Toby Vallas- Creative Approaches to Coaching Today's Athlete

Toby Vallas is Director of Student Services and the Varsity Football Coach at Farmington High School. I first met Toby when he taught social studies in the room next to me at Galesburg High School, and coached at GHS. As a young teacher and coach, he had energy, and he related well to students and athletes. What stood out was that Toby "didn't know it all." Some young teachers/coaches have all the answers and seem to be done wanting to learning. Toby wanted to learn from other teachers and coaches- he asked questions. I am really happy he agreed to answer some questions- he has done impressive things at Farmington and his answers are a real coaching clinic. 

It seems like it gets harder and harder to get high school students to participate in athletics. There may be many reasons for the reduced numbers. There are lots of articles written on early specialization, travel teams, parental pressure, and over-emphasis on winning. There are actually schools with large enrollments who are making decisions to drop frosh-soph teams because their schools cannot field enough players. Other schools of 300-400 students are going from 11 man to 8 man football.

What happens if you have a coach who is constantly trying to learn, grow, and improve themselves?

What happens if you have a coach who gives players a voice in what they want the program to be like?

What happens if you sell an entire athletic program and all the coaches on buying into one weight program?

What happens if you make a someone who is into the sport of track and they have the entire school do speed training?

What happens if you address SEL through football?

Toby Vallas has done all of this and more at Farmington. Farmington's high school enrollment is 351 students. This summer, they have 114 boys signed up for football and who are involved in summer lifting. Think about that- the school has approximately 175 males in the entire school and 114 are lifting for football. But realize, at Farmington HS when athletes step in the weight room they are not football or basketball or baseball players- they are all athletes in one program. 

 

Massey- Why did you decide to go into coaching? 

Vallas- I think for a couple of reasons, I was the first person in my family to go to college and I really only knew teachers and nurses growing up.  I remember people at Monmouth College saying they were business and computer science majors. It sounded so foreign to me.  

Secondly I had some amazing coaches. I never played little league or organized basketball.  I immediately loved track the first time I tried it as a freshman.  Football took some time for me but having Tim Engerbretson as a coach was life changing.  I thought he was unfair to me at times and then one day I started to be able to do the things he always thought I could. I surprised myself.  But I immediately realized how powerful someone believing in you could be.  I've never forgotten that. I went home and had the realization, he wasn't unfair he just knew what I was capable of more than I knew myself.  Dave Bass was my Varsity coach and although we didn't have a ton of success he let me help him put the playbook together and actually took my input on some pass plays and they worked. I was hooked.   

Massey- What things do you do to keep growing and learning as a coach? Do you have any mentors or coaching friends on speed dial?

 Vallas- I constantly try to stay on top of the game.  I spend one hour a day working on, reading, planning or just thinking about football in the offseason.  I probably spend more money and time than most coaches on educational services for my coaches, but I really value the continual learning and I think it keeps you sharp. 

Massey- How have you grown and changed as a coach thru the years?

Vallas- I think than when I left Knoxville and went to Farmington I had a year in between when I stepped away from football and it gave me new perspective.  I realized I was doing thinks because that is how they had always been done or because thats how other people wanted them.  At Farmington I really made it the kids’ team.  I sat down with the captains that first year and asked them what they wanted the program to be.  An example, I used to get to games really early and run a ton of plays before the game because it made me feel better and that whats coaches did. The kids just wanted to step off the bus and play, so that is what we've done.  We also made the training all about speed. There is a big push for this now and it’s refreshing to see. We did this in 2013 because my track background was most of what I knew and our kids wanted a program that helped them in basketball as well. 

Massey- I have heard this year you will have about 80 players out for football. How do you manage to get so many kids interested in playing football?

Vallas- We actually have 114 kids signed up. We will end up in the mid 90s I'm sure. Its funny because when I took over we had graduated a huge senior class and we ended my first year with 38 kids.  The next year we had 70.  So the numbers came before the winning, which I think is unique.  The two biggest things were the all school lifting program we went to, and the concentration of our staff to have great relationships with our kids.  We do a lot of unique things to maintain relationships and check in on kids.  I think our program offers something besides playing time to the kids that don't start.  That really helps us retain them and now we are at the point where more boys in the school play football than don't play so you may as well be out there with your friends.   

Massey- Several people have told me about the success you have had building an “all-sports lifting program,” and the buy in you have gotten from athletes. Can you share what the basics are of your weight program  in terms of expectations of the players? What do you think makes your program unique?  Did you have trouble getting coaches of other sports to buy in? How has this program helped your entire athletic program?

Vallas- This is a really good question.. When I started as football coach at Farmington, Jeff Otto started as the basketball coach.  All we heard were complaints from the kids about football in the morning then basketball in the afternoon, baseball one night, 7on7 the next and summer league hoops on another.  He and I made a deal.  We will lift every kid in the school to get fast and explosive for 7-8AM and from 8:30-10:30 AM they would go to that sports contact day.  June would only be basketball and July would only be football.  They could play whatever baseball they wanted in the evenings.  We only met Monday through Thursday.  Long weekends for everyone, the kids loved it.  And they built such a comraderie with each other, they merged into one team, the sport didn't matter.  

In 2015 Eric Higgs who was our all state basketballl player decided to play football for the first time and he broke his collarbone in week 9.  He still came out the next year and became an all state WR.  At the same time our QB returned to basketball and helped them reach the regional championship.  It's still the same 10 years later except the girls do it too.  Our teams are all the same kids.  They build that comraderie through 3 seasons.  

There is a lot of trust between our coaches here. If a kid does band and football and there is a conflict we just tell them go where you want to go and we trust each other not to strong arm the kid.  If they are really a football kid they end up at football and if they are really a band kid they end up there.  

As far as expectations for summer lifting. If you are going out of town or something and it's important to you and your family then go but if you are home there is no excuse for not being there and work is not an excuse, the team has to come before work. But our kids show up, they understand how important the training and development is. The other coaches I think are just happy we volunteer to run the weights and speed training.

Massey- Your ideas in regards to strength training and speed training for athletes are a MUST for athletic programs. I think schools where the coaches still try to “own” their athletes in the weight room will find it harder and harder to be competitive. Schools who use the weight room to build ATHLETES not build basketball players or football players or baseball players will be the winners. Great stuff- Toby!!

Massey- Years ago, I heard Coach Calhoun of UConn say if you go watch someone’s practice, if they are successful that you will in one practice see 3 things that coach emphasizes. If I came to your practice, what are three things I would see are important to you in your practices?

Vallas- Fun, Speed, & Focus

Massey- What do you hope your players would say about you as a coach and about your program?

Vallas- They believed in us and wanted what was best for us

Massey- What could basketball coaches learn from watching football coaches?

Vallas- Football coaches understand it takes all kinds of people to build a team

Massey- What is your escape from football?

Vallas- You know now I think football is my escape from the rest of the work. I don't take it as serious now that I have kids.  i've really learned to enjoy it.  I'm competetive and I want to win but i used to get sick over games.  My own kids have made me realize the sun comes up. 

Massey- Below is a podcast about how he addresses SEL through football.

Toby Vallas- SEL thru Football Podcast

The following link takes you to a second blog where Toby share how they organize the strength and speed programs at Farmington. 

Toby Vallas- Strength Program- “One Team, Farmington”