Sometimes a Coach has to take a step backward to take two steps forward

If there’s a motto that could have summed up Spencer Henley’s coaching philosophy when he took over the Colon High School football program in 2000, it might have been “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again – and then give up. No use making a fool of yourself!” This team had problems. A Division 7 school in Colon, Michigan, Colon High School had a football history about as pathetic as you could get. How bad was it? For starters, the football team hadn’t had a winning season since 1976. The school suffered records of 2-7 and 1-8 in 1999 and 2000, and the following year was even worse.

They lost the first seven games, and then Henley had to forfeit the last two because so many players were injured they didn’t have enough players to take the field. And to cap off their humiliation, their school mascot was a bunny! Colon, Michigan, is known as the “Magic Capital of the World,” but there would be no pulling a rabbit out of a hat in that season. “We were playing in a very difficult league,” says Henley. “At our school football hadn’t been a cool thing to do, so it was hard to recruit enough players.” Another issue facing the Magi was the reality of having 14 seniors on that 0-7 team and no juniors, which meant that the following year there would be no seniors on the team.

“After that 0-7 season I sat down with the athletic director and we decided that we couldn’t put our juniors out there by themselves and expect them to play varsity football. We decided to just play with a junior varsity team, which took us out of our league for two years.”

One Step Back, Two Steps Forward During those JV seasons, Henley decided he wanted to get the kids into the BFS program, but he encountered some opposition from the players. “They just didn’t want to do it – there wasn’t any commitment.” Instead of fighting their apathy, Henley decided to prepare for the future by focusing on the middle school level because he found that the these athletes really wanted to do the program.

Running back Bryant Bontrager is a versatile athlete who helped Colon High School win. He averaged 10.7 yards per carry rushing with four touchdowns, and 26.6 yards per reception and five touchdowns. He also returned a kick and punt for a touchdown and broke up six passes on defense. “That’s the reason I like the Hex bar so much “I started the seventh and eighth graders on the for our athletes – it keeps their hands right at their BFS Readiness Program,” says Henley.

“We worked sides so they are more likely to begin the movement hard on lifting technique, but we never actually used by pushing with their legs rather than pulling with weights other than in a few dumbbell exercises – just their back.” For the players who also compete in to give them a taste. It was only during the second powerlifting, Henley only half of the eighth grade that I had allows them to perform the these athletes starting with weights Having witnessed the regular deadlift two weeks on core lifts such as the squat. And before the competition to get in the summer between eighth and success of the football used to the technique.

As for ninth grade they really started to team, other students at how well the Hex bar deadlift hit it.” Colon High School have carries over to the regular Henley’s plan and his patience seen the light and have deadlift, Henley has found that paid off. Just prior to the 2004 gotten on the BFS if an athlete can Hex bar 400 season, of Henley’s 21 players, 17 pounds, he can do a regular could bench press 200 pounds, 16 program. “I have two deadlift of at least 315. “At the could squat 300, and 19 could Hex weightlifting classes that heavier weights there’s a bigger bar over 400 – and one even did are full, with 30 kids in gap; for example, my athlete 700! Henley also had a few players each one,”

says Henley. who can Hex bar deadlift 700 who were motivated enough to can do about 550 in the regular participate in powerlifting deadlift.” competitions in the off-season. One lift that Henley was especially concerned about was the deadlift, having Back in the Saddle injured his back in college. “I deal with back pain every day of my life, so I’m not a huge fan of Because moving down to the JV level resulted deadlifting because it gets your back in a bad in scheduling problems, when Henley’s school position because your hands are outside the frame of moved back to the varsity level in 2004, it had to your body. compete as an independent school.

The results, RB Curtis Bohne majority of these students are athletes, but there are literally, were unprecedented: The team went 7-1 and kids who are not and they’re doing a really good job earned a berth in the playoffs against Schoolcraft. with the program.” Colon High School girls are also “Schoolcraft has been a perennial powerhouse getting with the program. in the league that we dropped out of, and the game “I have about 10 girls who lift meant a lot to us because for the regularly, and I expect that number last ten times we played them the “We ended up will keep increasing,” says Henley. average score was about 41-3.

“Weight training is becoming more This time they beat us 38-24, being very accepted, and the female athletes that’s all. We had several competitive ..., are seeing a difference in their turnovers that hurt us, and some sports performance. A volleyball strong winds that hurt our passing which had never player might say, ‘Hey coach, I can attack, but it was a game that was happened before, really tell the difference when I statistically even. We ended up and we finished the spike the ball,’ or ‘I’m a lot quicker being very competitive with on the court.’ They’re beginning to them, which had never happened season with no understand how this training before, and we finished the major injuries.”

transfers over to their sport.” season with no major injuries.” Coming full circle, Coach Having witnessed the Henley must be congratulated in success of the football team, transforming a program that other students at Colon High seemed destined for failure into one that contended School have seen the light and have gotten on the for the state championship. Now if he could just BFS program. “I have two weightlifting classes that work some magic on that mascot! BFS are full, with 30 kids in each one,” says Henley. “The The BFS program was a key to the success of the Magi football program.

To help athletes find the time to train, Coach Henley offers two weight training classes during regular class periods.

From BFS Magazine — March/April 2005. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).