Good Sports: Brent Eckley combines passion and hard work = long-term success

Jackson football coach Brent Eckley looks toward the stands at "The Pit" during the Indians' match-up against Eureka in the Class 5 quarterfinal Friday, Nov. 29, 2019 in Jackson.

Jacob Wiegand ~ jwiegand@semissourian.com

Good Sports is a weekly feature appearing in the Southeast Missourian and online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Today: Brent Eckley, 49, head coach, Jackson Indians football team. A native of southeastern Iowa, Eckley has a career mark of 171-54 (.760) leading three programs: Montgomery County, Union and Jackson. During his eight-year tenure with the Indians, Eckley has amassed a 70-22 record (.761) and most recently took the Tribe to the Class 5 title game on December 7, losing in overtime to Carthage, 27-21.

In OT against Carthage, you scored a touchdown to win the game that was called back by an official due to a holding penalty. Carthage then got the ball and won the state title a few minutes later. It’s been almost two months. Your thoughts now about that contest?

It is what it is. I try not to dwell on it. You have to ask how appropriate it is to call any penalty in OT, unless it’s over-the-top. The truth is, though, we made more mistakes than they did. We had three turnovers; Carthage had two. We turned the ball over more often and that’s enough. Don’t forget Carthage had a 96-yard TD run called back due to a penalty. It’s too easy to say a game was decided by one play. This one wasn’t.

A magical season.

We lost our top two running backs at the start of the season (Daniel Dickerson, Dimechi Herring) and we still finished 13-1. Not every coach may sign onto this idea, but I believe you make your team in the offseason. All the things that have to be done even before you play your first game.

You’ve spent a quarter century as a football coach, with 20 of those years being the head man of one program or another. Every place you’ve gone, you’ve won at least 75% of your games. What makes a good coach?

Let me rephrase your question. How about “What makes for long-term success?” Being passionate, being willing to do what it takes. Not just me, also our coaches and principally the players. Also, the willingness to work. How hard you work is under your control. You dictate that. We coaches work 90-hour weeks during the season. But we’re adults. The praise goes to the kids. I’m so impressed, for one example, that they’re willing to come into the school and lift at 6:00 a.m. over and over again. Passion and work ethic.

Could you identify what you love most about coaching?

I love so much about it. I’m a student of analytics; in fact, I’m still working my way through last year’s stats. I love presenting at coaching clinics. I love the schemes, watching film, working with the coaches and developing the young men on our staff. If I had to point out one aspect of the job, it would be the satisfaction I get from seeing the boys’ progress over time. For just one example, to watch an 8th grader struggling with the bar in the weight room, in a stressful situation, trying to lift something perhaps above his own weight, perhaps lacking some confidence in doing it – and then to see that same young man develop into a soon-to-graduate senior (lineman Connor Tollison) who is now being courted by multiple Division 1/Power-5 programs - that’s exciting. I love seeing the progress these young men make.

The Super Bowl is Sunday and the Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the winner. Lombardi called football “controlled violence.”

Yeah, it is. Every play, somebody wins and somebody loses. We try to teach our men to play hard, that the game is a battle you can win.

Speaking of “battle,” any thoughts now that the season is well over about Battle High School? The Columbia Public Schools put out a statement last month completely clearing Jackson, the team and the community, for what happened the night of the Jackson-Battle game at the Pit on September 27th.

The whole matter is disappointing and unfortunate. We don’t play Battle in the regular season next year, so the only chance we’d see them is in the playoffs. We do see another Columbia team in 2020 as we go to Hickman High.

You must be the recipient of a lot of love and respect in this community.

I appreciate the support and the compliments. But I’ve got to take them with a grain of salt. A lot of people think I’m smart, but the truth is the kids have to make plays. If ever I’m tempted to get a big head, I remind myself I’ve got some really good football players.

Someone might suggest you’re not taking enough personal credit.

Players win games. Coaches lose games. I’ll say this – I’m competitive. I want us to win.

In the run-up to the state final game, someone asked me whether you are happy here in Jackson? We both know what that guy was thinking.

Yes, and I’ll say this – and I’ve told you this before – I don’t think there is a better place to be a football coach in the state of Missouri than here. Four or five years ago, a couple of schools contacted me and asked me to apply for their coaching positions. I declined and said I was good where I am. I don’t think I could make it in a place where football wasn’t important – but it is important (in Jackson) and the program is supported well. I’ve (previously) coached in environments where football wasn’t important.

You hail from a tiny place.

I’m from Pekin, Iowa, which at that time was (comprised of) maybe 10 houses with no four-way stop. We had about 50 kids in my (1988) graduating class. The school was so small the district didn’t even have a mailing address. The school was built on an old military runway. We lived eight miles north of the school on a farm. My late father was a farmer and a truck driver. My mom and a sibling still live in Iowa.

You played ball in Pekin, yes?

Basketball and football. I was a defensive end. I tore an ACL in the summer before my senior year (of high school). If I had had surgery, I would have been out a year. My other choice was to play with a brace, so I wore a brace. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play hoops or football at the next level.

Tell us about college.

I got an associate degree from Indian Hills Junior College in Ottumwa, Iowa, which wasn’t far from home. As a freshman, my knee was operated on and I didn’t play any sport while I was there. From there, I stayed in-state and went to William Penn College (now University) in Oskaloosa, about 100 miles from Cedar Rapids. It was Division III back then but now it’s NAIA. No scholarship.

You had three years of eligibility and three head coaches.

Yes, the first year at William Penn, I was a DE, as I was in high school. My second year, new coach, I bulked up and played left guard and nose guard. In other words, I played iron man – both ways. I was in on 120 snaps a game. Too many. My last year, third head coach, I was a defensive tackle.

Every game I covered this season, I saw your wife waiting patiently on the field while you gave multiple postgame interviews and received praise from parents and fans.

Sherene and I met in Iowa and have been married 28 years. She’s a saint and has the patience of Job. I’m not patient and I’m not easy to be around. I’m able to do what I do because of her encouragement, support and sacrifice. I manage the football team and she manages our life. Sherene teaches special education at Jackson Middle School, right across the hall from our 23-year old daughter Madison, who teaches the same subject.

Say more about your family.

I’ve got four daughters, a son and two grandchildren. Hannah, 27, lives with her husband in Dubuque, Iowa and they’ve got two kids, ages six and almost one. Emily is 25, is engaged, lives in St. Louis and went to UMSL. Madison, I mentioned, she’s married. Hillary is our youngest daughter and she’s 17. We also have our son, Markiese, who is 15 and plays on the team.

There are big expectations for the 2020 team.

I have confidence that we’ll be really good and we’re fortunate a lot of (underclassmen) are coming back. Our first practice is August 10.