Successful coaches often have things that are non-negotiable in their program. Mine was the direction of the hat. I am a believer that the athlete represents his team, his program, his school, his family, his community, and himself. Respect for all of those folks is paramount for me. Most programs have similar beliefs and they are represented in different ways. Some teams demand that the players wear a tie or their jersey on game days. Since mine was the hat I made it a point for the first two weeks and it became our thing and we were proud. Some people may think this isn’t important but I would argue that team cohesion is built on such things. I would make such a big deal of it, that I would tell the story of one player.
To set the scene: it was several years later and I had a couple of assistants and Chris was one of them. He was a favorite player from his time at Rangeview and I looked forward to his help. I also have a short memory when there are problems occur and so when something is done, I don’t hold anything against a player beyond that corrective measure. The day I handed out hats was special and the players got the story of the one big time I had to correct a player. I am doing a late-night Limeade run to Sonic with my wife. We are traveling down Tower Road in the middle of three lanes. Luckily there was no one else on the road. I slammed on the brakes and almost threw my wife through the windshield. I rolled down the passenger side window at 10:30 at night I shouted “Which way is that hat supposed to be facing?” He quickly ducked behind the two girls he was walking with and slid his hat around. I rolled up the window and went home. I had no idea who the player was but I knew we were on the same page from then on.
I am telling a new group of players this story to make a point. I was telling the story on the mound and I looked around for Chris so that he could confirm the story. He is nowhere to be found. I finally see him by the dugout. I call him over to re-enforce that this has been a standard for a long time with me. I get to the end of the story and turn to Chris and he confirms that story. I tell the players that I don’t know who it was and it really didn’t matter. I just casually asked Chris, “That was around your time, do you know who it was?” He slowly drops his head while raising his hand. It then hit me that it was Chris. I had not planned that but it stuck with every kid. I have players in their thirties now who still say if they put a hat on backward they look around to see if I am standing there to correct them.