A few years ago, my buddy Anse Rigby made me a pallet guitar that now sits by my fireplace. On the back he wrote: “Pat, continue to praise the Lord with your incredible talent! You rock.” – Anse. Thanks, Anse, you rock, too.
Underneath, he wrote a proverb that I had never heard of before. It was Proverbs 27:17. It reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
I have been Coach Carpenter or Coach Pat, depending on who you talk to, for about a month now at Franklin High School. When I first got the idea about wanting to coach, my professor at Mississippi State in 2013 told me that I needed to develop a coaching philosophy.
My philosophy, I thought, was simple: I want to run a vertical passing attack benefiting from play action off a strong power run game.
Simple, right?
Well. After being around the coaches and players at Franklin High School for the past month, I have decided this. I want to have two philosophies. The aforementioned philosophy is my X and O plan, but I decided that I needed a coaching philosophy with the players and, mostly, with myself. That philosophy can be summed up into a few words: Proverbs 27:17.
One thing I think our society has forgotten is how to build people up. When people fail, we laugh. We mock them. We make memes with Michael Jordan crying on their face. We don’t challenge others to be better. Instead, we are so involved with ourselves that we aren’t coachable ourselves.
This morning, one of the coaches said something that was simple, yet so real.
He said, “We get up early every morning to be here for you because we want to make you better, and we love each and every one of you so much.”
Gosh. That’s what we should all be about. Not just in football, but in everyday encounters with our friends, family, strangers, enemies, etc. We are helping others because we love them. Not for any self righteousness or personal reasons except for the fact that it is our calling in life — to love and make each other better.
The other day we put those players through the wood chipper. They ran about 20 diamondbacks and then had a massive schedule in the weight room. To end it, we gathered two separate rooms full of players and had them do different types of pushups as a group. There was one player who was exhausted, rightfully so, and he was having trouble finishing his set.
Instead of players being silent, or laughing, you know what happened? The entire room of about 35 players chanted and cheered him on to finish his set of pushups. A few even got up to go assist him. Guess what? He finished. He was better because of that — because each man had each others back.
That’s what I love about football. It is the ultimate team sport. If that lineman misses a block, the running back runs through the wrong hole, the receiver runs the wrong route and the quarterback makes a bad read, the entire team is in trouble. Everyone has to be on the same page and when someone does mess up, which will undoubtedly happen, the team is there to pick a brother back up and keep his spirit up with the team.
I’ll be honest . . . I’m fairly introverted and being around 65 athletes and seven coaches makes me more introverted. However, the other day I decided that I was going to meet everyone that day and make it known that I am there for them. That was probably the best day I had had up to that point, because that was the day I realized that they want me there with them. They want to get better, and they want to make me a better coach, so I can make them a better player.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
– Coach Carpenter