Don’t let Rich Hammond’s size fool you.
The young man has as much control on the football field today as
he did 10 years ago as a player when he was patrolling the
defensive backfield for San Benito.
Don’t let Rich Hammond’s size fool you.
The young man has as much control on the football field today as he did 10 years ago as a player when he was patrolling the defensive backfield for San Benito.
Today, he is coaching at rival Gilroy, which opens its football season at 7pm today when it hosts Burlingame. But his presence and stature are similar.
If any proof was needed it came during the middle of an uninspiring practice last spring when Hammond called his troops to midfield for a conference.
“How many of you have played in a CCS playoff game?” Hammond asked.
Hammond and one player (Carlos Estrada) raised his hand.
“How many of you have won a CCS championship?” Hammond asked.
This time only Hammond’s hand went up.
“How many of you have coached a team that won a CCS championship?” Hammond asked.
Once again, only the coach’s hand was raised.
Then he faced the players and told them, “You have to believe in what I’m telling you because I’ve been there. I know what it takes. And this is not the (practice) tempo we need.”
Hammond got the attention of the Mustangs players. It was as if he drew a line in the sand with his foot and told the players you either follow me or you head in your own direction and leave the team.
His philosophy is simple – no player is bigger than the team. You may throw for 2,000 yards, rush for 1,500 yards or get 200 tackles this season. But those stats will not make you more important than anyone else on the team.
“His goal is to get the kids to believe in themselves as a group,” says assistant coach Craig Martin. “I think they’re starting to believe in what he is saying. Of course, we won’t know for sure until Friday.”
At 5-6, 150 pounds, he’s hardly physically intimidating like, say, Gilroy High basketball coach Bud Ogden. And yet, at age 27 he brings some impressive credentials to GHS, where he served as an assistant in 2003.
Before assuming the top spot at Gilroy, he coached for two years at Santa Clara, guiding the Bruins to a 9-1 record and an El Camino League title in 2005. Before then, he was an All-Star defensive back at San Benito who even played a year of junior college ball.
Good things come in small packages once you get past the myth that football is a sport played by behemoths.
Marc David is the sports editor for the Gilroy Dispatch. Reach him at (408) 842-1694 or at md****@**********rs.com.
