During his wrestling career, Adam Santees accomplishments, beginning atPerry High School in Ohio and extending to his time at Brown University, areimpressive by most anyones standards. Selected as a captain for the PerryWrestling team, he twice received All-Ohio honors and finished second in thestate tournament as a junior, matching the schools all-time record. Twice aqualifier for the state meet, Adam also became a District Qualifier on fourseparate occasions and a Chagrin Valley Conference Champion. Although theUniversity of North Carolina, Michigan, Penn State, Penn and Brown were alleager to recruit him, Adam opted for Brown University, where he received anathletic and academic grant. For three years, he was a starter and letterwinner for the Brown Wrestling program who also had the role of team captainbestowed upon him. Capping off his list of achievements was an All-Ivy Leagueselection and being a recipient of the Marvin Wilenzik Award, which is awardedto the athlete who gave the most back to Brown.

Adam Santee was on an Academic All-American team at Brown en route towardsgraduating with a degree in Political Science & Comparative Politics.Currently working in the financial sector at Wells Fargo Securities, it seems Adamhas taken many of the lessons that he has absorbed from wrestling and appliedthem to his work and everyday life.

I believe that Adam credits his coaches at Perry for most any and allsuccess that he has had. Coach BobRitley and Coach Mike Ryan at Perry high school were mainstays in hisdevelopment. Coach Ritley brought on amentality and mantra that many use for the rest of their lives. Those who staywill be champions meaning those who stay the course, those who choose not toquit and stay the course will eventually be rewarded. They believed in a mantraof Team then Me that the larger collective group, was much more powerful andsuccessful than the individual. CoachRitley played at the University of Michigan and taught players like Adam thevalues and skills it takes to be successful in life. Coach Ritley made playerslike Adam and his teammates believe in the process and the program.

Perry Coach Mike Ryan lived by the credo send a message. Whether this was to your opponent, or anyonein life that you come across, it is essential that you let your opponent knowthat you are a formidable almost immediately. Mike Ryan coached Adam inbaseball, football and wrestling. He wasnot afraid to call someone out or humble someone when needed. Mike is what I call the embodiment of thecharacter ethic. That is those whocontinue to do the right thing at all times and work to their absolute limits,will eventually prevail. The characterethic differs from the personality ethic, where the loudest guy in the roomwins. The character ethic is quiet, butsteadfast. It eventually wears othersdown and allows them to expose their true self.In life or in athletics.

Coach Dave Rowan has served as a pillar in the community for over 20 years.He had a dramatic impact on many athletes and students in the Perry schoolsystem. Many student athletes includingAdam owe a great amount of credit to Rowans training and teaching. He preachedhard work and instilled a work ethic in his players that is hard toreplicate. Dave was an All-Americanhimself, and many would argue one of the best coaches the state has ever seen.

Perry is a special place for athletics because of the coaches in thecommunity. They are highly skilled,qualified and dedicated. Scores ofstudent athletes have gone on to have success because of the experiences andlessons taught to them at Perry. Many doubt the role and importance ofathletics in the development of peoples lives.I believe in Adams case and others it is of the utmost importance tolearn how to work on team, be independent and self-reliant. It not only takes incredible coaching but acommunity which supports such coaches.You can learn more from athletics than you can in any classes in somecases. More about life and yourself whenyou are truly tested.

See the rest here:
Meet Adam Santee on the Inspiration Coaching can Bring - Thrive Global

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. This is when the beautiful hell he willingly walked back into becomes real.

And this is when the promise he made his wifehow it wouldn't be so all-consuming this time aroundmust save him from the road he seems destined to travel.

"I told him it can't be like it was before," Sally Brown says.

Then North Carolina lost to Appalachian State this past weekend, and everything that felt so right for Mack Brown in his second tenure at UNC instead feels eerily familiar.

He's a coach again, all right, at 68 years young. The body is a '57 Chevy; the engine has hundreds of thousands of miles of life.

Even after what it endured not so long ago.

"It got to the point the last time, at Texas, where every loss was a tragedy and every win was exhaling," Mack says.

He looks at his wonderful wife of 26 years, the woman whose passion for renovating homes inspires him. An architect, Sally says houses will talk to you and tell you what they need.

There was no doubt what Mack needed. The only question was how to get there.

"Can't be like that again," Mack says softly, and then he says it again to no one in stern affirmation. "It just can't."

It can't be how it was two decades ago, when Brown accepted a behemoth of a job at Texas, and Darrell Royal, the legendary Texas coach of years past, told him what he was in for was like having a box of BBs spill onto the floor and the only way to make it right is to get every one back in the box in the exact same spot it started.

It can't be how it was when Brown won double-digit games in nine straight seasons, won conference championships and a national championship and played for another national title, and sonofagun if it wasn't enough.

It can't be how it was when after 16 years in the meat grinder, winning at least nine games 13 times, having two eight-win seasons and onefor the love of all things pigskin, onelosing season, it all ended when Brown's close friend chose to save his own ass over Brown's.

"The day before I resigned [at Texas], Bill Powers begged me to stay another season," Brown says of the late Texas president. "We took vacations together. We traveled together as families. We were close friends. I agreed to stay one more year, and the next morning, the new athletic director [Steve Patterson] came into my office and said, 'I need you to resign today.' Apparently Bill had changed his mind, or someone had helped him change his mind. And that was that.

"Never spoke to him again."

Five years later, this carnival of the absurd is what Mack Brown willinglyand really, eagerlysigned up for again. A business built on the ideal that only one team wins at the end of the season, and everyone else is waiting to be fired. A business that eventually sucks the life from your soul, its tentacles providing just enough give to allow you the thought of leaving, though its fuel will never stop coursing through the veins.

Just when you think you're finding a groove at your new gig, getting back-to-back upset wins over South Carolina and Miami to begin the season, along comes a gut-punch loss to Wake Forest (including a horrible officiating call to end the game) and then a shocking home loss to Appalachian State.

And before you can even begin to figure out how in the world it went from that to this, you get to host defending national champion Clemson on Saturday.

"You learn, and you move to the next week," Brown says.

He's back in coaching mode. Win or lose, you forget it and move on.

Just don't let it eat you alive like the last job.

Sally likes to tell the story of all those summer trips to North Carolina over the years, when she and Mack would hop in the car on vacation and drive from Austin to their home in North Carolina.

When they'd stop for fuel, she'd refuse to let Mack get out of the car and pay because, invariably, he'd stop to chat up someone. And when Mack stops to chat, it's like the years of growing up in east Tennessee flow out of him uncontrollably.

"He's friends with everyone," Sally says with a laugh, and there's a whole lot of truth to that joyful jab.

There's a reason Mack earned the nickname "Coach February" early on at Texas, and it had nothing to do with how the team was performing on the field (the Longhorns won nine games in each of his first three seasons, but at Texas that's not enough to earn any affection).

The nickname came from how he performed after the seasonthe way he'd relate to mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers, and to those high school stars they're protecting. And boy, can he recruit.

"Let me tell you something, if Mack Brown was in that house before you, forget it, you lose," says former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who earned a reputation as the game's best recruiter during the golden age of FSU football. "Everything else in football might have changed, but recruiting hasn't. Mack will still recruit better than anyone."

Recruiting elite players (Brown's 2020 class is ranked No. 19 by 247Sports' composite) leads to increased expectations, and in the case of the Texas job, unrealistic expectations.

By his fourth year in Austin, Brown began his run of nine straight double-digit-win seasons. The Longhorns started winning big, and the more they won, the stronger the monster grew. And the stronger the monster grew, the more Brown would stalk the sidelines with the look of a man who just swallowed a bag of knives.

"You're right," Brown admits, "I did look like that."

That's what this game does to coaches and why the grind at this level is more demanding than any other football job.

In the NFL, the game is truly a business. It's coaching and managing a salary cap and X's and O's and finding mismatches. It's an accounting sheet in which the numbers simply have to add up. In college football, it's recruiting and getting kids to go to class and massaging 100 different personalities who may or may not be fighting with their significant other or worried about their mom's gas bill that's overdue or dealing with the reality that, for the first time since Pop Warner, they're no longer BMOC.

Why in the world would anyone want to be part of this again?

"I worry about him as a brother because I just want him to be happy and healthy," says Watson Brown, Mack's older brother by two years who also spent more than four decades coaching college football. "Nothing else matters to me."

Watson stops here because this is important; this is his little brother. They were as inseparable growing up in Cookeville, Tennesseeplaying high school ball for their granddad Jelly Brownas they are now.

Mack interviewed for the Oklahoma job after the 1994 season, and he likely would've gotten it had he not pulled out. The reason he walked away: Watson was the offensive coordinator at OU, and Mack believed Watson had a chance to get the job.

"We talked many times before he took the [UNC] job," Watson says. "He's a great coach, and he's going to do it right. He goes in with a plan, he sees what's there, sees where it has to go and he doesn't deviate. He sticks to it through good and bad. That's his best trait.

"They're getting his best shot, believe me."

He tried to stay connected through analyst work on television, and that didn't work. He tried traveling for a full yearanywhere Sally wanted to go, because she put up with his job all these yearsand that didn't take, either.

He wanted back in the game, but Sally insisted any return would only happen at one of two jobs: back at North Carolina, where he coached from 1988 to 1997, or at Hawaii.

"The Hawaii job wasn't open," Mack deadpans.

More than 20 years ago, Sally designed a state of the art football-only facility at North Carolina. Every room, every square foot, had a purpose.

The cost was $50 million, and to get an idea of just how enormous that undertaking was back in the mid-1990s, understand that Clemson built a wildly hyped (see: bowling alley, player slide, etc.) football facility in 2017 for $55 million.

On the day he was supposed to move into his new office at North Carolina in 1997, Brown accepted the job offer from Texas and never got a chance to use it. More than two decades later, he sits in the office that overlooks the beautiful stadium shrouded in pine trees and marvels at an old adage.

"The more things change," Mack says, and his voice tails off.

The more it's like you've never left.

Their friends are still around. So are their doctors and those great little restaurants they loved. Rick Steinbacher was a linebacker on Mack's team, and now he's an associate athletic director at UNC.

Dre Bly, one of Brown's All-Americans from those years, now coaches cornerbacks for the Tar Heels. Tommy Thigpen, a team captain of years gone by, coaches linebackers.

"When I heard Mack was coming back, the first thing that went through my mind is, this is going to work," Bly says. "We will get elite players here. Make no mistake about that. We will win."

It took Brown all of two weeks to get 4-star quarterback Sam Howell, 247Sports' No. 1 recruit in the state of North Carolina and a player who could be Brown's most important recruit for years to come. Not only does getting Howell give UNC the chance to win now, but it also shows the rest of the players in the state that Brown is building something again.

Most of the coaches who spent all that time with Brown long ago are still around or connected to those state programs in some way. None were shocked when Brown, days after he was named coach on Nov. 26, 2018, hopped in a car and drove two-and-a-half hours south on I-85 to Monroe, North Carolina, where Howell had developed into one of the nation's top dual-threat quarterbacks.

"Mack's going to shake things up," a coach at one of the state's top high schools tells Bleacher Report. "Hell, I'm excited about it, and I have no dog in the hunt."

Howell had been committed to Florida State for eight months. Not long after spending time with Brown, he switched his commitment to North Carolina. A week before the end of summer camp, Brown named Howell his starting quarterback. And Howell is already showing why he was such a highly regarded recruit, with nine passing touchdowns, 1,024 yards and a 64.1 completion percentage.

"Coach Brown brings it in this building every single day. Everything about him screams positivity," Howell says. "There's never an off day for him."

Brown is driving a powder-blue golf cart across the bucolic campus, waving and smiling at everyone. Students, faculty, groundskeepers.

Everybody knows Mack, everybody loves Mack.

It's a long way from the daily grind in Austin, a city Mack and Sally adore and had a harder time leaving than you might think. Mack had other job offers but never really considered any of them until UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham called and asked him to come home.

For weeks after he arrived in Chapel Hill, his new team tried to get him to dance. You know, something to break up the long, monotonous days of camp in the hot and humid North Carolina summer. When everyone is dragging through the fourth week of camp, there has to be some release. So the players jumped in cold tubs and danced and laughed and bonded.

Mack had no problem getting in those cold tubs, but dancing? If Sally can't get him on the dance floor, he sure wasn't going to randomly bust a few moves.

So he dangled a carrot: beat South Carolina in the season opener, and I'll dance.

Walking through position meeting rooms during game week, Brown eased into a corner of the defensive backs room. The DBs, the last level of run defense.

"I'm concerned that South Carolina is going to line up and run it right at us," Brown softly admitted while the group went through preparations.

South Carolina ran for 128 yards on 31 carries but never did enough damage in the run game. Two fourth-quarter touchdown drives engineered by Howell in his first game gave Brown his first victory in his second tenure at UNC and forced an uncomfortable moment in the postgame locker room.

He was dancing. All arms and very much a 21st-century version of the robot, but he was dancing, nonetheless.

"He brought life back into the room, back into the program," says UNC safety Myles Dorn. "He brought fun back to the game. Every day he chooses to have fun. It makes all the difference in the world."

It can't be like it was before. Except when it has to be.

"You ask me why I'm in this, and it's not as complicated an answer as you think," Brown says. "I love football, always have."

The golf cart stops mid-drive, and one of the game's best recruiters leans over and sells stone cold truth.

"Football isn't the drug," Brown says. "Seeing a player return to campus 20 years later with his family and he tells you, 'I'd never be where I am today without this university and this team.' That's everything.

"That's why you coach."

The rest is here:
Return of the Mack: Why UNC Head Coach Mack Brown Couldn't Stay Away - Bleacher Report

The seventh-annual Paris Electronic Week kicked off Wednesday at Gat Lyriquewith a day full of panels and workshops discussing the topics at the forefront of electronic music. Supplemented by nightly interactive performances taking place throughout the city, the conference caters to both the industry professional and everyday electronic music fan.

The first days lineup included panels on electronic music in video games, how to integrate emerging artists with headlining acts and audiovisuals as the future of electronic music performance.

However, one dialogue that stood out from the rest was Focus on The Mental Health of Artists, presented by the Association For Electronic Music. After the tragic death of EDM powerhouse Avicii in April of last year, the electronic and dance music community as a whole has started to reevaluate the ways in which mental health is duscissed as well as treated within thecommunity. Including this discourse at an event like Paris Electronic Week, where professionals are able to directly connect with artists and fans, is certainly a testament to that effort.

Moderated by AFEM regional manager Tristan Hunt, the panel featured DJ and producer Louisahhh, music industry life coach Ariane Paras of Olympia Coaching and Tamsin Embleton, a psychotherapist from the Music Industry Therapist Collective.

Below, find 10 key takeaways from the discussion.

Understanding Mental Health Is Essential to Sustainable Careers

It is clear that mental health is an ever-present issue in the music industry. Embleton advocated for a proactive approach in order to foster a realistic and rewarding career.

The work that [Music Industry Therapist Collective] does is really about building sustainable careers, Embleton said. How to develop resilience, how to predict what the difficult areas are and how we can support artists through that.

The Dichotomy of Success

Throughout the panel, Louisahhh was extremely open about her own battles as an artist, including addiction and feeling ashamed to be struggling despite success.

Theres no feeling of loneliness quite like coming back to a hotel room sober at 7 a.m. and feeling the euphoria of being connected to a bunch of people wear off, Louisahhh said. But thats what living the dream looks like. Thats success. Theres a lot of people who want this job, but at the same time, its hard.

Due to this dichotomy, Paras encourages artists to define what success means to them, instead of what it may mean to others.

Everyone wants success, but what I find is that no one spends even one minute to define what success is to them, Paras said. People are forever chasing an idea of success, but if youre miserable 99% of the time until you get there, you can miss the point.

Mental Health Is An Industry-Wide, Global Crisis

Although this panel focused specifically on the electronic scene, concerns about mental health in the music industry and in general are nothing new. As Louisahhh pointed out, it affects not only artists but everyone involved, down to the listeners.

I dont know if its necessarily unique to electronic music, Louisahhh said. But I think that, because it is an issue in this industry, we have to gather our resources and make it important to discuss not only for our artists, management and booking, but also for our fans.

Musicians May Have Underlying Vulnerabilities On Top of Occupational Stresses

Its no coincidence that mental health is an important topic to discuss in the music industry, as artists are often more prone to struggling with it than the average person. Embleton gave the shocking statistic that in the UK, men are three to four times more likely to die by suicide than women, and male musicians are another two and a half times as likely.Therefore, a male musician is nine times more likely to die by suicide than the average woman.

This suggests that people who are drawn to the music industry for its transformative effect and the joy of playing at clubs or festivals may have underlying vulnerabilities, Embleton said.They have the highest levels of childhood trauma. This makes them vulnerable to addiction and to high levels of psychological difficulty.

The Industry Is Rooted In Pressure and Fear

Due to the advent of streaming diminishing artist revenue, Paras said that artists are under more pressure than ever to tour constantly, using DJ Fresh as an example.

DJ Fresh had several health scares throughout his life and eventually he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Paras said. But he still found himself negotiating the amount of off days he would have to take with his doctor."

Managers and Artists Should Have An Ongoing Dialogue About Mental Health

After thoroughly addressing the mental health struggles many artists face, the panel turned to solutions. They emphasized that having an open line of communication concerning mental health between artists and their management teams as well as trying to cultivate a collaborative relationship rather than a parental one.

Regressive behavior can be encouraged by the parental dynamic often experienced with managers, Embleton said. This is a little bit like what you see in the Avicii documentary. His whole body is saying I cant do this, and he verbally says it again and again, but everyone around him is like, Its okay! Its just a party."

Artists Must Learn to Balance Work and Play

Within the industry, there is an issue of boundaries, further blurred by drug and alcohol use.

Youve gotta remember that its your job," Embleton said. "What do you need to do to do your job? If its popping pills or doing a gram of coke, thenyouve got a problem."

Dont Shame Self-Care

On tour, Louisahhh tries to make her routine as structured as possible, even if that involves rituals others may find strange. As soon as I dropped the shame of what I needed for self-care, my life got a lot easier, Louisahhh said. Working on having a deep anchor for self-love will carry me through the surely turbulent seas.

Self-Awareness Is Key

Along with self-love and self-care comes knowing ones own weaknesses and watching out for them in sensitive situations.

Get to know your sore spots; the parts of you that are difficult or get hurt in certain scenarios, Embleton said. You are a separate being from the industry and need to figure out what that part of you needs.

A Ripple Effect Is Possible

There is a bright side: Paras insists that once ones mindset toward mental health is changed, others will naturally follow suit.

Invest in yourself and your health. Not only will you benefit immensely, but you will have an effect on everyone around you, Paras said. As you feel happier, healthier and more fulfilled, youre going to have this ripple effect. This is how we transform the industry, by transforming ourselves first.

Paris Electronic Week continues at Gat Lyriquetoday (Sept. 27) through Sept. 29. See the complete schedule here.

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'People Are Forever Chasing An Idea of Success': 10 Things We Learned at Paris Electronic Week's Mental Health - Billboard

BY DON BEANE

News + Record Staff

PITTSBORO The Northwood High School Athletics Hall of Fame will gain five members prior to the Chargers football game against Cedar Ridge High School at 7 p.m. Friday.

The 2019 class includes Ronald Brooks, Kathryn Dispennette, Bill Hall, Tobias Palmer and Will Shambley.

Brooks was a standout offensive tackle for Northwood, distinguishing himself as an all-conference performer for two years, all-county for two years and all-state during his senior season.

Also a star on the baseball diamond as a third-baseman for Northwoods baseball squad, Brooks made the all-conference team for three years, all-county for three years and was the conference player of the year in 1977.

I took great pride in wearing the green and gold, Brooks said. I wanted to represent my school, town and community to the best of my ability. Northwood athletics taught me toughness and to compete with great intensity in everything I do. I was also very fortunate to have great men as coaches in my life. Coach Horton, Coach Tilley, Coach Arthur and Coach Shaw were all great men that had a positive effect in my life.

Brooks graduated from Northwood in 1977 and matriculated to what would become Chowan University. The school was a junior college when Brooks was there playing both football and baseball. At Chowan, Brooks was all-Region 10 in football and participated in the North/South Region 10 All-Star Game in 1979.

In baseball, he was Chowans most valuable player and made the all-region team.

Brooks moved on to Campbell University, emerging during his senior season in 1981 as the baseball teams most valuable player. He finished his career with a .375 batting average.

In 2016, Brooks earned a bachelors degree in biblical studies from Bethel Bible College.

The former Northwood star has coached the junior varsity baseball team at Northwood and for two seasons was the assistant coach for the varsity baseball team. He spent 12 years coordinating the football teams offense and coaching its offensive linemen.

Brooks, a dispatcher for Pilgrims Pride in Sanford, said he plans to continue serving his community, which could include establishing his own ministry in the near future.

Dispennette was a standout for Northwood in soccer, cross country and both the indoor and outdoor track teams. Her Northwood records in the 5K, 3,200-meter and 1,600-meter races still stand and she was all-state in cross country in 2007 and was the indoor track state-champion in the 3,200-meter run in 2009.

After graduating from Northwood in 2009, Dispennette matriculated to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where she was an Academic All-American in cross country and both outdoor and indoor track.

In 2013, she graduated with a bachelors degree in exercise science and also earned one in psychology. Dispennette earned a masters degree in kinesiology from Western Kentucky University in 2018 and is pursuing a doctorate in that field of study from Ohio State University.

Northwood athletics has opened many doors for me, specifically allowing me to run cross country and track at UNCW, where I then discovered my love for academia and research, Dispennette said. Being on a team every year in high school gave me the dedication, confidence and teamwork skills needed to succeed in life.

Bill Hall won more games as Northwoods head football coach than anyone in school history with a 114-64 career.

For 14-plus years, not a day went by where I didnt take the time to think and write down what I could do to make the Charger football program better, Hall said. Northwood football was my life. I was consumed with it. To this day, the Charger football program means the world to me.

He served Northwoods director of athletics for eight years, coached the varsity football team for 28 years, coached the softball team for two years, coached the girls basketball team for two years and coached the golf team for a year.

But the football field is where Hall set himself apart. The Southern Pines native was one of the most successful head football coaches in the history of Chatham County. He said his teams never lost in overtime or in the rain because he regularly had his guys practice for those situations.

Halls Chargers won three conference championships and for five consecutive seasons made it to the third round of the state playoffs while his players competed in the Shrine Bowl and the NCCA East-West All-Star Game.

A 1988 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Hall was selected to coach with the NCCA West staff in 2016 and prided himself on positioning his student-athletes to play college sports and earn degrees.

In 2006, Palmer set Northwood records with 35 total touchdowns including 28 rushing touchdowns. In 2005, he had 503 all-purpose yards against Carrboro High School, is Northwoods career rushing leader with 4,708 yards and 82 touchdowns 70 of those scores on the ground.

Palmer also excelled in track and field, in 2006 legging it out for a state championship in the 100-meter dash.

Northwood athletics was a start to create my platform and gaining a positive image of myself, family and friends, said Palmer, who in 2019 returned to Northwood as an educator and assistant football coach. Northwood made an impact on my life to continue to strive and go get what I want in life.

Following his career at Northwood, Palmer played football under head coach Tom OBrien at North Carolina State University, where he set a single-game Atlantic Coast Conference record with 496 all-purpose yards against Clemson. That mark ranks third in the NCAA. Palmer also is the second all-time leading kick returner in the NCAA and is first in the ACC with 1,396 return yards.

Palmer would graduate from N.C. State and sign as an undrafted free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He also had stints with the San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers. His last season of professional football was with the Birmingham Iron in the Alliance of American Football.

Shambley is a 1993 Northwood graduate who distinguished himself as a state champion in wrestling. During his senior season, he emerged as state champ with a 34-0 record in the 189-pound weight class. For his career Shambley was 97-22.

Shambley said Northwood coach Darrel Bradshaw was influential in his development.

Coach Bradshaw went above and beyond the call of a teacher or coach, he said. He drove us all over the state and spent countless hours and used his own gas to take us to camps. I credit him with instilling the values that enabled me to succeed at Northwood, Penn and life.

Shambleys hard work and dedication both on the mat and in the classroom landed him an opportunity at the University of Pennsylvania. He wrestled four seasons in the Ivy League, even grappling as a heavyweight for the Quakers, before graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering.

The rest is here:
5 get the call for Northwood Athletics Hall of Fame - The Chatham News + Record

Sep 27, 2019

Mechelle VoepelespnW.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mike Thibault looks like the ultimate basketball professor on the sidelines. But as a California teen in the late 1960s, he had a different aspiration.

"I thought, 'I'm going to go to college and be a rock 'n' roll star,'" Thibault said, chuckling, after a recent Washington Mystics practice. "Music was my other love."

Saturday, Thibault turns 69 years old, and Sunday, his Mystics host the Connecticut Sun, his previous team, in Game 1 (ESPN, 3 p.m. ET) of the WNBA Finals. The one-time drummer and trombonist has made a successful life in basketball, and both his children have followed him into coaching.

"He's been doing this for more than 50 years now," his wife, Nanci, said. "Can you believe it?"

It's been an eventful journey for Thibault, who grew up dealing with an extended family tragedy, got into coaching somewhat by happenstance, had a part in two famous NBA dynasties, and ended up becoming one of the most successful coaches and biggest advocates for pro women's basketball. This is his fourth trip to the WNBA Finals, and he's seeking his first title.

"I love that guy; he's family," Mystics star and 2019 MVP Elena Delle Donne said. "To be on the team that could bring him a championship would mean so much."

Thibault said he wants the title for the longtime Mystics fans, who've seen some lean years, and his players for how well they've bought into everything he's asked of them.

"If we win it, I'll probably feel a little more complete as a WNBA coach, but I don't think it's vindication one way or another," Thibault said. "I'm not going to let myself be defined by winning a championship. I'm going to judge myself on why I got into this in the first place, and that's to teach and watch people grow on the court and off the court."

Thibault learned perspective early. The oldest of nine children, he lost five siblings to cystic fibrosis, either as children or young adults. None of them lived past age 21.

"I don't know if it was a coping mechanism, but you say, 'That's just how life is,'" Thibault said of dealing with the disease. "I didn't think it was fair to my parents or to my siblings. But I grew up with the fact that this is just part of life."

Nanci, a retired registered nurse, said Thibault has a lot of empathy, but tends to be stoic and composed.

"For them to go through what they went through, but still have such a strong family bond, I give his mom and dad a lot of credit," she said. "I don't know how much of the tragedy of it all that Mike processed when he was young. To him, it was just the way things were."

Nanci recalled a story told by one of Thibault's sisters who didn't have the disease and would help Mike and their parents do treatments, such as pounding on their siblings' backs to loosen the congestion in their lungs. Thibault used his passion for drumming to do this, putting on music and pounding to the beat.

"It was Mike's way of taking something difficult and trying to make it more fun," Nanci said.

Thibault's work ethic kicked in early, as he got multiple part-time jobs as soon as he was old enough to help with family expenses. He also loved sports. A self-described mediocre basketball player, he'd been cut as a high school junior, but was expected to see playing time as a senior. Then he tore ligaments in his ankle just before the season started.

His coach saw him moping a bit, and asked if he'd like to coach a freshman team to lift his spirits. Thibault did that, but went to college as a music major. Then he was asked to coach another high school team.

"I was trying to do both: play night-time band gigs and also coach," he said. "I was in two totally insecure professions; neither of them has any job security. But I decided I was more in love with coaching."

2 Related

Between that, doing other odd jobs and switching colleges -- he ended up at St. Martin's in Lacey, Washington -- Thibault developed his basketball philosophy. He worked at legendary UCLA coach John Wooden's camps, and watched how Wooden approached athletes, no matter how great their stature.

"It always seemed to me that the coaches who were the most honest with their players had the best results," Thibault said. "I will tell every team I've ever coached: You're not always going to like what I say, but I'll always tell you the truth."

Nanci laughs as she says you should never ask Mike his opinion if you aren't prepared to hear it. He doesn't sugarcoat anything.

At the same time, Thibault said, "What I've gotten better at as I've gone along is reading when a player needed a kick versus a pat on the back."

Thibault worked with the Los Angeles Lakers during part of the "Showtime" years in the early 1980s, and then was on the Chicago Bulls staff that drafted Michael Jordan. Maybe most crucial, though, were his eight years as coach and general manager of the Omaha, Nebraska, franchise of the Continental Basketball Association.

"It was the first time on a pro level where every decision had to be mine," Thibault said. "I learned that what you thought was going to happen might not, because life changes quickly. You have to go with the flow and adapt. That's where I really learned how to coach."

After a stint back in the NBA, with the Milwaukee Bucks, Thibault got a job offer to coach the WNBA's Portland Fire. As he and his family were preparing to move, the Fire folded. But another WNBA expansion team, the Orlando Miracle, was moving to Connecticut.

He got that job, and so began a 10-season stay that included two trips to the WNBA Finals. The Sun made it in 2004 as a young team, and Thibault didn't think they were ready to win. They were ready in 2005, but then point guard Lindsay Whalen was injured in the playoffs.

The playoff trip that ended his Sun career came in 2012, when Connecticut had a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals, but lost to Tamika Catchings-led Indiana. Connecticut let Thibault go, which was one of the best things that ever happened to the Mystics.

"It was actually a breath of fresh air," Thibault said of the move. "The situation in Connecticut had played itself out. This was a chance to build kind of from scratch."

The Mystics have made the playoffs six of Thibault's seven seasons. Last year, they advanced to the WNBA Finals for the first time, where they lost to the Seattle Storm. This year, the Mystics had the league's best record (26-8) and Delle Donne won her second MVP. Delle Donne insisted on a trade to Washington from Chicago before the 2017 season to be closer to her family in Delaware, and her presence, along with Thibault's coaching, transformed the Mystics into contenders.

It is a family business; son Eric Thibault is one of Mike's assistants, daughter Carly Thibault-DuDonis is an assistant to Whalen at the University of Minnesota, and Carly's husband, Blake DuDonis, is head coach at Wisconsin-River Falls.

Thibault sees the move to the WNBA as the best decision of his career. The summertime season gave him more time with Eric and Carly growing up. He feels he's making a difference in a league that has benefitted from his strategic knowledge and his advocacy.

"The coolest thing about him," Delle Donne said, "is he's a hall of famer coach, but each year he's trying to learn more."

And he still has his love of music. During the Mystics' trip to Las Vegas for the WNBA semifinals, he caught Santana in concert. He sold his drum kit when the family moved from Connecticut, but Thibault recently got a gift from Eric: studio time with drums.

Thibault thinks back to another memory of his youth in California, when he participated in a 2 a.m. jam session with Jefferson Airplane, playing trombone, at a music festival in Santa Clara.

"That was my rock 'n' roll highlight," Thibault said.

His basketball highlight might be coming up soon.

See more here:
Mystics coach Mike Thibault closes in on elusive title in WNBA Finals - ESPN

B/R illustrationSue Ogrocki/Associated Press

BOCA RATON, Fla. In Lane Kiffin's reasonably-sized office, it's the expansive library that grabs your eye first.

Not the ceremonial rings and watches stationed on the front of his desktokens of previous coaching tenures that are recruiting ammunition for him as the head coach at Florida Atlantic. Not the pictures of his children scattered throughout the room. Not the flat-screen television frozen on a practice repfour days before FAU will take on Ohio State as a colossal underdog in the season opener.

Not the "Winning in Paradise" sign or the satiric name plate that reads "Mr. Wonderful."

No, as Kiffin leans back in his chair, his feet propped on the desk, it's the books collected behind him that stand out, largely because of what they are not. They aren't playbooks. In fact, they apparently have nothing to do with football at all. But these books have had an impact on Kiffin far greater than anything strictly to do with his profession.

There is Ego Is the Enemy. Next to that,The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change. And, in the stacks of hard and soft covers, a book that Kiffin is particularly fond of: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

Call them self-help books. Motivational reads. To each person, they may mean something different. To Kiffin, they've meant everything as he explores the kind of person he hopes to become.

Two years ago, The Purpose Driven Life was sent to Kiffin by the Tennessee team chaplain. The first sentence on the first page was highlighted in neon yellow.

"It's not about you."

"I didn't understand that when I was young because it was about me," Kiffin says as he flips through the pages. "I do more with the players now. I genuinely care about their development and want to help them through things. I used to help them, but I helped them with one thing: football.

"I'd get you drafted higher than anywhere else," he continues. "I was going to give you everything in that aspect. But did I do anything else for you?"

By leaving the spotlight that trailed him from one high-profile coaching drama to the next, Kiffin has found serenity. He recognizes the stigmas that exist about him. He also understands he probably won't change them,no matter how good his tweets are.

Twitter has unquestionably helped him remake his image. But the flood of honest, witty tweets he unleashes on a daily basis fail to capture the true transformation.

Once the poster child for expedited coaching ascension, Kiffin has found tranquility in a sleepy Florida town that is still learning to love its programa program that's in its 19th season and has won eight or more games only four times. Under Kiffin, FAU has gone 11-3 and 5-7.

Curious about how one of the sport's most recognized and polarizing coaches has adjusted to life away from the spotlight, Bleacher Report went behind the scenes with Kiffin as his third season at FAU was about to kick off. It is clear the drive and the passion haven't disappeared. But there's another side to Kiffin taking shapea side most assumed he never had.

"I want to win football games," he says. "That's important and everything, but that's not the only thing. Because if that's truly the only thing, you won't be very happy. I've lived it."

The sound of jet engines coming and going from nearby Boca Raton Airport Authority breaks up the silence of the offensive staff meeting, as coaches settle into their chairs and eat their lunches.

There's plenty of youth in this assemblage, starting at the head of the table withKiffin, who's wearing red basketball shorts and a long white-sleeve shirt soaked in sweat from practice. The former head coach of USC, Tennessee and the Oakland Raiders is 44 years old.

Compared with some of his assistants, he's almost ancient. His offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis Jr., is 26 years old. His tight ends coach, former Florida State-turned-West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett, is 28. His running backs coach, UCF great Kevin Smith, is 32.

This week, the assignment for one of the nation's youngest staffs is daunting. Preparing for a team with the talent and resource advantages of Ohio State is never easy. This particular year, it's more demanding than usual.

"It's a very complicated game," Kiffin says. "[Ohio State has a] new head coach, new quarterback and then a new defensive system, but you don't exactly know which system it is. It's like you've got no idea what to watch."

For the first part of the meeting, Kiffin and his assistants focus on the team's practice from earlier in the day, projected on a screen near the center of the room. After one of the sloppiest practices in recent weeks, the head coach's frustration builds as the miscues add up.

"Get it going," Kiffin says while watching his offensive line. "We're gonna get murdered if it looks like that on Saturday."

For much of his professional life, Kiffin was on the other side of lopsided season openers. After coaching and recruiting some of the nation's most elite athletes, getting accustomed to underdog status has taken some time.

Kiffin accepted the job at FAU after three seasons as the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama. While he knew that he would be recruiting different players than he did for the Crimson Tide, he felt confident that he'd be able to successfully navigate the football-rich state of Florida.

"You have these profiles in your head of how every single position should look," Kiffin says. "This is the height, the weight, the speed; and it was that way for a long time. But you're not going to get that here. There's never been an offensive lineman drafted in the history of the school. Not in any round."

As the film session jumps from the team's practice reps to Ohio State's spring game, the obstacle seems to grow larger. Although FAU has faced Oklahoma and UCF and Wisconsin in the last few seasons, life as a cupcake is still relatively new to Kiffin.

"You've got to get some breaks in a game like this," he says. "That's just what happens when you're close to a 30-point underdog.

"Were the players ready to play? Did you manage the game well? Did you substitute well? That's kind of how I look at it now, which is hard to even say. But you've got to be realistic."

No book on Kiffin's shelves offers a closer parallel to his life over the past 10 years than The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change.

Kiffin dives into an analogy for how he found himself in Boca.

"Put a carrot in boiling water, and it will soften and ultimately weaken," he says. "If you put an egg in boiling water, it will become agitated and harden. But the coffee bean will take that water and change it. It'll turn it into coffee that smells good, embracing the adversity going on to make everything around it better."

When Kiffin was fired from USC in September of 2013, he became a carrot. Then, he became an egg. The spectacle of his firinga raw moment that played out in the openleft him heartbroken and bitter.

"When you're in L.A. and you get fired at the airport at 4 a.m., you don't want to go anywhere," he says. "It was painful and embarrassing. And I felt miserable and angry at everybody for a little while. I realized then that I was defined as the head coach at USC, and that's all I was defined as."

The months that followed, a time of self-reflection, allowed him to come to terms with all that brought him to this point. The string of turbulent stops that culminated with the lowest point of his careerfrom Oakland to Tennessee and finally USCbrought him to this life stage at FAU.

"If that night had never happened, I think I'd still be so just drawn by the chase of the championships and the ego," he says. "I just look at things different now."

Kiffin started over by pairing up with Saban, first in an observing role that December and soon after as Alabama's offensive coordinator.

For a coach whose path had been a whirlwind of turbulent climbing, this was a much different opportunity.

"You go back to being an assistant learning from the best that has ever coached," Kiffin says. "That kind of move will humble you. Knock down your ego. It certainly did for me."

The goal was to relearn what it took to run a football program, with the hope that another opportunity would eventually surface.

He also knew that if he was given another chance to lead, he would treat the people around him better. He would view program success differentlynot just through the lens of wins and losses.

This was his coffee-bean moment.

His press conferences these days are outside of the national glare. Most of the time, a handful of local reporters ask him about the depth chart and injuries in a classroom that moonlights as an interview room.

While he still knows how to generate a buzz when he feels it's necessary, mainly through social media, Boca Raton has provided the seclusion he was seeking.

At night, Kiffin can travel to restaurants without being recognizedsomething he was never afforded at his previous stops.

Unlike most football coaches, Kiffin has never played golf: The water has always been his escape. And in Boca that escape is readily available.

"I am happier on a daily basis when I wake up and come to work," Kiffin says. "They love that you're here, and I can go home, take the boat out every day and catch snook in my backyard."

He pauses momentarily, intersecting his personal and professional life.

"Coaches leave jobs for two things: their ego and money," he says. "So what if I don't make three times or four times more money?"

Over the past couple of years, networks have shown interest in doing behind-the-scenes programs at FAU. It's no question that Kiffin's presence has made these opportunities possible. And while they could provide significant publicity to optimize recruiting and elevate interest in his program, Kiffin has denied each request.

"I just felt it wasn't the right timing for now," Kiffin says. "It felt really good to be able to just coach."

One of the other reasons Kiffin is uneasy about doing an all-access show is because he worries about his assistants having to publicly endure criticism in practicean experience that hits close to home.

"There's a lot of head coaches that love that," he says." I don't want these guys to go through that with cameras around."

One of the assistants on the defensive staff is his father, Monte Kiffin, who started his career as a graduate assistant at Nebraska in the 1960s.

The luxury of being able to work alongside his father, a football lifer at age 79, is not lost on Lane as he lives his mid-40s. But he also doesn't see himself coaching and consuming football like his father for 30 more years.

He laughs at the notion that he could one day coach alongside his son, Knox. But his commitment to the sport and FAU is significant: He's on a 10-year contract that will keep him with the Owls through 2027. It's a commitment he intends to see through.

What actually happens before or after 2027 remains to be seen. Kiffin isn't sure what he would do without football in his life.

"My mom says I could've been a lawyer just because I used to like to argue a lot," he says with a smile. "I used to argue a lot and always had to be right."

Whatever comes next, right now he is clearly comfortable. Content. Relaxed. Which are not emotional states this profession often allows or encourages.

The first quarter at Ohio State goes as expected. Undersized and overwhelmed, FAU falls behind 28 points to the Buckeyes almost instantaneously.

But in a natural course of play, the game begins to tighten. It's never in doubt, but the Owls turn what initially has the look of a momentous blowout into a satisfactory 45-21 loss filled with moral victories.

The following week, FAU falls to UCF by 34 points. The first win comes at Ball State the next Saturday, when Kiffin and his players break through 41-31.

In his previous coaching world, a 10-point victory over Ball State wouldn't have meant much to Kiffin. But here, it's a springboard and a potentially season-saving win. (The Owls are now 2-2 after beating Wagner this past Saturday.)

In the next six months, FAU will open the Schmidt Family Complex for Athletic and Academic Excellencea state-of-the-art facility with locker rooms, a weight room, practice fields and amenities that will change the way the football program operates and recruits.

The distance between FAU and the extensive list of programs it is chasing will grow shorter. Kiffin, who has been active in the construction of the facility, recognizes how much this could impact his professional life. It's also not a new factor that will sway his loyalty to his current job one way or another.

"As I've gotten older, I've realized I'd rather make less and live in a place that I really love," Kiffin says. "I'm at a place in my life where what's important to me is just different from when I was 30 years old."

The road to get here has been long. Painful. Maddening. Revealing. It has taken many years and jobs for Kiffin to find happinessa situation that is not defined by status or money.

Failure, in many ways, was the best thing that could have happened to him. It's what brought on his own coffee-bean moment. In the years to come, he will still be defined by the success of his football program. As a head coach, the wins and the losses are inescapable.

But one thing will be very different. It will no longer just be about him.

Go here to see the original:
Introspective and at Peace, Lane Kiffin Talks About His Path to a Happier Place - Bleacher Report

WASHINGTON "Hi! How are you," Sherry Gruden said, as she welcomed visitors with a warm smile and embrace.

Sherry and her husband, Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden, have been happily married for 30 years. They have three sons and two grandsons together. She's been an NFL wife for quite some time now.

But on the other side, Sherry is an accomplished woman with a lot to say. She's a strong force for her family.

"I'm from Louisville, Kentucky and come from a pretty large family there," she said. "I have a couple of siblings and a lot of my family is still there. I'm the only one who moved away."

RELATED: Cut by Raiders, Antonio Brown becoming a Patriot on eve of season opener

"I met Jay at college," she added. "We both went to the University of Louisville. He was a couple of years older, and just on the other side of football. So, he was working now in the coaching office there, no longer playing when we got together which was probably a good thing."

Sherry said that they dated for a short time, then she and Jay were married after he graduated from college. She was in her senior year, and knew that she was marrying into a football dynasty.

"I didn't know a lot about football," Sherry said. "His mother knew more than anybody who had taught me about football. You know, Jon, his brother, had just started out his coaching career. And his father had been a coach."

RELATED: Raiders release Antonio Brown after disgruntled WR told them to

While her husband pursued his football career, Sherry kept busy building her own path.

"I've always been a go-go-goer, like, I didn't sit still very often," she said. "The third child came along, and it's like, I gotta do something else, gotta do something that's more flexible. So, I decided to get my real estate license."

Her growing real estate team became one of the top in the nation for Caldwell Banker. Sherry said she did that for a while until Jay's job took them to Cincinnati.

In 2014, Jay Gruden became the head coach of the Washington Redskins. And, as if going from offensive coordinator to the top job wasn't just a career change, the increased pressure and scrutiny became a life changer for Jay and his family.

RELATED: Antonio Brown not with Raiders amid reports of suspension

Sherry Gruden talks with husband Jay on the football field before start of game.

WUSA9

RELATED: Redskins RB Derrius Guice tells his haters to 'kiss it'

"It's always most fun when you don't have direct involvement in the game," she said. "When you can sit back as a spectator and watch and just really get into the actual fun of the game."

"When you're in the final stages of contracts and your team's gotta perform or, you know, your job is on the line kind of thing, it's stressful," Sherry said. "So, it's always exciting, but, it's also always stressful because your livelihood depends on every win. So, yeah, right now we're in that stage."

Sherry said she knows Jay hears more of the criticism, but he takes it well.

"Everybody is entitled to their opinion to what they think, and they are passionate sport fans," Sherry said.

"I know that he is putting in 100 percent of effort every week, every week in and every week out, doing everything he can do," she added.

RELATED: Redskins cornerback gives back by donating blood in honor of his namesake

Sherry Gruden gives son Jack a hug as he greets her before kickoff at FEDEX Field.

WUSA9

RELATED: Redskins ragtag offensive line has confidence they can do the job

Sherry said while Jay puts in 100 percent of the effort on the field, she takes care of much of their home life.

"He knows that I take care of things on the home front and whatever he needs, I'm there for him and the kids, and, you know, pretty much the rock of the family," she said.

Download the brand new WUSA9 app here.

Sign up for the Get Up DC newsletter: Your forecast. Your commute. Your news.

Read more here:
'Your livelihood depends on every win' | Wife of Redskins head coach speaks her mind - WUSA9.com

Despite years of trying, you cant seem to find the love of your life. Or after years of trying and lots of money, you cant get pregnant. Or youve spent years working to pay off your student loans and theres no end in sight because you incurred more debt from a car that broke down, an unexpected surgery, and now you need to move. You landed that dream job and found it to be more of a nightmare!

What Do We Do When Our Most Desired Dreams Die?

Most professionals will say gratitude journal it away! Be grateful because you have your arms! But sometimes self-improvement can be a band-aide for the pain, if we first dont accept we have the pain. If the pain is ignored, it will haunt us eventually.

Contrary to popular belief, sometimes our dreams dying in front of us, lets us know we are on the right path. I know, we all have things we want and desire in this life, and when weve constantly pursued them to no avail, it just sucks. And you know what? Its OK to say it sucks.

Here are 4 Ways To Get Back Your Joy When Your Dreams Have Died.

I gave a talk on this concept and it startled some people. But one woman came to the talk twice and on the second time, she explained how by giving herself permission to let go of her dream career not happening fast enough, she accepted that it had died. And then later that week interviewed for a new job, although similar to her dream job but not on her radar, ended up negotiating a bigger offer than her dream job would ever pay. She thanked me for teaching her this concept because in effect, she got something better.

Accepting your dreams have died is the first step. If you are increasing your self-care because a dream died in your life, you are in good company!

Do you misspainting? Paint. Been titter totting on whether to do that yoga teachertraining? Do it. Too broke to invest in your passionsget creative. No matterhow broke you feel, budget a small portion to your dreams fund. The dreamsfund reminds you, new dreams are kindling; pursuing dreams does cost money, andsometimes when we dont have the funds to invest in ourselves, it can hurt evenmore. Think about trading services. Think about if you took a small commitmentpart time job and used that money to fund your dream. And even better, if itsin the area of your dream.

Thepain of your dreams death will be nourished with a passion project.

Sometimes we needa coach to help during the process of resurrecting our dreams or finding a newdream. A certified coach, with transformational accredited training, can helpyou unlock your own transformation rather than just give you advice. Advicefeels good sometimes if its relevant, but eventually in relationships to thosewho give advice, if you dont follow the advice, it can cause some additionalpain to the death of your dream. This is because it can lead to shame of oh Icouldnt get result like my so and so coach, I must really be bad, failure, etc.And sometimes a coach who just gives advice, wont know what to do if you cantget the same result because your situation is afterall different.

Having a coachthat is educated in true transformational coaching techniques to be a guide tohelp you unlock your new life is a good coach worth paying for. Coaching isabout you and can create some fantastic results on new dreams or even resurrectingthe ones that have died.

Investingin Your Healing of a Dreams Death, Will Help You Jumpstart Another DreamFaster

This one can invite a little fun into yourspace. By creating a creative vision for your home, even if you live in astudio, use a corner of the room, you can have your this is where I create mybest life space. Creating your best life space is not living in a penthouse.Or if you already live in a penthouse good for you! Dedicate a room to yourinspiration station.

The idea is sometimes to resurrect ourdreams or move past the pain of them dying, we need a space to dream again. Tofeel good again. Clear the clutter of the space. Add white holiday lights to iteven if it isnt the holidays. Make it a place that lights up your soul andstart there. It can help you grow the conditions for inevitable success whereyou get to welcome your dream or a better dream on a daily basis.

Aninspiration station becomes a physical space reminder that you are living foryour dreams rather than dwelling on that your most desired dream died.

An honorable mention:If your dream was a person, like aspouse that passes, a divorce, or a breakup, or for some of you, just didntget a yes to the date you desired, acknowledge the beauty of the pain that youloved or liked this person, whether you were super close or loved at adistance. Its never a crime in loving someone, no matter how long or short.Write a letter to them (that you may or may not send), and bring closure toyour feelings for them. It could be one paragraph or a novel, but the joy of havingloved them will bring you some peace. In the event of spousal death, find ananchor to remember them by, of the love you shared, not the end result. If youbroke up or got denied a date, write the letter and consider whether to send itif applicable. All emotions are welcome as long as it doesnt hurt you orothers. When we deny feeling our emotions, they come back to haunt us, evenwhen we are intentional on being mindful.

These are some unique ways to consider how to approach your wellness when your desired dream(s) have died, whether temporarily or permanently. Who knows? Something better might be around the corner today!

Originally posted here:
4 Ways To Get Your Joy Back When Your Dreams Have Died - Thrive Global

ULYSSES, Kan. 12-year old Quincy Sierra decided he wanted to compete in athletics this year, his first in junior high. But, like everything in life, Quincy has to work even harder than most kids his age.

When he sees he has no central vision, explained Whitney Teeter, Quincys mom. Its like hes looking through Swiss cheese, because there is so much scarring. The vision he does have is very limited.

Quincy is blind, caused by scarring to his retinas at birth. Despite that, he wanted to run.

My blindness does not matter, Quincy said with a smile. I am confident. Even though I have vision problems, I am still confident with that.

Confidence is not enough though. State requirements dictate Quincy must be tethered to adult in order to compete in sanctioned events.

I didnt know how it was going to go down, Teeter admitted. I thought I better start training because I am out of shape.

But Teeter didnt have to worry about that. Quincys coach, Cory Bixler, stepped up to make sure Quincy got his chance.

If I dont do this, he doesnt get the chance to compete, and thats not going to happen, Bixler said. Thats kind of the why you know? If I dont do this, he doesnt get to run. Theres no chance, he doesnt get to run. I mean, somebody else would have done it, but I am going to be there anyway.

Bixler will be there, because he coaches both the Junior High and High School Cross Country teams in Ulysses. But instead of his normal coaching duties, Bixler will run too. Tethered to Quincy, every step of the way.

Thats the point of it, Bixler, a coach for more than two decades, said.This is about helping kids, and thats what it is all about.

Bixler will tell you that anyone would have done what hes doing to help Quincy, and that may be the case as Quincy is pretty popular around campus. But for Quincy, it means something that his coach is the one who stepped up.

Im glad he said you know what its time to help. And its a good thing he did, because we have become a great team, Quincy beamed.

A social media post from Quincys first meet went viral. And the attention has made a difference Quincys life.

He just has so much more he believes in himself, Teeter admitted. There were a lot of times where he was shy about trying new things and nervous. He called me the other day and said mom I tried out for jazz band. He was like I just think I did awesome. Ive seen that in him. More self-confidence.

And while his mom and coach admit they are scared he might stumble, he has, Quincy isnt worried about it. He gets up, and just gets up and keeps running.

He doesnt limit himself. I see that it is inspirational, but I guess for us weve been around it and to us we are like thats just Quincy.

We asked Quincy if he wanted all of this attention to inspire others. He quickly said yes, and added

If you ever have limitations you want to pass the limit. Oh wait, you dont want to pass the limit, you want to beat the limitation you set. Oh wait, you dont set one. The only limits that are there are the ones you set for yourself.

Go here to see the original:
Blind cross country runner competing with help of coach - CatchItKansas

JakeKelbert takes the snap.

The Livonia Franklin quarterback fakes a handoff to the wide receiver on anoption sweep and rolls to the right. After a 5-yard gain, he hears the whistle and an ensuing voice.

Youve got to look inside, bro.

Kelbert jogs back to the line of scrimmage towardhis head coach, clad in gym shorts and a Franklin t-shirt, with the whistle around his neck and his arms crossed.

Livonia Franklin quarterback Jake Kelbert stands with his father and head coach Chris Kelbert(Photo: Colin Gay | Hometownlife.com)

Shortly after practice, the head coach calls for his captains, yelling Kelbert in the direction of his quarterback. The senior obliges, jogging over for a quick meeting.

On the field, the relationship between the head coach and his quarterback is already close, with Kelbert entering his third season as the varsity starting quarterback.

When exiting the field though, the relationship changes. The head coach and his quarterback walk off the field together,toward the parking lot.

CoachChris Kelbert is JakeKelberts ride home.

To be a coach's son could seem like a good idea, in theory.

But for two area families, the Kelberts and the DeWalds Jim DeWald coaching his two sons, Caden and James, at Birmingham Seaholm this is reality, and it is something they had to get used to.

When driving towarddowntown Birmingham, the DeWaldname is plastered at many points along the side of the road. It wasnot referencing the Seaholm football program, but rather Erin Keating DeWald, the area realtor.

Erin grew up in Birmingham, graduating from Seaholm prior to attending Western Michigan, where she met her husband Jim.

When she's not working, she spends much of her time in the football stands, watching Jim coach, dating back to whentheir two boys roamed the sideline as ball boys.

Football was ingrained inthe DeWald family, although it was never pushed,and Erin knew that both of her children would play on Friday nights in the future.

They look up to their dad, Erin DeWald said. Its just like if their dad was a doctor or something. Its kind of like the boys mimicked and follow in their dads footsteps.

Jim DeWald, head coach at Birmingham Seaholm, stands with his two sons: Caden and James.(Photo: Colin Gay | Hometownlife.com)

What she did not know was her husband would eventually coach both of her sons ather alma mater, a momentshe called surreal.

As both Caden and James grew up, in age and in size, it became more of a reality for the family that Jim would have to coach them at some point.

I had a lot of people say that it was going to be hard," Jim DeWald said."I go, No, it should be simple because you coach the film and you do what you do.

Actually, early on, it was actually harder than I thought.

Both Caden and James DeWald call it the outside noise. JakeKelbert did not have a name for it, but experienced it: the notion of favoritism associated with being a coachs son.

All three heard it in the locker room and in the hallways: "they did not earn their respective spots" or "they were only there because their dads wanted their sons to be successful."

Its a perception both coacheswantto avoid, both admitting that they treattheir sons more harshly thanthe other players. Both expectmore out of their sons on the football field.

Hes like, Ill send your ass back to J.V.'

If the team sees that I have these crazy expectations for him, then they are going to see that we need to rise to the level, too, Coach Kelbert said.

James was the first of the DeWalds who experienced this from his father.

Promoted to the varsity level during his sophomore season, the now-senior linebacker said it was difficult for him to deal with the expectations that his head coach gave him, along withdealing with that "outside noise" for the first time.

Especially early on, James DeWald felt as though he had to prove his spot.

At first, I was close to not even being on it, so thats when he was really on me because I was doing stuff wrong, James DeWald said. Hes like, Ill send your ass back to J.V.

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It was not only on the players to prove their worthiness of the varsity level. It was on the head coaches, their fathers, to make sure the expectation of the quality of play remains the same despite the familial connection.

Chris Kelbert never pushed football onhis son. Much like the DeWalds, Jake served as a ball boy from an early age, finding his way onto the field behind center in elementary school. Jake enjoyed playingquarterbackfrom the moment he took his first snap, but it was never something that his father thought would be long-term.

Jake Kelbert stands behind the fence, watching his father Chris Kelbert coach on the sideline.(Photo: Jennifer Kelbert)

But with the more camps Jake attended and the more training he had behind center, the more apparent it became to Chris that a decision would eventually have to be made: to start his son or to leave him on junior varsity.

The whole situation was hard on Jake Kelbert.

The Kelberts live in the Farmington school district where Jake attended school. With Chris Kelbert teaching at Franklin, Jake transferred to Livonia PublicSchools.

In the summer before his freshman year, just prior to that move,Jennifer Kelbert found Jake in his room crying.He said teammates were telling him he would never get anywhere, and the only reason he had an opportunity was because his dad was the head coach.

Chris Kelbert had the same worry in Jake'ssophomore season.

Many of his assistant coaches wanted to bring the younger Kelbertup to play varsity quarterback earlier. But because of who he was and what the perception could be,the decision was especially taxing on the head coach.

If Jake was not his son, he would have, without a doubt, pulled him up when he did. But because he was his son, I think he had a harder time doing it because of what others would say. They would say he just pulled him up because of who he was, Jennifer Kelbert said. But then after a couple of games, they realized why he did it.

In his first season as the Patriots starting quarterback in 2017, things were not perfect for Jake Kelbert.

He completed 55 percent of his passes for 1,089 yards, averaged 6.12 yards per carry and accumulated 15 total touchdowns.

Jacob Kelbert, far left, sits with his father - Franklin Patriot coach Chis Kelbert, right, and Seth Winter, (#55) on Sept. 20 as the offense goes over a play early in the game.(Photo: John Heider | hometownlife.com)

However, more importantly for Chris Kelbert and for Franklin, Jake Kelbert was a winner, finishing 7-2 during the regular season, advancing the Patriots to the Division 2 state title game before losing to De La Salle.

Franklin found its quarterback. And it happened to be the son of its head coach.

In those times where emotions run high on the football field, both head coaches realizedthey might not be able to be the familial support for their sons.

That is where Mom comes in.

She would be the balance, Chris Kelbert said. He gets the tough, stern approach from me, and then Mom is his sounding board. She will listen to what he has to say.

Chris said his wife Jennifer tells him to chill out at times, allowing Jaketo find his own way of addressing what he is feeling.

The role of the mother is not only as the one to keep the familial atmosphere alive between a head coach and his player, to make sure feelings are heard and support is given.

It is to be the cheerleader.

Erin DeWald stands with her two sons, Caden and James.(Photo: Colin Gay | Hometownlife.com)

Its great when you get chewed out on film and you come to your mom and she says You had a great game, Caden DeWald said. I say, Yeah, I know I did.

But its not like the father takes a back seat when any praise comes towardhis son.

To Jim DeWald, he believes he put both of his sons on the Seaholm varsity team for a reason. Instead of just giving James and Caden praise, he lets their actions speak for itself.

I would go to him as a parent/coach and ask do I deserve it? Caden DeWald said. And he would show me the film.

As soon as James and Caden DeWald took their first snap at Seaholm, as soon as Jacob Kelbert threw his first pass at Franklin, both families knewthe clock had started.

On a team usually filled with juniors and seniors, all three players took the field for the first time on varsity as underclassmen. For James DeWald and JakeKelbert both in their senior season the time on the clock is running out.

And its something that Jennifer Kelbert is not ready to face.

The Kelberts stand in front of their house.(Photo: Colin Gay | Hometownlife.com)

I dont ever want the season to end, she said. I dont know how to put it into words.

Jennifer said she doesn't know how Chris Kelbert will do next year without his son on the football field, pointing to the fact that both do everything together during the year: from watching film and working on plays to driving to school together.

However, when Chris thinks about the end of JakeKelberts tenure at Franklin, he is focused on what the Patriots will lose on the football field.

Chris said he has never seen a quarterback pick up an offense as quickly as his son did, crediting how long Jakehasbeen around the program, after attending his first football game two weeks after he was born.

Jake just understands what is expected.

Thats what Im going to miss: just his ability to run the offense and his knowledge of what we are looking for, Chris Kelbert said. It makes our job as coaches, easier.

But the Kelberts are not done with this process. Both of Jakes brothers Drew and Ethan play football, as well, possibly becoming the next in line to add the family name on the Franklin roster one day.

Jennifer Kelbert said Chrisjokingly was saying he would quit his job as the head coach of the Patriots and move on to college next season, taking Jake with him wherever he goes.

I was like, No, you are not going to move to college, because you have two more kids that are just as excited to have you coach them, Jennifer Kelbert said. So now you have to wait.

For the DeWalds, they dont have time to wait.

Im trying to enjoy the moment, but I do get sad because this is the end.

James currently is playing his senior season for the Maples, while Caden has one more season to go. There'sno other siblings waiting in the wings to get their shot to be coached by Jim DeWald.

The Seaholm head coach said he has tried to make an effort to be more of a father on the field towardboth of his sons this season than he has in the past.

For Erin, there is a sea of emotions attached to her two sons. She said she will continue to go to Seaholm games to support her husband, but, when James and Caden go off to college, she will make an effort to support each of them fromthe stands.

But to Erin, it will not be the same.

Im trying to enjoy the moment, but I do get sad because this is the end, Erin DeWald said. Back-to-back, you know? This is the end.

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During the football season, Saturdays in the DeWald and the Kelbert homesusually are determined by the success of Seaholm and Franklin the night before.

A win leads to a normal weekend for the families, a lively house usually dominated by college football and rest. A loss leads to a bit more of a quiet atmosphere.

Caden and James DeWald talk to their father Jim on the sideline of a football game.(Photo: Erin DeWald | Special to Hometownlife.com)

Erin DeWald wants to make her home feel inviting and comfortable to the rest of her family, describing it as a place to relax, a place to forget about the stresses of what happened on the football field.

Erin said its something she wants to bring other people into, encouraging her sons to invite friends over, even though, she said, no one usually takes James and Caden up on the offer because of who their father is.

In the Kelbert house, Jennifer knows what to expect on aSaturday in the fall. She said she expects to hear Jakecall his dad coach, something that happens each football season.

One night, (Jake)made a comment that he thought it was funny that his coach is dating his mom, Jennifer Kelbert said. Im like I dont think Im dating your coach. I think Im married to him.

But win or loss, the feeling is the same in each household: leave it on the football field, be a normal family.

And maybe see which team is on the schedule for Seaholm and Franklin next week.

Reach Colin Gay at cgay@hometownlife.com, 248-310-6710. Follow him on Twitter @ColinGay17.Send game results and stats to Liv-Sports@hometownlife.com.

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The family dynamic: How to balance life on and off the football field - Hometown Life