Coach wants fair chance to prove himself By Steve Block, Staff writer, TTi • July 16, 2013 Trinidad High School’s new head football coach and athletic director got his introduction into local life after a long day unloading a U-Haul truck in torrid summer heat. Later that night a hungry bear broke into a locked cooler that had been left outside the house and helped itself to a little midnight snack. Ivan Lewis said life as a teacher and coach in southern Colorado would clearly be a little different that it was in his former Arkansas home, but he said in a Friday interview that all he wants is to be accepted for who he is and to be given a fair chance to succeed. Lewis said he wanted everyone to know that he’s totally committed to his new job and the community. He pointed at the door of Miner’s Gym and said: “This school, these students and this sports program are going to be my passion and the center of everything that I’m going to be doing. I’m not looking to go anywhere else. This is where I want to be.” Lewis was asked what is required to bring out the best in a high school athlete. He said it’s a process that involves many factors, but the key thing is to ensure each athlete knows what’s expected of them. “It’s critical that any and every player understand that they’re part of a machine,” Lewis said. “Any one part of a watch that’s not is sync with the rest makes the watch inoperable. It’s the same thing with a football team. There’s not one star. There may be somebody who stands out because he ran for 250 yards, but he didn’t do it alone. I will give the athlete their moment of glory, but we’ve got to keep the focus on ‘this is a team effort and not an individual effort.’ Let’s take it back to Biblical philosophy and ‘pride comes before the fall.’ Every team has got to have pride. Every individual has got to put forth all the effort that their position requires, otherwise it’s inefficient. We’ve got to work with efficiency. My philosophy on this is that we all work efficiently and we all work to our greatest capacity. If we do a great job and we do our best, then you’re not a loser no matter what the scoreboard said. It does matter as far as statistics go, but statistics are just black and white. Statistics follow us for the next 100 years. There’s never one play that wins a game. It’s four solid quarters. Sometimes longer. There’s nobody on that field that you can point to and say, ‘we would have won if you hadn’t done this.’ Everybody makes mistakes. We drill for this to reduce the possibility of those mistakes.” Longtime football coach Randy Begano and several members of his staff will not be coaching football for the Might Miners this fall, though many are still teaching. Lewis was asked how he could attract those players who liked and respected the members of the previous coaching staff to come out for this year’s team. He said he knew it wasn’t going to be easy to do that. “I understand that there’s an established relationship of students, athletes and coaches,” he said. “There’s a connection that is like family. I come to this at the tail end of this whole thing. I was not involved in any of that. I’ve got to establish the program to the best of my ability. I’ve got to take what was left from the last group, and that’s what I’ve got to work with. Whoever it is, it doesn’t matter. If there are athletes who say they will not work under a new administration, I understand that and I respect it, because it’s personal. At the same time, I ask that they give me the chance, because the one thing they’re not going to have a problem with me is respect. I will respect every student and every athlete, and as for perfection, we move toward perfection. We get into shape to put our bodies toward perfection. We do our routines and run our drills to try to perfect what we do, but it’s a goal. It’s not what I expect everybody to be doing. The past has affected Trinidad. We could say I’m here for a fresh start, but at the same time it’s not a fresh start for these athletes and parents. It’s a fork in the road and they don’t know that they like it. I understand that and I respect it. I ask that they give me a chance. I feel like a child up for adoption into a family. You can either reject the newcomer into the family or you can say, ‘well, it looks like he has some potential. Let’s see what he can do for us.’” Lewis’ only head coaching experience came at a junior high school in Coldwell Parish, La., though he has plenty of experience as a high school assistant football coach. He said he’s never had the formal title of athletic director, but has performed all the functions of that job in previous jobs without having the title. He said he won’t be a micro-manager as athletic director, seeing his role as helping the head coaches in various sports get their jobs done most effectively. He’ll also by physical education director at the high school. He said he believes in student leadership as the best way to get kids involved in P.E. classes. Lewis’ most recent job was as a full-time teacher at Arkansas Consolidated H.S. G4S in Alexander, Ark., the Arkansas Juvenile Treatment and Assessment Center, from Aug. 2012 until he was hired in Trinidad. Previous to that, Lewis served as a full-time Elementary English teacher at Grayson Elementary School in the Coldwell Parish School District in Coldwell Parish, La., from Aug. 2011 - May 2012. He earlier served as full-time English teacher and head girl’s basketball coach at Brinkley H.S, in Brinkley, Ark., from July 2008 - May 2011. He also served as an assistant football and baseball coach there. Previous to that, he was a full-time reading teacher at Bunche Academic Academy, Jefferson Parish Public School System in Metairie, La. Lewis said he looked at several other positions besides Trinidad. He said he’d had several long phone interviews, before coming to Trinidad for a face-to-face interview that included Superintendent Dr. Manual Rodriguez, school board member Manuel Torres, an administrator parent and student. He said he was offered the job on the ride back to the airport and accepted on the spot. He said he’s a big believer in joint respect between athletes and coaches. He said he’s not the type to belittle an athlete, or use bad language in pursuit of success. He also said the he’s not the type to listen to hecklers from the stands, preferring to focus on what’s going on out on the field.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 15:27:46 +0000
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