Recognition For Shared Achievement

Coach Adams Prefers To Share The Wealth

FARMINGTON — The slogan “feels like home” adopted by the City of Farmington seems to fit for Cardinal head football coach, Mike Adams, a native of neighboring Fayetteville.

Adams has been named to the coaching staff for the West All-stars by the Arkansas Activities Association. The 2012 All-star Football game is set for June 21, at Reynolds Razorback Stadium on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“I’ve done this long enough to understand I got that honor by the way our kids played and by the way my assistant coaches prepared them,” Adams said of receiving the Coach of the Year award for small schools by NWA Media for 2011.

Adams said

when

your team has success, individual honors come.

“It was something that had very little to do with me and a lot to do with the guys out there playing on Friday nights,” Adams said.

“In the playoffs, every team we faced out- athleticized us,” Adams said, noting the Cardinals were playing guys who were bigger, faster and stronger.

“It’s a testament to the way our coaches had them prepared and the way our kids competed,” Adams said.

“We’re really basic in what we do,” Adams said, explaining the Cardinals have five running plays and not many more passing plays.

“There are variations of that, of course, but I want our kids to use their ability by out-executing the other team,” Adams said.

“Really my philosophy is, in a nutshell, to try to be good technique players and try to execute better than you and be more physical,” Adams said.

Adams said his son, Spencer, did a good job in his first season coaching the Cardinal seventh-grade team. Adams noted seventh-grade football is a big change from Peewee.

“What we want out of our seventh- grade program is for those guys to learn how to block and tackle,” Adams said.

Adams said he is not particularly interested in if they know how to run a reverse or not. Adams said he wants football players at that level to learn the fundamentals of getting in a stance, blocking and tackling.

“Spencer did a great job, he put them in position to make plays and win ball games,” Adams said.

Like father, like son. Spencer Adams is doing what his father has taught him. The elder Adams is always tinkering with his lineup, strategically aligning athletes into areas where the Cardinals can exploit an advantage. In the second game of the season, West Fork had trouble blocking when Adams moved the ultra-laterally-quick Spencer Boudrey to nose guard. In a close game where the Cardinals scored only one touchdown, but came up with a safety on defense and a fieldgoal that was the difference.

Adams said his family has grown up together around football.

“There are not many men in America who know as much about football as my daughter, Meredith,” Adams said.

“As you get older, you understand what’s important in life and having your family around is special,” Adams said.

Adams said he thoroughly enjoyed being able to share the 2011 Cardinal playoff run when Farmington reached the state semifinals with his family. Adams’ wife, Robin, has been his biggest supporter for 20 years.

“She always has a hug and kiss for me whether we win or lose and that’s a real good deal for me,” Adams said.

Son, Jon David, is getting his master’s degree at the University of Arkansas. Jon David Adams and Roger Valdez, another former Cardinal player, served as team statisticians this past season.

“It’s always good to have those guys with you,” Adams said.

Spencer and John David have been accompanying their father to practice and games since they were four years old and their dad plans to keep them around.

Besides the All-star football game, Adams is preparing for the spring track season as Cardinal coach. Several competitors are coming back which should help the Cardinals.

Adams noted Deon Clay was third in the state in the shotput last season and Jared Martin and Brandon Merrick return as sprinters.

“Tanner Gustin is a junior, who will help us on the track with our sprinters,” Adams said.

Adams said Darin Young and Tyrack Polingo are leaders in the distance group, who scored points last year, and will be counted on for big things this year.

MARK HUMPHREY