Still planning to play ball : Decatur FB coach, players going about business as usual
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
DECATUR - When Bill Brockert was named the head football coach at Decatur last summer, he promised his then-small group of players he inherited he would be around for a while.
Brockert was the school's fifth head coach since 2001. He served as a volunteer assistant in 2006 and was promoted to head coach when Kevin Youngblood resigned.
"I really feel like this program just needs a little'TLC, '"Brockert told the Daily Record for its 2007 Football Preview. "We've got kids that don't know anything but new coaches. We feel like if we can establish some consistency and uniformity from one year to the next, then maybe the participation will pick up and we'll also get better as a program. That's what our goal is."
Nearly a year later, Brockert is holding true to his promise even if the circumstances involving the Decatur School District might dictate otherwise.
The Decatur School District was placed in a state of fiscal distress by the Arkansas State Board of Education on July 14. The future of the district - which could be annexed with Gravette, Gentry or Bentonville - will be determined in another meeting with the State Board of Education on July 31.
Brockert and the Bulldogs football players don't know whether they will have fall practice begin as scheduled Aug. 4 or play their first regular season game at Cherokee, Kan., on Sept. 5, but they've been working this summer as if they will.
"We've been going about business as usual," Brockert said. "We've been trying to go ahead and assume that we're going to have school and go accordingly to what our plans are. That's about all we can do really."
The maintenance of Bulldog Stadium has been kept up, including mowing and watering the field and marking field lines. Around 17 players have been practicing five times a week this summer, Brockert said. The Bulldogs did have more than 20, but that was before the district's financial woes became known. "There's about three or four that I haven't seen since this whole thing went down," Brockert said. "Right now we have 17. "Assistant coach Stanley Ellis, a former Gravette coach, also is still with the team, Brockert said. Brockert said some of the players already have started to make contingency plans of where to go to school in case Decatur is annexed. If the school remains open, Brockert said the players have committed to playing football. "I just have to believe that what a majority of our kids have said is going to be true," Brockert said.
Brockert and basketball coach Dan Garringer have said they have also made contingency plans, but both coaches plan on coaching in Decatur if the school remains open.
"I planned very early on that I was going to stick this thing through to the end," Brockert said. "I've just been spending my time making sure we're ready to go when August 4 th gets here."
There's also messages being sent to his players, Brockert said, whether the school remains open or not.
"When I took this job I told them that I would be here as long as it took to turn it around," Brockert said. "Having school (potentially ) taken from underneath you is about as much as a turnaround as you can get. I have that commitment out there.
"One of the things that I want to show kids that a commitment is a commitment. No matter how bad things may get, if you decide that's what you want to set your mind to, then you stay with it until somebody else tells you that you can't do it."
So far Brockert has been impressed with the small group of players that have stuck around this summer including Cameron Smith, Shelby Ellison, Blake Ellison and Tanner Morgan.
"We've had kids that have been out not only once a day but twice a day," Brockert said. "I could list a whole bunch of them."
The Bulldogs started last season with 24 players but struggled to an 0-10 season. Still, Brockert felt like the program was turning the corner even into this summer before all hell broke loose.
"We felt like going into this year that the kids had genuinely changed their attitude," he said. "We've had the best summer since I've been here as far as kids showing up and working hard. The numbers may be down totally, but the number of kids working in our summer program has increased three-fold from what they were last year. I felt like maybe we'd turned the corner a little bit emotionally and commitment-wise."
Speaking of commitment, Brockert said he's been impressed in recent weeks with the community's involvement in trying to save the school district. If that happens, he hopes the Bulldogs can return the favor.
"I hope our kids will realize that if the people here are willing to give up as much as they've given up to have a school that we need to respect that and do the best we possibly can to have a good football team," Brockert said. "I've impressed that upon the kids many times as a matter of pride here. If this community gives you the opportunity, you've got to take it and roll with it."
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