“ OLD SCHOOL” APPROACH
PANTHERS TAKING COACH’ S PHILOSOPHY ON THEMSELVES
By Alex Havardansky
That belief comes from a long history of coaching high school football – 36 years to be exact, according to Wallace. However, unlike coaches who have been around as long as he has, Wallace doesn’ t have a sorted history of traveling all over the state for a variety of different programs and coaching staffs.
Wallace’ s loyalty has always led home to Quinlan. The coach started his career as an assistant coach for the Panthers in the’ 90s before moving over to the community’ s smaller school – Boles – to become the head coach.
Wallace held down the fort as the head coach of the Hornets’ ship for 13 seasons before making the trek back to Quinlan Ford High School. But this time as the school’ s head coach rather than an assistant.
Wallace rejoined the Panthers program in 2010 and has been there since. If there’ s one word to describe his time as a head coach, it’ s consistent. Staying in the same town around the same communities and families and that’ s just how he likes it.
In fact, that philosophy of consistency is a core fundamental Wallace tries to drive home to his teams on a year-to-year basis.
“ Externals change but kids don’ t change,” Wallace said.
“ Human nature is you’ ll get away with what people let you get away with.”
How does Wallace try to counter that tendency. If your guess was through building consistency, you’ d be correct.
Wallace believes the key to success isn’ t just being the most talented team on the field or the biggest or the strongest. The question he poses to every player who comes through the program is,“ can you be the same guy every single day you come into work?”
Do his players do everything they’ re supposed to during practice and preparing for their games? Are players consistently giving it their all in the gym and looking to get stronger? Is the team always looking at the play in front of them and not letting a
mistake get the better of them or getting too high on themselves in a big moment?
Wallace believes consistently coming to work ready every day and giving your best effort no matter what is the catalyst to success not just in football but in life for these young men.
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