CLEMENTS FOOTBALL

This past weekend was the very first Progressive Coaches Football Clinic at Athens State. You can check out their page at www.progressivecoaches.com . This was the idea of Bradley Kimbrough a student at ASU. He was wanting to help to provide a resource for guys that want to go into coaching that were at ASU and other surrounding schools. It was a great weekend. There were many great presenters. I was asked to speak on the topic of offensive line. I was honored to speak and it was great fun.

I thought the highlight of the clinic was in two presentations. First, Cody Gross head coach at Colbert County, spoke on the moral and ethical duties of coaches. He detailed HOW a coach should act and WHAT a coach should do for his players. Cody has been a friend of mine for a long time and I greatly respect who he is as a person and coach. I thought he had a great presentation of the duties of what coaching really is...helping teach young boys how to be men. When it is all over for us in coaching and playing ball, what really matters is what the boys learned from us as men teaching them. The wins and losses are nothing more than numbers. That is not to say that we all don't want to win, but it is NOT the most important thing. Secondly, Sam Graham defensive coordinator at Oxford HS, spoke on behalf of the FCA. He had a powerful message that ended with a great quote. "Hell is going to be as bad as Heaven is good". That statement is a very powerful one.

At times people wonder why coaches are so into attending clinics. Many coaches go for a weekend away from school and squander their school's money. They don't go to learn and want to just hang out and have a good time. I have always been under the impression of if I am going to be away from my family, I need to learn more about this great profession. Whether it is a play or a drill or a new idea for a team function, learning must take place. I keep these notes from the sessions on file and many times look back over them from year to year. I worked for Perry Swindall at Russellville and he would at times want to see the notes that we had taken at a clinic. He was the person that drove home the concept to me that "if I am going to pay for you to attend this clinic, you better learn something" . Our staff at Clements usually attends a couple of clinics each off season. Last year we attended the Alabama Football Coaches Association clinic in Montgomery and the Auburn Clinic. This year we will attend those two plus the Mississippi State Clinic. Usually staffs look for a concept of an offense or defense they would like to use and go to see that coach or staff. I have been to hundreds of clinics in the past fourteen years. I have been to LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Auburn, UNA, Frank Glazier, COOL, Nike COY, Football For Christ, AHSAA Summer Clinic, Middle Tennesee,Tony Franklin Football and many others. I have also met with coaches on the high school level from time to time to find out what they do and why they are doing it. Networking and learning are a must if you want to survive in the coaching business.

Only about a month until the start of spring football. T

This is the new website for Clements Football. It is easy to manage and we will be able to add many new things to the site faster. This is not all that is going to be new. We have some new maxes in the weight room!!! Our boys have been working very hard in the weight room to get stronger for the next season. We will be posting that information on this site very soon. Spring practice is just around the corner as well. We will begin the first week of May and finish up by playing a spring game at Lauderdale County on May 22.

 

Look around the new site and check back soon. We will be making many changes and additions to the site!!!