El Dorado off-season productive under new coach
Two years removed from a 6A state championship, El Dorado’s football program starts over this year under new coach Chris Hill. Hill arrived in El Dorado from Sylvan Hill and replaced Steven Jones, who resigned after last year’s 5-6 season.
Hill took over the program in the spring and began working on attitude in addition to strength, speed and strategy. He said he was pleased with the dedication of the players.
“Our kids, for the most part, did a good job this summer. We asked them to get 20 workouts in,” said Hill. “We had 93 percent got their workouts in. We had five that didn’t. For the most part, the guys we’re counting on were very dependable, the upperclassmen especially. I think overall, you want a hundred percent. We had some days during the summer that a few guys missed. That’s fine. I don’t want them to miss family vacation or anything else. But we had 12 makeup days and some didn’t take advantage of that. That was another issue. But, 93 percent for the first summer, I think you have to be pretty pleased with that.”
Hill said it will take some time to give the program a complete overhaul. He was asked if there were any areas specifically he wanted to address.
“I think you come in and spend a little while evaluating things. And then you go in and try to start prioritizing things,” said Hill. “My wife was asking, are you going to do this?
Not this year because you have to prioritize things. What’s most important? What’s most pressing? We try to do that. We’ve attacked those issues and made some headway on them.
“The program is constantly growing, constantly changing and evolving. We just have to make those adjustments and changes on the run. I think we’ve made some adjustments in some things I wanted to work on.”
Hill wouldn’t go into specifics out of respect for the previous teams. When asked what area he’s been impressed with, he reiterated the team’s attitude and commitment.
“I think just the majority of the guys being here on a consistent basis, that’s here every day, especially the seniors,” he said. “Not one senior had to use the makeup week to get an extra workout in. They had it all taken care of at the end of the summer. So, their commitment, accountability, dependability in being here every day, I think we made big strides in that area.”
The Wildcats went to several team camps and 7-on-7 competitions during the summer. But, the primary focus of the off-season was looking in the mirror. Hill said the details will determine how well the team does, including the small details that have nothing to do with Friday night.
“We have to control the controllable. We’re the only team we can control. We can control our effort. We can control our attitude. We can control our attendance. We can control our encouragement. The main thing we’re working on is control the controllable,” he said. “Take care of what we can take care of and be the best we can be at that. I talk to them about, let’s win the no-talent things - the things that don’t require talent. Being here on time. Keeping your locker straightened up. Be encouraging to your teammates. Listen to coaching. Get lined up right. Get your eyes right. All those things I just mentioned, working hard, all those things require no talent. If we can master the no-talent things, usually the things that take talent come a whole lot easier.”