By Ella McLay
Eleven men line up on the field to play a game against another eleven men. All 22 players play for 48 minutes on a lined field of 100 yards and then some. To many people, those 48 minutes are their favorite time of the week, and to some, they don’t matter at all. There are also some who believe that football is more than just a game. High school football has created some of the most electric environments on Friday nights, and it often makes going to class during the week easier knowing there is a game at the end. Although football is just a game, it is a reason for people to gather in the same place and share a common feeling– the love of football. Even for those who do not love the game, there is something about the ambiance of a Friday night in the fall. Battle Ground Academy has been around since 1889, as we students are well aware of, but what we don’t often consider is how long our football program has been around. It has experienced many highs and many lows, but the feelings never change.
A football team is so important to a high school atmosphere, and that is no different at BGA. For years, people have repped the blue and gold on Friday nights in Franklin, Tennessee, whether that was in the early 1900’s on the campus off Columbia Avenue or on our current campus, where the Mack Hatcher Mob leads the student section. For those on the team, football creates a brotherhood and a common purpose. As OJ Fleming, Class of 1994 and wide receiver/safety for the BGA Wildcats, says, “BGA football was an important fixture in my development as an athlete, and more importantly as a student. It provided me structure, enhanced my confidence, and sparked motivation to excel on and off the field.”
“A winning team just changed the entire culture of our school and the school community.” OJ Fleming, Wide receiver/Safety, Class of 1994
Football teaches priceless lessons for those on the field and off. Football represents an accumulation of pride, spirit, motivation, experience, and a good time. Mr. Fleming adds, “The players walked around with heads held high and chests puffed out, but I think non-team members may have expressed more pride. A winning team just changed the entire culture of our school and the school community. There was nothing like a Friday night and having a stadium full of Wildcat enthusiasts!” Even though BGA football has been through some ups and downs compared to past years, the students and the community kept showing up because, again, it is more than a game. Of course, winning does help add to the ambiance at school and fill the bleachers, but to those who believe in its importance, those things don’t matter. The BGA program has experienced some highs and some lows, but the value never changes to those who truly care.
“Friday Night Lights was real.” Jason Gregg, Wide Receiver/Safety, BGA Class of 1990
Perspectives on BGA football have changed over the years. Back in the 1990’s, BGA football team competed against public schools, and often a football game was a true community event for Franklin, a small town with not as many opportunities for entertainment. Shelley McLay, class of 1993 says, “There were only 51 people in my graduating class, so almost everyone was involved in some way with the football team. You were either on the team, cheering for the team, managing the team, or you were in the stands.” That dynamic, I believe, has shifted not because of the skill of the players or the score on the scoreboard but rather because people have begun to lose sight of what football means and what it has symbolized in the past.
The new generation of BGA students, some children of BGA alumni, have a different perspective on the world around them. People now do not need a football game to have fun or to be around their friends because they can do that online. That is not to say they don’t attend, but the reasons for going to a game have now changed for some. Jason Gregg, Class of 1990 and wide receiver/safety for the BGA Wildcats, explains, “Friday nights were a big community event. Everyone came to home games, parents, students, alumni, and even locals. Friday Night Lights was real.” For some people, the value has never changed or the value that one’s parents held might have remained in their blood, but it is apparent that the meaning of Friday Night Lights has changed over the years.
“It is special being able to play with and in front of people you grow up with.” Nick Semptimphelter, Quarterback, Class of 2020“
High school football is an opportunity for BGA students to represent their school as athletes and as people. Football players often have a major influence on student life, and that can be very powerful, whether good or bad. A student-athlete at BGA who embodies the tenets of our school–character, scholarship, and excellence– while performing on the field can inspire the students around them.
High school football is an entity that gives some people a sense of purpose, community and belonging. For those sitting in the stands, the games allow them to share that pride with those on the field, whether that be from the perspective as a parent cheering on a child or a peer cheering on their friends. High school football unites people in a different way than college and professional football. The difference lies in the unity of those you go to class with. One might be a Tennessee Volunteer fan sitting next to an Alabama fan in their Calculus class, but they share a common identity of being a fan of the BGA Wildcats.
Recently, BGA hired a new Head Coach, Bobby Bentley, for the 2024 season. I learned so much about him and who he will be as a coach in the time that I talked to him. That openness is incredibly important as the new leader of our team because it showed me that he has the ability to be honest with someone he hardly knows. When I asked him what high school football means to him and why he is returning to coaching high school football, he said “I wanted to be with the players daily. I think I can make an impact with the players daily– not just in football. I think you teach life and coach football.”
“I think you teach life and coach football.” Coach Bentley
As someone who will graduate soon and not attend BGA while Coach Bentley embarks on his journey with the football program, I am grateful I had the opportunity to learn his perspective because BGA means so much to me, and as someone who rarely missed a game, I wish the team all the best moving forward. His responses throughout the interview tended to center around the idea of work ethic and how important it is for so many reasons. Work ethic can be shown through athletes being good teammates, being accountable and being together through all of the workouts, practice and adversity. He believes that “our best players have to be our best workers…everybody on our team needs to know it.”
“I’ve got to get to the players’ hearts first. If I can’t get to their hearts, I can’t get to them on the field.” Coach Bentley
Above all, Coach Bentley emphasizes the importance of action. It doesn’t matter to him if a player tells him that he is a hard worker or a good player: “Your actions speak so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Football is “a life lesson every day” and that is true in a multitude of ways. The coaches learn from each other and from their mistakes or things done well. The players learn balance, teamwork, and, as Coach Myles Thrash, learning specialist and basketball coach, says, “handling hard better.” Football is so important to the culture of a school, whether you are into the game or not, and I look forward to seeing what happens with the future of this program.
Interview with Coach Bentley:
Ella: What is your first impression of BGA?
Coach Bentley: You know I recruited BGA when I was in college. I recruited the state of Tennessee so I recruited Nashville hard and really focused on Nashville and Memphis and Chattanooga so I was very familiar with Battle Ground Academy before I got here just from an overall standpoint. I recruited Tony Stevens and Garnett Hollis, so I kind of knew a little about it. I was always impressed with the place and I knew it was a solid institution… I didn’t know much about the history of the football program until I started looking into it during the interview process.
Ella: What immediate impact are you hoping to make on BGA football players?
Coach Bentley: Just a culture of work and team training. I’m just a big team training guy. You know we’re not going to do our own thing in the individual segments. We’re going to do it together as a team. Accountability, too. I think that’s got to be brought to the table with the team training.
Ella: What drew you to the position at BGA?
Coach Bentley: I think there were several things. Number one, there was vertical alignment with the administration. You know everybody I talked to, I didn’t get any thoughts that people didn’t want a good football program. Because that’s always something I am concerned about. Administrators are not on the same page about having a good elite football program because it takes time, care, commitment, and resources to have a good football program. They were committed to do that, that was number one. Number two, it seemed like every time I looked into BGA, good people were involved. There are so many resources here. Number three, it’s a great place to live. You know when you’re living in Tampa Florida, it’s hard to ask your wife to move, but she moved to Franklin Tennessee, so that’s a good one. The other thing that I think is the most important to me was I saw it as a clean slate. I thought we could come in and build the program the way we wanted to build it, and I see that happening now that I’m here.
Ella: What does high school football mean to you, and why return after several years of coaching college football?
Coach Bentley: Several things. I think the first thing is I’ve always seen myself as a high school coach. I didn’t see myself doing anything else other than high school coaching since I was in third grade. Even as a college coach, I would get kind of frustrated because you know you’re on the road the entire month of December, the entire month of January, the entire month of May, and you’re away from your team. In high school, you’re with your team every day and it’s totally different. You’re still involved in football, but college coaching and high school coaching are totally different from a calendar standpoint and from an installation standpoint. I wanted to be with the players daily. I think I can make an impact with players daily– not just in football. I think you teach life and coach football, I think that’s kind of the way it works out. I think these young men are very intelligent, and I think they have bought into the structure of what we’re trying to do.
Ella: What do you think football provides for players off the field?
Coach Bentley: That’s worth an entire article in itself. I think football teaches so much from a commitment standpoint. I think it teaches you to care about your teammates. I think it teaches trust, to have trust in your teammates, trust in your staff that they are giving you the right information. I think it teaches a work ethic to where you know it’s a little more of a strain to be an athlete and to be a football player probably more than anything. Like any other sport, but just anything as far as commitment of time. To be a student athlete at BGA is hard, too, because there is so much rigor in the academic world here, so I think it just prepares you for life. It’s a life lesson every day.
Ella: What is your fondest memory of your own high school football career?
Coach Bentley: Playing in the state championship game, running out on the field at the University of South Carolina knowing I was in the state championship game. Being with my buddies, playing and having a good time. All the summer work, that was big. That was fun, that was good. Good memories.
Ella: Can you tell me a story from your coaching career when you learned something important?
Coach Bentley: That’s a good one. I first thought that it was X’s and O’s. I really thought it was X’s and O’s. I was a head coach in 1995 at the age of 25. I thought that if I had the best playbook, we would win a lot of games. I spent so much time on my playbook. Diagrams, play sheets, our first two years we won three games. My third year I completely went away from X’s and O’s, my playbook, to the Jimmys and Joes. When I started focusing on my Jimmys and Joes, and kind of worried about the X’s and O’s second, I became a better coach. I started coaching to their hearts, rather than coaching to the X’s and O’s and to the chalkboard. I still think the chalkboard is important, maybe just as important, down the road, but I’ve got to get to the players’ hearts first. If I can’t get to their hearts, I can’t get to them on the field.
Ella: How will you create a positive BGA football culture?
Coach Bentley: To create culture, you have to strain players. You’ve gotta strain them to do things they don’t want to do. You gotta get them to encourage their teammates to do things that maybe they don’t want to do. You gotta make it tough to make them strain. Anything hard to do or anything that is difficult to do is on the other side of hard. Championships are on the other side of hard. Winning is on the other side of hard. That’s what you gotta do to build a culture, and it’s gotta be happening every day, and you have to demand it every day. Everything that we do is important. From how we dress, to how we act, to how we perform in the classroom, it’s all the same. And our best players, this is probably the key for me, our best players have to be our best workers. Period. If he is our best player, he better be our best worker. Everybody on our team needs to know it, and everybody on our staff needs to know it. If they don’t, you won’t have a great culture. So that’s kind of what I want to build. And then the culture blends over to the game, because then the fans see it, then the parents see it, and then it becomes a packed house because they want to see that kind of show.
Ella: How will you instill trust as a new coach to the program?
Coach Bentley: That is really good. I was writing about that yesterday in my notes and we were talking about, you know, to develop trust, there has to be a firm belief. The belief has to be among the players, but it also has to be between the coaches, and then it has to be between the coach and the player. So, I don’t think you can have a football team, or any team for that matter, without trust. And it’s got to be there and it has to be tangible, to a point where if a person needs a ride to workouts, or a person needs to make sure he’s accountable in the classroom, he can trust someone is there for him. It’s all about trust, and it’s in everything we do.
Ella: Do you agree or disagree with this quotation: “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it.”
Coach Bentley: Yes, I agree with it. I think I would add that it is important, what I get from that quote, is that I want to see your actions. Your actions speak so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying. I think that is important here. When I got here, there was a litany of excuses of why “I” wasn’t in the weight room. From “I’ve got to meet a teacher,” “I’m in season,” or “My legs are sore.” They a player says, “But I’m a hard worker, coach.” Well, your actions speak so loudly, I can’t hear your words. I think that, even though it’s about sportsmanship, I still think it’s talking about actions meaning more than anything.
Ella: Do you agree or disagree with this quotation: “You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.”
Coach Bentley: Maybe I’m looking at it differently, but I see that quote as saying “Yes, you better prepare.” It’s more important to be prepared than the game itself. Our preparation is gonna take care of the game. I’m not going to even focus on the game. I will focus on our preparation. Yes, I agree with that.
Ella: Do you agree or disagree with this quotation: “A trophy carries dust, memories last forever.”
Coach Bentley: That’s powerful. I agree with that 100%. It’s not about rings and things. It’s about our care, commitment and trust. I agree with that wholeheartedly.
Ella: Do you agree or disagree with this quotation: “The only way to prove that you’re a good sport, is to lose.”
Coach Bentley: I disagree with that. I disagree with that wholeheartedly. I don’t want us to lose in anything. I don’t want us to lose in a jumping contest. I don’t want to lose in the best-looking bus. I don’t want us to lose in the best uniform. I want us to be winners in everything we do. I want us to win in the classroom. I want us to win in the chamber choir. I want us to win in everything we touch. So I disagree with that.
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