Defining the Golden Standard
10/8/2018 10:10:00 AM | Football
Defining the Golden Standard
From the Football Game Program vs. Ohio
When head coach Sean Lewis stepped foot on campus, his main focus was to turn around the culture of a football program that has only been to one bowl game in the last 40 years. The first step in this process was to define the "Golden Standard." This standard is reserved for the hardest working Golden Flashes and "alpha" players who do their best every day to compete, improve and help their teammates improve.
He first mentioned the standard the same day he addressed the team for the first time. At the end of the meeting, he told the players that all single digit numbers were his. The single digits were not a rite of passage anymore, they had to be earned. Players who demonstrated the Golden Standard were the players who would be chosen to wear the single digit numbers.
For senior linebacker and team captain Matt Bahr, his previous number 29 was near and dear to his heart. But Bahr was given the honor of wearing a single digit number prior to the spring game. In a surprise video from former Golden Flash and Cleveland Browns standout, Josh Cribbs, he was one of the first two players chosen to wear a single digit.
"I told Coach [Lewis] that if number nine was on the board, that was the number I wore in high school and I want that," said Bahr. "But obviously Josh Cribbs has that. I'm sitting there before the spring game watching the intro video and Josh comes on and says that Elvis and I are part of the Golden Standard. I got really excited. I walked up to Coach Lewis and he handed me the number six and said 'Six is just an upside down nine.' I was pretty hyped to have Josh Cribbs, who is such a significant player in our program, give us the numbers in that video. That was really special."
Hines, alongside Bahr, was the recipient of a single digit before the spring game after he was stripped of his number eight when Coach Lewis arrived. After losing the number eight, Hines was extra motivated to earn his number back. When he was given the number eight prior to the spring game, the sophomore defensive back knew the significance of the number in Coach Lewis' eyes. And because the number means a lot to Lewis, it means a lot to Hines as well.
"It means everything to me," said Hines. "It shows me that all of my hard work is paying off and that these coaches really have trust in me and my abilities. I know that I can do what I have to do on the field to be a leader for this team."
Like Hines, junior safety Jamal Parker already had a single digit number and was stripped of it during the first team meeting. The early January meeting was the first time he met his new head coach. It was also on his birthday.
"Coming from freshman to sophomore year, I had to earn number seven. So I had already had to earn it before my sophomore year," said Parker. "The day he came was the first day I met him. It was actually on my birthday. We had a team meeting and he was going through the goals and plans. At the end, he told us that all the single digit numbers are taken. Nobody has single digits. Single digits are for the alphas and are basically for the best players. In my mind, I was caught off guard and stunned. I was upset about it at first, but there isn't anything you can do. It just gave me more motivation inside to keep working."
Other players such as outside linebacker Nick Faulkner didn't have a single digit number prior to Coach Lewis. When the numbers were taken before the spring, Faulkner was recovering from a leg injury and couldn't even practice. But once he returned to the field, he did everything he could to be the best leader he could be. He did everything he could to get back to full strength while helping the team, and it paid off after the last practice of preseason camp with a single digit number.
"When he called my name, I was speechless. He asked me a question and nothing came out of my mouth. It was awesome. To get the number one was even more special. I mean it is number one. There aren't a lot of guys who get to wear it. For an outside linebacker, I was shocked. To me there is definitely a great significance that comes with the number," said Faulkner.
Faulkner wasn't the only one that was shocked by getting a single digit jersey. Running back Will Matthews also earned a single digit number, but he wasn't expecting to hear his name in that meeting. When Coach Lewis called his name for the number two jersey, he was both excited and even more motivated. Just because he earned a single digit number doesn't mean his work is done.
"My role is really to continue what I was doing that got me the single digit and to continue pushing my teammates and helping them get better in every aspect," said Matthews. "Whether that is on special teams, the number one offense or even if they put me on scout team. I have to do what I have to do to make the team better. That is my goal right now."
Along with Matthews, Bahr knows that just because he has the single digit number doesn't mean he can stop doing the things that earned him that number. When Coach Lewis asked Bahr to wear a single digit, he realized that meant he was looked to as an alpha of the team in the eyes of his new coach. Once he accepted that number six jersey and became an alpha of the team, he began to understand how important it was for him to lead alongside his teammates with single digit numbers. And just as he is looked to for leadership, he can look to the other four when he needs leadership.
"Our role is to be the golden standard like Coach [Lewis] says," said Bahr. "We are held to a higher standard. You can't be a leader unless you are doing every little thing right. Those are guys that when something in the game is going tough, they are going to battle. I can look to those guys to be consistent. If I come to the sideline after I made a bad play, those guys will tell me they have my back and you know those guys are going to have your back. We talk about guys being foxhole guys. Those are the guys you want in your foxhole if you are going to war. Those are the guys we look for and the guys that we have."
In addition to what these players have accomplished on the field this season, look for all five guys to lead off the field as well and continue to represent Coach Lewis' Golden Standard.
