Post by aggierattler on Oct 9, 2015 8:25:10 GMT -5
Aggies have Broadway on verge of milestone
Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2015 1:27 pm
By Jeff Mills jeff.mills@greensboro.com
GREENSBORO — The next time A&T wins a football game, it will be the 100th victory for head coach Rod Broadway.
It’s a nice round figure, a milestone for a man who has spent the past 37 years of his life in college football as either an assistant or head coach.
But what does 100 wins mean to Broadway himself?
“Honestly? Nothing,” Broadway said. “I just want to win one, man. That’s as far as I look ahead. If we can win the next one, I’ll be grateful. All the 100 means is that I’ve been coaching for a long time, and that I’ve had good (assistant) coaches and good players. ... It isn’t about me. I didn’t do this for me. I do this to try to help people.”
Broadway has certainly helped A&T. He took over a program that was 1-10 the season before his arrival and saddled with academic issues.
Now five years later, the Aggies have gone 31-18, won a share of the 2014 MEAC championship and pushed their Academic Progress Rate to 934 — nearly 100 points better than the APRs that triggered NCAA penalties before Broadway’s arrival.
Broadway is happy. But he is not content. He wants more out of his rebuilt program as he pushes on in what he calls the “third stage” of his coaching career.
“The first stage, I just wanted to provide for my family,” Broadway said. “The second stage, I wanted to grow in the business. Once you do that, you get to the third stage, where I am now. And that’s I just want to make a difference in people’s lives and help kids.”
And along the way reach that 100-win plateau. There are 26 active FCS coaches with 100 victories and just one in the MEAC, S.C. State’s Buddy Pough. Broadway’s .707 career winning percentage (99-41) ranks sixth among active FCS coaches.
But victory No. 100 won’t come easy.
The Aggies (3-1, 1-0 MEAC) play at Norfolk State (2-3, 2-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Spartans started 0-3 in three guarantee games on the road against higher-division FBS programs. It will be A&T’s fourth consecutive road game, and the Aggies haven’t won at Dick Price Stadium since 2003.
“We have a saying around here: ‘Put it down.’ Just put the ball down wherever, and we’ll play football,” Broadway said. “Put it in the stadium or out in some field or in the parking lot. Just put it down, and we’ll go play. That’s part of how we coach our football team.”
How Broadway coaches is also why Broadway coaches. He was a longtime assistant after his playing days as a defensive tackle at North Carolina, soaking up knowledge along the way.
“I just always wanted to be a head coach,” Broadway said. “I wanted to see if I could do it. And I wanted to do things my way. ...
“I learned from a lot of good people over the years. You take pieces from each one of them and put it into your own philosophy, your own program.”
Broadway’s teams are built on speed. He preaches run-first offense and run-stopping defense.
But so do a lot of coaches. Watch the Aggies, and you’ll see Broadway’s nuances.
“How we play defense, for instance,” he said. “Having played defensive line myself, one of the things people teach all the time is to attack the (offensive) lineman and keep his shoulder pads square, close the block and keep him off the linebackers. I wanted to do it differently. I wanted to get up the field and make plays. If I make a play, that’s lost yards. If I shield the offensive lineman and the linebacker makes the play, that’s a 2- or 3-yard gain. So I want our defensive linemen to penetrate, and that’s worked out well for us.”
It’s one little part of a philosophy that’s added up to 99 wins and counting.
A&T AT NORFOLK STATE
Who: N.C. A&T (3-1, 1-0 MEAC) vs. Norfolk State (2-3, 2-0).
When: 2 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Dick Price Stadium (31,000), Norfolk, Va.
Greensboro Radio: WEAL-1510.
Contact Jeff Mills at (336) 373-7024
www.greensboro.com/aggies-have-broadway-on-verge-of-milestone/article_979646a6-18b3-5cc3-961b-535e7e6f38db.html
Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2015 1:27 pm
By Jeff Mills jeff.mills@greensboro.com
GREENSBORO — The next time A&T wins a football game, it will be the 100th victory for head coach Rod Broadway.
It’s a nice round figure, a milestone for a man who has spent the past 37 years of his life in college football as either an assistant or head coach.
But what does 100 wins mean to Broadway himself?
“Honestly? Nothing,” Broadway said. “I just want to win one, man. That’s as far as I look ahead. If we can win the next one, I’ll be grateful. All the 100 means is that I’ve been coaching for a long time, and that I’ve had good (assistant) coaches and good players. ... It isn’t about me. I didn’t do this for me. I do this to try to help people.”
Broadway has certainly helped A&T. He took over a program that was 1-10 the season before his arrival and saddled with academic issues.
Now five years later, the Aggies have gone 31-18, won a share of the 2014 MEAC championship and pushed their Academic Progress Rate to 934 — nearly 100 points better than the APRs that triggered NCAA penalties before Broadway’s arrival.
Broadway is happy. But he is not content. He wants more out of his rebuilt program as he pushes on in what he calls the “third stage” of his coaching career.
“The first stage, I just wanted to provide for my family,” Broadway said. “The second stage, I wanted to grow in the business. Once you do that, you get to the third stage, where I am now. And that’s I just want to make a difference in people’s lives and help kids.”
And along the way reach that 100-win plateau. There are 26 active FCS coaches with 100 victories and just one in the MEAC, S.C. State’s Buddy Pough. Broadway’s .707 career winning percentage (99-41) ranks sixth among active FCS coaches.
But victory No. 100 won’t come easy.
The Aggies (3-1, 1-0 MEAC) play at Norfolk State (2-3, 2-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Spartans started 0-3 in three guarantee games on the road against higher-division FBS programs. It will be A&T’s fourth consecutive road game, and the Aggies haven’t won at Dick Price Stadium since 2003.
“We have a saying around here: ‘Put it down.’ Just put the ball down wherever, and we’ll play football,” Broadway said. “Put it in the stadium or out in some field or in the parking lot. Just put it down, and we’ll go play. That’s part of how we coach our football team.”
How Broadway coaches is also why Broadway coaches. He was a longtime assistant after his playing days as a defensive tackle at North Carolina, soaking up knowledge along the way.
“I just always wanted to be a head coach,” Broadway said. “I wanted to see if I could do it. And I wanted to do things my way. ...
“I learned from a lot of good people over the years. You take pieces from each one of them and put it into your own philosophy, your own program.”
Broadway’s teams are built on speed. He preaches run-first offense and run-stopping defense.
But so do a lot of coaches. Watch the Aggies, and you’ll see Broadway’s nuances.
“How we play defense, for instance,” he said. “Having played defensive line myself, one of the things people teach all the time is to attack the (offensive) lineman and keep his shoulder pads square, close the block and keep him off the linebackers. I wanted to do it differently. I wanted to get up the field and make plays. If I make a play, that’s lost yards. If I shield the offensive lineman and the linebacker makes the play, that’s a 2- or 3-yard gain. So I want our defensive linemen to penetrate, and that’s worked out well for us.”
It’s one little part of a philosophy that’s added up to 99 wins and counting.
A&T AT NORFOLK STATE
Who: N.C. A&T (3-1, 1-0 MEAC) vs. Norfolk State (2-3, 2-0).
When: 2 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Dick Price Stadium (31,000), Norfolk, Va.
Greensboro Radio: WEAL-1510.
Contact Jeff Mills at (336) 373-7024
www.greensboro.com/aggies-have-broadway-on-verge-of-milestone/article_979646a6-18b3-5cc3-961b-535e7e6f38db.html
