By Hugh Wyatt

It was March 10, 1984, and I was among the attendees at the Pacific Northwest Football
Coaches' Clinic, held at Lewis & Clark College in Portland.

One of the speakers was a high school coach from Valdosta, Georgia named Nick
Hyder. What got our attention was that he'd just been named (by somebody) National
High School Coach of the Year. He'd been the coach at Valdosta since 1974, and in his
11 years there his record was 93-20-1.

He started by telling us a few things about Valdosta, and it didn't take long to convince
us that his was a different world from the one we all lived in.

Valdosta at that time was a town of about 39,000 people, its economy heavily
dependent on pulpwood and farming. Valdosta High School had roughly 2000 students
in grades 9-12. Its stadium seated 14,000 and with nearly 7,000 season ticket holders,
it was always packed for home games.

"When we play," he said, "It's a good time to rob a bank."

The night before the clinic, Valdosta had had an intra-squad game. (In the Northwest,
we didnt even have spring ball then.) Called the "Has-been-Will-be Game", it pitted the
graduating seniors against the next year's team, and it drew more than 3,000 fans at $2
a head (remember, this was 1984).

He told us of the Valdosta Touchdown Club, with more than 1,000 members
annual membership fees: $15 for men, $5 for women) and all it did for his
program.

It paid for his pre-season camp - $20,000 in 1984 dollars.

It spent $15,000 on the annual banquet, with "nice gifts for coaches."

"They buy me a new car every year." (That really got our attention.)

As a result, he admitted, "They've earned the right to chew me out."

But, he was quick to add, "They do not dictate to coaches. The president's son never
got higher than second or third string."

Lest any of us get the idea that coaching at Valdosta was a bed of roses, he pointed out
that in Valdosta, people were used to winning. Football there was big business. "A
playoff game," he said, "can mean $18,000-$20,000." (Again, in 1984 dollars.)

And Valdosta was definitely used to seeing its black-and-gold Wildcats in the playoffs.

At that point, after 74 years of football, Valdosta was 580-190. The legendary
Wright Bazemore had coached there from 1941-1971(with time off for World War
II) and compiled a record of 268-51-7, with 14 state titles.

Coach Bazemore was not an easy act to follow. Said Coach Hyder, "My
predecessor, (who immediately succeeded Coach Bazemore) was 9-1 and 8-2 and he resigned."

And, he added, National Coach of the Year or not, "We were 11-1 last year, and
nobody sings in the street." Right. Wheres the state championship?

And then Coach Hyder got into the things that he believed in.

Do the best with the kids you've got, he said. The object in coaching is to win
with these kids.

And he wrote some letters on the board.

SMMPCCKDOC

They represented the things he believed were essential to his programs success.

SMMP

S- SPIRITUAL TOUGHNESS
M- MORAL TOUGHNESS
M- MENTAL TOUGHNESS
P- PHYSICAL TOUGHNESS

CC

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER

KICKING GAME
"We spend one hour every day on the kicking game"

DO

DEFENSE - OFFENSE

COLLISION

*********** On the subject of having to do some things a coach might not feel
comfortable doing

You've got to play politics if it's important to your youngsters.

You've got to talk to the people who represent the power structure - you've got to
sell your program.

*********** On staff relations

Win your faculty over.

Marry your principal - If you're having trouble with him, you'd better get straight
with him. (At our school, the principal and the head coach are there at 5 AM school starts at 8 AM)

*********** On team discipline

"I ain't got but two rules":

1. No Horseplay Kids have their choice of choice of punishment (You've got to explain this
to parents)
1. 10 licks with a wooden paddle with the coach of their choice
2. Gauntlet - 99 people, 5 yards apart
3. Miss the next ball game

("If I got called into court, I'd probably lose it" - "Whatever happened to the parent
that said, "If you get a whuppin' at school, you'll get a whuppin' at home!")

2. Do not embarrass the football team!

Get arrested
Smart off to a teacher
Be late to class
Miss school
Miss practice

Youngsters can't miss school, We teach discipline. Be there!

We don't believe in Welfare Football (miss 2 days of practice and then show up
on Friday).

My first year, I cut 12 players who wouldn't practice.

You've got to earn the right to chew a guy out... You've got to show him you care!
When you can chew him out and joke with him, you've arrived.

If you've got a kid who's giving you problems, accumulate a record on him- Tell
him "When Coach Dooley (Vince Dooley, longtime great coach at the University of
Georgia) comes by, I'm going to show him this"

************ Overall

Football is 90 per cent desire.

The closer to the ball you are, the better football player you are

*********** On building a positive attitude

We coach LUCK. You've got to believe you're lucky

A youngster with no talent giving you everything he's got will get lucky

Teach them that they can get lucky

To be lucky - Be your best self

************ On playing time

"The greatest coach in the world is competition"

We start 44 people and dress 99 (it was not unusual for 85 players to see action)

We start 44 people - 2 men at every position. But they don't even know who'll
start. It's not announced until right before kickoff - it depends on who worked
hardest

All the young kids learn our language

200 on the 7th grade team playing flag ball - not tackle
110 on the 8th grade team
75 on the 9th grade team

Buck Belue was a 13-year-old freshman. On his first day, three QB's got hurt. He
started for four straight years, and never missed a day of practice, never missed a
day of school.

"When he led Georgia to the national championship (1980), he had paid his dues
in pain."

**************** Pre-season camp

Aug 10 - Camp--- 2 weeks

99 players, 8 coaches, 6 managers

At camp We practice once a day - all day long. We practice till we get done!"

**************** On team building

The strength of the individual is the group

We tell them it's like mules, circling and kicking: "When you get your heads
together, you can't lose!"

***************** On profanity

(Coach Hyder never swore. In an article from that time, he said, My first punishment
was because I said a bad word. When his mother asked where hed heard such a
word, he told her hed heard a high school athlete say it. That was 43 years ago, he
said, and Ive never said a bad word since then.)

He couldnt say the same for his own high school coach, though: "He invented cussin!"

"I think he used to take notes lookin' at bus station walls!"

***************** On staff meetings

"We do NOT meet on Saturday or Sunday. We hold coaches meetings at 6 AM

(weekdays)."

**************** On off-season work

To get on the team: January and February - five workouts a week for 8 weeks (40
days) every morning at 6 AM.

Help parents understand that they can help their kids by helping them deal with
this

Kids will believe that they're tougher because they've paid the price

(Coach Hyder said that one benefit of working the kids so hard was that he could
occasionally allow a kid to miss a practice for a family function or come late
because of classroom demands theyve paid such a price that they wouldnt
abuse the privilege.)

********** On defense

The first thing I look for is people lying on the ground. If they're lying on the
ground, they're not playing football for us - they're playing for the other team.

You can only be quick if you're on your feet.

**************** On offense

Our offense is designed to make everybody (on defense) stay where he's supposed to
stay.

Most kids can't make more than one adjustment- Give them a strange set... a different
snap... motion.

No team is any better than its offensive line.

It takes twice as long to develop an offensive lineman as a defensive

lineman.

The most unselfish thing in football is blocking. Nobody will play in our
backfield if they can't block.

Runners - you've got three friends:

a blocker
a stiff-arm
the sideline

Our base play is belly off-tackle (what we call 6-G). Then, Belly Keep, Belly
Option, Trap

In all practice situations, we want pressure. You've got to create pressure.

We create pressure in "Make 5, lose 5" scrimmage - Come off the goal line the offense has got to make it out to the 50 and back

If they don't gain at least 5, they lose 5 --- and every coach that sees something
wrong calls it.

"We're going to stay out there until we get it done. I tell them, Gentlemen, I've got
nothing better to do!"

When you give in, you tell them it's okay to be mediocre."

*************** On Conditioning

We practice 2-minute drill on offense and defense it makes everybody down and
distance conscious

"We tell the players, 'This is your sprints.'" (Its either that or 10-100s, 10-50s, 10-40s,
10-30s)