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I t is indeed an honor to have this oppor-tunity to address the American FootballCoaches Association membership. The fel-

lowship of Christian Athletes is the only

other organization that can match the rapid

growth of the American Football Coaches

Association in this country. Our member-

ship is well over 8,000 to date and growing.

Under the leadership of Grant Teaff and his

staff, this organization and the coachingprofession have undergone a tremendous

facelift in image. The young and seasoned,

male and female, politician to blue collar

worker has accepted the coaching profes-

sion as a positive difference-maker in our

society. I tell my coaches all the time, that

we must be better than the guy next door to

our players. They want you to be, and you

must be better.

Our theme for this 2000 convention is

Victory with Honor. More than anytime in

our existence, this theme is very appropri-

ate. Winning at any and all cost has a

stranglehold on the psyche of society

today. We want to cut corners, look for

short cuts, avoid the process, and diminish

the work ethic. What they dont know wont

hurt them mentality provokes cheating,

cover-ups and a lower sense of morality.

The word character is treated like the word

Baptist you must be careful who you are

with before you decide to bring it up.

We accepted the head coaching posi-

tion at Hampton University in January of

1992. Since that time, we have won five

conference championships and two Sheri-

dan Broadcasting Networks national

championships. Hampton has advanced to

postseason play six of the last eight years.

This year, our eighth, Hampton played in a

postseason game The Heritage Bowl.

This tenure certainly shows consistency,

it shows job security but more than any-

thing, the foundation for our accomplish-

ments has been the time and effort spent

daily on teaching and driving home the

importance of character to everyone in the

program. We have a very active Fellowshipof Christian Athletes huddle that meets

every Friday at 7 p.m., whether at home or

on the road. Our chaplain, Reverend

Jerome Barber, travels with the team and

attends every practice. Offensive coor-

dinator Donald Hill heads up a group of 17

players that comprise a gospel choir. This

choir performs on campus, local churches,

high schools and other concerts. We attend

church as a team the first three Sundays of

fall camp. We pray before leaving the field

whether its practice or game day. Each

week in our scouting report, the first three

pages deals with: A. Cover page; B. A word

of wisdom sheet; C. A sheet on character

building. We put in a lot of time to choose

the appropriate sheets for the upcoming

week based on where we fell short the pre-

vious week. As the head coach, I take it

upon myself to follow the pulse or

Zeitgeist of the team.Over the years, players have told me

that they look forward to getting them each

week because they use them to do papers

for home assignments. Thats not exactly

what we had in mind, but at least they are

of some use.

The word character as defined by

Webster is behavior typical of a person or

group; moral strength. Behavior is either

negative or positive based on your attitude

Your attitude is regulated by your percep-

tion of the experiences you have had in life.

Too many failures in life suggests to an

individual that maybe he or she is a failure.

Setting and accomplishing goals tends to

develop positive self esteem individuals

with stronger moral values and a positive

attitude. Our job as coaches is to create an

environment conducive to developing

strong ethics and character. An environ-

ment conducive to success in the class-

room, socially, spiritually, and on the play-

ing field. The organization of our program

was developed by a fear factor. We are

afraid not to see them both in and out of

season.

In the off-season, we have plyometrics

before classes start; weight training after

classes end. We invite quest speakers

every Friday from the community to help

connect the real world to college life:

bankers, superintendents, city councilmen,

professors, Doctors, etc. On Saturday

mornings, we have speed school from 8

a.m. to 9 a.m. It helps to temper Friday

night activities. Study hall is mandatory for

all freshmen and any upperclassman under

a 2.4 grade point average. Ms. Sonja Stillsis our academic advisor and she does a

good job of monitoring this academic

progress. Ms. Stills also has developed

activities associated with the social skills,

life skills and community involvement.

We interview our players routinely with

the segment coaches as well as myself.

We want to know them as people, not just

football players. Relationships are built on

trust and accountability. The better your

relationship with your players, the more

Joe Taylor

Head Coach

Hampton University

Hampton, Va.

No Character, NoConsistency, No Job

Security

8/3/2019 Joe Taylor - Hampton University

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cohesive and solid the program will be from

top to bottom. The stronger the relation-

ships, the more people tend to bond and

respect each other. Everyone will strive to

become more accountable to self and to

the program. When you have a situation

where no one wants to let the next person

down, the energy level in the program goes

up. A good barometer for measuring how

the players feel about the program is howhard they play on game day. If they feel

good about whats happening to them, they

will show their appreciation by going all out

to get their job done. Unfortunately, if they

dont feel good about whats happening to

them they will let you know on game day

as well.

We set goals for them, we encourage

them to set goals for themselves, for the

program and for the school and athletic

department. We write them weekly during

the summer months. Each coach is respon-

sible for a well thought out message inclu-

sive of the education, current events,

importance of work outs and his view of the

upcoming season. They have work out

cards that must be returned weekly. Each

person in the program has a psychological

profile on file that we give as needed to

keep everyones date folder current. The

exit interview by the head coach always

includes an updated Personal Data Sheet.

We start each January with a theme for the

year Unfinished Business; Operational

Team; Make it Happen all to create a

singleness of purpose for the program.

All of these different strategies are

designed to build character - a strong

belief tempered with class and respect for

all of mankind. A belief so strong that you

focus on the steps to success rather thanfighting naysayers or losers. A belief that

you can accomplish anything in life that

you want to. A belief that disallows dis-

tractions to deter you from goals. T h is

past year really tested the character of our

program. After a loss to Florida A&M, the

opportunity to win our third consecutive

conference championship vanished. T h e

treatment, although unfair, from the press,

campus life, was very harsh. The players

and coaches alike were disappointed.

Homecoming was the next week and we

had to get our spirit back in the right place

for a tough South Carolina State game.

We were able to win that game in front of

the biggest homecoming crowd ever. Th e

next week we dropped another confer-

ence game which dashed all hopes of an

at-large bid to post season NCAA pl ay. We

had to stop practice one day and remind

the players that God doesnt send us into

the valley to become bitter but rather to

strengthen our faith and commitment.

Fortunately, we had enough character to

keep working and feeling that our hard

work would not be in vain. We went on to

win our season finale and receive a bid to

the Heritage Bowl and defeat the SWAC

champion, Southern University, who had

defeated us earlier in the season. Our faith

was tested but our character sustained usand reinforced a spirit of never giving up in

life no matter what the challenge.

In closing, the book of Philippians,

Chapter 4 verses 4-9 and specifically

verses 6 and 7 Paul reminds us of a pre-

scription for character building that is over

2000 years old and still works:

1. Be anxious about nothing (Worry cre-

ates a negative attitude).

2. Be prayerful in anything (Communi-

cate wants and needs to God).

3. Be thankful in everything.

(Recognition of him knowing what we need

better than we do. If we had to write the

script a lot of things we would not go

through but are necessary for our growth)

The three aforementioned character

builders gives a certain peace that allows you

to focus on your goals and not waste energy.

Those goals are character development, win-

ning consistently and job security.

NCAA Position

on Gambling

The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering. Sports wagering has

the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare

of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community. Sports wagering

demeans the competition and competitors alike by a message that is contrary to the

purposes and meaning of sport. Sports competition should be appreciated for the

inherent benefits related to participation of student-athletes, coaches and institutions

in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition.

For those reasons, the NCAA membership has adopted specific rules prohibiting ath-

letics department staff members and student-athletes from engaging in gambling activ-

ities as they relate to intercollegiate or professional sporting events.