Posted on Sunday, 05.30.10
Tim Tyrell's focus on discipline and hard work pays off at Chaminade
BY LARRY BLUSTEIN
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In a season that saw the goal of being better than the year before take on new meaning for Chaminade-Madonna's football program, third-year coach Tim Tyrell has a good idea why his Lions finished 12-1 in 2009.
As Tyrell gets ready to put things away for the spring and concentrate on final exams and getting high marks in the classroom, he has watched an entire program change right before his eyes.
``When we came in here, the one thing I told the players is that there is no secret to working hard,'' Tyrell said. ``We will be the best we can on the football field, in the classroom and at home. That's a philosophy that you simply cannot argue with.''
For someone who played for, and coached with
Ohio State's Jim Tressel at Youngstown State, Tyrell has learned what elevates some players from others.
Taking a team that had won just twice the year before, Tyrell's brand of discipline and hard work began to surface last year when the team came within a win of reaching the 2B state title game.
That loss, while it was tough to take, served notice that this Chaminade program that enjoyed so much success under Mark Guandolo, is once again in disciplined hands.
Wins over district foes Monsignor Pace and Gulliver Prep certainly served notice that this team was on the move upward, but the total domination of 2B powerhouse Pahokee was the game that confirmed the Lions were indeed back in the picture.
While this football team does have its Division 1 talent, with quarterback
Jerrard Randall (6-3, 190), defensive back
Johnathan Aiken (5-11, 180) and receiver/running back
Curt Evans (6-0, 175), there are a number of other players who continue to make contributions.
