I’m an '07 grad of IHS, held a starting position for the team for all four years of high school, and was one of the team leaders for my last three. I know the team seems to rarely do as well as the community of Iola hopes, but I can tell you from firsthand experience that the reasons for failure cannot be contributed in entirety to lack of effort.How can a football team be successful when they don’t have the coaching necessary? In no context do I feel that last year’s coach, Dean Taylor (now moved to Andover Central), was a lacking/bad coach. In fact, he was just the opposite. His knowledge about the game was as wide as anyone’s could be, and he was a role model for my teammates and for me.
However, the point I want to make is that Iola only has five coaches. That may sound like a lot, but go to the smallest town in our SEK league, Columbus. How many coaches do they have? Seven. How about a larger city such as Coffeyville? Between eight and ten—perhaps more. It is obviously a problem when towns smaller than Iola have more coaches. (my numbers in this paragraph may be outdated, but to the best of my knowledge, were accurate for last year)
Here are some of the advantages to a fuller coaching staff:
• Having more coaches equals a better coach to player ratio.
• With fewer players per position coach, the team can become more spread out during practice, allowing each player to get more position reps.
• With more coaches, it is easier to diagnose individual players’ weaknesses and work to fix those weaknesses.
• With more coaches, there is greater chance of one on one time between a player and coach during practice.
• More coaches can give the players access to a wider range of experience, knowledge, and instruction. When these tools are more widely accessible for the team’s benefit, problems can be fixed more efficiently, leading to better playing ability, confidence and determination, and ultimately…more on-field success.
Throughout the years, Iola has had numerous head coaches, yet always the same result. Therefore, the lack of wins cannot be contributed to individual coaches—rather in the lack of coaches. But might the losses be contributed to the laziness of members on the team? Sometimes yes, but read on…
I realize that all the City of Iola can see is what goes on over the playing field. But consider this:
Last year’s team leaders (mainly all of last year’s seniors) such as John Sigg, Robert Shapel, Josh Mueller, Luke Riebel, Luke Snavely, myself and others could be found in the weight room every day. You would rarely see one of us miss a chance to get together, workout, run, or do whatever it took to gain strength, speed, agility, and most of all…team unity. We did our best to make sure that underclassmen gained the same sense of passion for the team that we knew it took to be successful.
Even though we didn’t win many games, I assure you lack of effort on our part was not an excuse. How many losses in the ‘06 season were close? Half—and all of those games were exciting to watch—every one of them. We played with such passion and heart so that nobody could have asked more of us, and in my opinion—as a leader of the team—I think that that is worth more than wins or loses. The members of Iola football know the passion of which I speak.
Nobody can ask more of the players and the coaches—except to win. But how is that possible when other teams/towns are given an advantage in coaches? Over the years the aura associated with IHS Football has been that it, for lack of a better word, sucks. That CAN be changed…but I believe it all starts with a few hirings…
I hope my perspective sheds some light for the community. No matter what happens, I continue to support IHS football—as well as other athletics—to my fullest.
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