“Earlier today, Coach Hope pointed out that it was the coach’s job to make sure that didn’t happen. His issue is that he doesn’t have enough coaches.
“I’ll use the quarterback position as an example. In college ball, they have a coach dedicated to quarterbacks. From what I understand, practice time goes mainly to the starter. When I walk onto campus, there might be as many as five other guys wanting to play my position.
“Yes, at Lincoln, we have freshman and junior varsity teams. The problem is that there are only a couple of coaches to instruct all the positions,” I said.
I looked in the stands and could see agreement with my assessment.
“Can I share a funny story?” I asked. “When I first started to play football my freshman year, I’d never played before. I didn’t play any ball in middle school. So, on the first day of practice, the coach sent me in to play fullback. I had to ask the quarterback what I should do. I’d never run the option.”
That made them laugh.
“He said to just run into the line and keep running until I scored. Fortunately for me, that’s exactly what I did. I don’t want to take anything away from the coaches. When there’s only one freshman coach and a couple of volunteers, they’re not going to have time to individually coach-up 35 freshmen.
“Here is where you come in. Each of you has been part of your respective program for three to four years. I want you to seek out a couple of underclassmen that play your position and be a mentor to them.
“In my case, I’m going to work with Trent Buchannan, who’s a junior, and Phil Prince, who’s a sophomore. My hope is that Trent will pick another sophomore and a freshman quarterback and work with them. And Phil will work with a freshman and pick up another newbie next year to continue the process.
“My dad had a good idea. When he was in college, his fraternity assigned him a big brother. The way he explained it to me was that his big brother oversaw teaching him about the fraternity.
“He said it ended up being more than that. His big brother became a true friend, someone he could look up to and confide in. When my dad talks about his big brother, I can tell that he learned a lot from the guy.
“I know fraternities are big on brotherhood, just as sororities are big on sisterhood. Tim and Wolf talked about the schools that stood out. You were made to feel you were part of something bigger. That you mattered, and someone had your back.
“A quote I heard the other day seems fitting: ‘You have no idea what challenges someone faces just by looking at them.’ I guess what I’m saying is that it’s all tied together.
“I know my performance on the field is influenced by what’s happening off it. If I didn’t have people I could talk to, I’m sure my game would have suffered greatly. Think about it. Remember what a complete dumbass you were as a freshman?” I asked.
That got chuckles because it was true.
“Remember how there were times you could have used someone older, who was not an adult, to talk to? I was lucky because my big brother sort of liked me and I could go to him. Not many of you had that luxury,” I reminded them.
I could see the wheels turning. I was encouraged when there weren’t any smart comments.
“Here’s the deal. There are two things we need to do to make this work. The first is you must take this seriously. You set the tone, and don’t make it just a bullshit session. You need to make sure your charges are putting in the work. That they’re showing up to
“The second is, one size doesn’t fit all. What works for the football team probably won’t work for wrestlers. I want you to get with your coaches and figure out how you’re going to accomplish this,” I said and looked at the coaches. “And the coaches need to make sure everyone gets a big brother or sister or mentor or whatever you want to call them.”
“And there should be plenty of bullshit sessions,” Wolf added.
I rolled my eyes at him.
“There’s a final piece to this. Our successes aren’t solely defined by how well we do in a sport. The same mentoring helped me be a success academically as well.
“Now, some of us may be great big brothers in football or big sisters in cross-country but would make lousy tutors. But if we do it right as big brothers and sisters, we can see if our charges are having a hard time academically. Then we can steer them to people who can help them.
“Hopefully, the coaches can talk with the school administration and figure out ways to make sure academic and even life help is available. And that big brothers and sisters know how to access it,” I concluded.
At that, we split up to talk to our coaches.
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I was a little surprised that everyone was so enthusiastic. Once we had wrapped up, Tim, Wolf, and I found a moment to talk about it. I shared my misgivings.
