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Winning philosophy built on tough love

By RON GUILD, Sports Editor 31.JAN.08

Elijah Asante is building more than a foundation for a solid football program at Jordan High School.

Through the sport, he is attempting to build solid human beings by stressing responsibility and accountability for youngsters who come from tough backgrounds.

It’s a philosophy that seems to be working for the Wave Newspapers Coach of the Year.

A year ago, a freshman- and sophomore-dominated roster took its lumps while losing badly to the likes of Southern Section powers Esperanza and Edison, as well as Dorsey and Locke during a 3-7 season.

The Bulldogs played the same teams this year and the results were different. While they again lost to Esperanza, Edison and Dorsey, they overcame a 1-3 start to go 7-4, win the Eastern League title and qualify for the City Section playoffs.

They earned what is believed to be the initial first-round playoff home game in school history. That it ended with a narrow loss to Taft could not diminish the accomplishments of the team.

Asante was appreciative of the team’s efforts in defeat.

“We came up on the short end of the score, but not on the short end on heart,” he said. “I love them for that.”

It’s a tough-love philosophy that Asante stresses.

He held star quarterback and defensive end James Boyd out of the first half of the playoff game for disciplinary reasons. It might have cost them the game, but the cost may have been more had he compromised his beliefs and let Boyd play.

“You do that and the system breaks down,” he said. “Discipline is how this program is being built. You make one exception and maybe you lose the rest of them.

“This is a learning process and we’re using football to teach them to be accountable young men, responsible fathers and productive members of society. Ten years from now, I want them to look back at how they were held to a certain standard.

“That’s why I don’t look at this as a loss. It’s a step in the right direction. There is a right way to do things and there are no short cuts.”

That killer schedule is a major reason Jordan was able to make such a dramatic turnaround.

“The way to take this program to another level is with a challenging schedule,” he said. “We were 3-7 last year and 7-3 (regular season) this year and got a 4-A home game.”