Crap! That was a lot of money for anyone, not just me.
“What about subsequent training throughout high school and college?”
“We can either do this on an hourly basis, or we can negotiate a set rate that won’t exceed a certain number of hours.”
“Okay, I know you know how old I am, and that I can’t sign a contract with you. I also know my parents won’t commit to something like this. How’re we going to make this work?”
“There are benefactors who are willing to pick up my fees for this year. After that you and I would need to work something out.”
I was worried about some things. I didn’t want to feel obligated to someone to the tune of $50,000.
“Can we meet after practice and talk about this?”
Bo shook my hand and we agreed to meet. We exchanged contact information, and he told me he was scheduled to be at practice tonight to get things started. I went into the locker room to get my cell phone. I called Tami. She’d know what to do or who to call.
“Hey, Tami, I need your help.”
“I’m kind of busy, can it wait?”
“No, give me five minutes, and then tell me what to do and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“It sounds serious.”
“It kind of is.”
I spent the next 15 minutes explaining it to Tami. She took a lot of notes and told me to go to class and she’d call me back. I was told to keep my phone on in case I had to deal with something right away. Coach Lambert gave me a note to give to my teachers to allow me to have my phone on during class. I was in time for English when my phone rang and it was Tami. I waited to answer until I was in the hall.
“I talked to Tom Dole, Tracy’s dad, and he’s agreed to be your lawyer. He’ll do this pro bono. I emailed him a copy of Coach Harrington’s resume and references. Mary has agreed to call them. Tom says to set up a meeting for seven, and have Coach Harrington meet you at Tom and Mary’s.”
“Anything else?” I asked as I took notes.
“Are you sure you want to have this guy help you?”
“I don’t know yet. He’s going to be at practice today. I guess I’ll know more after that. You read some of the testimonials. What do you think?”
“If he’s for real, then I’d do it. Think of it as a scholarship. I’m able to pursue my dream because I’m getting financial aid. Let Tom help guide and keep you out of any eligibility problems.”
I could hear someone calling her.
“Hey, David, I have to go. Call me after your meeting.”
I went back to English and tried to focus on what was being taught, but I failed. The good news was I had forgotten about my problems with Tracy.
MONDAYS ARE USUALLY a light practice where we’re introduced to the upcoming opponent. It was also a heavy conditioning day. I hated Mondays because I got bored. Today was the exception. Coach Lambert started practice by introducing Bo Harrington and the staff change of Coach Engels taking over the Offensive Coordinator position. Magic was moved to defense. He then split the offense and defense up and let the defense do their usual preparation.
Then the offense was told to put on gym shoes and meet on the basketball court in shorts and t-shirts. As we came into the gym, we were handed new playbooks. Coach Engels had us gather together to explain the offensive scheme change.
“We’re changing our offense to be more pass-oriented. It was the coaches’ decision that David wasn’t ready to run the veer. Normally we wouldn’t change a scheme just for one player. We looked at bringing up a quarterback from the JV or freshman teams, but it was decided that wouldn’t work. Friday’s game against Eastside convinced us our best chance of making the playoffs is to play David and to play to his strengths. We’ve brought in an expert to get us up to speed in Bo Harrington. Let me turn this over to Coach Harrington.”
“Earlier today I worked with David to see if he has what it takes to run this offense. After watching him throw, and also watching the game film, I found he has the skills to run this offense well enough for you to win. I’m considered a ‘fixer’ in the business. I come in and solve problems, be it a quarterback having confidence issues, recovering from injuries, throwing motions, and so on.”
“What I’m going to do is get you all up to speed on the new offense. Your homework assignment is to take this playbook home and learn the first ten plays. Today we’re going to work on a basic play, the down-and-out. We’ll spend all practice running through all the variations that can be run against the defense you’ll be facing Friday. This may seem like overkill, but what you learn in the gym today will apply to all the other plays we will put in this week.”
“Tomorrow we’ll take it to the field. The first half of practice will be devoted to the same play. We’ll run it until we’re comfortable with it. If this is the only play we learn this week, I’m fine with that, because we can win with it. For those that don’t believe me, we’ll run this play against your number-one defense on Wednesday. We’ll run the play until they can stop it. What you’ll find is they won’t be able to.”
“Are there any questions before we get started?” Coach Engels asked.
One of the current starting ends, Jim Davis, raised his hand.
“Coach, is there room for ends like Doug and I? I know when we were running the West Coast scheme we were deemed too big and slow.”
Coach Harrington stepped forward.
“Actually, there are several places for big guys like you. First, you’ll cause mismatches with smaller defensive backs. We’ll also be playing a tight end. Your size and blocking ability will be needed there. Finally, we need a new fullback. He needs to be able to block and catch the ball. So don’t worry, we have plans for your unique skills.”
Coach Engels then described the new offense. He had a large markerboard to show the play designs.
“We’re going to keep this simple. Our basic formation will be run out of the shotgun and use the run option, similar to how Eastside ran theirs. Most of you have the basics of that down, and we’re confident that Luke and David can run that on the fly. We aren’t scrapping our whole offense. Don’t be surprised when we switch to running the veer offense under certain circumstances.”
We spent the remainder of practice running the down-and-out and the variations for that play. My head hurt when we finally were done. It was already 6:30, so Coach Harrington just gave me a ride to the Dole’s home. On the way, we picked up some fast food.
WE ARRIVED AT TOM AND Mary’s right at seven. Tracy answered the door.
“Hello, Gorgeous.”
She slid into my arms and proceeded to erase my mind. I guess she really did it this time, because I heard Tracy’s dad clear his throat to bring me back to the present.
We went to the living room and I introduced Bo to Tom, Mary and Tracy. Tracy wasn’t letting go of my hand, so we sat down on the couch with her mom. Tom and Bo sat in two leather side chairs.
Tom started the meeting.
“Bo, Mary checked your references and we’re impressed with the results. I have a couple of questions. The first is concerning the benefactors that are paying your fee. Are they affiliated in any way with a college?”
“It’s my understanding they are all local businessmen and women that are doing this to support the high school football team. My contract isn’t specifically for David, even though I’ll be spending the majority of my time working with him.”
“Do you have a copy of the contract I can review?”
“I have one with me. The only stipulation is that you may not share who’s providing the backing.”