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Coaches prove building a winner isn't an easy job

AFA's Mike Jalazo, East Bay's Brian Thornton and CCC's John Davis all have turned losing football teams into winners.

By CAREY FREEMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 14, 2000

Admiral Farragut's Mike Jalazo has proved at least one thing: No matter how futile the program is, there is hope.

Consider the situation at Farragut prior to Jalazo's arrival two years ago. The Blue Jackets had managed just five winning seasons in 55 years of playing high school football and were 16-64 in the eight years prior to the hiring of Jalazo in the fall of 1999.

Things had gotten so bad that the Blue Jacket players had become the butt of jokes, prime targets for the successful Blue Jacket swimmers and runners.

"When I first got here, there were kids getting into arguments and fights because the swimmers and cross country runners would make fun of the football players," Jalazo said.

What a difference a coach makes.

No longer are the Blue Jackets the butt of campus jokes, nor are they the joke of Pinellas County football. After completing their first 10-0 season Friday with a 28-17 win over small-school power Shorecrest, Farragut and Jalazo are the talk of the town.

"Now, they're big kids on campus," Jalazo said. "And there is a passion for (football). People are huge supporters of football now, whereas, three years ago, we were on the low end of the totem poll."

It all goes to prove one thing: with the right combination of coaches, players and administration, anything is possible. So take heart Lecanto, Springstead, Ridgewood, Sickles and other bastions of futility, there is hope for you and others.

But you've got to have a plan.

CREATING AN ATTITUDE

Jalazo knew it would be an uphill battle to bring the Blue Jackets back from the dead, but he had a plan. His first step was to win over the hearts and minds of the Farragut players, supporters and administration.

"What I tried to do last year was start creating the idea of a tradition," Jalazo said. "We had to create the idea of a program and get the kids to make a commitment to the weight room and creating a system. We also needed the support of the school. Headmaster Capt. Robert Fine has given us tremendous support, and that's one of the things we needed to get these kids successful."

Most coaches agree that the first step toward success is creating a positive and enthusiastic atmosphere for the players. One way to do that is to hire the best assistants and to beat the drum daily for the players.

John Davis has posted a 46-29 record since taking over at Clearwater Central Catholic in 1994, inheriting teams that had gone 2-8 the previous two seasons and had not posted a winning season since 1986.

"You've got to have continuity in your coaching staff," said Davis, whose team is 9-1 and in the playoffs for the fourth time in seven seasons. "When I got here, it was our 30th year and I was the 13th head coach. We've been able to keep the continuity and keep our staff together and I think that's big. The kids have to know and trust that you're going to be there, that the system is not going to change from week to week and year to year. And they have to buy into it."

When Brian Thornton arrived at East Bay in 1994, inheriting a team that had posted an 0-10 record the season before, the situation was very similar to that at Farragut.

East Bay had not been a force in high school football since the stint of Joe Zalupski in the early 1960s, and had become the laughingstock of Hillsborough County football.

There were other problems too. Located in Gibsonton, the school was completely reliant on busing, with no students living within walking distance. The facilities were in need of repair, as were the attitudes of everyone at the school when it came to the football program.

"We put a tremendous amount of energy into the program," Thornton said. "We got some good people in there. Defensive coordinator Mike Gottman has been a big impact and we brought in a couple more and gradually put together a staff that was pretty solid and very dedicated.

"But there are other things that make it possible to have success. Things like having a good field. (The coaches) completely resodded our field and put in new sprinklers and we refurbished the old concession stand and turned it into a locker room. We had no locker room facilities at all before that."

THE SYSTEM

Like Jalazo and Davis, Thornton's first step was creating a new attitude, followed by assembling a solid staff of seasoned coaches. However, it is the next step where Thornton may have scored his biggest coup.

Knowing that he would not be blessed with tons of Division I talent, Thornton installed the wishbone, an offense that uses deception and brains to fool opponents and score touchdowns.

The resulting improvement for the Indians was slow to come, but dramatic when it arrived. After suffering through an 0-10 campaign the first year, the Indians began to turn things around. Thornton won four games his second year, six the next year and eight the next season before an astounding 10-1 campaign in 1998 that saw the Indians score wins over state powerhouse Kissimmee Osceola and county power Hillsborough.

"Another thing that played a huge factor was the offense we picked," Thornton said. "The wishbone is so team-oriented. It's an offense that is based on sharing the football and team play. All your backs have to be able to block and carry the football and all have to be able to fake. There's no one hero. In 1998, we did not have a 1,000-yard rusher, but we rushed for 3,800 yards total."

Jalazo took what he learned while watching practices as a student at the University of Florida and added a twist this year, running rather than passing out of multiple formations that spread the field and the opposing defense.

"We run the ball more this year," Jalazo said, "because we've got a lot of talented running backs".

Bottom line: The system has to take advantage of the available talent.

Davis has done it both ways. In 1996, that meant a strong rushing game, which he parlayed into his first playoff berth. Now, it means an offense designed to take advantage of talented quarterback -- and son -- Jay Davis, who has passed for more than 2,000 yards and leads Pinellas County with 22 touchdowns this season.

"The first year we went to state, we threw for a total of around 400 yards," John Davis said. "Right now we'll use three, four and sometimes five wideouts. We have a real good tailback to keep people honest inside and our trigger guy is a pretty good player."

SMALL STEPS

Though it can be done quickly, as evidenced by Jalazo's quick turnaround at Farragut, in most cases, building a winner is a slow, meticulous process.

It begins with small victories, like setting and meeting a goal for first downs in a game -- as Thornton did early at East Bay -- or simply playing a tough team close.

In either case, most coaches agree that the key to success is creating a situation where success is attainable.

"I think one of the biggest things is, as a coach, you've got to realize what you are capable and not capable of doing," said recently retired Crystal River coach Earl Bramlett, who has turned around no less than five programs in his native Georgia and Florida, including leading Crystal River to seven playoff berths. Prior to Bramlett's arrival in 1985, the Pirates had never qualified for an FHSAA-sanctioned playoff.

"But one of the most important things is to really emphasize defense, stay close and not get embarrassed," he said. "When you get embarrassed, you lose a bit of self-esteem, and then you start to doubt yourself. I think it's a mental thing. The kids have got to believe they can win, and you've got to convince them. That's the hardest part for a coach. You can't expect to lose, you've got to expect to win. And, if you expect to win, most of the time you'll find a way to win or, at the least, you won't get embarrassed."

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