Thread: High School Coach Teaches More Than Just Football

High School Coach Teaches More Than Just Football

Posted 6 hours ago by Dave Jolly

Over the past couple years, I’ve written over 2,200 political and religious commentaries. It would be safe to say that at least 95% of them have been negative or criticizing someone or something. That’s why I’m overjoyed to write this one on the positive effects one high school football coach is having on his team.

Meet Matt Labrum, football coach at Union High School in Roosevelt, Utah, about 100 miles due east of Provo. Roosevelt is a small community of about 4,300 people that lies in the marginal oil field area of eastern Utah and western Colorado. When oil prices are up, the small town prospers, but when the prices come back down, the town struggles along like most other small towns. Besides oil, there is some farming and ranching in the area. Basically, Roosevelt is a town where everyone knows everyone else and only has one high school.

When the fall football season starts, Matt Labrum is the center of attention. Not long into this year’s season, Labrum heard that some of his players were involved in cyberbullying and others were cutting classes, were already getting failing grades and were being disrespectful to teachers. He had had enough with the team’s behavior at school and off the field so he decided to take a drastic step to get their attention.

Last Friday night, the team lost to Judge Memorial Catholic High school. After the game, Labrum gathered the 80 members of his team and told them to turn in their jerseys and equipment because he was not pleased with their conduct off the field. Then he told them that if they wanted to earn their jerseys back and get on the team that they would have to comply with a set of rules and requirements. If they wanted to play, they would have to show up the next morning at 7am to find out how.

Many of the players were in shock and left the stadium in tears, fearing their football careers at the school were over. Jenn Rook, the mother of Karter Rook, a member of the team commented about that night:

“They were in the locker room for a really long time. They came out, and there were tears. Those boys were wrecked. My son got in the car really upset and (said), ‘First of all, there is no football team. It’s been disbanded.’”

Commenting on his actions, Labrum said:

“We looked at it as a chance to say, ‘Hey, we need to focus on some other things that are more important than winning a football game.’ We got an emotional response from the boys. I think it really meant something to them, which was nice to see that it does mean something. There was none of them that fought us on it.”

On Saturday morning at the team meeting, Labrum handed out a letter titled ‘Union Football Character’ to each player. The letter stated that they had to attend all of their classes and start treating others more respectfully. They had to make passing grades, spend some time each week in community service and a special study hall. The next week, they spent the first two days of football practice doing community work of cleaning up the area, pulling weeds and even spent some time at a nearby nursing home.
Labrum garnered the support of parents, teachers and school administrators. The boys have been towing the line and many of them have earned back their jerseys and are looking forward to their homecoming game. Several have not yet met all of the requirements and until they do, they will find themselves relegated to the bleachers with the rest of town. He plans on keeping his character policy in place and if team members fall back into old habits, they’ll also find themselves in the bleachers instead of on the field.

I wish more high school and college coaches had the same set of values as Coach Matt Labrum and instituted the same policy he did. This one man may have just changed the lives of nearly 80 high school boys for the better. Instilling a sense of pride and respect is important, especially at that age. The way I look at it, even if it saved just one boy from following the wrong path in life, then Labrum’s actions were a complete success. Regardless of the win-loss record, I give my vote for high school coach of the year to Coach Matt Labrum of Union High School in Roosevelt, Utah.


Read more at http://politicaloutcast.com/2013/09/...3JxG1iTGOAW.99

High School Football Coach’s Radical Punishment for Entire Team Gets Surprise Reaction From Parents

Sep. 25, 2013 8:00pm Dave Urbanski




In these days of helicopter parenting — particularly moms and dads who view their athletic kids as superstars who can do no wrong — the jobs of non-parental authority figures are often considerably more difficult.
So when Matt Labrum, head football coach at Union High School in Roosevelt, Utah, suspended his entire team — all 80 of them — last week, can you guess what was coming next from parents of those suddenly former players?
If you figure Labrum got his head handed to him as he heard call after call for his immediate dismissal, you’d be incorrect.
Believe it or not, Labrum says he’s received no ill will from moms and dads for his radical disciplinary move — and that has everything to do with the off-field problems that fueled the total team suspension (e.g., bad attitudes toward teachers, skipping classes, failing grades, and a serious allegation of cyberbullying) and his desire to correct them.
So Labrum told the players to turn in their jerseys — if they wanted to wear them again, they’d each have to earn the right to do so by jumping through an arduous series of hoops, including extensive community service, according to Deseret News.
Jenn Rook, whose son Karter is a sophomore on the team, was waiting outside the school the night he and his teammates got the axe.
“They were in the locker room for a really long time,” she told Deseret News. “They came out, and there were tears. Those boys were wrecked. My son got in the car really upset and [said], ‘First of all, there is no football team. It’s been disbanded.’”

(Credit: KSL-TV)

Initially that got Rook’s back hairs up, but when Karter told her what the players had done to deserve the suspension, her attitude quickly shifted.
“OK, that’s not so bad then,” Rook said. “I do support it. These boys are not going to be hurt by this. It’s a good life lesson. … It’s not a punishment. I see it as an opportunity to do some good in the community.”
Jeremy Libberton was initially concerned when his son Jaden, a junior, told him what happened. But after he met with the coach, Libberton tells Deseret News “he’s got my support. I’m encouraging my boy to stand strong, to stand with the team and get through it. … If there is not unity with me and the coach, then I become part of the problem.”
The coaches got a thumbs-up from school administrators, too , who easily could have nixed the radical move as too risky to a flagship program like the school’s football team.
“As I thought about it, I’ve got 100 percent confidence in our (coaching) staff,” Principal Rick Nielsen tells Deseret News. “They are just excellent men. Sometimes we do think we’re bigger than the game.”
Football coaches, even in high school, are judged primarily on how many wins they get their teams; the much-less-tangible “life lessons” — and even the academic side of things in some schools — typically finish a distant second as far as priorities go.
But not for Labrum and his staff.
“We felt like everything was going in a direction that we didn’t want our young men going,” said Labrum, a former player of the team he’s coached for the last two seasons. “We felt like we needed to make a stand.”

(Credit: KSL-TV)

The first order of business was discussing personal character. At the 7 a.m. Saturday meeting the night after the team-wide suspension, Labrum gave the players a letter titled “Union Football Character,” explaining exactly what they needed to do to earn their jerseys back.
In addition to community service — which included pulling weeds, cleaning school hallways, washing windows, and visiting with residents at two long-term care facilities — they’d each have to attend study hall and a class on character development and perform services for their own families and each write a report about their actions.
(Credit: KSL-TV)

(Credit: KSL-TV)

Also they’d have to arrive on time to all their classes and improve their grades. Finally, there was a re-election of team captains that morning…and only two of the seven original captains were placed back in their spots.
(Credit: KSL-TV)

Junior quarterback Tye Winterton said he believes the break from football will make them better players — and better people.“I definitely didn’t want to turn in my jersey,” said Winterton, who is an honors student. “I love playing. But I trust the coaches and believe in what they’re doing.”
“We’re still practicing,” Labrum tells KSL-TV, “but we’re practicing on some different skills.”
Here’s a report from KSL-TV:


video at link below

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...-from-parents/