4 minute read
The Name of the American Game
by Diane Ciarloni | photos courtesy of Lauren Howard
There’s something magical about baseball. What else could make hotdogs taste so sublimely delicious? What else could make a stinging, back-of-the-neck sunburn feel so good? And what else, according to Ryan Howard, head coach for the Coppell Cowboys, can turn boys into the best husbands, fathers, workers, employers, politicians, teachers, etc. of the future?
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Howard is a local baseball kid. His uncle, Fred Howard, was a coach, and that sat well with Ryan, who loved the game.
“I wanted to play competitively for as long as I could,” the Lantana resident confessed. “I played through college, followed by a year of independent ball. That was about the time I looked in the mirror and admitted I wasn’t good enough to go on.
“Just because I recognized I wasn’t good enough for pro ball didn’t mean I wanted to let go of everything. I wanted to stay involved with the sport and, in some way, remain competitive. I’ve always loved kids, so the next natural step pointed to coaching.”
Howard’s family was steeped in baseball. He grew up watching different coaches, including his earlier mentioned Uncle Fred. He packed his duffel bag and headed out to frequent baseball camps, where he coached from a young age. Even though he was unaware of the actual construction process, Howard’s baseball experiences were building his character into one of those future husbands, fathers, teachers.
“I developed my coaching philosophy early,” Howard continued. “For instance, I prefer to think of us as having standards rather than rules. I sincerely believe young people
will meet any standard you set if they’re held accountable.
“I want them to realize there’s no shortcut to success, and success is the vehicle I want them to use to have fun. Getting there requires developing mental toughness, which is the only way to perform at the best level on any given day.”
Coppell is known for its talented athletes, ranking in the top tier for the past 30 years. There are two main reasons for the success. First, superior coaching is provided from a very young age and, second, both the city and the schools promote the athletic programs.
Coppell knew what it was doing when the Cowboys hired Ryan Howard. He was an all-district player at Carrollton Newman Smith. He coached at three colleges in five years – Paris Junior College, Tarleton State, and North Carolina State.
Howard learned at each stop, adding new elements to his coaching philosophy and pushing and molding it into a more solid and more easily teachable definition.
Howard signed on as head coach for the Lake Dallas Falcons in 2016, leading the team to the postseason twice. It was in 2019 when Howard guided them to one of the best turnaround stories in Texas baseball. They were 11–15 and hanging their heads over a five-game losing streak. Howard coached their minds relentlessly, telling them success could come only with a mental shift.
He got through to them, and they won nine of their next 11 games. They made it to the regional semi-finals, and became one of those special, often-told baseball narratives. It was also Howard’s perfect launching pad to Coppell, a perennial baseball powerhouse in Texas.
Players and parents met the new coach for the first time in early July. He handed out 11-page packets describing his rules, standards, expectations, and philosophies for both parents and players, breaking down the latter into offense, defense, and pitching.
“Consistent communication is high on my list,” Howard said. “It’s also important for me to know the parents because that’s the only way to know where, what these guys came from. There are certain things I believe in very strongly. I believe in building the champions before the championship, and in building the man before the athlete.
“My number one priority is a complete person, socially, athletically, and academically. The ultimate goal is having my work [coaching], judged when these guys are in their 30s and 40s as husbands,
fathers, civic and business leaders. This kind of development means buying into the team concept, and remembering the entire team depends on each individual player.”
The majority of Coppell’s high school players move on to college ball, but even with those stats, less than 1% are good enough for a career.
Assuming college graduation happens around age 22 or 23, that leaves a lot of years for the men coach Howard builds to stand tall as husbands, fathers, and allaround leaders.
