As another football season is about to get underway, I thought about all the lustful and enduring praise for offensive football, which has always been the talk of the town, and recalled how the late Erk Russell joined in, too, but underneath he was plotting and scheming for an equalizer.
Erk was a fine teacher and coach, but also had rare and extraordinary leadership skills. Across the Southeast and beyond, there are hundreds of football players who would quickly attest to that—the many who truly loved him and extended overachieving effort to help him win games.
He had remarkable instincts with an ability to get his point across graphically and made every player, regardless of his ability, think he was the “little train that thought it could.” Erk invoked humor to relax and to communicate. He gave of himself like no other. He cared for his players, and they knew it. This set him apart.
His leadership acumen, coupled with his mastery of the Split 60 defense, enabled him to gain an exalted reputation as an accomplished defensive coordinator at Georgia and head coach at Georgia Southern. He was in demand as a clinic lecturer. He began every clinic by writing K-I-S-S across the chalk board. “Keep it Simple Stupid.”
The signature ingredient to his success as a sage defensive swami was motivation, but never let the course of action become complicated. Although he might use an off-color joke, befitting locker room vernacular, to make a point, he never used profanity to teach his players although he evolved from an era when demeaning “cussing” reigned supreme.
Erk was the anthesis of that style. He whispered encouragement in their ears on the practice field. “I know you can make the play,” he would coax an eager young player whose physical stature might suggest that he was at a disadvantage.
Erk Russell talks…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/campaign-started-tribute-erk-russell-080442818.html
Author : Athens Banner-Herald
Publish date : 2024-08-02 08:04:42
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