Old School Coaches- Discuss Coach They Would Like To Shadow

I am hoping to do this segment- "Old School Coaches" on a regular basis. I have put together a crew of retired coaches, who were highly successful in their high school coaching career. My hope is to post one question to them every two weeks. 

Bob Anderson- Williamsfield HS

Bob is retired as boys basketball coach at Williamsfield. At a school of only 89 students, in 45 years, his teams won 732 games along with numerous tourney and conference championships. His 1997 team made it to the Elite 8. Selected to the IBCA HOF. 

Mike Cooper- Ottawa HS

Mike is the retired Athletic Director at Ottawa HS. He was varsity girls basketball coach for 22 years, as well as sophomore football coach for many years. He was inducted in the the IBCA HOF.

Tim Engebretson- United HS

He was varsity head football coach for many years at United HS. He also has coached basketball at different levels. His 2005 team won the Illinois State Title, and Tim is in the Illinois Football Coaches' HOF as well as the United HOF.

Mark Massey- Clinton HS

Mark was the head volleyball coach at Clinton for 38 years. His teams won 818 games, and twice took second in State. He is in the Iowa Volleyball HOF and Clinton HS HOF.

Thom Sigel- Rock Falls/Rock Island HS

Thom coached basketball for 32 years. His teams won 502 games, and he has the distinction of winning the State Title at both Rock Falls and Rock Island. Thom is in the IBCA HOF.

Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS, Moline HS

Mike coached football at Alleman, UT, and Moline for over 20 years. By most, he is considered the premier football coach in WB6 history. His teams won 140 games, and twice finished second in State. Mike is in the Alleman HS HOF and the Illinois Football HOF. He was also selected Illinois AD of the Year. 

Tom Wierzba- Farmington HS

Tom coached basketball for 38 years, coaching 26 years at Farmington. At Farmington, his teams won 7 sectionals and made 5 trips to State, including a third place and fourth place finish. For his career, his teams won 611 games. In addition, he coached softball at Farmington for 10 years- going 225-50. His softball teams won the State title twice and took fourth once. He has been inducted into both the IBCA and Greater Peoria Sports HOF's. 

This weeks question- All of you have expressed how important is to learn from other coaches. As coaches, we are constantly "stealing" from other coaches. As the Fall sports seasons get started, if you had the opportunity, who would be 2-3 football or volleyball coaches who you would love to have been able to shadow for a season. The coach can be still active, retired, or deceased. Who would you choose to shadow for a season?

Bob Anderson- Williamsfield- I'm not a big football guy, but if I was to shadow a guy, I would love to shadow Nick Saban. Alabama played exciting football I thought. He could recruit coach them after he got them, and you always knew who was in control. I think one thing I have heard him say many times that I totally agree with- "You can learn by watching and listening to others." 

This is how I approached coaching basketball. How are other people doing things to make themselves successful. It's a great way to learn and when you no longer want to learn, you are done as a coach. 

Mike Cooper- Ottawa- I would like to follow Bob Reade for a season. Bob had success at multiple levels of football using the same offense, defense and expectations for each of his players. I would like to see how he structured practices and the expectations he had for each of his coaches to make the system work. Bob's teams never beat themselves because they were disciplined. 

I would also like to spend a year following Greg King (Football Coach) around. I had the pleasure of watching his teams play for many years and they were always well-prepared and ready for a battle. I remember being around Greg several times when his players were entering Ottawa High School, he always had something positive to say to each player as they entered the school. A lot of times it wasn't even football related but I could tell the kids appreciated him taking an interest in them. Watching him on a day to day basis would be very educational!

Tim Engebretson- United- Two coaches I would like to follow for a season would be Tom Osborne and Jimmy Johnson. They were both highly successful but with completely different personalities. It would have been fun to watch how these complete opposites related to players. I wondered if they recruited players to match their personalities or if they adjusted to different types of players. I would have enjoyed watching what motivating tactics these two opposites used and how different their preparation would be for the season.

Evan Massey- Galesburg- John Gagliardi- Division 3 football coach at St.John's University in Minnesota. He won 4 National titles and coached for 60 years. His methods were highly unconventional- 90 minute practices, and no tackling. People don't like unconventional, it would be interesting to see how he survived and flourished. He must have had exceptional motivational skills, supposedly a class he taught was the most popular on campus. A great quote from him- "Most teams protect their QB's in practice, the other player's have mothers too."

Vince Lombardi- Green Bay Packers coach, who is the standard in coaching. His style was very basic but the emphasis was on execution. I would love to watch his practices and see his attention to execution. Lombardi Quote- "Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect." 

Terry Pettit- Nebraska Volleyball- He is the John Wooden of college volleyball. He has two Facebook accounts that are incredible- Terry Pettit and also Inside Coaching Mind. His insights into the psychology of coaching are off the charts. He also has published three great books. I would love to follow him for a season taking notes. 

Mark Massey- Clinton- I’ve had a good fortune to shadow or observe closely several outstanding coaches, among them, Tom Keating, Todd Borrison, Kelly, Sheffield, John Cook, and Terry Pettit. I learned a great deal from each.

Who would I want to shadow if I had an opportunity?

Tom Keating Dubuque Wahlert- I could reasonably argue that Tom's success as a high school volleyball coach would put him in the upper echelon of all high school and college coaches in the United States, not just in volleyball. His organization, off-season preparation, practice, preparation, scouting, in match coaching was unparalleled. The learning and the fun would be to be alongside him during a match.

Barb Bakker, Dike-New Hartford, IA volleyball. Barb was a very successful small school high school coach in the Cedar Falls area who coached teams that annually competed with the best teams in Iowa, regardless of enrollment. She also sent many graduates on to play collegiately, especially at the University of Northern Iowa. The current coach at the University of Northern Iowa was trained in high school by Barb. Barb’s teams were always very well prepared and so fundamentally sound.

Coach Walz - It would be fun to get to know this guy and see more about what makes him tick. I could probably help him as an assistant for the defensive backfield. I watch the NFL and always feel like i could help D backs improve.

Thom Sigel- Rock Island- You threw out a pretty thought-provoking and difficult topic this week because the list of great football and volleyball coaches is expansive!  So after giving it some thought in order to narrow it down to three, I decided I would go with my heart some in taking football coaches from teams I have been a fan of.  Since my daughter Haley played volleyball and gives me history lessons, I rounded out my list with a legendary volleyball coach.

When I was in junior high I somehow became a fan of Penn State football when they played for the National Championship with Chuck Fusina at quarterback in 1979.  From then, I used to admire the way they played the game, and I read a lot about Joe Paterno.  He obviously made some huge mistakes later in his career that I don’t condone, but I also remember his teams playing with a discipline and humility I respected and wanted teams to model.  I may not go with uniforms that plain, but one thing that stands out was how they didn’t celebrate touchdowns because they expected to score.  The focus seemed to be on the process and the details.

The coach I choose from my favorite NFL team is former Colts coach Tony Dungy.  (Side note – I throw GM Bill Polian into the organization’s success as well because they seemed to be on the same page in how they evaluated talent.)  First and foremost, Dungy is a devout Christian who recognized the importance of not separating his faith from his coaching.  After reading his book Quiet Strength, I realized how his style cost him his job at Tampa.  He did not waver from his beliefs on how he wanted to be as a coach, and ultimately I believe some of the traits that were ridiculed in Tampa helped him to win a Super Bowl with the Colts.  He refrained from swearing and even yelling much.  If he got fired up and emotional, it got the attention of the team because he was not constantly yelling and swearing to coach them.

Finally, I am not as familiar with John Cook, the Nebraska Volleyball Head Coach.  But after seeing a couple of features on him, I find him to be intriguing.  It is impressive to see how he has built a dominant, consistent national power with high standards and attention to detail.  I also admire how even after being very successful, he wanted to learn from other coaches and adapt.  And I also see his ability to create a vision and work reach lofty goals. 

Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS- My first choice as a coach to shadow would be retired Geneseo head football coach Larry Johnsen, Sr. Larry started as an assistant for the legendary Bob Reade in Geneseo.

Larry ‘s teams were always disciplined, physical, and relentless. Quite honestly, we tried to get our teams to play the same way. It was always a tremendous challenge to go against Larry‘s teams, especially in the playoffs. We always met in the first round, which was kind of unfair to both teams. Our playoff encounters were tremendous games. Very little separated Geneseo and Alleman when we met in the playoffs. These games were especially challenging in the old playoff format because you would play Wednesday/Saturday the first week.

Larry  was a product of the great Geneseo Green Machine, but I think he added his own quiet confidence, integrity, and fair play to his teams. One of the greatest honors I ever received was being invited by the Geneseo community to speak at Larry ‘s Retirement celebration. It meant the world to me. I had a lot to learn as a head football coach, and I can think of no one to better learn from than Larry Johnsen.

The other coach l would have loved to shadow was Paul Brown, often referred to as the “father of modern pro football.” Coach Brown is credited with many innovations  that are still used in today’s football from junior high to the pros. Coach Brown was credited with establishing coaching as a year-round profession, invention of the draw play, the introduction of face masks on helmets,  the initiation of film study, and classroom instruction of players.

His football coaching career included a state championship in high school, a college national championship at Ohio State, and an NFL championship at Cleveland. His 25 year record as a professional coach was 222-112-9. Attention to detail, scouting his own team, scouting the opposition, and written playbooks to use as textbooks were also introduced by Coach Brown. These innovations are used by football coaches today at all levels. His fingerprints are definitely on high school, college, and pro football in many, many ways.

Tom Wierzba- Farmington- Interesting question, but you know coaching is coaching, no matter what sport or what gender you’re referring to. My two choices are John Cook, volleyball coach at the University of Nebraska and Nick Saban, former football coach at the University of Alabama

Both of these gentlemen have built powerhouse programs at the their respective universities I would love to follow them through a season to mentor, three aspects of coaching: organization, motivation, and the teaching of techniques and skills for their sport. They both built great programs, but more important- they have sustained that success

I know very little about volleyball fundamentals, but I’m always interested in the teaching involved. In reading about John Cook, his main premise was to “Dream Big” and be willing to take risks for that dream.