By Rob Morrissey
NFL Player Engagement
Since 2003 Coach Steve Specht has been the head coach of the St. Xavier High Schools varsity football team. A graduate of St. Xavier Coach Specht strives to uphold a standard of excellence that is St. Xavier football. Under Coach Specht the Bombers have won three Ohio big school championships (2005, 2007, 2011), with Specht earning Ohio Division I Coach of the Year honors in 2005 as well as 2007. Coach Specht stresses the importance of hard work, dedication, and trust in your teammates which he continues to instill in his players today.
When you’re developing talent, what are some of the intangibles that you look for and why?
We often stress to our players that it is their responsibility to follow the advice of Teddy Roosevelt, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” All players should be able to develop their own individual talent but it takes hard work, commitment, organization and determination. In other words, we always look for players that can organize and balance their time commitments to the offseason conditioning program as well as their in season responsibilities, then we help them find a way to get better and achieve a daily personal best every day. Reaching these personal bests doesn’t take any exceptional physical gifts; it simply requires desire and the determination to get better. Some kids may be given ten physical talents while others are only given two, but we expect them to develop the work ethic necessary to see those talents come to fruition. If a young man is not willing to organize, commit to a program and work hard at his trade it doesn’t matter how many individual gifts or talents he has…he will never be able to develop them. As we often tell the players, “we can’t want this more than they do!”
What are the characteristics of a successful high school football student-athlete on and off-the-field?
I’ve often been accused of having favorites and my response is always the same, “yes I do have favorites. My favorites go to class every day, sit in the front and ask intelligent questions. They work hard in the weight room and at practice. They get involved in community service and give back to the community. They challenge themselves to be their best every day and expect the same of their classmates and teammates.” Simply put, all successful student-athletes make a commitment to be the best they can be every day. Student-athletes that want to positively influence their teammates and community shouldn’t waste time trying to be better than anyone, but instead embrace the opportunity to be their best all the time.
How do you and your staff begin developing leadership skills in your student-athletes?
We believe part of our responsibility as a coaching staff is to empower players to lead their own team. We start by organizing a “leadership council” made up of six seniors, four juniors and two sophomores. We meet with them in the offseason twice a week and focus on a specific culture. The culture can range from the locker room to the weight room to the classroom etc. During the meetings we train the council as to what leadership looks like, sounds like and acts like. For example, if we discuss classroom culture the focus might be on what a leader in the class looks like. Does he sit in the front and pay attention? Does he add to the class discussions with positive comments? Does he hand in all assignments on time? Does he encourage his classmates with affirmation? Does he show respect for everyone in the class? We discuss what this should look, sound and act like. From that conversation we establish classroom standards we expect our football players to adhere to and promote with other members of the school community. Once we have established the expectations and the council clearly understands what we want to accomplish we will have a team meeting and go through the same process we went through with the council only this time around the council leads the meeting and engages and challenges their teammates to create the expected culture with them. This will continue the entire offseason and will cover multiple cultures and topics. Ultimately, we simply want to empower the players to lead, to give them the tools necessary to initiate and promote positive change.
What advice would you give to a parent/guardian who is assisting his/her child with the college search process?
I try to meet with every player and their parents in the offseason to discuss the recruiting process. I explain that it is my responsibility to market all of my players to as many prospective colleges as possible, but it is the player’s responsibility to identify schools of interest to help the marketing. The parents can help the athlete discern by simply communicating with them, I believe the parents can help the process by identifying a few key points:
1) Cost: What can they afford (in the event the player is not a full scholarship athlete)?
2) Distance: How far does the athlete really want to be from home?
3) Size: How small of a school are they willing to attend.
4) Course of Study: Although most athletes are undecided, some may look at a specific major not offered by certain schools.
Once they have narrowed their focus based on these four criteria I advise them on the football aspects of choosing a school and identify the things that are important to the athlete. This can range from playing early in their career to playing for a particular coach. The pro’s and con’s vary with every situation so I give them a checklist of things to consider in the process. Ultimately, the decision needs to focus on where the student-athlete can see themselves spending the next four or five years of their life whether they play football or not. As I always tell them, “I don’t care if your son goes on to play at the next level, but I do care what they are doing 10-20 years from now and how they are impacting the world in a positive way.”
What is something every incoming freshman should know as they transition into high school athletics?
We constantly talk to our players about the return on their investment. In our situation we do not have a “feeder program” but instead attract kids from all over the city. These young men may have been the best player on their team but now they are in a situation where they are playing with the best players from all over the city. What are they willing to invest to get better and make their situation better? The only promise we ever make is that we will challenge them every day and if they stay they will become better men, better football players. They will experience a lot of adversity, but the investment they make in themselves will help them deal with adversity. Unfortunately, not all young men are willing to make the immediate investment, Part of the educational process is giving young men the tools needed to make the appropriate investments in their spiritual, social, academic and athletic lives. This investment helps them deal with the peer pressures they will face throughout their high school career.
How do you create a healthy culture within your locker room?
Great question, we discuss this very topic in our leadership council every offseason. We believe the key component to having a healthy culture in the locker room hinges on how much our players can trust one another. In my opinion the only way to trust people is to get to know them and appreciate who they are, because of this we do not allow cell phones in the locker room to encourage the players to get to know one another. I like to assign lockers by numbers or by letting the council assign the lockers. We believe it is important to create as much diversity as possible by making sure players that do not know one another very well are situated next to one another. We also let the players determine the standards expected in the locker room. We do not believe in rules as much as we expect the players to uphold the standards to which the long blue line (past players that graduated from St. Xavier) demands. By allowing the players to establish the standards it becomes collective and not top down. As I always tell the team, “it may be my program, but it is your team. What do you want it to look like?”
How have you seen the student-athlete experience evolve over the years?
The student athletes have become bigger, stronger and faster over the past 20 years. I can remember a time when a 230 pound offensive linemen was considered “big” but not any longer. I believe strength and conditioning plays a role in this and students have access to nutritional programs that obviously enhance the training. My biggest concern about the “evolution” of the student-athlete involves “specialization.” In my humble opinion I believe we do a disservice to the athlete by “requiring” them to focus on one sport. I’m a firm proponent of letting kids be kids and experience as much as they can while they are young. This extends beyond the playing field and into the arts as well. I believe our job as educators is to provide students with as many avenues as possible to expand their horizons and find possible hidden talents, specialization reduces these opportunities and that concerns me.