Turning Things Around

The following is my final project for my J470 sportswriting class this spring quarter at Ohio University. I cannot thank Coach Brickner enough for allowing me to interview him this past weekend. I also cannot thank Nick Lay, Chris Hall, Brad Walliser, and Michael Grothaus for answering all of my questions. I owe you all. Anyways, here is the story. Enjoy.

The first line in Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World,” is, “I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and for you, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”

Fitting that this song is Scott Brickner’s favorite. Or, as he is more commonly referred to in the plains of a small northwest Ohio community, Coach Brickner.

See, Brickner has been planting proverbial trees for the past twelve years as Tiffin Calvert’s Head Golf Coach. When he took over the program in 1996 he was not even given any seeds. He had to bring his own. It was a job tailor made for Brickner.

The Beginning

Brickner was a 1988 graduate of Calvert High School, and played on the golf team for four years. He was a junior when Calvert won their first, and to this day, only Midland Athletic League (MAL) title. However, Brickner has a more vivid recollection of what took place his senior year, when his team finished second by one shot. It is a big reason why he wanted to become a coach.

A teammate, one who did not practice the entire summer, four-putted the final green. A two-putt would have clinched the championship, while even a three-putt would have put them in a playoff. Instead the entire team was left wondering ‘what if.’

“Failures stick with you longer than successes,” Brickner said. “That entire situation reminds me of what laziness can do to you.”

Fast forward eight years later and Brickner was now calling the shots. He was given a program which in his words, “was pretty much in shambles.” It would take a total and complete overhaul. Calvert had three straight losing seasons, and went 5-11 the year prior on a tremendously weak schedule. Brickner had his hands full, but they were ready.

Change is Good

“Someone needed to take the time to do it the right way,” Brickner said.

While the “right way” may be debatable, it is difficult to argue with Brickner’s turnaround of the team. He has packaged an off-season weight lifting program, with a tougher schedule, along with tremendous upgrades to their facilities. The result has been a top three finish in the MAL for nearly a decade under Brickner.

“I had to change the mentality of the team,” Brickner said. “I had to find guys who really wanted to play golf or guys who liked golf and were really competitive.”

Nick Lay would be classified as the latter of those two choices. A three-sport varsity athlete, Lay found success not only on the links but on the basketball court and the pitching mound.

“Coach toughened up the schedule a fair amount, including several tournaments with pretty stiff competition,” Lay said. “That’s the reason we had as much individual and team success as we did.”

Lay was referring to fellow teammate Chris Hall, who was the MAL medalist in 2001. A performance, which for Hall, validated all the long nights his mom waited for him in the parking lot, validated all the time he had spent, and validated the commitment put in by Brickner.

“He [Brickner] turned the program philosophy into a culture of winning,” Hall said. “I felt as if we were always the most prepared team with the detailed course reports he always gave us. He also taught us to carry ourselves as a professional, in anything we did.”

Changes were in place, but the biggest was yet to occur. It was something neither Hall nor Lay were fortunate enough to benefit from.

Change of Scenery

Imagine a basketball team only being able to practice on half of a court. Or an entire tennis team practicing on one court at the same time. Or even a baseball team practicing with no outfield available.

This is what Brickner and the Calvert golf program had to deal with for nearly a decade. It all changed in 2003, a move which Brickner mentions as the “most important.”

Brickner not only inherited the Calvert golf team in 1996, he also inherited their home course, Clinton Heights.

Clinton is a public golf course, used regularly by hackers of all shapes, sizes and genders. They had no practice area, not even as much as a simple practice putting green.

A move had to be made.

Enter Mohawk Golf Course, a private club which has everything a high school coach could ask for. By consistently asking club and board members, Brickner finally received the okay prior to the start of the 2003 season.

Mohawk was equipped with a double-sided driving range (so the team would not get in the way of the club members), a practice bunker green, multiple chipping greens, and several putting greens. Not to mention a back nine designed by the legendary Donald Ross.

Comparing Mohawk to Clinton would be like comparing a nice ripe apple to the exact same apple, only if you let the second apple rot for two weeks and then threw it against an oncoming bus.

“We were never going to struggle again,” Brickner said. “The facilities were in place to instruct the way I wanted to.”

While several past team members have moaned to Brickner about not getting the chance to call Mohawk their home course, some like Lay, - the team‘s comedic relief - actually preferred the laid-back atmosphere of Clinton.

“We couldn’t have gotten away with most of the shit we did during practice, so I wasn’t mad,” Lay said. “I don’t think my motivation would have been higher either, it was always about beating the other guy.”

Michael Grothaus, who played his first two years at Clinton and his last two years at Mohawk, thought that Mohawk prepared him well for other difficult golf courses.

“Clinton does not get you ready to play at the tougher away sites,” Grothaus said. “It truly was an amazing difference.”

Hall, while upset about the move not happening sooner, understood the politics of the situation but still wishes he could have been born maybe a year or two later.

“It is just like Coach forcing you to get better, Mohawk does the same thing in a different respect,” Hall said. “Mohawk would make anyone that takes the game seriously better by default.”

What once was a nagging flaw in the Calvert golf program, Brickner had turned into a major advantage.

Negatives

The old saying is true in this case, “it is impossible for everyone to like you.” Brickner’s attitude towards golf may not be appealing to some. The off-season training, the tough and demanding schedule, and the long practices have resulted in several golfers quitting.

Think about it. One gets to play all the free golf they can handle and it is one of those sports that does not involve running. Some adults even look to coach golf for those very same reasons.

Not for Brickner. Not at Calvert. One better think again.

Brickner has his team run hills after each match and tournament they fail to win. The idea is to instill the notion of golf not being easy, and that team success is the most important aspect.

“The coach sets the tone for the team,” Brickner said. “Team success is the most important, regardless of individual success.”

Brickner compares it to Michael Jordan, citing that Jordan never won any championships until he realized he had to make his teammates better. Similarly with Brickner, Jordan was not liked all the time by everyone.

“Some kids will quit and not be happy,” Brickner said. “But, everyone knows they have to raise their preparation because the schedule is not going to change.”

Passion can be a fickle beast.

The Future

Perhaps a MAL championship. Possibly a sectional crown. Maybe even a berth in the state championships. Brickner sees all of the above as a possibility, and even admits it is time for one of those to happen. However, he also knows that it will not be the records that end up defining him, but rather the players he has coached.

Brad Walliser is one of those players, a two-year varsity member. He saw Brickner as more than just a golf coach, but a mentor as well.

“It wasn’t just always about golf,” Walliser said. “He was always throwing in life lessons as well.”

That is a classic example of how Brickner operates. Golf is not the end all, be all. Even if that is how he is seen by some.

“I always tell the kids to focus on their morality, academics, athletics, in that order,” Brickner said. “I want the kids to accomplish things and have success.”

The intrinsic beauty of what Brickner has accomplished is that no one was crying out for a consistent and contending golf team. In the state of Ohio, football is king, with basketball being a close second. However, he has single-handedly raised expectations, raised the proverbial bar. Slowly and steadily he has put the Calvert golf team on the map. While he has not added to the golf banner yet, which remains unaltered since the 1986 MAL Championship, he has rebuilt the program on a rock solid foundation of hard work, integrity, and honesty.

For Calvert golf, it truly is a wonderful world.