The Leesville Wampus Cats football team takes on the Natchitoches Central Chiefs Saturday night at 7 in Northwestern’s Turpin Stadium to wrap up the two-day, 10-team Battle on the Bricks NRMC Jamboree.
At a Monday press conference to promote the event, veteran Leesville coach Robert Causey was the last speaker. He was the most profound one, too. Here’s what he said:
“Sometimes we can get kind of confused when we start talking about winning and losing, what’s really important. It’s just really high school football. It’s about the people that you invest into, and you watch them grow, and become young men, because we’re really investing into other people’s children.
“Along the way, they teach us things. Because if we can teach them, they can teach us. And so that is really the lesson.
“We were 1-5 last year, in the middle of the season. The year before, we had a great year (11-3, reaching the state semifinals). All the coaching evaluators sitting in the stands from the first row to the top row, two years ago, we coaches are geniuses. It was great. And then last year, we’re 1-5, and all of a sudden, I just got dumber, you know? You start hearing the outside noise, the chirping. The distractions are everywhere.
“We’re 1-5 and we’re playing our rival (DeRidder). It’s the big game. The ladies around town, they always talk about it. It’s big. Tuesday, that week, I had to cancel practice. We had 13 starters out with the flu. I sent them all home. Half the coaching staff was sick, and I sent them all home, but I stayed up there, and I fumigated and cleaned the entire field house on my own. I said, ‘it’s up to me.’
“Then my wife held me to a different standard after that point – like, ‘what are you gonna do? Friday night is going to be what it’s going to be. The end of the day, it’s in God’s hands.’
“We’re just talking about high school football. He’s in charge of everything and it’s gonna be His will, that if we’re gonna be 1-9, we’ll be 1-9. All we can do is control the things that we can control. And at the end of the day, it’s just about loving other people. It’s about relationships, and helping them grow to be the best versions of themselves.
“Along the way, I noticed our players, they started having a positive effect on me. And I started looking in the mirror, wondering what I can do to improve, in our program, in my life, spiritually, personally, professionally, and then in our program, what areas?
“I really found that, at that moment in time, our kids never quit on us. The credit goes to them. They never quit. There had to be something there, a belief there. I give them credit for the success we had last year. I thought it was a phenomenal year, because they didn’t tank it. They didn’t listen to the outside noise. They believed in something.
“Was it me? Was it the coaches? Maybe to some degree, but we owe them a lot. They didn’t quit on themselves, and they did not quit on the program. When the season was over, I was so proud of what we were able to accomplish, because of that moment. (The Cats beat DeRidder, won four more in a row, and finished 6-6 with a second-round playoff appearance).
“And so, through the offseason, everything was about what do we have to fix? Where did we fall short? Because we owe them our very best. Because what we expect of them, they should be expecting from us as the coaches. We just started evaluating everything in our program. What have we got to change? Where did we fall short? Our core values never change, but how do we word the standard? What is the standard?
“I listened to all the coaches, and what they were saying, and it kind of came down to this: do the ordinary things extraordinarily well. Just show up. If you’re showing up, what do you do when you’re there? Are you just doing the ordinary things? The best that you can possibly do? Why do you do what we ask you to do? Why do you do this? We ask you to go out in the heat, we ask you to practice more than you ever play. At the end of that, we heard from our kids, ‘because I want to do my best.’
“(So we said to our players), ‘whatever you do, you’re gonna do the very best you can at it.’ That’s been the approach we’ve absorbed into our program. If you’re gonna do anything, do it the very best you could possibly do it. And it’s just the ordinary things. Everybody runs, lifts weights, but are you doing the best that you can do at it?
“I’m not worried about anybody else … the outcomes are gonna be determined by you doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. Every day, we try to focus on us doing a little bit more right. We fear nobody, but we respect everybody … At the end of the day, when you look back, when it’s all over with, did you do your very best? And did you develop relationships and memories and have a bond that lasts a lifetime?
“And so, I’m looking forward to coaching this bunch. I’ve been with these kids since they were playing youth football. I know their parents; coached their dads. It’s a unique situation, being in a place for that many years, and watching this program grow with them and helping us all improve. I’m excited as anybody could be to watch these kids and the coaches that we have go compete this season.”