Andy Pollock – Perspective on Coaching and Parenting Youth Athletes

Who I am
Talking about football and coaching, can it get any better than that? I guess I should probably introduce myself so you can decide for yourself if you want to read on-
My name is Andy Pollock, the proud father of 2 little girls, and husband to my wife (and high school sweetheart) of over 6 years. I am a Financial Advisor in Des Moines, IA, sing in my church choir, and for the purposes of this blog, coach sophomore football at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines.
My coaching style has literally been impacted by about every coach I’ve had since I started playing sports in second grade. I’ll never forget in 4th grade when the late Bill Dohrn (who coached every level of baseball in Aplington, IA from 2nd grade T-ball through Varsity, also jr high volleyball and 2x state champ Boys basketball) sent me home from third base while the pitcher had the ball in his hands because with 2 outs, I waited at 2nd on a fly ball to the outfield. Better to learn that lesson in 4th grade than in a substate playoff game 8 years later, and he knew that. A few of the guys I’ve learned from- Randy Merhl (Southeast Polk HS), Scott Heitland (Dallas Center-Grimes, HS), Luke Meadows (South Dakota St), Mike Tressel (Michigan St.), Eric Koehler (Grand Valley St.) Tim Morrison (Wartburg), Rick Willis (Wartburg), Jim Williams (ex Iowa St and Simpson, current Dowling). I’ve even picked up a thing or two from my younger brothers, Alex, who coaches college football, Grant, who has coached HS soccer, and Tim, an 8th grade 4-sporter/musician.
2 guys that have impacted me more as a coach than anyone, the late Ed Thomas (Aplington-Parkersburg) and my own father, Dr Tom Pollock. Dad spent countless hours playing catch, kicking, tackling, shooting hoops, hitting… pretty much anything but playing golf (and he is horrible at that). Dad will be 50 in a couple weeks and still thinks he can play in the “Greenbean Casserole Bowl,” Our family’s annual Thanksgiving football game. Come to think of it, it’s probably me who should think about giving that up. Last year’s game found me quitting early with a cracked rib after getting lit up by dad when going up for a pass across the middle. For the record, I held onto the ball, and it was a first down. But I digress.
Unlike a lot of youth nowadays, I didn’t start playing football until 6th grade when our 2 small towns, Aplington and Parkersburg joined together. Even then, it was only flag football, the pads didn’t go on until 7th grade. The wing-T quick huddle system that the Varsity used and had been so successful with was the system we were taught from the get go. Football was a huge part of my life throughout high school, but it was far from the only thing. I played 4 sports, sang in the choir, played in the band, competed in speech—the whole shebang. At a small school if we didn’t get involved, those activities wouldn’t exist. Coaches encouraged us to participate in all we could and I took that to heart.
The love of getting involved in a lot of activities took me to college at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA. It is a small NCAA D3 liberal arts school. Played football and sang in the choir there and spent my Friday nights as the football play-by-play voice of a local radio station.
I really didn’t have much intention of coaching football. I always figured I would be the radio voice of the Cyclones, but the opportunity came up a couple years after college when Tom Wilson, the coach of our rivals in high school(Dike New-Hartford, still don’t like’em), took the head coaching job at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines. I got an email from him gauging my interest, and ever since I have been hooked. I coach the sophomore offensive line at Dowling and our job as a sophomore staff is to prepare the kids for what they will face at the Varsity level. We take great pride in the preparation that we provide for them and do our best to give them the confidence that will ideally lead to success at the next level of football, and life. We have been blessed to have some great kids in my time coaching, and at the time of this writing have a 26-game sophomore win streak, and an undefeated Varsity team ranked second in the largest class of high schools in Iowa.
Questions? Comments? Willing to talk about pretty much anything. Nothing’s a secret unless we are playing you this Friday.

Next Time- Setting your kids (and yourself) up for success.