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By SCOTT PURKS
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 21, 2000
TAMPA -- Hillsborough High's football juggernaut rolls as head coach Earl Garcia pushes it: relentlessly, every day of the year.
Garcia is a dynamo, a brash talker, some say a trash talker, but man, does he ever back it up.
In eight years he has built Hillsborough into a program with a 21-game, regular-season winning streak, playoff appearances seven of the past eight years, a state finalist in 1996 and a top-10 finisher in the state poll eight consecutive years (currently ranked No. 3 in Class 5A).
The Terriers' $250,000 field house is sparkling new, the coaching staff numbers 12 (the Tampa Bay Bucs have 15 coaches), players lift weights year-round and make their grades. No varsity Terrier under Garcia has ever been lost to academic ineligibility.
In addition, Garcia has sent 63 players on to play in college, from Division III Alfred (N.Y.) University to Duke to perennial powers such as Florida, Syracuse and Notre Dame.
No high school in the Tampa Bay area has been able to boast all that for at least 20 years -- maybe ever.
A Hillsborough County public school hasn't won a state football title since 1969, and, besides Hillsborough's 1996 showing, hasn't been to a state final since 1971. No Pinellas County school has ever won a state title, and besides Pasco's state title in 1992, no team from Pasco, Citrus or Hernando county has been in a state title game since the playoffs started in 1963.
So what is the secret to Hillsborough's rise to power? The Terriers point straight at Garcia and say he's "The architect."
"Secret?" Garcia said, chuckling. "We don't have any secrets. The only thing we're doing is working harder than everybody else (his patented comment that infuriates competitors).
"All people need to do is come over here and go through the routine and then they'll see we're working harder. Then there would be no doubt."
The routine:
Garcia, 47, wakes up at 4:30 a.m.
He promptly jogs 3 miles with headphones listening to country music, out of his neighborhood down to 12th Street near Sligh Avenue, past prostitutes and homeless people.
He says he jogs to clear his head and to help keep his heart strong after his father died of a heart attack at 36.
One day a few weeks ago he sat at his kitchen table at 5 a.m. after a jog, wearing a sweaty Hillsborough football T-shirt and talking passionately: about growing up in Tampa, playing offensive line for Plant (1968-1970), playing one year at Kansas' Washburn College before transferring to South Florida, coaching as an assistant at several area schools and then "Getting fired as Gaither's head coach (in 1991) because of a difference of opinion with the principal."
He said it matter-of-factly, as he does with everything. He loves to tell a story, and he's good at it, inspiring, or saddening or making you laugh to tears.
At 7:19 a.m. that day he was standing in Hillsborough's cafeteria as his football players signed in.
"I see every one of their faces every morning so I know they are there and they are on time," he said. "We never have more than one or two who aren't here, because if they're not here, they run their butts off at practice."
Every one of his 67 varsity players signed in that morning.
He went on to teach a couple of work experience classes before driving to workplaces (mostly fast-food restaurants) to make sure his students were doing their jobs.
At 2:45 p.m. he distributed practice schedules to assistants, who broke off into autonomous groups.
Garcia quietly patrolled, making sure the strictly-held time schedule was followed. Players seemed to know what to do before the coaches said a word. No coaches yelled. No players griped.
Practice ended at 6:45. Players showered and placed gear in lockers according to a printed diagram: shoulder pads hanging in the back, jersey precisely folded and placed in the back left corner, cleats and girdle in the back right corner, helmet hanging on the left side, practice pants to the right. Other printed instructions include, "no tape, no pictures, no writing, no shoulder pad straps hanging, no cups, trash or school work exposed, wipe off locker daily (no wet spots)."
Players also get a locker room clean-up sheet, which includes assignments for flushing toilets, wiping out sinks, mirrors and taking out trash.
By 7:15 the place was military spec and Garcia had privately talked to a player about a problem he was having at home, and to another about his grades. Then he held his nightly hourlong staff meeting, ironing out details for the next day's practice.
On Friday of that week, Hillsborough defeated Chamberlain 34-3, and after making a copy of the night's game tape (for Saturday's exchange with the next opponent), Garcia went to sleep at 2 a.m.
He and a few of his staff met at the field house at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and held a light practice, which included an hour of watching tape. That morning, Garcia also washed all the uniforms, copied tapes for each coach (there are 13 VCRs in the field house) and set out the tapes for the coaches to pick up for "homework."
On Sunday, the entire staff met for six hours to break down tapes, grading each player's performance and beginning analysis on the next opponent. By week's end the opponents' play-calling tendencies are charted with percentages for every down throughout a game.
On Monday, each player was handed a 25-page scouting report, drawn and typed up by the coaches.
And that's just in-season. During the off-season, which begins about three weeks after the final game, it's time for weight training, 21/2 hours a day, four days a week, for seven months.
A few coaches say they may not do all that, but they're also working hard, and the difference is that Division I-caliber athletes transfer every year to Hillsborough.
They say to look at Hillsborough's history under Garcia:
In 1992, Mo Harris led Jesuit to the state final with 1,726 yards in 10 games. The next season, Garcia's first as Hillsborough's coach, Harris was a Terrier.
In 1993, Jamall Anderson was a running back at Jefferson. In 1994, he was a Terrier and earned first-team, All-State honors after rushing for nearly 1,500 yards and 24 touchdowns.
In 1995, Gaither two-sport star Esaw Scruggs and Brandon starting quarterback Mario Porter switched to Hillsborough.
Late in 1995, Hillsborough was fined $2,500 by the Florida High School Activities Association for illegal contact between Terrier coaches and junior high players.
In 1997, freshman offensive lineman Shannon Snell and running back Chris Davis came to Hillsborough from Jefferson and Tampa Bay Tech respectively.
In 1998, running back/linebacker Sean Gaudion switched from Durant to the Terriers.
Then on the first day of practice this season, one of the area's premier athletes, Elijah Dukes, was wearing red and white, not the blue and gold of Jefferson, his school the previous season.
To all this, Garcia replied, "Kids want to come here because we're successful. And if a kid suddenly shows up here, I send him directly to the principal's office and say you have to work it out there. I do nothing beyond that ...
"I really don't care what anybody thinks as long as my principal and the school support me and my wife loves me. Like I said, I have nothing to hide. We're playing by the rules, and anyone who wants to check us out can do so."
Dukes, for one, said he wasn't recruited.
"I was searching for a place to call home," he said, after being estranged from his parents, living with his aunt, and attending Chamberlain, King, Jefferson and Hillsborough within three years.
He was known as a discipline problem, arguing with coaches and getting kicked off teams, despite eye-popping attributes: 215 muscled pounds, 4.4-second 40-yard dash, vicious tackling, a 95-mph fastball, tremendous slugging power and a 50-second run in the 400 meters without any practice.
"But I was never really happy," he said. "I felt like some people at those other places just wanted to use me to help them win games. But at Hillsborough I feel like they care about me becoming a better person. I feel like I have a dad always around me. Here you have a lot of dads watching out for you. ... They're always asking about my grades, my life and where my life is going."
He gave linebackers coach Charles Roberts a playful nudge.
"When Elijah came here we sat down and talked for a long time about what it took to be a Terrier," Roberts said. "I wanted him to understand what he was getting into. I really didn't know if he was up to it."
No problems so far. Dukes has maintained a C-plus average, hasn't missed a practice, hasn't talked back to a coach or gotten into trouble.
"I don't want to do something bad because I know there will be consequences," he said. "I might not get to be a part of this anymore and that would hurt real bad.
"Yeah, it's hard here. It's like miniature boot camp. They make you earn everything, and at the end of the day I'm worn out and sore, but I feel good. I feel real good."
Garcia awoke at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, stepped outside and watched his breath steam into the cold air. Then he started running.
"It felt great," he said. "It felt like playoff weather."
Hillsborough won its first-round playoff game at home the following night, 45-27 over Charlotte in front of 5,000 fans, who could be heard screaming with the pounding drums way down the streets of Seminole Heights:
"WE ARE ... THE BIG RED! OH OHHH, WE ARE ... THE BIG RED! OH OHHH, WE ARE ... THE BIG RED!"
Next up, Bradenton Manatee.