Interesting idea how a few Houston area coaches have helped to get more of their players the opportunity to play college ball ... and get a college education.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/spo ... 64034.html
Commentary: Shining a light on local football talent
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Houston Chronicle
April 17, 2010
It all started at Milby High School when two good men decided to light a candle instead of curse the darkness.
From frustration grew action. From action grew opportunity. Because of two men, Phil Camp and Coby Rhoden, dozens of kids have seen their college dream realized.
Chris Vaughan and the Touchdown Club did their part, too, and so did the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association.
The Texans opened their doors and hearts.
Suddenly, one day last February, there was the amazing sight of 311 high school football players who hadn't been recruited working out and meeting 18 college coaches at Reliant Park.
Supply meets demand. At least 94 kids received four-year football scholarship offers totaling $6 million, and that's a conservative estimate as word of signings continues to come in.
“I'm guessing it's closer to 120 kids,” said Rhoden, the Play It Smart coach at Milby. “I can verify 94, but we had kids from Lovelady, Bonham, all over.”
Even if it's $6 million, that's $6 million in opportunity and double the $3 million that 190 kids got in the first year of the program.
And this is just a start. With the Texans increasing their support, and with more and more people getting the word out, the program will keep growing.
“We'd like to have 500 kids and 50 colleges next year,” said Camp, the head football coach at Milby.
Rhoden added, “Every school gave about a quarter-million dollars in scholarships, so the more schools we bring down, the more Houston kids get.”
Parade of philanthropists
This is one of those stories about the good guys winning one, about a whole bunch of people caring about kids and doing their part to make this old world better.
There's HISD athletics director Daryl Wade, who challenged his coaches to find more scholarship money. There's Milby principal Richard Barajas, who supported Camp and Rhoden every step of the way.
And there are almost a hundred coaches who have helped, including, as usual, Ray Seals at Madison and Chuck Arnold at Jefferson Davis.
Frenchy's did its part, and Texans president Jamey Rootes keeps asking if there's anything else he can do. I apologize to all the people I haven't mentioned. I wish I could give all of you a parade.
In the beginning, there was just Camp and Rhoden. Two years ago, they were frustrated that more of their football players hadn't received scholarships.
These kids weren't great players, but they were plenty good enough to play somewhere. And they had good grades. Camp and Rhoden knew smaller schools around the country sometimes came to Houston, set up shop at a hotel room and asked coaches to bring players over.
So Camp telephoned Mark Gardner, the head coach at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan. He then phoned his old friend Danny Padron, recently hired as head coach at Texas Lutheran.
Meanwhile, Rhoden began firing off e-mails to college coaches, high school coaches, anyone he and Camp could think of.
They'd hit a nerve. In almost no time, 50 kids had signed up and a dozen colleges said they'd be there. Here's the rub. To participate, a kid had to have good grades because the focus was on NAIA and Division III schools — where student-athletes really are student-athletes.
“Not all these coaches understand how good Texas high school football is,” Camp said. “It doesn't matter whether you're a Class A player like the kids from Lovelady or the Class 5A kids from Lamar. They get great coaching. We had nine kids from Lovelady, and every one of them got an offer. These kids deserve a chance.”
That first year, 190 kids gathered on the field at Milby, and that afternoon, scholarship offers poured in. Camp and Rhoden were amazed.
“If we can give them the chance to go to college, that's what we're supposed to do as coaches,” Camp said. “I started thinking about this six or seven years ago when these recruiting services were charging these kids $1,500-$2,000 and promised them a scholarship. Instead of charging these kids $1,500-$2,000, let's do it for free.”
Studious and athletic
At Milby — and other HISD schools in poor areas — sports can be an opportunity.
“I believe that in poor schools, the athletes are the leaders,” Rhoden said. “I can prove it. I've got all the data right here. Our TAKS scores are all better in every subject except one.”
Why?
“No pass, no play. Our kids have to be here every day or they can't play. I had 51 athletes last year, and we did over $1 million in academic scholarships. We've got four kids from the football team in the top-10 percent of our graduating class, four kids from the baseball team in the top 10 percent, five kids on the basketball team in the top 10 percent. The valedictorian is on the tennis team.”
Every day is a challenge at places like Milby. Kids get distracted or go to work at night, or they get tired of losing games 56-0.
What Rhoden and other Play It Smart coaches attempt to make kids understand is that sports and good grades can lead to something they might not have thought possible. And isn't that the best kind of good deed?
“We don't (care) about finding the next great defensive end for the University of Houston or the next great linebacker for Oklahoma,” Rhoden said. “We just need to get these kids in college.”
[email protected]
