By JO ANN LIVINGSTON joann@waxahachiesun.com
Waxahachie High School head football coach Shane Tolleson was recently honored with the 2022 Glazier Semper Fi Coach Award, which is given by the U.S. Marine Corps and Glazier Clinics to honor high school coaches who embody the USMC motto: Semper Fidelis.
“These coaches are not solely focused on winning on the field, but on developing young men and women who can win in life,” a spokesman said, noting that each coach recipient is regionally selected for best modeling the USMC’s leadership values of honor, courage and commitment.
Tolleson was presented the award Feb. 4 during the Dallas Glazier Football Clinic in Irving by Marine Major Micheal A. Dorsey, who addressed attendees on the topic, “The Marine Corps’ 14 Leadership Principles and Champion Football Teams: A D-1 Safety and Marine’s Perspective.”
Parent and youth coach Thom Reece nominated Tolleson for having an “outstanding dedication to making the best person possible of every student and athlete he meets.”
In an interview with the Sun, Tolleson spoke about the unexpected award.
“It’s an honor, but it’s a more-than-one-person award,” he said, crediting those who support what he does. “My wife allows me to do these things and pour into these kids and serve their hearts. I have a coaching staff that’s like-minded. We’re in this for a reason. It’s not a profession, it’s a calling. It’s not income, it’s an impact-type deal.
“I’m just very fortunate because sometimes you’re only graded in this profession on wins and losses but, at the end of the day, if you’re in this thing just for the wins and losses, you’re badly mistaken and you’re not doing the best you can do,” he said.
Waxahachie is Tolleson’s first head coaching position, having come here after serving as an assistant coach at state championship-winning Denton Ryan. There were some challenges his first season (2021) but he said those didn’t include the football nor the schedule he found in likely the state’s toughest 6A district.
“[The challenges were] in getting these kids that I did not know who I am and what I’m about to buy into the vision, buy into the standard and buy into the core values,” he said. “Getting those guys to trust me, getting those seniors to trust me. And that’s hard to do coming in new. But it was fun, it was exciting.”
As for the tough district that remains as tough even with the recent redistricting, Tolleson says to bring it on.
“We’re proud to be a part of it,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be in any other district in the state of Texas. I want to be in the toughest district. You’ve got to beat the best. You’ve got to play the best. So why not be on the biggest stage in the country? I’m so honored that I’m part of it.”
Next month, he’ll oversee the team’s spring football skill development that will run through the end of the school year. He said he opts for the skill development in lieu of practices with pads because he’ll get his student-athletes back earlier in the summer as well as an extra scrimmage in advance of the fall season.
Beyond football skills however, Tolleson said his overarching goal is to develop student-athletes who are “mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally strong men that can handle the adversities that are going to come this football season.”
Tolleson utilizes the Hold the Rope model, which he says teaches his players that “it’s not about them anymore, it’s about the other guy at the end of the rope.”
He wants them to know that, as their life progresses, it becomes more than another football player at the end of the rope, it will be their wife, their children, their boss. It’s about their becoming that person who can put others ahead of themselves.
“Are you willing to let your hand burn or bleed for that other person? Do you love them enough to allow your needs to go second to theirs?” he said.
For Tolleson’s players, Hold the Rope is summed up as a four-part, ongoing commitment: They will give great effort in the classroom, they will conduct themselves in a manner that leads to a positive image of themselves and their families, they will accept their roles on the football team, and they will prepare themselves to win.
Hold the Rope also serves as the foundation for each season’s specific theme as selected by Tolleson and his staff. The 2022 football season theme? EAT.
“It stands for Everything About Team,” Tolleson said.