Head Football Coach Changes Team’s Mentality

It’s the first practice of the week and the whole team knows what that means: Fundamental Monday. Players are quick to say that Fundamental Mondays are in no way “fun,” but they know it’s a big reason why they have the record they do.

Coach Chip Sherman stands on the hash-mark around midfield in black athletic shorts and a gray Lancer football tee. The team is off getting water, but only after finishing a series of grueling sprints. Around here, the team has to earn its breaks and something as simple as a thumbs up or thumbs down can be the difference between another sprint and a mouthful of water. Sherman wants to make sure his team is ready when the game is on the line.

Fundamental Mondays focus on three skills: blocking, tackling and running. Players begin practice in groups of two working on blocking and tackling. After a set of sprints and a water break, they move to groups of three: one blocker, one tackler and one runner. Next, another set of sprints and another water break. Finally it’s time for the “machine gun” drill. A player lines up on each of the numbers —10, 20, 30, etc. Players run from one player to the next and eventually each player will have tackled and blocked every one of their teammates.

“Sometimes you gotta callous them a little bit,” Sherman said. “Because then when we’re down 20-7, we don’t quit. Remember, just two weeks ago, we were down 20-7 and [these] kids came back and they were strong enough mentally to say, ‘OK, we’re alright.’ That’s the key.”

Fundamental Mondays are only a part of what Sherman calls a “change of culture” within the football team. Sherman said he and his staff have been focusing on teaching players why they do things instead of simply saying to do them.

Senior lineman George Brophy said practices have changed dramatically since Sherman took the helm and now players actually look forward to afternoon workouts.

“They’re much more intense and you’re never really standing around,” Brophy said. “There’s never any time wasted.”

Players say Sherman is too modest about his impact on the team. Senior Will Severns said that when Sherman came in he “took everything and turned it upside down.” Severns remembers that the influence Sherman brought to the team was immediate.

“After our first practice we were joking that we learned more football in two hours than we’d known for the past 10 years,” Severns said.

Principal Karl Krawitz said Sherman’s presentation when he interviewed for the job was “absolutely incredible.” None of the other candidates had the vision Sherman had for the team, Dr. Krawitz said.

“He came in and distributed to everybody a complete program from the time he starts to the time the school year would end and then the next year would start again,” Dr. Krawitz said. “I mean, you knew from the time you were looking at him and talking to him that this guy had a complete organized picture of what this football program would look like.”

Mary Schrock, mother of senior quarterback John Schrock, is excited by how the football team has impacted the community this season. She believes Sherman has done a great job of encouraging each and every player on the team and has created a great environment within the entire program.

“I think in the last two years, Coach Sherman has really brought everyone together as a family,” Mary said. “It’s very inclusive and I think all the players and parents feel a part of things.”

Sherman is quick to give the credit for the team’s recent success to the players and says that it’s been the team’s leadership that has made the biggest difference. He frequently tells the seniors they’re “sitting at the head of the table” and junior Adam Lowe believes they’ve taken that to heart. Over the summer, Lowe said, the seniors would lead the rest of the team through drills after their 7 a.m. workout even though none of the coaches had asked them to. The recent injury to quarterback John Schrock caused backup and fellow senior Robby Moriarty to take it upon himself to step up immediately and take charge, Lowe said.

“He came to practice on [that] Saturday with three pages of notes that he wanted to talk to receivers and running backs about,” Lowe said. “Sunday, he called us up and we made sure we got timing routes done and just made sure that he was completely ready to start and lead our football team.”

When Sherman arrived, he knew the team would have to become physically stronger. Everyday, Sherman opens the weight room at 5:30 a.m., when he does his daily workout. During the off-season, Sherman is always around until at least 5:30 p.m., but if a player wants to work out after that, he stays.

“If a kid wants to work out, he’s going to make it happen,” Lowe said.

Lowe said Sherman tells the players of when he was in high school and how his family couldn’t afford gym memberships. That meant that when the school closed, he had no place to lift weights. He never wanted that to be a problem for any of his players, Lowe said.

Unlike in years past, the team’s strength program began right after last season, according to defensive coordinator Chip Ufford. Athletic director Jeremy Higgins coached under Sherman last year and has been impressed by how much the team has improved physically.

“You can see how different the boys are, in terms of just their bodies, how much more physical they are, how much more muscle they have on them,” Higgins said. “It’s just amazing to see how much they’ve changed over the last couple years. The work in the weight room has definitely paid off.”

Dr. Krawitz believes the team’s recent success demonstrates how one man can make such a significant difference in changing the culture of a team and school. Severns calls Sherman “an incredible man of character,” but Sherman notes that his way of living isn’t very complicated.

“My philosophy in football is a lot the same as it is in life,” Sherman said. “You work hard, you do the right things, you act the right way, you treat people properly and good things are going to happen.”

Even so, Sherman isn’t afraid to get in players’ faces at practice. If a player isn’t stretching properly one minute, the whole team could be running sprints the next. When Sherman yells, Severns said, it’s never out of dislike for a player; instead, it’s a way to get the team better.

“He can be so intense on the football field and yell at you,” Severns said. “Sometimes, it can get you down when he yells at you but you know he’s doing it because he loves you.”

Sherman is fond of saying “nothing good comes without work” and, with a playoff berth under their belts, he thinks his team’s hard work has been paying off. After a win against perennial power SM West, they became one of four 7-win teams in 53 years of East football, according to Kevin Booker of Booker T Sports Reports, LLC.

Higgins expects great things out of the football team long into the future. He believes the successes of this year will only be the beginning.

“[Coach Sherman’s] program is not for the short-term glory,” Higgins said. “The principles that he’s instilling, the principles that the rest of the coaching staff is instilling and the things that they’re trying to do are to build this program for continued success over the years. We want to be district champs. We want to be in the playoffs every single year.”

Dr. Krawitz said East is very lucky to have a coach like Sherman.

“To have someone of his caliber at this building and to take on this challenge says something about who he is,” Dr. Krawitz said. “It has been said that Shawnee Mission East was the graveyard for football coaches. It’s kind of hard to wonder why he came here. I just hope he never leaves.”