Rebuilding with passion

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Depth is important in sports. There’s other things, like winning and losing. But any coach I watch or know will invariably talk about his or her bench and the advantage of having lots of skill itching to get in the game. Depth is the difference between winning and losing.

Kodi Crane, Gonzales High School’s athletic director, knows that. He has lived through it. And he and a plugged in hyper-driven staff of coaches have built something remarkable. Two years ago, during a basketball game, an Apache player fouled out and was sent to a bench that was nearly empty but had nearly as many players as remained on the floor. Gonzales had only four players left to finish that game. If you aren’t into basketball, it’s worth pointing out the game requires five. The Apache basketball team had six players at the start.

Gonzales lost that game but it was the beginning of a re-building program that would earn the respect of any forward-thinking high school in Texas.

I met Coach Crane two weeks ago after he wrung some time out of a packed morning. He’s a football guy – a fact made evident when I mentioned my love of the old single-wing formation that was the precursor to the offense being used at many high schools and universities today. The coach definitely knows the single wing. We talked about his program. Afterward, I wrote down very brief notes knowing I’d probably write this column. They were: Passion, Dedication, Commitment, Buy-in and Drive.

Looking over those five things, I realized how those five things were transferable to everything. Coach Crane could have easily been describing a successful company.

When he was hired, the outdated facilities were adequate but that was before the coach sold his vision to staff and students alike. They bought in. Now, the football team doesn’t have enough lockers. They have one for every two players. Driving by the high school these days, the track team looks like a small army. Gonzales High has one of the best soccer programs around even though it didn’t exist a few years ago. Yes, he’s a football guy. But Coach Crane applies his formula to multiple sports with equal energy. It’s contagious. I shook the hands of several players a couple of days ago. They had caught the energy. My hand tingled for half an hour.

Understandably, you might wonder why you’re reading about sports on the opinion page. I would argue this isn’t specifically about sports. It’s also about managing a newspaper, a bank, a restaurant or retail store. The five qualities I mentioned earlier – the passion stuff, is a formula for positive movement and I’ve never seen that kind of power land in a bad spot. It’s a creative energy with results, most notably participation and depth.

What Kodi Crane and his coaches are creating can’t be measured by score alone. But in every way it feels like winning.

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