September 15, 2015 - Coach Bowman hosted the first Coffee with the Coach last week, September 9th in the Administrative building of Center ISD located off US Hwy 96 North. "Its about the kids, its not about me standing up here and talking about football or whatever. Its kind of just something for those kids." stated Bowman.
Center ISD Head Coach Barry Bowman visited with a small audience saying, "Well, I appreciate y'all coming. This is something I've done at a couple of other places I've been and its informal, its, I usually get up in the morning and I'll talk about the week ahead and the previous week and let anybody ask questions that they want to ask. Usually we will tell stories about kids and stuff like that and turn the video on and let you watch the game until about 7:30am and then I'll have to go."
Bowman expressed a desire for the Coffee with Coach to grow even if it takes a year, "The thing that I was so proud of at the two places that the men had came, a lot of them, matter-of-fact most of them didn't have a dog in the fight. They didn't have a kid playing but yet they kind of took on a mentor-ship role with those kids and kind of adopted two or three of them." Reflecting he said they might show up at a game or make a phone call during the week. He's hoping positive male role-models will step up and encourage these kids.
The coaching staff has had to take the lead the at the beginning of the season because of an eye problem Bowman had to have repaired. Bowman praised the coaching staff, "The coaching staff has done great. I showed back up Monday and kids are where they are supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to be doing. So, that's a credit to those guys that I've been fortunate to surround myself with." He also commended the kids who handled the trip to Buna really well and he was very proud of the way they handled the whole trip.
Bowman answered questions from those attending which mostly pertained to his policy with trying to make sure the kids get playtime from Middle School up and what can be done to help retain players throughout the years. Bowman said player-coach relationship is very important and he has surrounded himself with a coaching staff and has a schedule which will allow the coaches to help with all the teams to help lower the coach-player ratio.
To learn about the principles Coach Bowman has and learn about the players, be at the Center ISD Administration building at 6:30am Wednesday morning, September 16th. Coffee with Coach will be held each Wednesday morning at 6:30am until 7:30am through football season.
Bowman did ask discussion not be about why the coaching staff made the calls they did during the game but about the kids and the program.
