Coach Clark On Recent Passing of Former Player

It is with great regret that I have to alert the Bridgewater Football family that Desmond Jalloh passed away Sunday morning in Northern Virginia. Dez was a passionate football player for us in his time here at BC. Those of us that knew him, know that on Saturday as a teammate he would lay it on the line for the Eagles. He was a complex man, but I know he had a Faith component that insures him a peace in the next life that his competitive nature sometime denied him here. We enjoyed seeing him at Shenandoah and Homecoming this year and I think we can all be a good teammate of his again by keeping his Mom and sisters and his close friend Brittany in our prayers. Death and youth is a bad combination, but sometimes we have to deal with it in life. I remember winning a game at Emory and Henry on the road in 2007 and Ferrum in overtime in 2006 that we would not have won without his effort. Thanks Dez, and God’s Peace to you!

- Coach Clark

Merry Christmas from Coach Clark

It is December 22^nd and we are still working in the office trying to organize the recruiting aspects of the job. The volume of kids that we have to deal with can sometimes make organization tough. There are a lot of voices out there and getting yours to be the personal and different one is a key to success. Over the next three months, recruiting, retention of current players and managing the extra departmental duty that is thrown our way in the off season will keep us busy around the clock after break. With tighter standards we have to get our numbers back up from a recruiting perspective. Last season showed that when the injury bug becomes a plague you better be able to overcome that shot. We had a good term academically, although there are always a few that will have to hustle back in the spring term for hours or GPA but that is always the case. I call it “coaches ‘curse” where 10% of the kids will always give you 90% of your secondary problems. Always the case, in every school, but in some sense that is the beauty and challenge of college work in that we get to try to make people change for the better. A couple of key young players (Dylan Higley, Charvis Claytor) are not planning on returning and are shopping the market as they say. With them we have left the door open and I hope they find that the grass is not always greener, and a return in the summer or fall would be welcome here.

Post season meetings went well with the kids and I think for the most part the returners were proud of the obvious improvement, but not satisfied with falling short of Championship level in 2009. There is a fine line in our league of whom the Champion is and who is in 7^th place. If HSD and we were 1 and 2, we are both aware of the energy it took to beat W & L who was 7^th. The team whose off season approach is that of “What advantage did my work get me today” will be the one that gets a ring. I hope it is our group. That is the challenge we will lay down when they return. Improvement at all positions is important, but particularly along both lines of scrimmage. There has to be some forced maturity there where young kids have to grow up in a hurry.

The “I Shared 100 Campaign” was a success in terms of the amount of $ we were able to raise thanks in large parts to the smaller part of the 79 people who gave at the higher “Head Coaches and Assistant Coach” levels. I wish more of the former players themselves had gotten involved. They accounted for about ½ of the contributions. Thanks for all of you who participated; we will spend every penny to improve the football operation in a visible way by next year. Eventually I will list everything we did with the money. There is still time to contribute and I have saved hats back if you want to get involved. It was great to hear from so many people.

In my Christmas letter I closed with a quote from my Father in a letter he had written me for my 21^st birthday. That was a long time ago and my Dad passed away over 10 years ago. In it he said, “I’m not sure that your mom and I will or ever have anything greater to offer you than our love. I was taught by my parents that the love between members of a family was the greatest kind of wealth, I believe that…and so consider myself to be the wealthiest of men and I give it all to you.” Charlie Weis and his millions have nothing on me. In this season where we celebrate God’s greatest gift of Love take time and pass on this great wealth to those around you whether they are Eagles or not. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

With my Love,

Coach Clark

*(Click here to send questions or comments about the BC football program to Coach Clark.)

Coach Clark: End of Season Blog

I cannot say enough about the efforts that this Senior group put in to trying to make the 2009 season a success. In a year where from an injury perspective Murphy’s Law took over, that group provided the leadership to overcome some very difficult situations. We will miss the talent, but more importantly the next class will have to step up in the locker room and replace a group of kids who were team oriented and disciplined. This group stood for the right things, and it was one where not only the front line kids, but also the role players made first string preparations regardless of the depth chart. A performance like Brad Jones had in his last game was testament to that. It was also fitting that Vince Reese scored a touchdown. Being the back-up QB is the toughest job in football and he did it well and unselfishly.

Even if the Hokies win out, we will be able to say that in the first decade of the 21st Century, Bridgewater has the best college football winning percentage in the State of Virginia. All of the players who contributed to that should take great pride.

Congrats to Hampden-Sydney, and I will pull for them to make a Play-off run. They represent us all in the ODAC now but I would play them tomorrow, eliminate turnovers and it might be us the next time. “Why Not Us” was a challenge a group of kids responded to almost 10 years ago. I think it applies again to BC football and we will hit the recruiting trail hard to get the numbers a Championship level team must have.

Thanks for all those who stayed and took part in the victory celebration at the Memorial Hall Bell and the Stone Station tailgate. The “Sharing 100 Campaign” was a success, and there is still room to give and I have some hats left. Long term, I would like former BC players to develop a spirit and habit of giving back to BC football so the next generation can share and add to the tradition. I do believe I work for, and you will be supporting, a great cause.

Go Eagles,

MClark

*(Click HERE to send questions or comments about the BC football program to Coach Clark.)

Coach Clark's Key to the Game: Catholic

Post-Randolph Macon Blog

We're coming off of a disappointing loss on Saturday and the film review on Sunday added to the pain. We are aware of what we are without due to injury, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, but need to avoid falling into the excuse trap to justify lack of performance. Turnovers will always hurt and the three on Saturday led to scoring drives of 7, 9, and 30 yards for RMC. When a defense is struggling the offense cannot give them that type of field position. Our kids play hard, but they have to learn that playing hard and playing well are two different things. This week will be a real challenge and it is a game that has more to do about BC than Catholic University who we play. We will take a play-off like approach to the game and hope to send the seniors out with a final meeting being at the Victory Bell at Memorial Hall. They deserve it, and the underclassmen who are playing need to see again the results that concentrated effort through the week can bring. Injury has nothing to do with interceptions, fumbles, dropped passes, poor tackling, and busted coverage which were all contributors to the loss on Saturday. Give credit to RMC, they withstood a good 2nd quarter charge, took advantage of the breaks, and used their running game very effectively.

For the record, the FG fake that Smoot ran was called. He had to field a low snap but Ryan Richmond did a nice job of sealing the Safety who was sliding to check the edge. That was our first punt block in over 2 years and Jacob Hutchinson who was a back-up on that team and playing due to injury to Brandon Mitchell blocked the kick. During the week as the season progresses, we do not have time to rep the back-ups on these teams during practice. Jacob looked at the diagram on sideline and went out and blocked the kick. It was a big play that unfortunately flew 20 yards out of the end-zone for safety rather than us falling on it for a TD. It was also a game where we lost all three deep returners on kick-offs with Teley Tate, Rudy Jackson, and Patrick Asconi going down hurt. Sometimes you scramble. But as I told the kids after the game, our situation will not change regarding the injury stuff, but we must change. When you are shorthanded the margin for error is zero; we must except that as fact and try to play up to it. That is this week’s challenge.

We won a JV game 17-14 vs. Shenandoah on Sunday. Some great efforts by the young kids that we will study in the off-season.

Ralph Robinson, John Baker, and John Spencer who were the Defensive Coaches on the Stagg Bowl team have all committed to come back this week for the “Sharing 100” celebration at Stone Station Post Game. I hope all my former players who contributed to these wins can come back for this special post game tailgate. Contact me so I can give that group an accurate head count to prepare food and drink. I am challenging the 2009 team to do their part not to dampen the party. Go BC!

Coach Clark

(Click HERE to send questions or comments about the BC football program to Coach Clark.)