Football: BHC Coach of the Year - Jim Adams

[cvcgrad]

COACH OF THE YEAR
THE CONSTANT
J.I. Burton?s Adams in the business of surviving, thriving and being a Raider for life

BY NATE HUBBARD
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

NORTON, Va. - What if ? They?re the two little words that pop in your mind immediately after hearing the life-altering one. Cancer.
What if the surgery doesn?t go well? What if I?m too sick to go to my kids? graduation?
What if? what if I die?
But there was one ?what if? that a certain Norton resident couldn?t bring himself to ponder last fall.
What if I can?t coach football anymore?
?I really tried,? said J.I. Burton football coach Jim Adams, ?not to go there.?
Adams has gotten past the ?what ifs? and has moved on to the what?s next.
After being diagnosed with cancer in the middle of the 2009 season and having surgery Jan. 4 to remove his kidney and the tumor clinging to it, Adams recently got the best prognosis he could hope for. ?I?ve been cleared,? he said. ?I?m cancer-free now, hopefully better days ahead.?
So Adams isn?t relinquishing his job anytime soon.
Which is appropriate.
Because if any coach has unfinished business, it?s this one, the Bristol Herald Courier?s 2009 Coach of the Year.

One left to win
In Adams? 12 seasons as theman in charge of Norton football, the Raiders have made the Group A, Division 1 state championship game five times ? and lost five times, too.
The games generally haven?t been close.
There were the two shutouts in 2004 and 2005. The 46-6 blowout loss in Adams? first appearance in 1998. And, of course, this year?s 27-7 setback to Altavista.
There was also the 21-20 loss to Riverheads in 2006, but that?s another thing too painful to think much about.
Adams ? a football coach if you?ve ever seen one, with his no-nonsense crew cut, strong voice and enough heft to have weight to throw around if he needs to ? lets out a chuckle when asked about being the perpet ual bridesmaid.
?It?s, is the glass half-full or half empty?? he said. ?On the downside, you know, we?ve lost five state championships. Certainly that hurts. But on the flip side, we?ve been one of the best two teams in the state of Virginia five out of the last 12 years.
?You can?t win one if you don?t get there.?
Make no mistake, Adams wants that championship, what he terms ?the ultimate.?
But at the same time, it doesn?t seem like an act when he claims that chasing a title isn?t even close to being the thing that gets him in the office each day.
?I?m just a football guru,? he said. ?If I hit the lotto tomorrow, I?d be at the work the next day ? after I claim my money ? ready to go back to work. I love what I do. Not many people can say that they get up every day and look forward to coming to work. And I do.?

A football community
Adams did try life without Bur ton football once.
And 1979 wasn?t a good year.
After graduating in the spring of 1979 from the school he now leads and played on the defensive line for during his own playing days, Adams made it one year before being pulled back to the program as an assistant in 1980.
Eighteen years later, he earned his spot as the head coach and Raiders football has been the region?s powerhouse pretty much ever since. ?I think a lot of schools have football teams,? said Rocky Baker, Burton?s principal, athletic director and also a former Adams? assistant.
?Burton has a football program ? and there is a difference.?
From its sparkling new athletic complex to its packed stands on Friday nights, Burton football is the pride of Norton.
?It?s Friday Night Lights,? said senior captain Martinez Miles.
?Ain?t nothing like playing at home.?
Both players and Baker credit Adams with making Raiders foot ball what it has become.
?He?s been a big part of creating a lot of the tradition we now talk about,? Baker said.
Adams notably keeps former players connected to the program through inviting an old Raider back to address the team in the locker room before nearly every game.
The coach said the speaker may be an 18-year-old just out of school or a septuagenarian who can talk about the way things were decades ago.
?Once you?re a Raider,? Adams said, ?you?re a Raider forever.?
Martinez said he plans to return often after his graduation this spring.
?I?ll come back ? I might cry, you know,? the tough running back said.

Tough texter
Show up late to an Adams? practice ? heck, show up on time ? and you?ll be running.
But wake up on your birthday and the first thing you?ll see when you check your cell phone will be a text from coach.
Such is the life of a Burton foot ball player.
?I guess I?m more of an old-school coach, in that I don?t think any kid that comes through the door ? they all know who is in charge,? Adams said. ?But they also understand that any time that they need to come intomy office that the door?s open and everything?s confidential. So I try to be, I don?t know if you?d call it a big brother or a father figure, but I try to be there for them in whatever capacity they need me to be.
?But at the end of the day, there?s only one boss.?
Junior linebacker Evan Stew art said players need both tough love and encouragement to be successful.
?You screw up at a practice or on Friday nights you?re going to hear from him, but after he yells at you, yeah, you?re still one of his boys,? Stewart said in describing Adams? coaching style.
Chat sessions in the coach?s office may be chummy, but Burton practices are intense affairs.
Adams scripts each practice ? down ?to the second,? Stewart claims, with only a little exaggeration ? and puts his players through a conditioning regimen that would rival any cross country program.
?He runs you,? Stewart said, ?a lot?? It?s rough,? Miles added. ?I think I lost like 12 pounds.?
Stewart and Miles cited ?53s? (runs across the width of the field), ?Poles? (runs from goalpost to goalpost) and ?Snakes? (zigzag runs across the field) as some of Adams? most diabolical conditioning drills.
Adams said outworking other teams is the only way for Burton to compete with the bigger schools that the Raiders inevitably face as they get deeper and deeper into the playoffs.
?We?re one of the smaller schools in the region, in the state for that matter, and our athletes, if they?re going to compete, they have to be in top physical shape,? he said. ?We can?t fatigue in games and expect to compete with larger schools.?
Running in practice and hitting the weight room hard in the off season may be no fun, but Stewart said winning games sure is.
?We?re a whole lot stronger than any other team around us,? he said.

Snazzy squad
The lessons Adams teaches his players don?t end when they step off the gridiron.
Most Raiders won?t play a down of organized football when their high school careers end, but they?ll all be hoping to land a quality job of some sort.
So Adams prepares them for that, too.
Burton players are required to wear neckties on the road and shine their shoes.
The players can?t complain much, though, because Adams is no hypocrite when it comes to dress or any of the other standards his players must meet.
?As a coach, if you?re going to ask kids to do things, you should be doing them too,? Adams said.
?We wear our ties to away games ? coaches wear ties, too. ... If I?m going to make them shine their shoes for games, then when I go out on the field my shoes are shined.
They?re not going to be muddy. I don?t always enjoy it, but they don?t always enjoy shining their shoes either.?
Stewart said staying disciplined is much easier when your coach is doing the same.
?His one rule on the team is: Do what?s right,? the linebacker said.
?And rule two is see rule one.?
Baker, the principal, said Adams? straightforwardness is a big part of what makes him successful.
?He?s Jimbo,? Baker said. ?He?s not James. He?s a goodman.?
Adams will turn 50 later this month and his voice brightens when he talks about going camping and traveling with his 12-year-old twins.
But with his cancer scare in the rearview mirror, as long as he?s here, he?s not going anywhere ? state championship or not.
?You never think about him not being here,? Baker said. ?I never think of him not being the head football coach at John I. Burton.? As long as I?m here he?s got my full support.?
Truth is, Adams doesn?t need to go anywhere.
He?s already found his heaven.
?I have no ambitions to do anything but to teach school and coach high school,? Adams said. ?I love being around the kids. They keep you young.?

THE ADAMS FILE

Overall years on Burton coaching staff: 30
Years as Burton head coach: 12
State championship appearances: 5
Career record (including playoffs): 98-50
2009 season: 11-3, lost in state championship game
Secret to success: Equally willing to chew out a player and send them a happy birthday text

[1inStripes]

I read that Sunday I believe. Great news for Coach Adams.

[cvcgrad]

Very good news.

I was listening to the Pigskin Picks a few weeks when Crowder was talking about the good report that Jim got back. I hadn't expected the BHC to pick him as their coach of the year. Congratulations to Coach Adams.

I read that Sunday I believe. Great news for Coach Adams.

[starbuck]

that was a good read

[Sat_morning_QB]

Read this again today and I stillget choked up and teary eyedfor the big guy. I;ve know him since he coached me in little league, my position coach in the dark days of the program in the 80's and as fellow coach.
If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have much of a program, I hope those jackass's that were at the State game this year yelling "jimbo you got outcoached again" have read this article and realize what he faced this year and feel ashamed. Shows how much they have no idea about the game.

[starbuck]

Read this again today and I stillget choked up and teary eyedfor the big guy. I;ve know him since he coached me in little league, my position coach in the dark days of the program in the 80's and as fellow coach.
If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have much of a program, I hope those jackass's that were at the State game this year yelling "jimbo you got outcoached again" have read this article and realize what he faced this year and feel ashamed. Shows how much they have no idea about the game.

what years did you play? I know we had to cross paths, probably played on some of the same teams

[Sat_morning_QB]

I played 85,85,87 back when we lost to Ervinton and St. Paul the same year, then Kuczko came in.