REDWATER, TX – Every afternoon at Natalie Maines High School, head football coach Mike Reynolds demands that his players push their bodies to the absolute limit. He tells them to run faster, hit harder, finish every drill and never, under any circumstances, take their foot off the gas.
Reynolds delivers these instructions from underneath a neck that appears to have been assembled from several hot dog rolls. At 5-foot-9 and an estimated 320 pounds, the 47-year-old coach is considerably larger than most of the athletes he spends his afternoons telling to “get in shape.” His polo shirt is stretched tightly across his stomach, his face turns red after walking approximately 30 yards and his breathing becomes noticeably heavier whenever he has to bend over to pick something up.
“Conditioning is all about discipline,” Reynolds told his players Tuesday, before spending the next 15 minutes sitting in a folding chair.
The contrast is difficult to miss. While Reynolds watches his players run wind sprints in 95-degree heat, several of whom could probably outrun him while carrying another person, he remains planted near the sideline yelling, “FASTER! FASTER! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” He occasionally takes a few steps toward the field to make his point, then stops to catch his breath and wipes his forehead with a towel.
Reynolds insists his physical condition has nothing to do with his ability to coach football. “I don’t need to be in shape. I’m the coach,” he said, before asking an assistant coach to bring him a Diet Coke. “My job is to get these kids ready to play.”
He then spent roughly 20 seconds explaining to a 16-year-old defensive back that being tired is “a mental thing.”
At press time, Reynolds was reportedly screaming at his players to finish strong while his stomach was visibly hanging over his belt.
