Published: May 20, 2008 06:46 pm            

Done with Week 1

Weber pleased with first spring drills

Ada — A week into his days at the helm, Matt Weber explained his philosophy of coaching the sons of the fathers and mothers of the great Ada football tradition.

“We will build a great relationship with them. We’ll push them hard, tell them no, then try to make sure they enjoy their high school football experience,” Weber said.

He pronounced the first week of spring practice a success and looked forward to week two.

“The kids’ attitudes are excellent and that makes it fun. We are working hard and will continue to do so with our time next week (Monday through Thursday), but the main thing we hope to get accomplished in spring practice is to get them used to the way we practice. It is an hour and 50 minutes of constant motion with lots of reps,” he said. “They are moving around a lot now, position to position. When we come back at the end of summer they’ll be with one coach most of the time. Coach (Don) Byrd, for instance, will have his babies and they well stay with him every day. And that makes for more repetitions and getting better and better at what you do for the team.”

Though several starters return, all positions are open and the'Help Wanted' sign is out.

“It has been great having Coach (Nathan) Elliott, Coach (Robbie) Powell, Coach (Trey) Owens and the others back from last year to help us understand who is ready to go at a particular position,” Weber said.

Weber is known for his deep respect for experience and he acknowledges he will draw heavily from the two elder statesmen on his staff — his father, Joe Weber, and Byrd, the most veteran of Cougar coaches.

Byrd has been in and out of coaching at AHS since 1971, including two forays into Texas with the McBroom brothers (Larry and Gary), first at Weatherford, then at Mt. Pleasant and Carrollton R.L. Turner.

Joe Weber is best known for his state championship program at Davis. For the past several years he has served as head coach at his alma mater, St. Mary in Oklahoma City, but resigned after the 2007 season.

The opportunity to coach with his dad was an added topping to the Ada job for Matt Weber.

“As a family we have been very blessed. Both my brother (current Davis head coach Jody Weber) and I were able to play for him and win state championships and they won another coaching together. It is a lot to ask for, but I hope we can do that together as well.”

The elder Weber celebrated his 64th birthday Saturday. For 41 of those years he has been called ‘coach.’

“Yes, he has been at it 41 years and before he got out of it, I just wanted to coach with my dad,” Weber said. “He’s in great shape.”

Joe Weber’s muscle-toned shoulders come from still lifting weights, which can be traced back to Ada’s tradition in the weightroom.

Long-time supporter Ralph ‘Fireball’ Evans started the weight program at Ada after returning from World War II. When Ada’s legendary coach Elvan George moved to ECU he took the weight program with him and a young player named Joe Weber was one of the many in the weightroom.

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COUGAR NOTES

Weber will be making the move from Marlow soon. He and wife Trisha purchased a house in Ada and will be bringing sons Cody, 3, and newborn Brendan (May 7th) to their new home soon.

Once two-a-days start at the end of summer, Weber plans to cap off the first week with a Maroon and White Scrimmage on Saturday.

        

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