McNeese Cowboys put to the test by The Program

LAKE CHARLES – Tough. Attitude. Discipline. #TAD.

That’s the motto new McNeese football head coach Gary Goff and the Cowboys have implemented with the change of culture as the Cowboys look to return to the days of dominance they haven’t seen in several years.

Those three words were put to the test on Monday and Tuesday, the first two days of summer workouts, when a hand-selected 45 Cowboys experienced “Judgement Day” – rigorous physical and mental drills conducted by two instructors from a group called The Program.

The Program is North America’s No. 1 veteran-owned team building and leadership development resource for corporations and sports teams. The group offers a unique combination of elite military and pro-athletic experience to help programs develop great teammate, great team leaders, and championship team.

With more than 345 clients nationwide, The Program has worked with football programs such as Oregon, Tennessee, Florida State, Michigan and Kansas, just to name a few.

“I’ve worked with The Program before and they do a phenomenal job of coming in and help develop leadership and breaking it down to show them what it means to be a great teammate,” said Goff. “I think we saw some very important growth over the last two days. They put them (players) through some strenuous exercises with direct order. They learned from their mistakes, whether it’s a communication issue or being demeaned to a teammate because you’re frustrated because they didn’t do something right. The learned the importance of speaking clearly, communicating properly and having one voice at a time so they don’t make those same mistakes on the field.

“This is part of the process. It’s part of changing the culture and getting these young men to realize they are not the most important thing out there and that it’s the team that’s most important. I told them from day one, this is their team. This is not Coach Goff’s team.”

Judgement Day began Monday afternoon in Cowboy Stadium and went well into the night hours before concluding Tuesday morning at the McNeese pool, beginning at 4:30 a.m. Judgement Day pushed the Cowboys outside of their comfort zones with intense drills but also helps develop leaders and team building.

“I think it pushed a lot of people to heights they haven’t been to yet by stepping up into leadership positions,” said junior linebacker Brayden Adams. “There’s some room for guys to step up, and being with a new group of guys, there’s still some bonding that needs to happen. Overall, it was a great experience. I think we came together through adversity and these were definitely two adverse days we went through. It was good and tough but something we needed.”

Senior defensive lineman C.J. Semien was the squad leader on Tuesday at the pool and was faced with the difficult task of getting his teammates all on the same page when doing the pool drill, but it was a task he completed and earned him the coveted Shield t-shirt.

“This shield is earned,” said Lead Instructor Hank Weede when debriefing the team following the morning’s session. “Up until 20 minutes ago, nobody earned it. But this person stayed patient and calm when facing adversity and got the team through it.”

The Shield is the logo of the Greek Letter Lambda withing a circle which symbolizes a Spartan’s shield, the most effective weapon used during that time.

“I was fortunate to earn the shield and very thankful to earn it,” said Semien. “I showed them that I have the capabilities of being a good leader and hope I can earn it every single day to prove to these guys. Being a leader is a lot more stressful than it sounds. It takes mental toughness and staying calm under pressure.”

“C.J. did a great job and there were a lot of others that did a great job,” said Goff. “He probably had the toughest task at the deep end of the pool with the team. It was kind of mad chaos there for a while but he stayed calm, gave some orders, made some mistakes early but fixed them, and then used his teammates to help him and assist in completing the mission.

“We’re going to be in tight ball games come the fourth quarter, like it or not. There’s going to be stressful moments during a game, late in the game, that one guy can make one mistake because of communication that can cost them. The importance is you communicate and understand your assignment. And if you don’t, you ask questions and if somebody is doing it wrong, you have to be brave enough to tell them.”

Goff first worked with The Program when he became head coach at Tiffin University.

“It helped us change the culture of that program drastically,” said Goff. “They had won two games the previous four years before I got there, and then when we left, we were ranked 17th in the country. And that was by no means my doing, that was by the program of the team buying into the culture and understanding that we’ve got to work together for the same goal. I still hear from a lot of those players. They’ll text me ‘hey Coach Goff, love you, #TAD’.”

Goff says he plans to continue having The Program work with the Cowboys every year.

Instructors of The Program consists of world-class former special operations warriors and elite athletes. They have the experience, skills and personal intensity needed to effectively challenge clients to become better leaders and teammates.

Instructor Weede earned a baseball scholarship to Lenoir-Rhyne, and after he earned his degree, he served the next 25 years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps where his primary job was serving as an Infantry Officer. He completed deployments with every West Coast Marine Expeditionary Unit Special Operations Capable (MEU-SOC) (11th, 13th, 15th) and the 31st MEU in Okinawa. He completed five combat deployments. He is a USMC combative diver, USMC parachutist, USMC Martial Arts Instructor, and a Middle East Regional Area Officer.

Also working with the Cowboys was Instructor Fred Smith who is a retired Sergeant Major with 25 years in the United States Marine Corps. An All-American football player at Dakota Wesleyan who spent time in an NFL training camp, Instructor Smith joined the Marine Corps and serve as a Drill Instructor transforming over 1,000 civilian men into US Marines at Parris Island in South Carolina. From there he was hand selected out of many qualified Drill Instructors to transform young men and women into Naval Officers at Officer Candidate School. He was deployed in combat five times, both in Iraq and Afghanistan, and served as the first Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Sergeant Major to redeploy to Iraq. He’s the recipient of the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal with combat device, the Combat Action Ribbon and the Ida B Wells NAACP Award. He’s a black belt in Marine Corps Martial Arts and competes in power lifting and as an amateur bodybuilder.