YSU Coach Phillips: ‘Time to Thrive through Adversity’
Youngstown State University head football coach, Doug Phillips, shown here with a children’s book he recently read on a sports radio show, is hanging tough. You can learn more about him at his bio page on YSU Sports’ website.
What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your work life?
It definitely makes you not take the simple things in life for granted — such as going to work every day and being alongside your colleagues and spending time with your players, live, not on a computer screen.
We’ve adjusted by utilizing technology to FaceTime players one-on-one or by having meetings via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. We tried to create a routine: academic checks first thing in the morning with our players, then our offensive/defensive staff meetings mid-day, followed by recruiting and positional meetings in the afternoons.
We were not fortunate enough to have practice this spring, so we try to create as many simulations as possible for our players with video Zoom meetings.
How about your personal life?
It’s been a huge change. As coaches we have seasons:
- Winter recruiting, on the road.
- Spring football, out of the house seven days a week preparing and reviewing practice.
- Spring recruiting, back on the road.
- June, summer camps and evaluations of high school prospects
- July, two weeks of vacation
- August, fall camp and then the season begins
That’s the calendar every year. I believe we all struggle from being off that schedule.
With that being said, it’s just hard being at home. But it has given me time to move from Cincinnati, where I’m trying to sell my house, and settling in back home.
My girlfriend, Sarah, didn’t think she would ever spend this much time with me, lol. She’s a coach, so we can kind of push each other to get 1 percent better each day, as a coach, individual, or in our fitness.
Oh, and we got a puppy, Chuck. 🙂
What steps are you taking to hang tough?
Stay positive. I told one of our players today that I stopped thinking about when will we go back. I put all my focus on what we will do once we get back. That has really helped me.
I also believe you find ways to THRIVE through adverse times. Get better at something. I send a text message out every day to our players and I always include the following:
1% Better
Mindset before Skillset
#Ythrive
‘Remember Who You Are’
Go Guins!
Coach Phillips
What advice are you sharing with the people you love?
People remember who you are and how you responded in the most difficult times. This is generational. Our country has gone through a lot of tough times and our ancestors have lived through it to share.
We have an opportunity to do that for future generations…THRIVE.