Playing for the name on the front of the jersey

By Paul Haynes

Head Coach

Everything is a process.

You can go back to 2012 when the process started for us, but we have lost a lot of the guys who were a big part of that start. Things change, and the process begins all over again.

Understanding that it is a process isn’t always easy. We live in a society when everyone wants things now, but you are not always going to get it now. It is going to come from hard work. It is going to come through sacrifice. It is going to come from commitment. That’s what our young men are showing. Unfortunately, the are young. 

Is that an excuse?

No.

Any real football person will tell you, though, that you never want to line up with a young offensive line like we are doing now. That’s not what you ever want. But while we are in that situation, our young offensive line is showing great promise. Next year they will be better. The year after that they will be even better. That’s building a program.

We are also building a culture.

One of the most satisfying things to happen this season was Sunday night when DVSport had to upgrade our server because we have so many guys logging on to the system to study video. That doesn’t happen with a lot of 0-5 football teams. So, we are seeing the effort and the commitment every day. We just aren’t seeing it yet in the win column. 

When you come here every day and walk up and down this hallway seeing all of these guys watching film, then you go out to practice and see guys with high energy who love to be out there working to get better, that’s why you love coming to work as a coach here. 

We are getting there. We may not be getting there as fast as everybody wants us to. But the process is happening. 

A lot of NFL scouts have been here recently. They look up and down our roster and say, boy you guys are young. But they say they’ve been watching us play and they see that we have a chance to be very good.

I appreciate that there are also fans out there who are also seeing it. With the fans I’ve talked to, the one thing they say they appreciate is how our guys are showing up, they fight and they don’t give up. 

Those things are signs of great leadership within the team. That’s taking a pride in the school. That’s the result of guys playing for each other and for the name on the front of their shirts. 

We may not be getting the wins yet, but these guys are battling for Kent State. If you want to be proud, we can all be proud about that.