Assistant coaches aid in SU victory

When it comes to the success of our Jaguar football team, it is only natural that many fans think of Coach Pete Richardson as the force behind the Jags. But even Pete Richardson would be lost without the help of the Southern University coaching staff.
Coach Richardson has a team that exhibits the physical, psychological (there is a mental side, you know), and the leadership qualities necessary for a successful football program.
On the offensive side of the game, there are coaches Mark Orlando, Eric Dooley, Gary Smith, and Herman Brister.
Defensively, Coach Richardson should be proud of the results produced by coaches Terrance Graves, Cliff Lewis, and Henry Miller. The Jags lead the Southwestern Athletic Conference in total defense and is second in scoring defense with 15 TD’s.
Some come from far and wide to become part of such a successful team. Coach Miller, in his second year here at SU, moved from Utah to become a part of the defensive program, and Coach Graves comes to the program from Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina.
Conditioning is also an instrumental part of the team’s success. Strength and Conditioning coaches Danny Morris and Thomas Hall are here to whip and keep the Jags into shape so that they can play their best.
Coach Morris feels that the team should have a routine that instills behavioral and disciplinary traits that they can take with them for life.
Collectively, the coaches feel that the good side to coaching is the fact that you are available to guide the student athlete, to share his victories and losses.
Many of the coaches started as collegiate student assistants, therefore they can relate to the many issues members of the team may face. The bad side is that coaching is very consuming.
Graves compares coaching to that of military personnel.
“Coaches are overworked, underpaid,” said Graves. “The job is also very time consuming.”
“Sometimes the job can be draining and it can alter your personal schedule drastically. In the end, the result is worth the toil, because although the majority of players may not go on to the professional sports level, a majority of the players do graduate and become professionals in the work force,” said strength coach Thomas Hall.
All of these coaches look at Coach Richardson as a source of inspiration, along with other coaching figures.
Just the fact that they are with an organization such as Southern University is amazing in its own right. Realizing that the job they are doing means more than the pitfalls that may accompany it, makes up for everything.
“If the job doesn’t mean more than the pay, the job will never pay enough,” said Lewis