The goal of education, of all sports, is not to win championships. It's great but the goal is to be a better person.”

Coach Tubbs

On Sunday, June 2, Owen-Withee Football Coach Terry Laube held an O-W Blackhawk Football Spring Kick-Off Meeting at the Owen-Withee High School gymnasium. Laube gathered current and future football players and their parents at this time to talk about organizational items such as practice and game schedules, fees, and pregame meals but even more importantly Coach said was to “light or re-light that fire.” This year, Laube was honored to present Head Football Coach from Stratford, Coach Jason Tubbs as the speaker to light that fire. As many residents may recall, Tubbs helped lead the Stratford Tigers football team to many trips to state and state championships.

“As I went through his bio, it stood out to me, this man has paid his dues,” said Laube as he introduced Coach Tubbs. “He just didn't land in a spot and become a state champion. He paid his dues. He started out down in Tomah, with his first coaching job down there. From there he went to Des Moines, Iowa. From there he took a big step to Canton, Ohio, a school of 3,000 students and to the disappointment of the Marawood Conference, he came back to Wisconsin and landed in Stratford.”

 Laube went on to say that Tubbs spent his first 10 years as defensive coordinator with head coach Cal Tackes and in those 10 years the team won six state championships. For the last 11 years, he's been the head coach with back-to-back state championships in 2022 and 2023 and two runners up.

Coach Tubbs began by saying how lucky these athletes are to have a coach as passionate, well-liked and respected as Coach Laube. Tubbs encouraged the team members to set both individual and team goals and talked about the motto “One Family - Willing to Share the Risk,” what that means and why it is important. Tubbs asked the seniors, “What is your team goal?” One player answered, “to be state champion.” Tubbs then posed the question, is the family willing to accept the goal and what is the definition of family? “A group coming together for one common goal” was the answer from the audience.

“One common goal, all right,” said Tubbs. “You should write that down - win state. Individual goals…  write those down too. Put it in your locker, put it in your Chrome case, put it in your car, put it in your wallet, wherever you can see it on a daily basis because the day to day is how you get that individual goal. And then the family comes together, and you get your team goal.”

Tubbs elaborated about the second half of the motto - willing to accept the risk?

“Have you ever seen the athlete or friend that maybe doesn't go all in? Right? They think, but if I go this far and we do great, I'll be okay. But if I only go this far and we lose, I am ok with it because I didn't give my best effort. You have some of those guys, don't you? Maybe not in this room. But there's athletes like that, that are afraid to give everything they possibly have because if they don't reach that team goal, it will be devastating. That's the risk.”

 “It's okay to give everything you got and still not reach goals, because that's the type of person you want to be, right? Someone that gives everything. Someday you might get married. You have your own kids… you want your kids to give everything they got? So, if you can figure out a way to dive into this idea of family and we got each other's back, I'm willing to accept the risk because we have gigantic goals to win a state championship. It's okay if you don't make it. Because there's only eight teams going, right? But you'll sleep better at night knowing that you gave everything you got but that just wasn't good enough. This team beat us but that's okay because I'm a better person in life. Right? That's the goal, isn't it? The goal of education, of all sports, is not to win championships. It's great but the goal is to be a better person.”

Lastly, Tubbs emphasized the idea of BCD which stands for no blaming, complaining and defending and he said it has changed the attitude of his players, students and even his family life.

“Can't be my fault,” said Tubbs. “I can't, I didn't miss the curve ball. The sun was in my eyes. You see how excuses come easy, right? Does that help you win football games?”

“Football is one of the greatest games of team sports because there are so many plays in the game. They can score a touchdown and you can score a touchdown on the next play, right? So, you got to have that mentality that I'm not going to blame or complain, especially to my teammates.”

At Stratford, Tubbs said that if a player gets caught blaming and complaining, they get a warning, if it continues then they get extra workout. They just don’t allow it, it’s not healthy and he said it doesn’t create winners but makes losers. “We had a really good football team in 2021, really good football team, and they didn't buy into it. And we had twin brothers yelling at each other all the time, it was just unhealthy. So, we adopted it. We changed the culture, changed the family identity. And next thing you know… it's been pretty good.”

Again, in closing, Coach Tubbs encouraged the athletes to write down their individual goal whatever it may be and then a team goal of becoming state champions, he said he is looking forward to seeing the team’s progress.

After the fire was lit, the players were taken to get fitted for play and parents stayed back to learn more about the upcoming season and related events.