The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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28 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Playing Success To Coaching Success There is unanimity that Rivers will be- come as successful a coach as he was as a player. But why, exactly? Former All-ACC quarterback and Lou Holtz assistant Dave Buckey explains it well. "One of the best things he'll have go- ing for him is that he saw firsthand how to coach high school football from his dad," Buckey said. "That will help him keep things in perspective. In col- lege and the pros, he's had all the best technical tools, like an unlimited budget, endless videos, birds-eye views, behind the quarter- back views, the video ed- iting where they can make whole tapes of one cover- age, one of the defensive front, one of the blitz. "In high school, he'll likely have one video that's shot from a 15-foot-high press box." That might just give Rivers a built-in advantage. "He's so smart and has been exposed to so much throughout his career that he might be tempted to try to teach everything he knows to 15- to 18-year-old kids," Buckey noted. "The trick, and I think he can do this well, will be trimming down the volumes of football details in his head to a chapter or two for his young players. "Coach Holtz was a big believer in keeping things simple — doing a few things well rather than a lot things poorly." Like Rivers, Jay Davis is the son of a coach and experienced how well Rivers was able to translate football knowledge to pro- ductivity in his two years playing behind him. Davis has been the head coach at St. Pe- tersburg (Fla.) Catholic High School for the last four years, rebooting a program that had fallen on hard times. In his first season, he had just six players to sign up for the team. "I felt like I was at the start of a program, which is what any coach wants, because you can create your own culture instead of changing someone else's culture," Davis said. "Philip is going to be in a position to build from the ground up. The kids will love it, and he will be successful." The biggest thing Davis learned in his apprenticeship under Rivers is exactly one of the things that will help make him a good coach. "He's the best leader I've ever been around," Davis continued. "He brings the same energy every day. The things I learned from him are how to be consistent, how much he loves the game and how much he loves being around the guys. "I don't think any of that is going to change as he becomes a coach." Of course, working at a relatively new school with barely 300 students is differ- ent than having all the assets of one of the NFL's highest-paid players and an organi- zation that built him a tricked-out mobile studio so he could study opposing defenses when he commuted from San Diego to Los Angeles after the team moved in 2017. "When I first started coaching in high school, I thought it was about winning," said former All-ACC running back Anthony Bar- bour, who recently stepped down as head coach at Durham's Jordan High for health reasons. "Once you are in it, though, you realize there is way more to it than winning football games. "You become a mentor to the kids. To some of them, you become the only father figure they have. There is more to teaching than the X's and O's. There are people re- wards that can't be replaced." He'll have to delegate responsibilities and resist the urge of trying to teach younger players every- thing he knows all at once. "You have to know what your players can do," said former Wolfpack quarter- back Preston Poag, who has been the head coach at North Murray High School in Chatsworth, Ga. "I had a sophomore quarterback this year. He's going to be a good, highly re- cruited player, but I was very simple with him. I'll give him more next year. "And that's the reward you get out of coaching high school — watching kids get better, not just on the field, but in the weight room and the classroom. Nothing is more satisfying." That was the lesson former NFL star Dewayne Washington, who coached with Wolfpack and NFL legend Torry Holt at Wake Forest's Heritage High School, learned from his experience as a high school coach. "You will always have that kid that comes in last in every sprint, but he works to fin- ish," Washington noted. "Then you might be fortunate to be up by 30 points and you can put that kid into a game. You see his eyes light up when you call his name, and that's what you love about coaching." To be sure, that's why Rivers is getting into the game, to share his knowledge, to develop good people, to do what his father did for him. He'll also want to win. Would any of those other coaches want to face Rivers when he gets his program going? "I'll have to check out his MaxPreps rat- ing before we schedule any Alabama-Flor- ida Catholic school games," Davis joked. "If we are going to play, I have to make sure we get the W. If his MaxPreps rating is higher, we might not play for a few years." In other words, look out Alabama high school football. Rivers probably won't be rated low for long. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. " I had two childhood dreams. One was to play in the NFL … the other was to be a high school coach as my dad was. How blessed am I to be able to live both of those out? " Rivers Rivers left pro football with 240 consecutive regular- season starts, the second-longest streak ever by an NFL quarterback, trailing only Brett Favre's 297. PHOTO COURTESY INDIANAPOLIS COLTS