Take a look at this documentary following the life of a JuCo coach from the good people at Santa Monica College. SMC is the Junior College program where legends like Isaac Bruce, Steve Smith, and Chad Johnson honed their craft for two seasons before eventually going on to successful careers in the NFL.
The thirteen minute documentary focuses mainly on offensive line coach John Landwehr, and head coach Gifford Lindheim and how they've worked their way through the coaching profession, the challenges of being a JUCO coach, their coaching style and career aspirations, and how coaching at the JUCO level affects their family life and how they make major life decisions.
Coach Landwehr provides some interesting perspective because as the documentary is being filmed, he's working through his final days at SMC because he has accepted an offensive grad assistant job at Marshall. While it's a great opportunity over 2,000 miles away, it's a journey that he'll take alone (at first at least) while his longtime girlfriend stays behind and works.
Coach Lindheim provides some great insight into his coaching and recruiting philosophy, and the way that he approaches his job everyday. After listening to some of his answers, and how he interacts with player it's easy to see why he's able to easily connect with players, and why coaches will work for next to nothing in order to have their name attached to the SMC program. If you're looking for a a reason why the program has returned to the top of the food chain in a powerful California JUCO system, look no further than coach Lindheim.
Everyday we all see coaches names on The Scoop page and High School Scoop page, but it's so easy to forget that each one of names are actual people working their way through the profession, making sacrifices and life altering decisions while striving to change the lives of every player they come in contact with. This documentary is a great reminder of that, and I highly recommend carving out 13 minutes this afternoon for it.