April 20, 2008 03:55 pm
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For a while now I’ve been thinking about writing about Jeff Cody, capturing my thoughts on the man who, outside of my family, has had the biggest impact on my life. I know what I want to say, but where to begin? What words can I use to convey to others what he has meant to Cleburne, Cleburne High School and numerous students and athletes? I guess all I can do is try to talk about Coach as I know him, as I have been blessed to interact with him.
It is quite uncommon for a person to work for an employer for multiple decades. In the world of coaching, at any level, it is extremely uncommon for one coach to remain at one position for multiple decades, let alone multiple years. Sure it takes a winning record, some degree of charisma, hard work and dedication, but it also takes commitment from an institution.
These days if a coach fails to produce a winning record after three or four years (sometimes less), an administration is most likely to move quickly to seek a replacement, a quick fix.
When a coach is able to stay at one school for multiple years, a system begins to take shape. Fans know what to expect season after season and take more interest. Young players train in their youth with hopes of one day wearing the black and gold. Most importantly, the system becomes bigger and more important than one player ever could.
Coach often told his players that the players of the past couldn’t tell you how many points or rebounds per game they averaged, but they could tell you how many games their teams won. Team. He’s right, too. We went 33-3, 29-5, 30-5 my three years on varsity, and I couldn’t tell you how many points I scored. It’s the team that is most important and not only during your playing years. It is important to young players how the current team is doing. It matters to past players how the current team is doing. And the reason it matters, especially to the past players, is that Coach Cody established a program with a tradition of winning the right way.
The system is still there, and the players of past teams still feel a part of what is happening now. Coach Cody remaining at CHS for more than 35 years is an anomaly and ties all Cleburne basketball players together. And the players are who Cody credits for his successes. He always says he was lucky to have good players who made him look smart. Sure he’s had talented players, but lesser coaches have had more talent and done less with it. Coach Cody is a study in humility; praising others and downplaying his own importance and accomplishments.
It is not hard for anyone observing him over time that he is the rock upon which the program is built, the architect for how it was built and has been maintained and the conductor guiding the way.
In many arenas of life it is common to not appreciate something until it is gone, or until it is something of your past. When I was in high school I knew Coach Cody was a great coach and led great teams, that he had been at Cleburne forever (to me), and that I was lucky to play under him. He had years of basketball knowledge and was eager to teach us.
As a Yellow Jacket basketball player going into the program, I knew of the rich history before me and the importance of carrying on with the tradition of competing and winning. I also knew the work would be hard. Coach was not one to hand anything to anyone. What he did was to guide players, instruct them and give them the tools to succeed.
Looking back on it now after playing in college, our workouts were much like a college setting. They were grueling, but we respected Coach and knew that we had to put the work in to be good. Too much was at stake. Coach was fair to each and every player, giving preferential treatment to none. No one got off easy. If you missed your time, you did it again. If you slacked off in practice, your playing time reflected it. And if you mouthed off to Coach, well, my witnessing a couple of these instances set me on the path to not crossing that line.
And the thing about that is, he never cursed or degraded a player. He would let you know what you did wrong and what the direct result would be in words safe for an elementary team. It was akin to being scolded by your father, a man you deeply respected. You wanted to stay on his good side, and if you ever did something to get on his bad side you wanted to get back to the good side as soon as you could.
I remember one time in a game my senior year I had made a stupid foul, sending an opponent to the free throw line. From the sideline Coach was all over me, and I understood what he was saying. I held my hands up in my attempt to acknowledge him and quickly after that, bent down to rest on my knees. I quickly realized this looked, to Coach, like I was waving him off. It only took a fraction of a second for me to recognize this because of the look of his face, which seemed to say to me, “What did you just do? Did you just wave me off? Do you think you’re too cool for school?”
In that same fraction of a second, which seemed to me to be moving in slow motion, I saw him motion for my replacement off the bench and call me over. I had already started my apology and explanation that I was not waving him off, that I would never do that, and I think he saw that. Even still, I spent time on the bench until the next time out. I share this little story to try to show the level of respect I and other players have for Coach Cody. He was our leader and we would follow him anywhere.
In time outs at crucial points in the game, he was our compass and our foundation. He commanded our attention and we had faith that any plan he came up with would work. Also, it says something of his training and leadership that very rarely would a player leave such a huddle and proceed to do something different than what Coach had prescribed. Probably because they trusted him and wouldn’t want to deal with whatever punishment came their way if they deviated from the team concept.
Coach put players in the best possible position to get better and not only on the court. I loved sitting and listening to Coach talk about the basketball legends I had only heard about, in terms of his experiences and interactions with them. He has so many connections throughout the country it boggles your mind. I was in the audience for several stories about other coaches or players, but I was in his audience more frequently when he talked to us about life.
Coach Cody didn’t just care about a kid because he played basketball on one of his teams. He genuinely wanted to positively influence those he came in contact with. During my junior year he started doing 15 minute talks on various topics of life, such as associating with the right people, work ethic, trustworthiness, respect, persistence, faith, family and other topics that could help us when basketball inevitably ended. It helped drive these talks home that he not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk.
In my playing years after high school I talked to teammates about their high school careers and coaches, and encountered many high school coaches. It was at this time that I really appreciated the opportunity I had to play under Coach Cody. There are so many unscrupulous individuals out there coaching and influencing high school-age kids, that when there is an honorable man such as Coach Cody in our own hometown he should not go unrecognized.
It is easy to take something or someone for granted when they have been in one place doing the same thing for such a long period of time, and a lot of people probably don’t fully appreciate what Cleburne has in Coach Cody.
This represents what I think, but I also feel it represents what most of Coach’s players think. I remain close to several teammates, and most of my closest friends are also from Cleburne. We may not have fully recognized him at the time, but after our playing days are over, we can look back and appreciate what type of man Coach Cody is and what he has done for Cleburne.
I remember fearing that he would retire after my junior year (1998) and that I would have to play my senior year under a new head coach. Thankfully, I was lucky to play all my years under Coach. With his retirement announced, Cleburne should, and I believe will, permanently name the high school gym after him, and the name should stay with the gym even if a new high school or gym is built. It would be the least CISD could do to honor the man who has been the right kind of leader, the right kind of role model and the right kind or person for so many years at CHS.
It is truly a blessing to me that God guided my life so I could not only play basketball under, but learn from, Coach Cody.
Go Jackets! Thank you, Coach Cody.
Josh Sokolewicz is a
1999 graduate of
Cleburne High School.
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