Jeff Wilkerson is a teacher and coach who works at Glenn High School. This is his 8th year here. But overall, he has been teaching in education for 15 years. He started his teaching career with being a 7th grade history teacher and then coached football, track and basketball.
Before teaching he was in the Navy and for four years he was stationed in Pearl Harbor.
Q: What are your interests outside of school?
A: “I love sports in general, so I love to watch football and stuff on TV. I like to go as of late to like the stars game, but in general I like being outdoors. I like to go and work in my yard and go on walks and stuff like that.” Q: How does your navy experience help shape you as a leader in the classroom and on the field?
A: “I think one of the things that I learned in the Navy was, people don’t really want to follow people that don’t walk the walk, you know. Like you can’t be a hypocrite and be a good leader. And also, as a leader, your number one job is to take care of people like that is the biggest thing, that you’re there for other people.”
Q: What drew you to teaching post Navy?
A: “I knew whenever I got in that this [coaching] is kind of what I wanted to do. I kind of halfway changed my mind a few times. And yes, I had a really good job in the Navy. I like what I was involved in, but whenever I was in there I wanted to get out. I love sports, including some really great people that were mentors to me in high school. And high school being stressful overall, I thought it’d be really cool to be in the position where I can help kids and learn from my mistakes and successes along the way. So I knew really all along that I wanted to do this.”
Q: What inspired you to become a coach, and how has that journey evolved over time?
A: “So, again I really like sports and you know as a player you only have so much time as a player where you can play. And at some point somebody’s going to tell you that you can’t play anymore unless it’s recreationally, but I knew that if I get involved with coaching that I could always be involved in sports and bed around it. And that’s kind of what drew me to it.”
Q: Can you describe one of your most memorable moments as a coach?
A: “As a coach I mean there’s a lot of examples of things that were victories that weren’t necessarily like a victory in a game. As far of games go the coolest one I ever been to was when I was at Westwood and we played with Round Rock and they were definitely more talented than us and we down to 17 with about 5 minutes left in the game and for some reason like stuff started clicking and I just felt there was no way we were going to lose that game, and a lot of the stuff aligned out and we wound up pulling out a victory.”
Q: How does your experience in the classroom influence the way you coach your team, vice versa?
A: “When I run my class I look at anything before the test as being practice. And the test is like a game on Friday night: our performance is evaluated based off of that. So if I get kids that stink up the test, I know that I didn’t do a good job of preparing them for that test. And I very much emphasize that if you ignore the practice then you’re going to do poorly. We are going to practice to get you ready for the test that we’re going to do so you can demonstrate it. I think in a way we use a lot of things from coaching to try. If a kid doesn’t understand it then we have to find a different way to teach it so that they do understand it.”
Q: What’s it like balancing your responsibilities as both a teacher and a coach?
A: “Time management is a big part of it. It’s just planning out stuff and prioritizing the stuff because I do football, track and then I also do strength and conditioning for the football program which is also a lot too. I think it is a lot and yes, it is busy for me, but I like it to be that way. I like to be busy and have stuff going on. I’m kind of like a greyhound, like they always got something to chase and so I have to always do something to keep me happy.”
Q: How do you manage your time between grading, lesson planning, and coaching?
A: “It comes down to when I look at what time I have over the course of the week, I look and go, ‘okay, this is the time period where I need to set aside, make sure that I grade. So that I get feedback to kids and stuff like that. And as far as football goes, I always give my tutorial schedule to my kids every week and revisit it to remind them when I’m available. So I make sure I communicate like, ‘hey on these days I’m available you know morning or after school’. Because you know other teachers have mornings and afternoons while I don’t usually have that all the time.”
Q: Do you find that your students and athletes see you differently in the classroom versus on the field?
A: “One hundred percent, yeah. The ones that definitely see me differently are the athletes that see me on the field will see a different side of me. One of the things about being a coach is that you will start to learn what makes each kid tick, and so you will learn their personality and how they are which helps out. Because there are some kids that are hard on themselves, they don’t need another person that is going to be hard on them. They just need someone to encourage them. In the classroom I’m much more jokey. I want the environment in the classroom to be inviting because not everyone chooses to be there.”
Q: How do you handle days when teaching and coaching overlap or become stressful?
A: “One of the things I try to do as best I can is just planning. It helps with the stress part of it and trying to really be intentional with the time that I will have to set aside for certain stuff including making to-do lists. Keeping a schedule helps out a lot.”
Q: Are there any specific moments that have changed your perspective on teaching or coaching, how did it help you grow?
A: “I would say probably yes. You’re always learning based on what you know. I think what we emphasize a lot is that everyone benefits from a growth mindset and knowing everything is an opportunity for improvement. You’re never really truly failing as long as you’re learning. Failure only exists in the absence of learning.”
Q: What legacy do you hope to leave as both a teacher and a coach?
A: “I think my biggest thing is that I always hope to leave both as a teacher and as a coach, as I always want them to know they always have somebody that they can rely on. The day you walk into my class you have an ally on your side. I’ll try to do what I can for you and what I can help you with and get you where you want to go.”
Q: What keeps you passionate about what you do after all these years?
A: “I still get the same excitement for helping people and teaching them stuff they weren’t aware of. Helping somebody discover something about themselves they didn’t know they could do, which is always nice to do. I’m always looking for ways to improve, so there isn’t a lot of stagnation because I don’t want to sit there and go ‘that’s good enough.’”