He believed that he and his coaching staff would in three seasons guide the Wildcats back to the playoffs coming off a winless season.
“I thought it would take at least three years for the mentality to get there because when you’re trying to create a change in the culture it’s an inside job,” Douglass said. “It’s all basically the mental part.”
There’s no more thinking about a playoff berth. The Wildcats are the No. 6 seed in Division 1, Region 3 and travel to Pickerington Central at 7:30 Friday night for a first-round game. Central is making its 11th straight playoff appearance.
“I’m excited for the kids, but I don’t think they understand the magnitude,” Douglass said. “But today’s practice was a good practice for them. As the week progresses they’ll get more excited about the opportunity.”
Douglass said the most important rebuilding pillar was putting the team first by following his mantra to be phenomenal or be forgotten.
“When you haven’t had success kids tend to think more about me than we,” Douglass said. “And they’re trying to get their own stats as opposed to the team getting stats. And my thing is all about when we win, you win.”
For the team to see the value in selflessness, Douglass put players where they are needed most.
Senior Danny Davis is a four-star wide receiver with offers from several Big Ten schools. Yet, Davis has been the Wildcats’ leading rusher the past three seasons and gone for over 1,000 yards the past two. He still lines up at wide receiver and has made plenty of big plays there, too.
Junior Leonard Taylor, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound prospect as a defensive lineman and tight end, returned to quarterback this season. He played the position in junior high before moving to tight end as a freshman. He rarely comes off the field.
The offensive line has given Douglass’ team the identity of a power offense instead of the popular spread.
“People don’t prepare for people coming downhill at them and smacking you in the mouth and being physical up front and wearing down people,” Douglass said.
The result has been an offense that can control the ball and still make big plays. But it’s what Douglass calls the bullies up front, playing as a unit, who have made the difference. The biggest bullies to defenses have been senior center Braden Parker and senior right guard Kelley Kinser.
“If you can establish a personality of what you want, an identity, it makes it that much easier to have your kids embrace it,” Douglass said. “If we go out and embrace one another and have a brotherhood, the city will embrace us in the end because we’ve been successful.”
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