By Rob Morrissey
NFL Player Engagement
Nunzio Campanile was named the 10th head coach in Bergen Catholic history in February of 2010, and in his four seasons at the helm of the Crusader program has helped make BC a perennial Top 100 football program in the nation. Campanile has built a reputation as being one of the brightest offensive minds in the country having tutored 7 All-State quarterbacks in the last decade, and his BC teams have averaged over 35 points per game during his coaching tenure.
In 2012, Campanile was selected by USA Football to join the coaching staff for the US Under-19 National Team that competed in the 3rd annual International Bowl in Austin, Texas.
PE: When you’re developing talent, what are some of the intangibles that you look for and why?
Coach Campanile: We look for a number of characteristics in our young men. There are four qualities that we believe are common to most of our successful players. We ask them to be smart, tough, hard-working, & team oriented. We believe that each of these traits have nothing to do with talent, they are all a choice.
We want them to be smart players. The more they understand the game, our system, the situation, etc…the more opportunities they have to help the team. We believe it is our job as coaches to teach and prepare our players. We may need to find different ways to instruct when it comes to certain individuals. Once we find the best way to teach them, we expect a concerted effort from them to be intelligent well-informed players.
We expect both mental & physical toughness in all of our players. Football is a tough game, played by tough people. The game is full of adversity, we expect our players to handle that adversity without flinching. We want our players to excel in the toughest moments. We make sure to find ways to create adversity, whether in the weight room or on the practice field. Toughness is a trait that we believe can be developed over time. We also believe their commitment to one another enhances their toughness. We take great pride in having players that thrive in tough moments.
We have great expectations each season. In order to have a chance at accomplishing our goals we must be an extremely hard working team. We know our opponents work hard as well, so we believe that we gain an edge, by paying great attention to detail in everything we do. We believe that creates great habits that carry over for our young men when they graduate from our program.
Being a private school, our players come from as many as 80 different towns. Many of them are successful youth players with high expectations for their high school careers, and beyond. We make a major effort to develop a team oriented mentality. We all know it’s impossible to successful unless we all place the team first. That requires some sacrifice from everyone in the program. Each player must subvert their ego and put aside their personal agenda for the betterment of the team. Our kids understand how important that is. The genuinely love one another. They understand the commitment they have made to one another. That makes it much easier for us to find the type of young men that have a team first mentality.
PE: What are the characteristics of a successful student-athlete, on & off the field?
Coach Campanile: Many of the same intangible traits we look for in our players, are what make them successful in all areas of their lives. Hard work is certainly a requirement. They also need to take pride in everything they do. We try to instill in them the idea that the pride they take in their performance should be evident in everything they do. That same effort and enthusiasm should be evident in the classroom and the community. They need to remember all of the groups that they represent, their teammates, their coaches, their school, and most importantly their family. They should want to make all of those groups proud of their accomplishments in the classroom and on the field.
One thing I’ve seen in my four plus years at Bergen Catholic, is that the players that have been leaders for us on the field, have been leaders in the classroom and the hallways as well. Our captains, our best players, and our best students have often been the same people. Our captains have gone to some great colleges, such as Northwestern (2 captains), Princeton, Penn, Yale, Brown, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins (2 captains), and Rutgers. They have set a great example for our future players. It is very much a part of the culture at Bergen Catholic that our players have very high expectations on the field and in the classroom.
PE: How do you and your staff begin developing leadership skills in your student-athletes?
Coach Campanile: We instituted a Leadership Council shortly after the conclusion of my first season at Bergen Catholic. We’ve had the council for four years. We believe it has been a success. There is no doubt that leadership is a skill that has to be developed. Some players have more innate leadership abilities than others, but we have seen tremendous growth through this program. We try to recognize the young men with potential to lead. They are usually hard workers to begin with. We start with this rule “Never ask someone to do something that you aren’t willing to do yourself”. We want them to set the example and it starts by not being above even the most menial task, such as carrying bags, or the varsity quarterback collecting the footballs after practice.
We try to meet every three to four weeks. We want to continually remind them of their responsibilities, and provide material for them to convey to their teammates. We include them in the team’s goal setting process. It is their team, so it should be their goals. We want them to take ownership of their team. We are there to guide them down the right path for their goals, and their plan to accomplish their goals. We help them to define the characteristics it takes for a team to be successful, as well as how individuals succeed. We include them in the discussion of how we hand out discipline to players that repeatedly step out of line.
The biggest message we try to instill in them is that the number one requirement in leadership is having genuine care for the people they are leading. If their teammates know that they love & respect the players they are leading, those players will run through a wall for them. Great leaders care much more about the success of the group than their individual accomplishments. We have had members of our Leadership Council that have not even started for us, but they are great workers and they contribute to the team as whole. Those players have garnered tremendous respect from their teammates.
PE: What advice would you give to a parent/guardian who is assisting his/her child with the college search process?
Coach Campanile: We begin meeting with our players and their families as early as their sophomore year, regarding the college process. We try to evaluate their academic process. We want to make sure they are up to date on the NCAA requirements. We also want to get a gauge on their expectations for their future, both in the classroom and on the field. It is essential to give honest feedback, so that they are looking at the right schools. Schools that fit their athletic & academic qualifications.
We try to always remind the families that the recruitment process can be a long arduous journey. In the end, the majority of young men are in the situation where the school picks them, rather than the other way around. It is a rarity, where a player has the pick of the litter. Those players are the easy ones to deal with. We are usually more concerned with the young men that, are under-recruited or don’t have the options they are looking for. We make a big commitment to the recruiting process. We have sent around 70% of our graduating seniors to college to play football. We are very proud of that, but the process usually begins when they are young.
PE: What is something every incoming freshman should know as they transition into high school athletics?
Coach Campanile: Being a private school, many of our boys do not know each other before their freshmen year. As I said before, many of them are talented athletes with an eye towards a bright future in varsity football & beyond. This creates some angst for the boys as they begin summer camp & workouts, because there is tremendous competition. It’s very important to us that they understand that they earn what they get. Many coaches I speak to will lament that many young players today have a sense of entitlement. We want young men that are selfless. They are going to accept coaching, and place the needs & requirements of the team first. It is competitive, and it continues to get more competitive as raise up to the varsity level. We want them to have an expectation of hard work and commitment to the group.
PE: How do you create a healthy culture within your locker room?
Coach Campanile: Many of the items I have previously stated, lead to a great rapport amongst the young men in the locker room. Great leadership is important. Leaders set a great example what we are looking, and keep the team on task. I believe the boys create tremendous bonds because of the hard work they put in. They all share a common goal, and they all sacrifice a great deal for one another. We couple that with the idea that we are looking for high character young men. The culture on our team is great. The expectations are high in the class room and on the field. Those are the type of kids our program attracts. The type of players that can detract from the team with selfishness do not fit in at our school. That comes from strong leadership among the players. Our leadership council definitely has positive effect on the locker room environment.
PE: How have you seen the student-athlete experience evolve over the years?
Coach Campanile: There is much more specialization in high school and youth sports than there used to be. In some ways that has helped sports develop to higher level, but in other ways it has definitely hurt. The off-season training players are putting in now is different than it was twenty, thirty years ago. That has definitely helped individual players physically. It has maybe helped the game evolve because coaches and players work at one sport all year long. The down side is kids lose the experience of playing multiple sports. They also lose the skill development you can get in other sports.
Another major change is the constant pursuit of getting to the next level. I always hope that all of players are playing the game because they love it, rather than the ability to earn a scholarship. A scholarship is a great goal, and something we would love to see all of our players earn, but I want them to love the game of football. I want them to enjoy their teammates and their coaches. The experiences they get playing football are like nothing else they can get at that age. If they love the game and give everything they have to their teammates, they will be better men for it. There is so much emphasis placed on the next level that too many of them miss the opportunity right in front of them. This is a special game, and it’s not for everyone. The guys that do get the opportunity should enjoy it while it lasts.