Coach of the Week

Brendan Carter, Jamestown Chiefs football           

Brendan Carter has been coaching football for nearly 15 years, but last Saturday brought something he’d never before experienced: his first win as a head coach.

Carter leads the Jamestown Chiefs into the first season of the team’s existence as a member of the Northeastern Football Alliance semi-pro league this summer after multiple stops in area youth football. He began his coaching career in 1995, when he was asked by a friend to help re-start the midgets program at Panama Central School. After a few years away from the area, Carter returned to western New York and got a call from friend Terry Gray, then an assistant at Southwestern. He offered help for the Trojans’ program before moving to Frewsburg before the 2002 season to join Gray’s staff.

After seven years as part of the Frewsburg coaching staff, Carter got the call to join the Chiefs as the team began to build a foundation for its inaugural season. As a rookie head coach, he says he has relied on the advice of coaching friends around Section 6 circles.

“I didn’t know if I was quite ready to be a head coach or not,” Carter said. “But I thought I was ready to at least run a side of the ball on my own. I was willing to take the chance. I’ve leaned on my friends in the business. Coach Gray is one of my assistants with the Chiefs and I’ve had conversations with Coach Calzone in Sherman. It’s a good network that is helping each other and make football in the area bigger than it is already.”

Jumping to the head coaching position has brought its ups and downs for Carter, as well as its surprises.

“Being a head coach is nothing that I expected it would be,” he said this week. “You’re responsible for everything; everything falls on your shoulders.”

He’s also learned that as a head coach, you’re always looking ahead to the next game, the next obstacle to overcome.

“After winning our first game, everyone was ecstatic, but I was already processing what injuries we had and what we needed to work on for the following week to get better,” Carter said. “Looking at the big picture of everything, you can’t be as excited as the other coaches or players and you can’t get as down either. You have to be even keel, a solid rock that keeps everyone else centered.”

As for what keeps him on the sidelines, Carter is quick to credit a lifelong love for the game as well as a coach’s ability to play an important role in the lives of others.

“I absolutely love football. The game itself is the perfect parallel to life,” he said. “You’re going to get out of it what you put into it. It’s going to be honest with you; if you didn’t work out hard enough in the off-season, it will show come game time.

“There’s a lot of character building within coaching football. The biggest thing is the camaraderie with the players, being that shoulder to lean on if they have problems in their lives. That’s been everything from a 14-year-old who broke up with his girlfriend to now a 30-year-old man who could be worried about his kids. It’s being part of a support system for people; football is an outlet for them.”

With many big victories recorded as a high school assistant, there still was nothing like the first time as Carter’s Chiefs brought home its first victory as a team and for Carter as a head coach last Saturday – and a moment he won’t forget.

“We’ve had wins that have meant more as a team being at Frewsburg, but on a personal level, getting my first win as a head coach is number one,” he said. “It’s going to be special to me for my entire life.”