Team Concept is Key to Success

VYPE: First of all, congratulations on your induction into the PIAA Hall of Fame. What type of feeling did you get after being awarded such an honor? Yocum: It's a great feeling and a great honor. It's very humbling to be placed in a group of guys who have been so successful in coaching. You know you don't get an award like this without having some other things happen for you. I'm very fortunate to have been at a school that really supports their athletic program. Secondly, some of my coaching staff has been with me for 19 years. When a staff has been working together for a long time, there is a continuity that really makes a coach's job easier. We've also had some nice athletes along the way who have bought into our program and what we do. Plus, every now and then we get a little lucky and win some games we shouldn't have. VYPE: What challenges have you faced over the years while coaching at Muhlenberg? Yocum: One challenge that you have to understand is that every year a different group of kids come in. It's not like a pro team where a lot of the same players return year after year. Yes, we have seniors who have been with us for two years, but every year a new group of sophomores come in. There is that challenge of getting them to adapt to the program. I have been coaching for 19 years. Kids today are still pretty much the same as they were 19 years ago; but in some respects they're different. Kids have more choices; there's more to do besides play football. You have to adjust the way you coach a little bit. Also, our league has changed. There are some great coaches out there doing great things with their teams. It makes you step it up to maintain the level of play. Those are my biggest challenges. VYPE: What are the most important philosophies you try to get across to your players? Yocum: Whenever you talk to any player involved in a team sport, you have to get across the team concept - we are only going to be successful if everyone is helping each other. We have been a program over the years that has never featured any one particular player. We have always stressed that you must do what you can to make yourself better. In the long run, it will help the team get better. So I think the biggest concept is that you don't get anywhere without help from the guy to the left of you and the guy to the right of you VYPE: On the football side, how is the offense coming along now that you're taking more chances throwing the ball? Yocum: If you look at our program over the past 19 years, yes, we are predominately a Pro I Offense team. However, I think we have done a very good job of taking the kind of talent we have and adjusting the offense to them, rather than forcing our talent to adjust to the offense we run. Besides running the Pro I Offense, we've run the wishbone and the spread. Now we've gone to the shotgun offense. I think you need to look at your personnel to see what actually fits them best. That way you can get the most out of their talents. VYPE: How do you and your coaching staff get the most out of all of your players? Yocum: I think there's a couple things our staff does really well. First of all, there's a lot of respect between the players and the coaches and the coaches and the players. We treat our guys like we would want to be treated. We have fun with our kids, but we also demand a lot from them. I believe our staff does a good job of working with young people; I think our kids realize that. Second of all, we don't give our kids too much to think about. If you came to one of our practices, you'd see we do a lot of repetition work. We go over and over and over the things they're going to do on the field. When they're in a game situation, they've already seen some of these things in practice. We try to keep things as simple as we can to eliminate the feeling of being unsure on the field. We feel that if a kid is confident, he is going to play well. That, plus the fact we have been a two platoon team, so a lot of our kids have been focusing on either offense or defense. When you practice the same position day in and day out, you can't help but get better. VYPE: Are there any goals or different coaching opportunities you would like to experience before you hang up your whistle? Yocum: Absolutely not. I am very, very happy and content. This has been a great situation. I have been teaching for 34 years now, and this is my 19th year as head coach at Muhlenberg. I want to finish out my career here. -