MANSFIELD — It took a lot of strength to turn Mansfield's program into a winner.
The Tigers had a breakthrough season in 2008, ending a nine-year playoff drought and earning the first two postseason victories in school history, both of which came on the road.
Mansfield bowed out of the Class 3A playoffs in the quarterfinals, but it showed in the offseason that it was serious about getting back there when it finished second in Class 3A at the state weightlifting meet in Russellville.
Six Tigers finished among the top 10 at the meet, including three players who are on the football roster: Levi Norris (second at 259 pounds), Chaz Griffin (second, 148) and Casey Polk (10th, heavyweight).
Jason Gill is going into his fourth season as Mansfield's football coach, and the team has seen improvement every year, going from 4-6 his first year to 5-5 the next season and 9-4 last year. Gill said it's no coincidence that the football team's improvement has mirrored its improvement in the weight room.
Mansfield won only one game in 2005, the year before Gill arrived.
"When I got here, the kids weren't very strong," Gill said. "The kids were going through a weight program, but I don't think it was the kind of program they needed. Right now, top to bottom, our kids are as strong as anybody."
Gill has emphasized explosive lifting rather than just brute strength. Gill isn't a big believer in the value of what a kid can bench press. He'd rather his players excel in the power clean, which develops the kind of power required in football.
"We want to be explosive in the weight room, and strength just comes with it," Gill said. "Football is all about the explosive power that power clean gives you. That's the lift we emphasize."
Still, while an improved performance in the weight room has played a major part in Mansfield's rise on the football field, lifting isn't the sole reason for its recent success.
Gill credits the players for sticking with him when they went 9-11 in his first two years and said getting them to believein their ability to win was crucial.
Gill recalls a conversation he had shortly after taking the Mansfield job with Nashville Coach Billy Dawson. Dawson is 53-3 in four years at Class 4A Nashville, which includes three state championships, but before that he took a struggling Siloam Springs program and helped it get back to the Class 5A playoffs.
"I asked Coach Dawson, 'How did you get those kids to win at Siloam Springs?' " Gill said. "He told me, 'It's about getting those kids to believe in what you're doing. That's the key.'
"There's a lot of coaches out there that have all kinds of schemes, but you have to get them to believe in what you're trying to do."
Of course, Gill already knew plenty about what it takes tomaintain a winning program. Prior to coming to Mansfield, he spent eight years as an assistant at Rison, where he was part of state championship teams in 2000 and 2004.
Rison has traditionally had one of the stronger programs in Class 3A, and Gill said he learned about performing under pressure during his eight years there under Coach Clay Totty.
"It taught me football," Gill said of his time at Rison. "They expect it at a high level there, and if you're not giving it to them at a high level, they'll ask you to leave.
"The pressure got me prepared to be a head coach, and I couldn't have learned from a better head coach than Coach Totty."
Gill downplays his role in turning around Mansfield's program, preferring instead to give credit to his players, but other coaches in the 1-3A Conference have taken notice of the job Gill has done.
"Coach Gill has got them is playing really hard," Lavaca Coach Mark Headley said. "The whole key is the kids have got to believe they can win, and that's what he's done with them."
Even the folks in Charleston, the perennial conference favorite and the defending Class 3A state champion, can't help but notice the change.
"They're going to be real tough to deal with," Charleston Coach Doug Loughridge said. "I think Coach Gill has everything to do with that. He's instilled a mental toughness over there that they needed."
Sports, Pages 78 on 08/30/2009