By Brad Durham

Late one night, I was scratching my head, searching for what defines a team, what value does a team have for its team members, coaches, administrators, student body and community. I was watching a video of the legendary coach Vince Lombardi, and he walked right out of the video into my office. The following is what transpired.

VINCE LOMBARDI: What the hell is going on here? (Laughs) I know why I am here!

BD NEWSLETTER: Coach Lombardi. Wow! I was watching you on the video and wishing that I could ask you some questions about a football team. Can you answer some questions?

VINCE LOMBARDI:  I am here to answer your questions.

BD NEWSLETTER: What makes a team valuable to everyone?

VINCE LOMBARDI:  So, you want to know why a football team is valuable to everyone? I am not sure it is valuable to everyone, but I will tell you why I think a team, any team is important.

BD NEWSLETTER: Thank you! Is it okay if I write all this down as you speak?

VINCE LOMBARDI:  Sure, why not. A football team, or any team, is a collection of individuals, and they may be from different places, different races and different backgrounds. They have come together as a team by some design to work together to achieve a common goal. Each member of that team, regardless of their role, must be dedicated and committed to excellence. If the team is to reach its goal, the team must work together. Each team member must fulfill his or her individual assignment. A team is led by a coach who shares and teaches his or her philosophy and principles. A coach is a teacher first and foremost.

Does that answer your question?

BD NEWSLETTER: Yes, that is a great answer! You once stated that winning is not everything, it is the only thing. What if the team is not winning?

VINCE LOMBARDI: Okay, I said that, but that statement has been used in the wrong fashion. There is a context to that statement, that philosophy. What I wish I had said more clearly is that winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing worth striving for, or winning isn’t everything, but making the effort to win is.

David Maraniss wrote a book about me, WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED, and he cleaned up that quote well. Ha! In fact, I just quoted his rewrites of that statement because I see how people have abused my statement and philosophy over the years.

BD NEWSLETTER: Coach Lombardi, I get what you are saying. Winning is a philosophy and a discipline. The reason I am searching for answers about the meaning and value of a team is because my hometown high school football team has experienced only two (2) winning seasons in the past 33 years. And it gets worse. The team has achieved only 11 winning seasons out of 55 seasons since the school started in 1969. 80% of the teams have experienced losing seasons.

What would you tell a team, coaches, administrators, students and a community to do about a team that has experienced such an extraordinary amount of losing?

VINCE LOMBARDI: First thing I would say is what I said in that video you just played of me. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?

Do you want to win or lose — at anything you do? 

Since it takes place in a high school, I would ask everyone, “what would you do if 80% of your students in math classes were failing? What if 80% of the students in English classes were failing?”

How long would the community accept that type of losing in the classroom? And when I say “accept,” I mean accept losing as a “standard” and not making the pursuit of excellence the standard.

Tell me about your football coach. How long has he been the head coach?

BD NEWSLETTER: The head coach is Matt Turner. He grew up here and played football in high school. Never had a winning season as a high school student in football. Walked onto UTC in college, and he earned a scholarship. Came back home to help his father take care of his mother who was ill and eventually died. He started as an assistant coach. He has been a head coach for five years.

Matt Turner led the 2020 Pioneer team that broke the 29-year losing streak in his second year as a head coach. The school’s previous winning season was in 1990. He kept a team together and persuaded more athletes in the school to join the team. The previous head coach predicted that unless something changed, Warren County may not have a team. He resigned because he saw the team dropping to 40 players, possibly as few as 24 players.

I would say that Matt Turner not only broke the losing streak, he saved the team.

VINCE LOMBARDI: How many head coaches have there been in the past 33 years?

BD NEWSLETTER: By my count there have been nine (9) head coaches. I may be missing one or two.

VINCE LOMBARDI: That is about a new coach every four years, roughly speaking. Only two of those coaches had a winning season, and they were 29-30 years apart. That is a lot of losing. Seven (7) coaches before Turner had losing seasons, right?

BD NEWSLETTER: That is my count…

VINCE LOMBARDI: Turner won in his second season, and then has won only one (1) game per season in the following three years, right?

BD NEWSLETTER: Correct.

VINCE LOMBARDI: What is a reason you hear most often from the community about why the team is losing?

BD NEWSLETTER: We are a small town but we are the 26th-largest high school in the state. Therefore, we have to play against large school teams. Therefore, a lot of people say we should be playing smaller schools, but when we play the smaller schools, we often lose…

VINCE LOMBARDI: That is a bunch of hogwash! When I went to Green Bay, it was the smallest town in the NFL, and it still is. It was my first job as a head coach, and I inherited a losing team. 

I know the NFL has revenue-sharing and a draft to help create parity. But if the people of Green Bay had not supported the team and gone way out of the ordinary, there would not have been a team in Green Bay. Do you know that Green Bay is not privately-owned? It is a publicly held nonprofit corporation that was established in 1923.

On a scale of 1-10, with one (1) being no commitment and 10 being the highest commitment, how would you rate the Warren County community’s commitment to high school football?

BD NEWSLETTER: That is a tough one. The team was 10-0 in the regular season of 1973, but the school “board of commissioners” tried to fire the head coach before the 1973 season started. The two captains on the team met with members of the school board and said they would not play if their head coach was fired. 

The school board made a deal with the coach which allowed him to coach the 1973 season with the stipulation that he had to resign at the end of the season.

I would say over the past 50 years the community’s commitment has wavered from a 1 to a 10. Right now, I would say it may be a seven (7).

VINCE LOMBARDI: Politics. Parents. Administrators. I would say they are what have changed the most over the years, not the players, not the kids.

There are lots of high school teams in Tennessee with winning records, right?

BD NEWSLETTER: Of course!

VINCE LOMBARDI: I know the game is different now. Better conditioned athletes. Stronger. Faster. But not to toot my own horn, but did you hear John Madden say that I could have coached 50 years before my time and 50 years after my time? I would make changes, but the will to win has to be there. And the community has to maintain and project a standard of excellence.

Accepting losing is like having a disease and never going to the doctor. There are cures, but not everyone wants to take the medicine.

I saw where you called Matt Turner the antidote to losing a few years ago. Good one. I like how you said that during COVID. Don’t get me started on how America crumbled under the pressure of the pandemic. Let’s stay focused on Warren County High School football.

Does Matt Turner have the administrative support from his principal and Director of Schools?

BD NEWSLETTER: I asked for an interview with both men. The principal, Chris Hobbs, declined via email: “Unfortunately, no I do not have time right now. Thanks.”

The Director of Schools met recently for an interview on Friday morning of the last game of the season.

VINCE LOMBARDI: What did he say?

BD NEWSLETTER: Dr. Grant Swallows said, “It is easy to say that Matt Turner has my support, and I can speak for Chris Hobbs. Both Mr. Hobbs and myself last winter said to Coach Turner, “go find some assistant coaches, and we will do whatever we need to do to try and bring them in.”

Swallows continued, “Not that anything was wrong with the assistant coaches that we had…in today’s game there are coaches on one side of the ball (offense or defense), one position group. When I first started coaching, we were coaching both sides of the ball, and that was 20 years ago. It doesn’t have to be that everyone only coaches one side of the ball, but you are seeing big programs have freshmen, JV and varsity teams. That is where assistant coaches come into play.”

“The support has been there. I think you are asking the question does Matt have support going forward. That’s a question that is simply answered at the end of the season. I would say that about any coach of any sport. At the end of the season, the ADs, the principals need to be sitting down and saying – here is what happened last year and here is what needs to happen next year.”

“I anticipate that happening between Mr. Hobbs and coach Turner. I try to not get too involved in those situations. I certainly got myself more involved in Warren County football this season, but I felt as though I brought a unique skill set that could help the team. I promised the school board that it would not interfere with my responsibilities as Director, and I do not believe it has been a problem. However, I hope someone will work me out of being a coach next year.”

“I think to answer your original question, if coach Turner did not have support, we would not be doing whatever we could to try and help the kids. To finish that question for me, it is not just about the coaches. How many coaches have we had in the past 33 years? That could be as much of the problem as anything else. With the turnover of coaches, you are starting over every time. Every person brings their own stamp on the program.” 

“The thing that has been pressing on me as a leader this year is that we are such a product-oriented society. We are asking for winning seasons. Championships. The process is the most important thing. When the process is right, it will lead to those things you want in the product.”

“It is just as important to me that the players are being good young men and good students.” 

“One thing that I appreciate that coach Turner has done over the years is helping make our players the best men they can be. And in turn, when that process takes hold, we are going to get better at what we do in football. Youth football and middle school football are all working together at this point. That will only benefit us.”

“There is another part that the public does not see. That is something Mr. Hobbs has to be involved in. Are we having discipline problems with football players? They just don’t wear Pioneers across their jerseys simply on the football field. They also wear them (figuratively) in the halls of the school. Is Mr. Hobbs saying that some players are out of control? That is something that reflects on the head coach as well.”

“There are several things that go into the decision. I don’t know if Matt Turner wants to come back next year. We have not had that conversation. I suspect anyone who works as hard as he does wants to come back. He has given his life to this program.”

“We have not had any conversations about next year yet.”

VINCE LOMBARDI: Those were very thoughtful comments from Grant Swallows. He has been a head coach, and understands the coaching profession well. But it is premature to speculate about what the administration is going to decide about the head coach. Let’s think positively and assume Matt Turner is going to be the head coach next season. He’s earned a longterm contract in my opinion, but I am not part of the decision-making process, am I? (Laughs)

VINCE LOMBARDI: Is the community supporting Matt Turner?

BD NEWSLETTER: I am assuming the answer is yes. There were 70 players on the middle school team this year, and that is the most in memory. Ben Matheney is the head coach, and in many ways a right-hand man of Matt Turner’s.  

Matt Turner recruited Tony Solomon and others to relaunch the youth program, and this year there were over 200 kids playing in three youth divisions.

VINCE LOMBARDI: I am assuming that it is tough to create enthusiasm for football when there have been only two (2) winning seasons in 33 years. I tip my hat to Matt Turner for keeping the community involved.

BD NEWSLETTER: What would you do to turnaround this high school team?

VINCE LOMBARDI: Based on what you have told me about the current head coach, Matt Turner, he appears to be doing the right things. He did something that the other seven (7) coaches who preceded him did not accomplish – a winning season. I know that the Jimmys and Joes make a big difference, but come on! We’re talking about winning 6 out of 10 games in a season. 

You told me the number of kids playing football in Warren County are up this year. That is a positive.

The first thing I would do is check on the commitment level of the players. Are they dedicated to being their best?  

I had to trade some players. Cut several off the team. I was my own GM. Some of the historians say that I was a workaholic, that I was so immersed in football that other parts of my life suffered. I can agree with some of that analysis, but I loved working in football.

So, I am not suggesting that a head coach do all the things I did. Language is different today. I would not say to high school students what I said to professional football players.

But football is a collision sport. It is tough. The head coach has to do the things to make his players fearless, to play the game with reckless abandon. And at the same time, a coach has to be a teacher first and foremost. The fundamentals cannot be overlooked. Players have to be taught how to perform their assignments, and they have to practice it until they reach their best level of execution.

Everyone knew our plays. I laugh about people getting all hyped up about Jim Harbaugh stealing signs at Michigan. I like what Deion Sanders said. You still have to stop them!

It is about execution. We became champions at Green Bay with essentially the same players that had been losing there. You want to tell me Paul Hornung was not a Hall of Fame football player! But Hornung was not getting into that Hall before we got there. He obviously had the talent, but he was not performing at his highest level.

I am not patting myself on the back, but I am making the point that the head coach has to be a leader. He has to teach his philosophy, his principles. The team has to learn those principles and execute them.

BD NEWSLETTER:  You know Jerry Kramer helped make you an American icon with his book, INSTANT REPLAY. He said in this video that your philosophy, your principles, your beliefs, your concepts were relevant 4,000 years ago and will be relevant 4,000 years from now.

Watch this video, Coach!

VINCE LOMBARDI:  Jerry might have gone a little overboard there, but he did an excellent job of documenting in his books what we accomplished in Green Bay.

I hope that the administration, students, and community will support your head coach. I hope that Matt Turner will stick to his guns, stay true to his beliefs and lead his team to more victories.

It is not all about winning, but a team has to make the effort to win. That is the real accomplishment – individuals sacrificing to achieve a common goal. And that goal must be excellence. There is no substitute for that vision, that commitment.

BD NEWSLETTER:  Coach Lombardi, thank you for dropping by and spending time talking about Warren County High School football.

VINCE LOMBARDI: You’re very welcome, and I encourage you and any of your readers to support Matt Turner. There has to be faith in the team’s philosophy. If everyone works together for the greatest good, there will be positive outcomes. My Jesuit teachers at Fordham really drilled those ideals into me during college. Those lessons changed my life. 

And the lessons football players learn at every level of competition can change their lives. We all should be learning and growing every day. 

May the Lord be with you and all of Warren County!

POSTSCRIPT: Darrin Donnelly has created Sports for the Soul and written books that motivate, inspire and empower. Donnelly uses the greatest minds in sports to offer life advice. His books inspired this interview with Vince Lombardi. The following is Donnelly’s definition of a team:

I view a team as a group of people working towards a common goal, one that cannot be achieved individually and one that usually requires individual sacrifices made for the good of the team. That is, it often requires an individual to do something he/she may not personally want to do, but it is for the good of the team that he/she must do it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There have been up and down years in the history of Warren County Football. The decades of losing and turnover of coaches can make one dazed and confused.

One man cannot do it all by himself, but head coach Matt Turner has done way more than his share. This past season (2023) alone, he mowed the middle and high school football fields — and the high school soccer field. Not only did he mow them, he also painted the lines for those fields. After an away game on a Friday night, he came back to McMinnville and repainted the field at Nunley Stadium at midnight for a band competition on Saturday. He washes the team’s uniforms after games. He attends as many football games on all levels in Warren County as possible. Following football, Turner transitions into wrestling as head coach.

Faith can move mountains, and faith in Matt Turner as head coach can move the football program forward. Everyone can do something. The coaches and team need the community’s support to produce winning teams.

Schools have football teams to teach valuable lessons and help young students work together to accomplish a common goal. The purpose may not be to win games, but putting forth the effort to win is. Faith without actions is dead. Everyone can do something to help support Pioneer football.