The Wise Old Coach On the Mountain

A few years ago I was looking through old UK football programs and found a picture of then-Virginia Tech Head Coach Jimmy Sharpe.

Coach Sharpe was in Bear Bryant’s first freshman class at Alabama. He later was an assistant for Coach Bryant before becoming the head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies. I only heard Coach Sharpe speak one time, but it changed by life.

In the summer of 1986 I was a Huddle Leader at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) summer camp in Black Mountain, N.C. In the spring of 1986, I had completed an internship in the investment department at First Security in Lexington. As an Economics & Management major, I was looking at graduate school or possibly finding a job in finance or investments after getting my degree in the spring of 1987.

The fall of 1986 was going to be my last fall of football helping Coach French at Mercer County. And, I figured my last chance to go to FCA camp was also that summer, not knowing how things would play out after graduation.

My dad had been very active in FCA since becoming the head coach at Boyle County. Through FCA and our church, Steele Harmon and his family had become very good friends. Steele was the head football coach at Centre when we got to Danville in 1969 and would later be the head football coach at Danville. If you see an old coach walking out to see me before a game on Friday night, that’s Steele!

At FCA Camp, we had “buzz sessions.” Those were a series of talks you could choose to go to, sit in and listen. There were a lot of choices. Coach Sharpe’s topic was something along the lines of building a championship team. That sounded like a good topic. I wanted to make the most of my last fall of football.

Coach Sharpe spoke as a man and a coach who had become wise through experience. As he shared with us where he had been and the things he had gone through, he really got my attention because of his sincerity and honesty. And, hearing him talk about Coach Bear Bryant kept all of us tuned in. The room was packed.

And, then, he got to the part of his talk describing the characteristics of a championship team. He told us, this is what all of the championship teams that he had been a part of had in common: the coaches loved the coaches, the coaches loved the players, the players loved the coaches, and the players loved the players.

I had been part of several teams that didn’t love each other. I knew what it was like to be part of a team that didn’t have the chemistry and togetherness that you would want. I raised my hand: “Coach Sharpe, how do you get that to happen on your team?”

His response was, “You love them first!”

I am not sure how to describe it, but at that moment I really felt like God was calling me to teach and coach. The calling was very clear and very intense.

As I look back on it, it seemed like every time I got away from football or tried to, I would get pulled back in. When I got back home, I immediately went to see my dad to tell him what had happened and that now I planned to coach and teach. He was not happy, but I don’t think he was surprised. I understood he wanted me to have a life he thought would be better and/or easier than teaching and coaching.

I was excited about the future and somewhat relieved because I finally felt like I was going in the direction God wanted me. Until I was going that way, I had this sensation that something was not right or was out of place.

Coach Sharpe has no idea how his talk changed my life. I think about that a lot: the words that come out of my mouth, will they be positive or negative in how they impact others?

But, even more than that, Coach Sharpe gave me the most practical guideline for being a football coach and working with people: “You love them first.”

Someday it will be time for me to finally walk away from teaching and/or coaching. But I am thankful for Coach Sharpe and I am confident that God has had me where he wanted me since that night on the mountain.

This column first appeared in the Maysville Ledger Independent and was edited by Zack Klemme, former Ledger Sports Editor, currently on the staff of the Ashland Daily Independent.