Weekend Words – Marv Levy No More

     My friend Joe Caufield previously wrote a piece for Ro’s Words of Encouragement titled “80% of Success is Showing Up, Part II.” Joe is an excellent writer with some great stories, so I’m thrilled to be able to share another story from him for today’s Words.

Dear Ro:

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece for you, and, in my bio, I referred to myself as the “Marv Levy of It’s Academic Coaches” because my teams had made it to the finals four times without ever winning the championship.  Well, Marv Levy no more.  Please allow me to begin in the beginning.

I was on the inaugural faculty when Blake opened in the fall of 1997 when our school only had freshmen and sophomores.  I was delighted to start the It’s Academic program.  I was told that I should seek the help of Kevin Keegan, a legendary journalism teacher and It’s Academic coach at Rockville HS.  He was very helpful and generous with his advice.  That year his Ram team won the championship and he stepped down from coaching in order to concentrate on his teaching.

The first year Blake had seniors we secured an invitation to the television show and lost a heartbreaker to a very strong Richard Montgomery team at the last second.  In the 11 years that followed we reached the playoffs every year, the semis ten times, and the finals five times.

Everybody knows that John Wooden won ten NCAA in the span of 12 years.  Most people don’t know that it was not until his 16^th year as a college basketball coach that he won his first.  Likewise Mike Krzyzewski waited 16 seasons until he won the first of his two back-to-back titles, and the first of his four overall tournament championships.  The careers of these two remarkable men serve as parables to the principle that persistence pays.

The second year we were on the show, Keegan transferred to Blake, where turned our newspaper into a national powerhouse which has twice been named top high school paper in the country.  Though he did not coach with me, I continued to seek his advice and, at the end of each season, his commiseration.  In June 2008, Kevin approached me and asked if I would mind if he coached with me.  I was of course delighted.  We have been a great coaching tandem (and he absolutely refuses to accept any part of the meager stipend).  We always present a united front to the players, and no jealousies or ego trips interfere with our preparation of the team.  Over the interval of his four years coaching at Blake, we have reached the finals three times.  This is Kevin’s last year.  He is retiring.

Saturday, it finally happened.  Blake won both the Washington Area Championship and the Super Bowl game played against the Baltimore and Central Virginia champions.  In all, we finished first among 171 teams.

When it was all over, Kevin turned to me and said, “You know, if I had known it was going to take this long to win the championship, I never would have signed on to coach with you.”

I guess that’s where he and I differ.  I would have waited forever.

Warmest regards,

Joe Caulfield

Joe Caulfield has taught high school English for 20 years, the last 15 at Blake High School in Montgomery County.  He is paid by direct deposit and enjoys his daily work so much that he likes to pretend that he is really a trust fund baby who can do whatever he wants.  In 2009, he
received the first-ever Sophie Altman Memorial Award for the Outstanding It’s Academic Coach in the Washington Area.  In the 15 years his Blake team has participated on the televised game show, it has made the championship finals more than five times. This year, for the first time, Joe’s team finally won the championship. Joe used to refer to himself as the “Marv Levy of It’s Academic coaches,” but he’s going to have to find a new nickname now.