Muhammad Abdulwasi
Scriptor
Wylie E Groves HS
1st Place
Division 3, News Writing
Sports Feature StoryHead football coach Brendan Flaherty had no idea what he had won.
After leading his team to a 27-16 victory against Ferndale on September 6th, linebacker coach Brian Hafner approached Flaherty and the team, holding the game ball in his hand. Hafner had a rare, bright smile on his face when he got in front of the players and coaches to tell the team that Flaherty had won his sixtieth game as head coach at Groves, which surpassed former Groves football coach Bill Ranken with the most wins in Groves’ football history.
“I certainly don’t take all of the credit for having the most wins as a football coach. I see it more of a program type of accomplishment than anything I did. I’ve just been here a long time,” Flaherty said.
The football program was a struggling program for many years in the late 1980’s through the mid 1990’s. In 1999, head football coach Jim MacDougal hired Flaherty, who actually played for MacDougal at Shrine high school, to be the assistant head coach. Flaherty coached college football for six years, coaching at Eastern Michigan and at St. Joseph College, where he led the team to their best record in school history. In 2001, MacDougal resigned as head coach at Groves, and athletic director Tom Flynn hired Flaherty to be the new head coach. Flaherty felt the pressure following a Michigan hall of fame high school football coach.
Hafner, who was also a player at Groves in the mid 1990’s while MacDougal was the head coach, played under Flaherty for one year when he was a sophomore. Hafner was a defensive back and holds the record for most tackles in a game. Hafner described Flaherty as a lead by example coach.
“Coach Flaherty really stood out because he was a younger coach at the time. He would be flying around the field and trying to get us going,” Hafner said. “MacDougal, Flaherty, along with some other coaches, taught us how to play with pride and taught us discipline. Before Flaherty and MacDougal came to Groves, we were the laughing stock of the OAA. We were bad. MacDougal and Flaherty changed that.”
In Flaherty’s first year as head coach, the team started 0-3 and the season already seemed to be lost. The day before the 4th game of the season against Southfield-Lathrup, Flaherty received a call from his sister that his mother had lost her battle with cancer. Instead of taking a few days off, Flaherty stayed and did his job. At the time, Southfield-Lathrup was a powerhouse team and had won two District championships in a row. Flaherty and his players went into Lathrup’s field and won 28-7 for his first win as the Groves head football coach.
“I felt like mom was there with me. I didn’t even tell the guys that my mom had passed until after the game because I didn’t want them to feel the pressure of winning the game for me. I just wanted them to go out there and play football,” Flaherty said.
The football team would win their final six games of the season for a record of 6-3 and made the playoffs, where they would play Southfield-Lathrup in the first round, losing a close 27-26.
Senior offensive lineman John Stevens, who has played on the varsity team since his sophomore year, feels like Flaherty changed his life forever, improving not just his football skills but deepening his character. Stevens admits that he was a trouble maker before he started playing for Flaherty, and that he didn’t like doing his school work. Flaherty got on Stevens’ case about his grades and told him that he has a shot at playing college football, but that Stevens wouldn’t be able to do that if he didn’t make the grades.
“I didn’t want to end up working at a local gas station because I didn’t work hard in school. I wanted a good job, so I started getting serious about my grades,” Stevens said. “My grades have improved, but I still struggle with them, but coach is always there for me when I need help.”
With most of the football managers as special needs students and by incorporating such events as Victory Day, where varsity players help special needs students make touch downs during half time, Flaherty has taught his players the value of diversity and to care for the special needs students not just because they are special needs, but because he wanted his players to make lifelong friends. Stevens is one of the many players who internalized Flaherty’s goal. This fall, Stevens took special needs junior and long time friend, Kate Kauffman, to homecoming. Assistant principle Darin Wilcox saw Stevens sitting with Kauffman and her friends during homecoming, even though many of Stevens other friends eat at a table away. Stevens even left early to ensure that Kauffman did not tire herself out.
“I was very proud of John because, to some extent, that takes a little bit of courage. Although we have come a long way, there is still a possibility of negative comments towards him. John was a really big man to say to himself, ‘I am going to be bigger than that and I am going to make sure that I have a good time with my friend and I am going to make sure my friend is able to have a good time at a dance’,” Wilcox said.
Flaherty said that, along with his emphasis on character, people often cite him as one of the most intense coaches in all of the Oakland Athletic Association (OAA), but over the past few years Flaherty admits that he has mellowed.
“There are ups and falls to [my intensity level]. Some guys need a kick in the pants. Other guys need to get complimented, some need understanding, some need to talk to somebody, some need a hug, and need somebody to tell them they love them,” Flaherty said.
Stevens remembers the time when Flaherty dealt with players who needed that kick in the pants. Stevens said he will never forget that moment.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. When we were freshman on the football team, we were clowns. We drove our teachers crazy. Our grades weren’t so hot, and we got into a lot of trouble. Coach Flaherty decided to deal with us himself, instead of having coach Stuckey take care of it,” Stevens said. “Flaherty stormed into coach Stuckey’s room, flipped over a desk and just yelled at us. I have never been yelled at like that in my life. Some of the kids were acting disrespectful, and Flaherty was like ‘I’ve had enough with this crap.’ His face was so red, and you could see his veins in his neck stick out as he slammed his hands on desks and just chewed us out. That was crazy, but it put us back in line.”
Stevens said this just showed the complexity of Flaherty’s leadership style. After each practice and at the end of every game, Flaherty raises his hands into the air and shouts “One love on three!” The whole team shouts back “One love” after Flaherty counts to three. Eight years ago, Flaherty started this team motto of “One Love”, which means that everyone on the team shares a love and that is the love of football.
Groves alumni offensive lineman Cameron Tinsley, who played four years for Flaherty, two years on the varsity level, believed that his “One Love” motto always regrouped the players when things weren’t going to so well.
“I remember last year we had a terrible practice, it was probably the worst practice I have ever been a part of. We were halfway through the season, getting ready to play Avondale, and we just had a terrible offensive practice,” Tinsley said. “We were flat. We forgot the snap count, and fumbled the ball so many times. It was like each guy on offense was on a different planet, and we were yelling at each other and cussing everyone out. But instead of getting pissed off and making us do something crazy, coach Flaherty blew the whistle and talked to us about our one love team motto. He told us that we are all brothers here, and we don’t need to be cussing each other out.”
Flaherty praises MacDougal for helping him teach these lessons in character and brotherhood as well as football. Hafner agrees that MacDougal’s style influenced Flaherty and feels that he learned how to be a better person and a better teammate from MacDougal and sees Flaherty passing this down to his own players.
“He talks about loyalty, trust and building a football family here at groves, being a good person, good teammate, and a good person out in the community,” Hafner said. “He is always saying that he wants to make boys into young men and trying to make them better people and that goes back to coach MacDougal.”
With all of his emphasis on character building, Flaherty’s honor as the a coach with the most wins in Groves’ history suggest he prizes football strategy as well. This past season Flaherty led the team to the first playoff victory in ten years. Groves beat Berkley 35-13, sending Groves the second round of the playoffs. Groves went 6-3 at the end of the season, finishing with a winning record.
Despite this year’s honor as the most winning coach, Flaherty emphasized the importance of remaining flexible and focusing on great game plays and team building even during losing years.
“I always like to use the analogy that every year is like a wedding. There is always some good stuff, some drama stuff, some laughs, and some tears. Each year has kind of got its own unique purpose, and it isn’t the wins and losses that matter,” said Flaherty. “You know it’s a lot more fun to win, but we’ve had fantastic years where we’ve had losing records.