Overview:
Coronado High School’s head football coach, Kurt Hines, shares his coaching and writing journey, diving into his new book “Called to Empower.”
Like many other football squads across the country, the Coronado High School Islanders have a schedule that runs like clockwork: daily practices, workouts, weekly team dinners and games.
They watch film on Monday with a light practice. They train hard Tuesday and Wednesday at full speed. And, Thursday is all about getting their minds right before the game on Friday.
Overall, they have a season-long vision with high hopes for championships and glory.
But, in addition to the on-field vision, the coaches are committed to success in the students’ lives both at school and home. And that commitment enhances their play, according to head coach Kurt Hines.
“I think allowing ourselves to make an impact in people’s lives and getting to know people on a personal level allows them to free themselves of any external chaos or stress or whatever it may be,” Hines said. “I think it allows them to play better because they’re not stressed about things that are outside of their control at that time.”
“I think allowing ourselves to make an impact in people’s lives and getting to know people on a personal level allows them to free themselves of any external chaos or stress or whatever it may be.”
Hines said Coronado High coaches don’t shy away from the athletes’ lives off the turf – from hardships to celebrations and everything in between.
“We had quite a number of people share this current season they’re dealing with a lot of things outside of home, a lot of stress with their parents and family lives and dynamics,” Hines said.
In high stakes games — like last Friday where Coronado beat Francis Parker — no matter how many plays you run, the mental game can be the students’ biggest strength or weakness. Hines shared a story about one of the athletes.
“I had a young man that this past Friday’s playoff game, was not in the headspace,” Hines said. “You can just tell by his body language.”
Rather than pulling him off the field for giving attitude or punishing him at practice the next week, Hines took a different approach.
“Because I’ve built a relationship with him, I went over to him and I said, ‘Hey, how’s your grandma?’ Right away, he started crying. He’s a stud football player. He’s one of our starters, but I knew that he had that on his heart for a while”
Hines said recognition of what was weighing on the athlete empowered him to realize what he can control. He chose to play the game and do it to the best of his ability.
“We want to protect our children from negative experiences,” Hines said. “I think that’s usually done with the best of intentions, but when you’re stopping those negative things from happening, we’re stopping growth. We’re stopping people from find(ing) out what their strength is and pushing through adversity.”
Walter Hardy, a junior on the Islanders’ football team, said he’s seen the impact of the coaching strategy over the course of the season.
“I feel like it was pretty rocky in the beginning of the season,” Hardy said. “There were a lot of people playing their own game, not really seeing the big picture for a team. But these last few games have been really great and everybody (is) playing for one another.”
Hardy credits that change in mindset to the coaching.
“Coach Hines really helps us,” Hardy said. “Everybody (has an) understanding that they have a role to play. He preaches that a lot, especially to our skill guys.”
When they don’t have the ball, they still have an impact.
Hines is currently in his 27th year of coaching high school football. He’s also a fourth grade teacher.
Hines started his coaching career on the east coast and moved to San Diego a decade ago to be closer to family.
Over the years, he’s created a social media presence with motivational videos and tweets.
Whether online or talking with his team, Hines said difficult emotions and the real experiences students face aren’t taboo; the team’s line of communication and openness pushes against the current football culture that can, at times, be wrapped up in the individual.
“[In] the coaching world, there’s so much arrogance,” Hines said. “I love everything about football, but I think it’s kind of overpopulated with this.”
He pushes back against arrogance and an individual mentality, not only in his coaching, but also in the caliber of character he expects from the athletes, according to Hardy.
“He constantly is on us about just acting like we’ve been there before,” Hardy said. “Whenever we make a big play, just hand the ball back to the refs. You don’t need to make a big celebration about it, (it’s) just strictly business.”
Hines noted that there are programs at all levels with good players and coaches who win accolades, yet he still feels they are missing the mark if they’re not investing in players’ lives outside of football.
“Unless you’re really focusing on building those relationships and getting to know the players on a personal level, getting to know what makes them tick and how we can best serve them, we’re really missing the mark.”
“Unless you’re really focusing on building those relationships and getting to know the players on a personal level, getting to know what makes them tick and how we can best serve them, we’re really missing the mark,” Hines said.
That lesson – on the importance of knowing the athlete – was modeled to Hines in his first season of coaching with Mike Beliveau. Hines assisted Beliveau at Souhegan High School in Amherst, New Hampshire. Beliveau was the head coach at Souhegan from 1995 to 2012. In that stretch, the team reached the state championship game 10 times, winning four state championships.
“I was blessed my first year coaching to coach under Mike Beliveau,” Hines said. “Mike was someone that knew the game of football, but he also knew the importance of connecting with the players and building those relationships.”
It’s something Hines carried on; it’s also a main lesson in his book, “Called to Empower.”
Written at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, the book is an exploration of character, mental health, hope and grit through a series of reflections based on Hines’ inspirational online posts.
The tidbits of advice on Twitter were transformed into paragraphs with “timeouts” – a section of questions at the end of each chapter meant to challenge the reader to apply what they just read about. Hines’ Christian faith played a role in why he wrote this book.
“As I was writing the book, there were countless times – probably every chapter and multiple times – where I’d be praying about the right word to say and how long to phrase things to just reach people on a different level than merely just throwing words together out there,” Hines said.
He said the goal for this book is to influence people’s views of themselves, their worth and their character.
“If I can make an impact in one person’s life or two people’s lives – or 100 or 1,000 or whatever it is – that’s a life well-lived,” Hines said.
Hardy shared that Hines has made it clear the team can come to him through whatever they’re navigating. This intentionality is something Hardy needed as he navigated a knee injury recently.
“I think most players are comfortable talking to him outside of football as well,” Hardy said. “He’s very open to talk with players. When I had my knee hurt, he was very good at helping me work through that, just keeping me focused.”
Writing the book didn’t come without its own setbacks. Hines said imposter syndrome creeped in throughout the process. But that’s where his community came in.
“In our society, so often we’re told that you’re a self-made man,” Hines said. “You don’t need anyone else. There’s people that start to believe that we can do everything on our own; we don’t need others. It’s completely counterproductive to what I believe.”
And it’s counterproductive to what Coronado’s football team is working on too. The Islanders’ season came to a close on Nov. 15 after they lost to Vista High School in the playoffs.
Regardless of the outcome, Hines said he sticks to the “why” behind his coaching.
“Coaching and teaching just fills my cup,” Hines said. “I know so many people that make more money than I do, but they feel like they’re not making a difference in the world. Yes, they have their homes or more vacation homes or cars or whatever. But for me, I know as long as I get my ego out of the way, I have an opportunity to make a difference each and every morning.”
