Tiger Tuesday: The Right Fit

Castles’ old-school approach has Tigers back in the playoffs

By Todd Wills

They’re only jumping jacks. And football is only a game.

Try going over to Tiger Stadium one afternoon this week and convincing any of the Corsicana football players and coaches of that.

The Tigers are back in the playoffs, and those jumping jacks we all did back on the elementary school practice field are a big part of the reason why. All you had to do was remain in the stands at Tiger Stadium last Friday night to understand the meaning.

Celebrating a 29-13 playoff-clinching win over Cleburne, and honoring their commitment to team, the Tigers — as they have after every game, win or lose — did a set of jumping jacks after the traditional hand shake between the two teams. It will come as no surprise that, after snapping a playoff drought going back to 2006, that the Tigers did their post-game ritual with the passion and elation you would expect out of them.

And no doubt a big part of that outpouring of emotion was out of respect to the Tigers coaching staff and new coach Phil Castles.

Hey, jumping jacks fit this program.

And so does Castles.

What Castles has done in eight months with the Corsicana football program is truly remarkable. He won’t win the 16-4A Coach of the Year — that should be Waco University’s Matt Carroll but likely will go to Waxahachie’s David Ream. Castles might not win the Golden Circle Coach of the Year.

He is the Coach of the Year for the 61 players listed on his roster. Castles had made an immediate impact on the program, from boot camp to today, even if it’s not reflected in the win-loss record.

Yes, the overall record, 5-5, is the same as last year’s 5-5 mark produced by another coaching staff. I suppose as Bill Parcells pounded into our heads, you are what your record says you are.

Or maybe not.

The Tigers won one more district game this year, and that was enough to get them into the playoffs.

Now dig deeper.

The Tigers have led in the fourth quarter eight times this year, losing three of those games, including the season opener to Friday’s playoff opponent, West Mesquite. They were tied with Ennis in the fourth quarter.

Corsicana was 5-4 in those nine games. The Tigers were 2-1 in their last three games, losing to No. 3 Waxahachie, 21-14, in a game Corsicana physically dominated.

The Tigers were in every game but Waco University this season. They were blown out by Waco Midway, Waco High and Waxahachie last year.

This year’s team is better.

The credit goes straight to the top. Castles has brought in a no-nonsense approach to Corsicana. Trust is everything to him. Break it once or twice, and he’ll give you another chance. Break it again and he’s done with you.

Practice means everything, and in the Allen Iverson era of “practice, we’re talking about practice,” Castles isn’t budging. You want to play, then you practice.

His use of a timeout with 3:26 left in the first half of Friday’s game with Cleburne punting with the Tigers leading 8-7 was the best coaching decision I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Castles fits this town. He fits this program.

It’s not an indictment of the previous staff and Dave Henigan, who has produced a remarkable turnaround of his own this year at Grapevine.

Grapevine has gone from 0-10 to the postseason. The Mustangs win over Colleyville Heritage last week was a signature win for Henigan, just like beating Midway was Castles’ signature win.

Henigan fits Grapevine. It’s a lot easier to get your fans to buy into the spread offense when you can sit in your home stadium, look north across the railroad tracks and see Southlake’s Dragon Stadium, where the offense was perfected by Todd Dodge’s Carroll teams.

Castles fits Corsicana. You’ve seen why now.

Sometimes things have a way of working out.