.
We do an awful lut ds far as moli\ ation is con.
sions to make than you and I at the Bame age.
For these age groups, this is the most difflcult
and complex tim€ in the history of our society.
These young people need you. They need to un-
derstand a processby which they can make good
decisions about how they choose to conduct their
lives and react to the daily choiceslaid out before
them.
In rnany cases,you and you alone have the
power to teach them such a proc€ss.In addition,
you arc capable(ifyou will) ofinfluencins these
young men to positively influenc€ the lives of oth-
€rB in their communities. You can (if you will)
teach them leadership,you can t€ach them to af-
fect the decisions of others younger than them-
selves,but susceptibleto the samepreBsuresand
choices.Many young black people,in par.ticular,
need leadem, role modelB,peoplewho care, and
people who can inflrenc€ their decision-making
processand guide them out ofdarknesB.
W}lo better to be that guiding lieht than the
young men you coach?You can influ€nce them to
becom€that gujding light:to save a life, prevent
a rape,prevent a killing, prevent an unlawful act,
pr€vent an additional addict. It's amazing what
a positive impact we could have on this society
by networking through our playem to the Yulner'
able youth of our country.
$ I t i tqf ll I :11 t t f { :
Establishing Priorities
for the Program
Right off, our kids undemtand the mission olour
football proflam. First, to each a d€greeand to
all an education.When you're not teaching this,
yot're teaching somethine else, and that some-
thing elseis wrong.Ilthath not yourp ority, then
you'rc going to take shortcuts and you're going to
do some things you shouldn't be doing with those
young guys.
The No. 1 ihing that oul kids have to under-
sLandis that this is what we re m the business
202 FOOTBAIL COACHINGSTR{TEGIES
for. We'regoing to do the bestjob we possiblycan
do to help these kids graduate. Don't misunder-
stand me-we don't bat 1007.,brl I think we do
a pretty goodjob.
W})ensomebodyasks me about our graduation
rate, I tell them, "Every one of those glys who
wants to," and right now, about 7 and 1/2 out of
every 10 guys want to. We\e got to get a littl€
bette! but thatl our mission, and our kids un-
derstand where we're coming from.
The values that we have arc character through
discipline.We want character on our team. You
all know wh en its fourth-and-1,you'vegot to have
the right kind of guys playing for you. We're go-
ing to discipline our kids; we'rc not soing to ha
ras8 them. But we're going to make surc they do
what's rightwhen theyre supposedto do it.Ifwe
have characte! guys, then we've got a chanceto
win. Ith important that they understand if they
lack charaeterrhpyre nut going ro lasr in our
program very lone.
The secondthing we talk about is our family.
This is our family. We dont have black guys. We
don't have white euys.We don't hav€ sho tsuls.
We don't have fat guys.We'vegot a team. I'm the
head olthe family, and what I say in that team
meeting stays in lhat team meetine-
There'Eawesomepower in 100 guys all going
in onc dirFir ron.hur uhen lou v. gnr $)" jump-
ing outside that framework, then you've got a
problem. They understand that our fanrilyis the
name ofthe game.
It's our footbali fainily, and we're coin g to hang
tough. You know and I know that when you lose
a football game, the student newspaper is after
you and it's very, very important that your kidts
hans toseth€r Lots of lblks will try to get them
to scattex Ourfamilyis the secondvalu€ that we
work extrcm€ly hard to preEerve.
Next is our commirmert. Our playels hale to
undedtand the commitment that they have to
make to play at our level. We don't have a lot of
players in Westviginia we've got a lot oftrees
but the p]ayers we have are tough and the com-
mitment they have to make is big leagne. They
have to understand that in order for us tu wxr,
th ey're going to have to lift, they have to rr!, uey
have to do all the things all you guys expect your
playeft to do in order to play.They have to make
a great commitment to that program.
Football is no longer a game thafs played in
S€ptemb€r,Octob€r,and November.Football is
aU year long. I can't wait to get back to school.
We Ieft the Sugar Bowl and you know I wasn't
too happy about that-and I've been on the road
since.I can't wait to get back to our football team.
They have to make sur€ that they have the com-
mitment, becausewe've aheady started oul pro-
Sram ror nexr year.
O1lIn€xtvalueis loJolry.You can't build a pro-
glam without loyal coachesand players. Our play
€rs kno\\' I'm going to frght. I'm going to scrap.
I'm going to scream for every one of them. My
coachesknow the same thing. I expect that the
secrctaries,thejanitor, the third-st ng quarter-
back, and the graduate assjstants all have the
same loyalty
One thing I know about coaching football or
about running an organization is that yor can'L
have loyalty if your employee or youl football
player lies to you. I can't support my guy if he's
going to lie. Ourki& understand that. Loyatty is
the most impodant in$edient that anybody can
bdng to any organjzation. Loyalty starts at the
top.It works on do\rn and dsht back up through.
Il they un derstand that, then I think you'vegot a
chanceto motivate your players, andyou'vegot a
Establishing a Style
of Football
I wantourplayers tornd€rstandour style of fbot-
ball. Number one, we're soing to be p,4Jstcal.I
want them to undentand how we're going to be
pbysical. I want them to undeGtand how we're
going to practic€.Inthe spring, we're going to hit
every day, and we're going to hit in the fall on
Tuesdaysand Wednesdays.Thelre soing to hav€
to be physical ifthey're going to play in our pro-
cram.
I used to worry all the time about injuries, be-
causeof the way we played. I coachedfor coach
Schembechlerai Michigan. I said,'Coach a.e you
suie we'rc doingwhat's ght?We'r€eoingto bave
to play wjth the thid-strins suard."And he said,
"Don, if he can sunive this week, he'll be good
enorgh on Satuday. That's your basic problem,
Don. You're soft. Our team will play on Saturday
with whoever is left."
And you know what? He was .ight almost ev-
ery time. Wloever playedin that gamewas ready
to play becauseth€y had commitment, they had
loyalty,and {.ith that week ofrepetition, they got
it done for us.
Second,you've eot to hav€ ,enc.ious guys on
youl team. I have a little story I teli our team.
There's a guy at the bottom of a we)I, and be's a
 PHILOSOPHY,MOTIVATION,AND MANAGEMENT 203
Mountaineer.He climbs his way to the top ofthe
wel]. Our biggest game is Pitt, so the exy at the
top who ke€ps pounding his hands and making
him Elip back down is a Panther.The Mountajn
eerclimbs up and gets poundedback down about
500 tim€s. But the 50lst time, he climbs up, and
the Panther gets tired ofhittinghim. That's when
the Mountaineer grabs him and chokes him to
death.
That sounds a little fadetched, but our kids
start to understand about playing football and
being tenacious.Hanging on with great effort is
the name ofthe game.
Number three,I want a closs.',fbotball team.I
dont want a bunch ofbums.I want a team.I want
guys who un derstandthey reprcsenl themselves,
their family, our unil'ersity, and our coaching staf
When we tmvel, everyonewears a coat and a
tie. When we eat, everyonewaars a coat and a
tie.In the dining hall, nobodysits down until th€
captain saysgrace.Today,ea1Tingsare a big fash-
ion, and that's fine, but on Fridays they take them
out and they don't put them in until after tha
game. They understand that we're not harass-
ingan)on+bur Ihe) undFrsrand $ hdt $pretrl-
ing to do.We'retrying to be a classylootball t€am-
A Lot of times whan we go away fron home,
nobodytells us we're very good,but they always
tell us how well behavedour kids are.That's what
we'rc trying to teacb our kids. We'rc in the edu-
cdlionbusinpss,nor r hp enLeflainmFrrbusi.lesh.
Lastly, with our style is confidence.We want
our kids to believebeforethey ever take the field
thatthelrc soins to win.Ifyou don't believethat,
gang, you have a major, major problem. We won
11 lbotball games this year and we wcm picked
1991Pra&\dings. C@ch Nehlen is hedd..trch o t WestViryinid Uhir.tsit!_
lifth in our league. Five years ago, we also won
11 games.So I know some ofthis stuff works if
yolr work at it long onough and hard enotgh.
I love theX's and O's.I don't think therc's any
question they'rc important. But, ifyou are fun-
damentally sound and youl kids arc motivated
and they have gr€at morale, you'vc gol a gleat
OuI goals are not fancy. Our goal this year was
simple- .just play and play had. Th€ only timc
the scoreboardmatt€rs is atthe end ofthe game.
We don't know which play is going to be the onc
that wins it, so play hard on €ve{r play until the
end.You play as had as you can on every singl€
plav.
Every decision I make is based on ho{' it is
goingto afibct team morale.Thatmeans the flrst
stringquafie$ack, the thid string quart€rback,
the startingtackle, th€ foudh st nstackle. They
have to understand their roles on the football
team, and how importantthey arc to the success
ofthat football team.
If you've eot 100 guys on your team and they
don't all feel like th€y're impodanl, then Jou
aren't going to win them all. I boli€ve that's th€
iob of the hoad coach.He has got to do a goodjob
making sure that all his kids belicve that they'rc
special.
We also work hard at bringing our team to-
gether.One thingwe do is have a superstarscon-
test. Our kids love it. That's the first thing they
ask me when we eet back tosether each season,
"Ooach,when are we having the superstars con
test?" It's fun. We have a dance.Wo have a ea
sino night.We do something at th€ bo$4ingaUey.
things to have tun as a team.

Since it was founded in 1922, the Arrtencan
Football Coaches Association has strivetr ro
'provide a forum for the discussion and study ol
all matters pertaining to footbal and coaching"
and to "maintain the highest poesible standards
in football and the coaching profeBsion." Th$e
objectives, fiIst declared by founders such as
Amos Alonzo Stagg and John Heisman, have been
inBtrumental in the AFCA's becoming the
effective and highly respected organization it is
today.
The A.FCA now has more than 7,000 membeB,
including coaches from Canada, Europe, Ausha-
lia, Japan, and Russia. Through three annual
publications and several newsletteru, the Asso-
ciation keeps members informed ofthe most cur-
rent rr.rleschangesand pmposals,proper coach-
ing methods, innovatioN in techniques, i$ights
in coaching philosophy, and the business con-
ducted by the Boad ofTrustees and AFCA com-
mittees. A convenLionheld each January gives
members a special opportunity to exchange ideas
and recognize outstanding achievement.
The A-ssociation promotes safety in the sport,
and set€forth strong ethical and moral codeBthat
govem all aspect€ of football coaching. In addi-
F(lllTBAI.L
C|IACHES
ASS0C|ATt0
tion, the AFCA is involved in numernus programs
that ensure the integrity of the coaching profes-
sion and enhance the development of the game.
The Association works closely with the National
Collegiate Athl€tic A.ssociation, the National AE-
sociation of Collegiate Directors ofAtl etics, the
NationalA.esociation of Intercolegiat€Athletics,
the National Football League, the Carrafian Foot-
ball League, the National Football Foundation
and Hall ofFame, Pop Warner, and oLherorgani-
zations involved in th€ same. Indeed, one ofthe
many goals ofthe Assosiation is to build a Btrong
coalition offootbal coaches-TEAM A.FCA who
will speak out with a unified voice on issues that
affect their sport and profession.
the AFCA is tte team for the football coaching
profession. A[ cur€nt and forrner football coaches
or administrators who are connected with the
gam€ are encouragedto join. To becomea mem-
ber ofthe American Football CoachesAssociation.
please write or call:
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205