My Date with Dodge - March to Texas High School State Championship
My Date with Dodge
My son, Crockett, played 3 years of football in junior high in the EANES School District. Among the Football Parents there was constant gossip about how long Coach Dodge would remain at Westlake High School. During the summer of 2021, it came as no surprise to anybody in our small Westlake Community, Coach Dodge announced he would retire after the 2021 football season.
By this time my son was entering high school as a Freshman. And I had fully come to understand the Power House that Westlake Football is and has been through it’s history since 1969. I understood that Coach Dodge was going for a 3-Peat at the 6A level in Texas High School Football. Only 4 coaches in Texas Highschool Football 6 A have reached that pinnacle.
I am the kind of person that enjoys watching people that are phenomenal at what they do. It can be any field. One of the first experts I saw and studied was the Valley View Elementary principal, Jennifer Dusek. Another was actually Crockett's orthodontist, Kunik. Watching these people operate at incredibly high levels was mesmerizing for me, the fly on the wall. And I knew when Dodge announced his retirement that I had one season to watch the man in action, and I would be watching as a parent who had a child being coached by him, even if my son was sub-varsity, freshman team.
Sometime in August, I got an email from our Freshman Team-Mom with information about the weekly Tuesday Quarterback Club. Right then I made a deal with myself that I would go to every single one of them. And I would take notes. I wanted to learn from this expert while I watched him March to his final state championship.
And so I did - I set aside every Tuesday Morning and I made sure I was there on time. A couple of weeks in I was telling a good friend, Stan, about my weekly project. He asked if he could join. He did and after the first Tuesday he loved it. We sat for an hour afterward at Rudy's and Stan explained to me exactly what all Coach Dodge had accomplished in his football coaching career and who he was before he got to Westlake. I was astonished. Unknown to me, before he got to Westlake High School, Dodge had already led a three-peat State High School championship team at Southlake Carroll and was a star quarterback himself in Highschool and in College at the University of Texas, my alma mater. #HookEm’
Stan was so tickled by the Quarterback Club he started inviting friends. And it turned out Stan had a lot of friends that were football junkies. We took several of these friends to the Tuesday QB Club, including Stan’s longtime friend Bill Little. Bill Little had been the University of Texas Athletic Communications Director for many decades. It was awesome to see Coach Dodge light up when he saw Little in the crowd. And then it was a pleasure for all in attendance to watch them banter back and forth at the end. It was at this Quarterback Club I got to snap a picture with Coach Dodge. No doubt I’ll be saving this little memento and treasure I adore.
Another friend we took was Bobby Hawthorne who wrote a book “Longhorn Football” and he brought a copy to have Coach Dodge sign.
The point of my project was NOT to come back and do a blog post to tell you what I had done. The point was to go get bits and pieces of brilliance from an expert. A Master who takes teenage boys, coaches them weekly, and turns them into a winning team - a power machine. I wanted the wisdom to apply to my life and my businesses.
What I didn't expect at the Quarterback Club was that Dodge would give a weekly rundown of the past games’ stats, players, and their individual accomplishments. The highlight of each week was getting to watch the parents in attendance beaming with pride over their son's efforts recognized. It was sweet, it was tender, in a sport we call Texas High School Football, which is rarely described as either.
A Man in his Stride
In December 2021, Texas Monthly did a story on Coach Dodge. I was excited to see it but clearly not surprised. I saved reading the article till this morning and finished it just prior to writing this. It’s so funny, after spending 14 Tuesday mornings with my Date - Coach Dodge - there is so much in the Texas Monthly story I still didn’t know.
Here is what I learned at Quarterback Club, just a snippet of the 69 pages of notes I took. I know this to be true: Good advice, good programs, and good discipline can be applied to many things in life. Football & Business are alike. Sports & Family can be similar. I did my best to absorb it all.
I wrote most of this blog post earlier this morning before heading to the Final QB Club put on by Dodge, but I’ve added a couple of finishing touches since it ended an hour ago. One of them:
Dodge Tuesday 12.14.21
“When I announced retirement to team- one of the players said ”It is kinda like you are a Senior, we are all going out together. “
Life Lessons from the Sidelines:
When I sat down at the first Quarterback club in August I knew nothing of what it was. Luckily it was the first thing Coach Dodge explained:
Old school Quarterback club is something that happens across Small Town Texas in barns, typically on Monday night. Men of the town come together to discuss last Friday's game along with the week's coming matchup. It is not just parents of players, but past players, and “Some old guys that used to play and don’t have a dog in the hunt anymore.” It’s meant to celebrate the kids a little bit. It is an inside look at the program.
Dodge’s QB Club = Bring together the community to talk football with folks that love Westlake football
$15 cash entry fee, and Coach Dodge uses the funds to send coaching staff to professional development programs.
#1 Lesson -
~ If you can find a Luby’s for your pre-game meal - Do It. ~
All Football Programs have Goal Boards
Many never look at them
At Westlake, we Live By Ours
Goal Boards Measure Unit Production
Goal BoardsMeasure Individual Production
#1 Goal is to Win
Special Teams, Offense & Defense have Goal Board
Want to meet 7 of 10 goals
If we do this- and don’t turn over the ball- Have never Lost a Game - Ever!!
Keeps players engaged
Each play has the opportunity to check off a box
Simple Wisdom
Look at a schools Football Stadium - if Big and Beautiful you know they care a lot about football
Good Team - Care Factor & Leadership
Don’t get ahead of yourself
When people “Say” you are #1 - During practice and workouts- act like & look like #1
Coaches like taking a team into season that “have hunted - Been in the hunt”
HIRING
Westlake Football = 17 coaches- 10 Are coaches sons
Like to hire coaches kids - Know the program, been around the field house most of their Iives
Calming effect- “stay in the moment”
Stay humble
Stay hungry
Respect your opponent
Feeding frenzy - Sharks in the water
Start racking up Goals- and all of that is leading up to Win.
Pay attention to Goal Board and points take care of themselves
Playing Euless Trinity:
When playing a Big (physical size) Team - Kids going to have to bring big boys Pants , Courage will be a premium this week . When play team with tremendous size -Secretly- little concerned what price of victory might be. Humongous physical team
We are blessed- didn’t end up as bad as we thought it would be, we are a little sore, think they are a little sore too.
Pay attention and work hard can succeed at anything you want to do. -Bill White
Have a goal
Play high level - Play hard
Don’t disrespect opponent
Just go out and keep playing Like Who We Are
Don’t want imposters showing up. Just keep being who you are.
Respect opponent and great game of football
Play the way it is suppose to be played
Get up at 4:45 in the morning for football practice 3 x week
Do more by 9 AM than most normal people do in a day ***. Take Pride in that!!
Goal board is way we live
Turn it on & Step It Up
We don’t play down to an Opponent
Which team gets back up to speed play & play off tempo speed
Defense : Our deal is, once knock down on the ground - Don’t jump on them
Continue to Improve and Work Hard
Texas high school football Coaching
“Gotta give them more than football skills”
Expectation - “Best ability is availability” & Attitude
#1 -Attendance
Who responsibility for you to be here
Be here
Be here every day and be on time
Communicate! Great thing to know in life
Irregular attendance make it difficult, if not impossible, to be part of team
If injured - show up, on time, be dressed -Still part of team
#2 - Attitude
We control it
Come every day with the expectation something great will happen
Leaders/Coaches/Superiors - Often view as combative, View - as they are there to punish
Winners view as Cooperative
Make players best they can be
Encourage Others - What can I do for someone else, not what they can do for me
Don’t Be Cool- Be passionate about Westlake Football
#3 - Effort
Expected to give all effort - 100% on every play
When one of 11 repressing the other 72 of us
Show respect & give 100%
Contest of Will rather than Skill - Skill alone will not win unless it is So Superior
Gameday expectations- kill the will of your opponent
Don’t have to be hugely talented to be
On time
Give 100% effort
Have great attitude
Message to our players
Stay hungry
Stay humble
Respect: Greatness of Texas Highschool Football - Play it the way it ought to be played
Respect: your opponent - who you are competing against
Have confidence in things we have done
Play with swagger, but not too full of themselves
Want them to play with an edge
Each and every week - gotta go earn it.
Final Thoughts:
Elizabeth & Dodge Set Intention on Stint at Westlake
Knew after about 8 yrs would peace out.
Journey- Respecting what came before us
Coaches
Players
Athletic Directors
“On our watch: honor them and maybe raise the bar a little”
Remember:
Pre-Game Meal - Always Look for Luby’s. This Saturday you will Find the Mighty Westlake Varisty Team eating at one in Ft. Worth.
Dear Elizabeth & Todd : Thank you for the years of Service to our Boys, Our Student-Athletes, our Parents, & Our Westlake Community.
God Speed & Beep Beep
~DeLea
