New England has produced its share of great football players. Standout players like the Howie Long, Lofa Tatupu, Matt Hasselbeck and Flutie brothers all learned the game in the northeast corner of America. The people of New England love football so it was no surprise when a record 427 coaches attended the USA Football Coaching School at Gillette Field.
There was however, one surprise guest.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave an impromptu speech to the hundreds of coaches who attended the New England coaching school. Coach Belichick spoke about his personal philosophy on coaching and importance of teaching the game the right way.
"For a lot of (Patriot players) it all goes back to their high school careers and what they did there. It all goes back to fundamentals, it's important that these guys have a good base and we build on it from there and move forward as a team," he told the crowd.
"Building fundamentals is a very important thing that you do. Believe me, when we have a guy who is fundamentally sound it is easy to trace that back to his high school coaching and learning the fundamentals of the game at the youth level."
The keynote speaker was Boston College's Assistant Athletic Director Barry Gallup. He opened his speech with the importance of a five-letter word.
"It is a real honor to be called 'coach,'" he said. "Next to being a parent -- which is your number one responsibility -- there is no better thing to do than to be a coach. But with that comes responsibility. It doesn't matter if you are a youth coach, a junior high coach or a high school coach -- you have the responsibility to teach your players the right way to play the game. In most cases you are the first impression that youngster has of football."
Gallup spoke about the challenges that face today's football coaches. He said football is not an easy game to coach. You have the largest rosters of all team sports, so you have to manage each player individually. The game is played if it is hot or cold, wet or dry.
The former Northeastern head coach did share some of secrets he learned over his 40-plus years in the game as a player, coach or administrator.
"The key is run a successful organization it is to surround yourself with good people," he told the standing room only crowd. "That was the first thing I did when I was the head coach at Northeastern -- I surrounded myself with good people. I was fortunate to hire some good coaches. The key is to give your assistant coaches some responsibility."
Gallup knows that youth coaches face special challenges that are unique.
"It's not easy being a youth coach -- not only do you have to teach them the proper fundamentals -- you need to make sure they are having fun."
He wrapped up his 30-minute address with the importance of practice and how one can be a 'positive coach.'
"You need to be positive when you are a coach -- especially when you are teaching on the youth level. When I mean when I say "coaching positive," I mean when a young person drops a pass you can't scream "Don't drop the ball!!!!" The kids don't want to drop the ball. You need to tell them to stay focused and then you move on. You need to do things that will make them a better football player."