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8/3/2019 Joe Taylor - Hampton University
1/2
I t is indeed an honor to have this oppor-tunity to address the American FootballCoaches Association membership. The fel-
lowship of Christian Athletes is the only
other organization that can match the rapid
growth of the American Football Coaches
Association in this country. Our member-
ship is well over 8,000 to date and growing.
Under the leadership of Grant Teaff and his
staff, this organization and the coachingprofession have undergone a tremendous
facelift in image. The young and seasoned,
male and female, politician to blue collar
worker has accepted the coaching profes-
sion as a positive difference-maker in our
society. I tell my coaches all the time, that
we must be better than the guy next door to
our players. They want you to be, and you
must be better.
Our theme for this 2000 convention is
Victory with Honor. More than anytime in
our existence, this theme is very appropri-
ate. Winning at any and all cost has a
stranglehold on the psyche of society
today. We want to cut corners, look for
short cuts, avoid the process, and diminish
the work ethic. What they dont know wont
hurt them mentality provokes cheating,
cover-ups and a lower sense of morality.
The word character is treated like the word
Baptist you must be careful who you are
with before you decide to bring it up.
We accepted the head coaching posi-
tion at Hampton University in January of
1992. Since that time, we have won five
conference championships and two Sheri-
dan Broadcasting Networks national
championships. Hampton has advanced to
postseason play six of the last eight years.
This year, our eighth, Hampton played in a
postseason game The Heritage Bowl.
This tenure certainly shows consistency,
it shows job security but more than any-
thing, the foundation for our accomplish-
ments has been the time and effort spent
daily on teaching and driving home the
importance of character to everyone in the
program. We have a very active Fellowshipof Christian Athletes huddle that meets
every Friday at 7 p.m., whether at home or
on the road. Our chaplain, Reverend
Jerome Barber, travels with the team and
attends every practice. Offensive coor-
dinator Donald Hill heads up a group of 17
players that comprise a gospel choir. This
choir performs on campus, local churches,
high schools and other concerts. We attend
church as a team the first three Sundays of
fall camp. We pray before leaving the field
whether its practice or game day. Each
week in our scouting report, the first three
pages deals with: A. Cover page; B. A word
of wisdom sheet; C. A sheet on character
building. We put in a lot of time to choose
the appropriate sheets for the upcoming
week based on where we fell short the pre-
vious week. As the head coach, I take it
upon myself to follow the pulse or
Zeitgeist of the team.Over the years, players have told me
that they look forward to getting them each
week because they use them to do papers
for home assignments. Thats not exactly
what we had in mind, but at least they are
of some use.
The word character as defined by
Webster is behavior typical of a person or
group; moral strength. Behavior is either
negative or positive based on your attitude
Your attitude is regulated by your percep-
tion of the experiences you have had in life.
Too many failures in life suggests to an
individual that maybe he or she is a failure.
Setting and accomplishing goals tends to
develop positive self esteem individuals
with stronger moral values and a positive
attitude. Our job as coaches is to create an
environment conducive to developing
strong ethics and character. An environ-
ment conducive to success in the class-
room, socially, spiritually, and on the play-
ing field. The organization of our program
was developed by a fear factor. We are
afraid not to see them both in and out of
season.
In the off-season, we have plyometrics
before classes start; weight training after
classes end. We invite quest speakers
every Friday from the community to help
connect the real world to college life:
bankers, superintendents, city councilmen,
professors, Doctors, etc. On Saturday
mornings, we have speed school from 8
a.m. to 9 a.m. It helps to temper Friday
night activities. Study hall is mandatory for
all freshmen and any upperclassman under
a 2.4 grade point average. Ms. Sonja Stillsis our academic advisor and she does a
good job of monitoring this academic
progress. Ms. Stills also has developed
activities associated with the social skills,
life skills and community involvement.
We interview our players routinely with
the segment coaches as well as myself.
We want to know them as people, not just
football players. Relationships are built on
trust and accountability. The better your
relationship with your players, the more
Joe Taylor
Head Coach
Hampton University
Hampton, Va.
No Character, NoConsistency, No Job
Security
8/3/2019 Joe Taylor - Hampton University
2/2
cohesive and solid the program will be from
top to bottom. The stronger the relation-
ships, the more people tend to bond and
respect each other. Everyone will strive to
become more accountable to self and to
the program. When you have a situation
where no one wants to let the next person
down, the energy level in the program goes
up. A good barometer for measuring how
the players feel about the program is howhard they play on game day. If they feel
good about whats happening to them, they
will show their appreciation by going all out
to get their job done. Unfortunately, if they
dont feel good about whats happening to
them they will let you know on game day
as well.
We set goals for them, we encourage
them to set goals for themselves, for the
program and for the school and athletic
department. We write them weekly during
the summer months. Each coach is respon-
sible for a well thought out message inclu-
sive of the education, current events,
importance of work outs and his view of the
upcoming season. They have work out
cards that must be returned weekly. Each
person in the program has a psychological
profile on file that we give as needed to
keep everyones date folder current. The
exit interview by the head coach always
includes an updated Personal Data Sheet.
We start each January with a theme for the
year Unfinished Business; Operational
Team; Make it Happen all to create a
singleness of purpose for the program.
All of these different strategies are
designed to build character - a strong
belief tempered with class and respect for
all of mankind. A belief so strong that you
focus on the steps to success rather thanfighting naysayers or losers. A belief that
you can accomplish anything in life that
you want to. A belief that disallows dis-
tractions to deter you from goals. T h is
past year really tested the character of our
program. After a loss to Florida A&M, the
opportunity to win our third consecutive
conference championship vanished. T h e
treatment, although unfair, from the press,
campus life, was very harsh. The players
and coaches alike were disappointed.
Homecoming was the next week and we
had to get our spirit back in the right place
for a tough South Carolina State game.
We were able to win that game in front of
the biggest homecoming crowd ever. Th e
next week we dropped another confer-
ence game which dashed all hopes of an
at-large bid to post season NCAA pl ay. We
had to stop practice one day and remind
the players that God doesnt send us into
the valley to become bitter but rather to
strengthen our faith and commitment.
Fortunately, we had enough character to
keep working and feeling that our hard
work would not be in vain. We went on to
win our season finale and receive a bid to
the Heritage Bowl and defeat the SWAC
champion, Southern University, who had
defeated us earlier in the season. Our faith
was tested but our character sustained usand reinforced a spirit of never giving up in
life no matter what the challenge.
In closing, the book of Philippians,
Chapter 4 verses 4-9 and specifically
verses 6 and 7 Paul reminds us of a pre-
scription for character building that is over
2000 years old and still works:
1. Be anxious about nothing (Worry cre-
ates a negative attitude).
2. Be prayerful in anything (Communi-
cate wants and needs to God).
3. Be thankful in everything.
(Recognition of him knowing what we need
better than we do. If we had to write the
script a lot of things we would not go
through but are necessary for our growth)
The three aforementioned character
builders gives a certain peace that allows you
to focus on your goals and not waste energy.
Those goals are character development, win-
ning consistently and job security.
NCAA Position
on Gambling
The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering. Sports wagering has
the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare
of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community. Sports wagering
demeans the competition and competitors alike by a message that is contrary to the
purposes and meaning of sport. Sports competition should be appreciated for the
inherent benefits related to participation of student-athletes, coaches and institutions
in fair contests, not the amount of money wagered on the outcome of the competition.
For those reasons, the NCAA membership has adopted specific rules prohibiting ath-
letics department staff members and student-athletes from engaging in gambling activ-
ities as they relate to intercollegiate or professional sporting events.