Coach Hank Johnson, the head football coach and dean at Jefferson High School, came up with a tradition called "The Post Game Tradition" to teach life lessons to his players. After each home game, win or lose, his players would line up and applaud the opposing team as they boarded the bus. This showed respect and class to the visitors and community. It also taught the Jefferson players to respect others. Coach Hank and the dean, Mrs. Brown, both used their positions to influence students and emphasize respect through football and their actions.

1. Summer Manual 201594 • General Topics
Win, Lose or Draw
by Tai M. Brown
Football teaches many things, on and off the field.
At every level of the game, respect is emphasized
amongst players, coaches, fans and all involved. At the
2011 AFCA Convention, LSU head coach Les Miles said
the following regarding his opponents:
“Make no mistake that when I take the field
with every opponent, I have great respect for
that opponent I share a time and space where
we compete. That is a tremendously impor-
tant function of my life, so when I step onto
the field and the score is 0-0 against anybody,
trust me when I tell you, I see them as worthy I
see them as capable and I honor them with our
best effort.”
From national champion coaches to high school
teachers, today’s leaders understand the importance of
using their influence to teach life lessons.
During the 80s, my mother transitioned from being
a kind-hearted special education teacher to become the
dean and athletics director at Jefferson High School in
south Los Angeles. As a dean, Mrs. Brown – as her stu-
dents called her – believed she could talk some sense
into most kids regardless of why they were sent to her
office. The kids loved her because she helped them see
the long term view of life and how their current actions
could affect their future.
In the office next to her was the other dean, Coach
Hank Johnson. Coach Hank also served as the head
football coach. His approach consisted of a similar
message.
“You aren’t representing yourself or your family well
by acting in such a way,” he would tell the kids. “How
could you be so disrespectful to your parents that you
would cause them to have to take time and come up to
the school to get you from the dean’s office?”
The messages are related and each one is very
important. My mother wanted the kids to have a life-
long perspective in their actions, while Coach Hank
wanted the kids to learn about respecting themselves
and others.
Within the discussion on making decisions with
perspective, respect is of primary importance. Among
the multitude of issues that football coaches face, see-
ing the broad spectrum of life, the results of their ac-
tions and how respect fits into everything, they have
proven to be at or near the top of the list. The chal-
lenge is addressing these issues and leading a success-
ful football program.
Coaches have a unique propensity to incorporate
life lessons within the game of football. The nature of
the profession is that a coach has a tremendous amount
of influence on the kids he coaches, so the responsibil-
ity of influence is ever present. When the opportunity
to teach a life lesson fits within the confines of what the
coach is already doing, it creates an optimal learning
experience for the kids in his program.
Coaching at an inner-city school in Los Angeles
presented two separate issues for Coach Hank. First is
the perception of outsiders who don’t think kids from
those kinds of neighborhoods have class or respectable
traits. Secondly, the kids didn’t know what they didn’t
know. While the kids may have had respect for them-
selves, the nature of negative influences in the inner-
city inhibited them from showing respect for others.
In order to attack this two-sided issue, Coach Hank
came up with what he called The Post Game Tradition.
In the terminology of Coach Grant Teaff’s latest book,
A Coach’s Influence: Beyond the Game, we’ll call The
Post Game Tradition a solution. Coach Hank wanted to
show the outsiders that inner-city kids have class while
simultaneously teaching the kids how to give, and con-
versely, earn respect from those around them.
The Post Game Tradition
After each home game, win, lose or draw, the Jef-
ferson High School Democrats lined up at the visiting
team’s gate. They’d take off their helmets and applaud
as their opponent exited the gate to board the bus. The
Demos applauded until the last person got on and the
bus drove away.
The immediate effect? The visiting team and its
fans were overcome by gratitude as they saw their op-
ponent showing them respect no matter the outcome
of the game. The genius of this solution is it addressed
both of the problems Coach Hank aimed to solve. It
taught the kids from Jefferson High School that if you
give respect, then you will get it back. The Post Game
Tradition was featured in local television newscasts
and newspapers. Also, those outside of the community
were enlightened by the sight of inner-city kids show-
ing class and respect to each other.

2. Summer Manual 2015 General Topics • 95
Coach Hank emphasized that respect is a trait that
applies in all aspects of life. Practicing the habit of reg-
ularly showing respect makes it easier to do when the
ups and downs of life materialize. Also, if respect is at
the foundation of the decisions you make, then the out-
come of those decisions will be respectful actions.
My mother and Coach Hank aren’t any different
from other coaches and teachers around the country.
They spent their careers helping kids to see the broad
spectrum of life and how their decisions and thereby
corresponding actions could affect their future. Coach
Hank took the philosophy one step further and put it
into action. He used his influence as a football coach to
contribute to the lives of those who played the game.
Football coaches are considered leaders in our lo-
cal and national communities. Albeit unheralded, the
responsibility of influence continuously grows heavier
as society leans on our coaches and teachers to mold
the youth of America.
Tai M. Brown
Director of Education
American Football
Coaches Association
Waco, Texas
Tai M. Brown serves as
the Director of Educa-
tion for the American
Football Coaches As-
sociation. He began his
career with the AFCA
in 2003 as a special
projects intern. Brown
was a walk-on foot-
ball player at Michigan
State, earned a full ath-
letic scholarship in his
final year on the team. In his current position, he fosters the
educational environment for coaches to learn how to be better
coaches and he designs the educational program for the an-
nual AFCA Convention.