Aaron Selby - As each Saturday approaches this fall I learn more and more about a sport that I have spent the better part of my life playing. I have been playing football since I was just a small child. I can remember getting my first set of pads for my birthday. I remember the feeling of my first big hit and the excitement that followed. I remember the crisp fall evenings playing under the lights. I remember the wins and I remember the losses. The memories that I have of football are the still shots of my life.

I was born to play football and football is my life. For the better part of 13 years, over half of my life, I have been involved in organized football. It all started in elementary school with flag football and now I am an assistant football coach at my college alma mater. As a player at Wabash College I experienced so many things it is hard to describe all of them. As someone who has been through the program as a player I can tell you first hand what family is about because I experienced it firsthand. I remember being a freshmen playing on a defense full of upperclassmen and seeing personally the support and encouragement that they gave to each other and even to me. A team takes on a whole new persona when you have guys being unselfish because they want to see their brothers experience success and that is exactly what the Wabash Football Family is and will always be.

The family aspect continues to encompass not only the players, but also the coaches too. The relationships that are built between a player and a coach can be tricky. There is a fine line between being a buddy and being a coach. I have found that it is essential to demand a player to be at his best even if you have to get on him to work a little harder or to quit making the same mistakes, but there is another key to it as well. There has to be reinforcement. It is imperative to encourage and reaffirm otherwise the relationship will never be as fruitful as it could be. The relationships that I had with the coaches while I was a player would be consistent with what is mentioned above. The relationships that I had with the coaching staff have grown even more now since becoming a coach. I see the amount of energy, dedication, and sacrifice that these coaches put into the season and their players. I have seen it and I have done just that.

As a player here we won a lot of games. The class of 2006 was 36-9 in the four years that I was here. We experienced two undefeated regular seasons and won three Monon Bell games. However, you don’t just win on Saturday’s. It starts on Monday by putting the time in the film room and on the practice field and doing things the right way. One philosophy that the coaching staff at Wabash has is, “winning is a by product of doing things right” and that is exactly what we did and continue to do.

As a player you put in a lot of time getting prepared for Saturday, but as a coach you spend even more time getting not only yourself ready but also getting your players ready. As a player there is nothing sweeter than when the clock reads all zeros at the end of a game and you have won. When you know that you have laid every single last ounce of energy you had on the field I can argue that there are few things better in life. It is just as satisfying as a coach to get a win and know that your players were prepared for everything they saw from the opposing team. As Coach Creighton says, “It’s fun to win” and I don’t think anyone involved with Wabash Football would argue with him.

There are many things that do not change from being a player to coaching. For example, the subject matter and principles are the same. However, one of the biggest variances from playing to coaching happens on Saturdays. Saturday afternoon as a player is the climax of the week, which is the same for a coach. The difference is that on Saturdays as a player you are able to use everything you have worked for that week and all the lifting and running that you did in the off-season to defeat your opponents. As a coach you don’t use your physical abilities to beat an opponent you have to outsmart them. You do this by devising a game plan early in the week. Teaching it to your players and drilling them on things they might see during the game. Then on game day figuring out the opposing team’s tendencies and understanding where to attack and how you are being attacked and countering appropriately. As a player, when you know that you are stronger, smarter and in better shape than your opponent in a game then you know you are the better player. As a coach, when you put together a game plan and execute it to perfection then you know on that day you were the better coach.

It was a privilege to play for Wabash College and it is an even bigger privilege to coach here. As many of the things that are different from playing to coaching there is one thing that always stays the same here and that is the support that the college and the community gives this football team. Thank you for your support.

Wabash Always Fights!