Why? “it will be ok” coaching following a legend

Early in my coaching career, I was an assistant football coach in Jr. High to a coaching legend. His name was "Red" Wade. A giant of man, six feet six, close to three hundred pounds. He had total control of the kids and did not lose a game in the five years I was assisting. We played some bigger schools and a few small area schools but the results were always the same. We won. When he retired, he was honored as the legend he was and I was named to take his place. I would have no assistant,(saving money) and would coach a squad of forty,all by myself.

I remember my first game, going to South Barber(a smaller, area school) and thinking that maybe I should start the "B" team and take it a little easy on them. We lost 20-0. It was a stunner. But at that level, if you have a true stud(and they did), he can dominate a game on both sides of the ball and he did. Our next game was at a tough school in Hutchinson, Sherman Jr High. We lost 7-0. Following a legend was proving to be impossible, embarrassing and if you didn't know, "even Jr High coaches can develop ulcers".

Now the problem was game three, Dodge City, a much larger school and a state contender every year. What to do, how to get back on track, how to get the team to believe. Well this is what I told the team. "We are going to score on the third play of the game". Now we had a reputation as a running team and what we we going to do was throw passes on the first two plays and on the third play run the "statue of liberty"(the quarterback goes back to throw and reaches back in a throwing position and a running back takes the ball a runs a sweep play}. We had a fast running back, named Kim Dover. I told them every day that Kim would score on the third play. Came game day, I was proved wrong, he scored on the fourth play.

We ran the two pass plays and Kim took the Statue of Liberty 50 yards down the side lines and stepped out of bounds on the five yard line. We scored on the next play, won the game and went on to win all the rest of the games that season. The first person in the dressing room to congratulate me was Red Wade.

Now for the kicker, the night before the game, I could not sleep. I was so worried about the team, my coaching, Dodge City. I has been on my mind all week. Laying there in the dark, following a legend, losing. not even able to score. Horrible indeed, at least from my view. Now what happened that night, I cannot truly explain, but around midnight and in the height of my agony a voice out of nowhere, gently said to me,"It will be ok". No, not in the room itself, but in my mind. Was it God?(I am an agnostic). I like to think it was my father(he died in a head on train collision when I was five years old). In any case I relaxed and fell immediately into a deep sleep. It was a moment I will never forget and now you know the"rest of the story".