August
7, 2007
"Hustle up!" barked
It was the first day of practice at one of the
most successful football programs in the state, and Baechler set the tone early
as his team was dragging just a little, 40 minutes into the session.
You can understand Baechler's
sense of urgency. After two seasons in which the Chiefs went 23-4, reaching the
state Division 1 final in 2005 and the semifinals last season, the program now
has only three returning starters.
To that end, Baechler had some of the players on
the team wearing T-shirts with these words: "Fanatical Consistency."
He wants his team to focus on three basics of
Chiefs football: Run the football the best, be the best play-action passing
team and stop the run.
"If we start to do anything else that
doesn't help our core, we are hurting ourselves," Baechler said.
By Vince Ellis