Inside the Headset with the AFCA

This week on Inside the Headset, we are featuring the 2021 AFCA Regional Power of Influence award winners. These coaches include Lou Marinelli from New Canaan High School (Conn.), Gary Rankin from Boyd Buchanan High School (Tenn.), Jake Gilbert from Westfield High School (Ind.), Bill Blankenship from Owasso High School (Okla.) and Tim Brennan from Bishop Kelly High School (Idaho).

Lou Marinelli has been the head coach for the New Canaan Rams for 40 seasons and has a record of 349-103-6. If you include his other stops at Mamaroneck (N.Y.) High School and Yorktown (N.Y.) High School, his overall record stands at 368-110-7. After lettering in football at Springfield College, Marinelli began his coaching career at Mamaroneck in 1976. He moved to Boston College as an assistant coach for two years before returning to the high school ranks in 1979 at Yorktown. After two seasons, Marinelli began his New Canaan run in 1981. After going 4-5 in his first season, he brought the Rams the first of 12 state titles in 1982. New Canaan’s other state titles came in 1993, 2001-02, 2006-09, and 2013-16. The winningest head coach in Connecticut high school football history, Marinelli’s trophy case is full of awards that he has won over the years, including the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) Coach of the Year several times, National Football Foundation Coach of the Year, Walter Camp Football Foundation’s Connecticut Coach of the Year, Connecticut High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year, the Legendary Coach Award by MSG Network, and National Football League Coach of the Year in 2008, to name a few. Marinelli has been inducted into the Connecticut High School Hall of Fame, FCIAC Hall of Fame, Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame, and the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Gary Rankin recently completed his 16th and final season as the head coach at Alcoa High School where he led the Tornadoes to 13 state titles. Coach Rankin was named the head coach of Boyd Buchanan High school in February 2022. Rankin began his coaching career at Warren County (Tenn.) High School as an assistant coach. In 1982, he earned his first heading coaching position at Smith County (Tenn.) High School and won 58 games in his eight years as a head coach. Rankin then spent 16 years as the head coach at Riverdale (Tenn.) High School, where he won four state championships and finished with a record of 194-25. In his 40 years as a head coach, he is Tennessee High School’s all-time wins leader with a record of 468-78. Rankin also has 16 state championships, which is a Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) record. Since Rankin has coached at Alcoa, the team has been to the state championship game all but two years. He has added a long list of accolades, including Knox News Lifetime Achievement Award, coached 13 Tennessee Mr. Football Award winners, one Gatorade Player of the Year, East Tennessee CAREacter Star Coach of the Year award, 2009 Tennessee Titans Coach of the Week, and countless other Coach of the Year awards. Rankin was inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 2011.

Jake Gilbert, who earned his second straight AFCA Power of Influence Regional honor, completed his 11th season as head coach at Westfield High School by leading the Rocks to a 12-2 record and a second straight appearance in the Indiana High School 6A state championship game. That was Westfield’s fourth appearance in the state championship game under Gilbert. In 2016, he guided Westfield to the school’s first ever state championship. Gilbert has won several Coach of the Year honors including Indiana Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2016 and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Indiana Coach of the Year in 2017. He has been an FCA sponsor since 2012 and created a Freshman Mentor Program and Life Ready Initiative at Westfield. Gilbert has hosted Special Olympic football clinics, raised money to tackle childhood cancer, led a mission trip to Haiti and helps support the Indiana Blood Center. He also serves on the Westfield City Council and is president of the Wellbeing Coalition of Westfield.

Bill Blankenship joins Coach Gilbert as a two-time Regional POI winner. He finished his fifth season at Owasso High School by leading the Rams to an 8-4 overall record and an appearance in the Class 6A playoffs. Since arriving in 2017 as head coach, Blankenship has led Owasso to two state championships and two semi-final appearances. Prior to Owasso, Blankenship was the head coach at Fayetteville (Ark.) High School in 2016, guiding the Bulldogs to a Class 7A state title with a 12-1 record. He spent nine years as a college coach at Tulsa and Memphis. From 2011-2014, he was the head coach at Tulsa, leading the Golden Hurricanes to two bowl games and a Conference US...

This week on Inside the Headset, we are featuring our 2022 Regional Power of Influence Award winners in a roundtable discussion. The coaches discuss their journey, some of the mentors who have had an impact on them, and some pillars of their football program.

2022 AFCA/AFCF Regional Power of Influence Award winners are:

Region 1: Jim Kelliher, Abington (Mass.)

High School Region 2: Rodney Saulsberry Sr., Whitehaven (Tenn.)

High School Region 3: Dwight Lundeen, Becker (Minn.)

High School Region 4: John King, Longview (Tex.)

High School Region 5: Todd Sloat, Fall River (Calif.) High School

Jim Kelliher has been the head coach at Abington High School for 49 years and currently sits fourth for career victories in Massachusetts history with 305. He has guided the Green Wave to three Eastern Massachusetts State titles in Division 5 (2002), Division 3 (2005) and Division 4 (2012) and two overall state championships in Division 5 (2014) and Division 4 (2019). Kelliher graduated from Abington in 1966 and played his college football at the University of Massachusetts. He returned to Abington as an assistant coach for three years before being named head coach in 1974.

Rodney Saulsberry Sr. is in his 25th season at Whitehaven High School and 19th as a head coach. He has an overall record of 180-48 with two Tennessee 6A state titles in 2012 and 2016, the first championships in program history. Over 200 of Saulsberry’s former players have gone on to play college football, and 15 of them have become coaches. He has served on the board of the Tennessee Football Coaches Association and served on the Rules Committee for the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Saulsberry has been a speaker at various football clinics around the country, including the 2013 AFCA Convention. In 2020, he co-founded the Minority Coaches Association of Tennessee, which helps high school, college and professional coaches in Tennessee foster job opportunities and hosts clinics for continuing education. Saulsberry has earned many awards over his time as head coach, such as a two-time Tennessee Titans Coach of the Week, a Tennessee Titans/Shelby Metro Coach of the Year award winner in 2012 and 2016, three-time Regional Coach of the Year and winner of the Rex Dockery Award from the Memphis Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

Dwight Lundeen started the Becker High School football team in 1970 and has never left. In his 53 years as head coach, Lundeen has amassed an overall record of 390-166-3 with three state championships, 19 section titles, and 24 conference championships. He has served as president and on the executive committee of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, the Minnesota Interscholastic Activities Administrators Association, and the Minnesota State High School League. Lundeen has been inducted into the National Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2019), Minnesota Activities Directors Hall of Fame (2014), Minnesota High School League Hall of Fame (2014) and the Minnesota Football Coaches Hall of Fame (2009). He is a four-time Minnesota Football Coach of the Year and was named Minnesota Football Coaches Association Man of the Year in 2015.

John King is in his 19th year as head coach at Longview High School. He currently has the Lobos in the semifinals of the Texas 5A state playoffs with a 14-0 record. His overall record sits at 211-43 with a 6A state championship in 2018. King is a past president of the Texas High School Coaches Association and has served on the THSCA Board of Directors. He has served on several committees for the THSCA as well as Treasurer of the East Texas Coaches Association. King was inducted into the East Texas Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 2019 and was named Texas Sportswriter Association 6A Coach of the Year, along with Longview News Journal and American State Bank Coach of the Year in 2018. He has won 15 District Coach of the Year honors in his 19 seasons.

Todd Sloat has coached football for 23 years, with the last 21 coming at Fall River High School. His overall record in eight years as a head coach sits at 78-16 with one California 7AA state championship and six Northern Section titles. Sloat earned California Coach of the Year honors in 2021 and six other Coach of the Year honors in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2017, 2018, and 2021. He stepped down as head coach after the 2021 season and works as an assistant coach with Fall River, helping the Bulldogs to a 12-0 record and the Northern Section championship.

0:50 Meaning of Power of Influence Selection

1:55 Pillars/Culture of Each Program

10:20 Impact of Program

13:50 Significant Influences

18:05 Creating a Community within Your Town & Team

21:00 Camaraderie of Coaches

For the next three episodes, we’ll be catching up with alums of the AFCA/NCAA 30 Under 30 Coaches’ Leadership Institute.

In today’s episode we’re joined by 2017 selection Mike Ridings, safeties coach at Marian University. Coach Ridings shares his coaching philosophy, connections he made in 30 Under 30, and a wise tip he learned from Duke University head coach David Cutcliffe.

Follow Coach Ridings on Twitter: @CoachRidings

In our second segment, our first AFCA Staff Spotlight, AFCA Graduate Assistant Shelby Cozette sits down with the AFCA’s Director of Media Relations Vince Thompson. He shares how he got his start at the AFCA, how interested coaches can get involved on a committee, and his award-winning weekend hobby.

Have any questions, comments or ideas for the show? Send us an email, podcast at afca (dot) com. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday and check back next Thursday for another episode of Inside the Headset with the AFCA.

In our 3rd X’s & O’s with a Legend, This Is AFCA Managing Editor Paul Markgraff sits down with former University of Texas Head Coach, Mack Brown.

Prior to the interview, AFCA Director of Coaching Education Mario Price and Graduate Assistants Jerome Brown and Alec Finch discussed their favorite memories of Mack Brown’s coaching career. Also included in the conservation are few clips of Mack Brown from the 2010 AFCA Convention in Orlando, FL.

In the interview with Markgraff, Brown discusses what got him into coaching, how he views the profession, and what he wants his legacy to be.

Have any questions, comments or ideas for the show? Send us an email, podcast at afca.com

Check back next Thursday for another episode of inside the headset with the AFCA.

On this week's episode of Inside the Headset we speak with Stephen Mackey about the 2Words Character Development program, what convinced him to become a motivational speaker, and what he learned from the game of football.

On almost any given day, Stephen Mackey can be found in a locker room, school auditorium, or on a stage trying to help student-athletes and coaches connect the dots between sports and life. He gives over 275 speeches a year and students, parents, and coaches around the country use his 2Words Character Development Curriculum each week.

• [0:25] Start of interview
• [1:05] Influences to become a motivational speaker
• [2:15] Personal responsibility
• [5:08] Connecting the dots between sports and life
• [8:24] 2Words Character Development
• [13:38] Make it "tweet-able"
• [14:49] Life lessons gained from the sport of football
• [20:13] Motivating teachers and coaches
• [23:12] Energy vampires

You can follow Stephen Mackey on Twitter, check out his website, and the find 2Words Character Development Curriculum.

Have any questions, comments, or ideas for the show? Send us an email at [email protected].