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SAN ANTONIO – The finest talent in U.S. high school football is here for the 16th U.S. Army All-American Bowl, guiding the 90 players that make up the teams.
The East and West teams have coaching staffs of eight. Being selected to guide the nation’s finest high school seniors in the only all-star game broadcast on network television each year is as big a deal to these men as it is for their teenage players.
“Holy grail,” “pinnacle of high school football” and “no greater honor in high school football” are some of the comments these coaches use for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
East head coach Bill Kramer had what some coaches may consider a conflict. The Naples, Florida, High School coach was selected this year for induction into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The ceremony date? Jan. 9, 2016 - U.S. Army All-American Bowl game day.
“There was never a doubt that I would be here. I have to be here. This is what we do,” Kramer said. “I don’t think there is a greater honor in high school football than coaching in this game. This is it.”
His East squad includes 12 Florida high school seniors, including Naples defensive back Tyler Bird.
“This is what’s best about America. You have our field of play, friendly strife, at the bowl game Saturday, and you have the stands full of those soldiers and the guys they just inducted on the field pregame,” Kramer said. “When the bullets start flying, we run away and they run towards them. There’s no greater honor than being associated with those soldiers.”
Glenn Fong’s military ties run deep. An assistant coach for the West team, his father was in the D-Day invasion of France; his uncle fought in Korea at the battle of the Chosin Reservoir.
“I've been coaching high school football for a long time,” he said. “As a coach, this is kind of like the holy grail. At least for me it is.”
An assistant coach at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, California, Fong is here with West head coach Jim Benkert, his boss at Oaks. Wide receiver Michael Pittman is here from their team. But not every Oaks high school player will go to the University of Southern California, like Pittman. The Army is a path for some.
“A week before we came to San Antonio, one of our players from 2014 visited. He was in uniform and he'd just finished basic training,” Fong said. “He brought his fiancée, who had also just finished basic training, and they were headed to Alaska. He said he wanted to go to Ranger school.
“It was all I could do to not cry, because he said that football had prepared him for all of that.”
For Paul Horne, Kramer’s assistant coach in Naples, U.S. Army All-American Bowl week was his latest connection to the Army.
“My wife and I started dating when she was a senior at West Point,” the East team assistant coach said. “I married the Army in 1996.”
Lt. Col. Shannon Horne is now an Army Reservist serving in Southern Command in Miami. The Hornes expect their son, Colby, to sign with Auburn University ROTC soon.
The Army has lessons for the elite athletes Horne is coaching this week, he believes, because of the similarities based on discipline and teamwork.
“I think to see excellence modeled, how to be excellent, is what they can pick up, because the Army is the best team in the world,” Horne said. “These players, being at the top of the game, are sponges. They know how to learn, they want to learn. No matter how good you are, you can always learn something.”
Jacob Eason is regarded as one of the top two high school quarterbacks in the nation, on his way to the University of Georgia. He and his Lake Stevens, Washington, High School coach, Tom Tri, are here.
“I love coaching football and being among the best players in the world,” said Tri, an assistant coach on the East team. “This game is the pinnacle of American high school coaching.”
When asked to join the bowl coaching staff back in September, he recalls, Tri joked that he wanted to wait to see if he had a winning season before he committed.
“It gives me a great chance to expand my professional growth by being around other top coaches from around the nation,” he said. “These kids get the opportunity to see what it’s going to be like to play at the next level. The game speed, the physicality; what it’s going to take to be successful to play on Saturdays.”
The coach’s experience with the Army has previously been limited to the recruiters he says he sees and supports in the hallways of Lake Stevens. Bowl week has given him a different perspective on the Army.
“They’ve done a tremendous job of putting this week together,” Tri said. “Clearly they do a great job each year of organizing this huge event.”
The 16th U.S. Army All-American Bowl will be played live on NBC Saturday at 1 p.m. EST.
| Date Taken: | 01.06.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 01.06.2016 18:26 |
| Story ID: | 185718 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 335 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Best led by the best: Coaching staff crucial to success of Army All-American Bowl, by Brian Lepley, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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