Rhodes has made a couple of significant leaps up in status in recent years. Photo by Joe Fusco, d3photography.com

It’s an understatement to say that Rhodes’ football program has turned it around. The Lynx were practicing on a sandpit, losing games regularly by 20 points or more, and didn’t have the lights to play night home games. More importantly, the team hadn’t won a conference championship in 15 years before its 2013 shared Southern Athletic Association title.

As fourth-year head coach Dan Gritti said, “There was a great deal of inertia that was brought upon by years of losing.”

A lot of the change has stemmed from Gritti, who came to Rhodes in 2011 from the University of Chicago, where he was the defensive line/linebackers coach and special teams coordinator of a strong defense and special teams unit, at a school that is historically renowned for its academic excellence and research contributions. While the scale of the situation was different at Rhodes, Gritti was intent on bringing a championship brand of football to an academically sound school.

“The No. 1 goal — and probably No. 2 and No. 3 goal — of myself and my staff when we came in was we had to change the culture,” Gritti explained.

The losing culture, he said, was one that was built on “measurables” rather than strong all-around football players, with the character and the drive to only accept winning and winning big. He instituted a hard-nosed work ethic, an expectation of success and a “cerebral” approach to the game.

The other group responsible for improving the struggling program, that was a combined 7-13 in the two years before Gritti got to Memphis, was the 2011 recruiting class, who, now seniors, helped “change the culture.”

Seniors such as Ryan Niedermair and Zach Wade on the offensive line, Joseph Raby at linebacker and Mike Edel and Dale Hutcherson at wide receiver brought their winning mentality from high school and put it into play at Rhodes.

“I feel like the one thing we all had in common is [that] we came here to win,” Raby said. “Our main objective was to win and win championships.”

The advantage of having players who come into a program with that mindset and attitude is, as Gritti said, “immeasurable;” but, it’s only as good as the evidence of change of performance on the field.

And it wasn’t pretty at first — the Lynx went 3-6 in Gritti’s first year — nor were the rewards immediately quantifiable. But Gritti and his group of “Build the Brand” soldiers made progress in year two. They went 6-3 (2-2, SAA) in 2012 and 8-2 (5-1) last season, which culminated in a convincing 49-30 win over the conference-leading Millsaps Majors. The shared conference title did not translate into an NCAA playoff appearance, though.

From a player’s perspective, the tangible improvements were a result of an altered football and schematic focus.

Niedermair, a senior offensive lineman, stressed those specific changes. “My first meeting with Coach Gritti — he talked about athleticism on the offensive line ... so, schematically, you could see that he was changing the way Rhodes was going to run as a program.”

The focus changed as well, Niedermair said, “I think the biggest thing is the details. When I came in as a freshman, a lot of the guys playing, really, just, didn’t think about the details. Coach Gritti and his staff have kind of developed a science behind the football. And now you see it, especially in the class behind us, guys that use their athletic ability to stress the details, making sure that they’re taking the absolute right step when they come off the ball and making sure that they’re taking their guy, not just any guy.”

The program also had to upgrade its facilities and the appearance that it was indeed committed to change, a winning tradition and to the slogan and idea of “Build the Brand.” So Gritti went about campaigning for the needed investments and sharing his vision with alumni. He was successful because after his first year, the Lynx got a new, $2 million field a la Gillette Stadium, Gritti said; almost $1 million in lights after year two, and a weight room renovation is scheduled to be finished later this year or early next year. In fact, Rhodes hosted its first night game this season against its rival Washington U. and beat the Bears by 24 points.

Yet, these Lynx are not satisfied. While the seniors might be remembered as the team that helped bring in and benefit from the new digs, they are more interested in a legacy that refers to them as historic and, as is fitting for this group, the “best.”

“I think we want to go down as the team that changed the culture of the program, turned it around and made it well-known for football ... We’d want to go down as the best team in Rhodes’ history,” Wade said.

And that’s what the players and coaches mean when they say their focus is to “Build the Brand.” It’s making only the connection of winning to Rhodes’ football, because, in the end, the culture of an institution, of a corporation, of a people, and of a team is the most difficult to change. But once it has, for the better, there is no going back.

To do that and to make sure that the brand has been built, this Lynx team needs to keep its success going and needs to achieve what it set out to — championships. They’ll also have to get by some tough teams, like Chicago, at the Maroons’ place, divisional foe Centre and that revenge-hungry beast that is Millsaps.

Dale Hutcherson reiterated what had gotten the Lynx to where they were. “We need to stick together as a team …We’ve built a close relationship to each other as seniors and as all classes — there’s not a guy on the field that I don’t feel confident would go all-out or do their very best for each one of us.”

When teams know, just like a great boxer knows, that at some point they will overcome whatever their opponent throws at them, because in essence they like the struggle that leads to success, then you’ve got a great team.

While the evolution of the Rhodes football team is not complete, its DNA has surely changed. And it all starts at the top; but, by the “top,” I mean that row of unbreakable chain links that wraps around the neck of the Lynx (program), helping this true team harness the energy of motivation and union.

“I can do everything in my power to make things different,” Gritti said, “but without these 11 seniors we would not be winning right now. I owe them. Any success I’ve had here, it’s owed directly to them.”

Trinity (Texas), Urban get first win

Trinity beat Sul Ross State 14-6 last week to earn its first win of the season. It was also head coach Jerheme Urban’s first win in his new position, after taking over for longtime head coach Steve Mohr, whom Urban played for from 1999–2003.

Although junior running back Travis Williams had 96 yards rushing and led the team with 33 yards receiving, the star of the game was the Tigers’ defense. It held Sul Ross to 165 yards of total offense and six points, which came off of a Tiger turnover, their second of the game.

Jai Boatman had a pick-6 in the second quarter to increase Trinity’s lead to 14 points. The senior defensive back won SCAC Football Defensive Player of the Week.

While weather had an effect on the game and while the strong defensive effort is a good sign for the Tigers, the defensive product has been inconsistent and the offensive has been hurt by turnovers. They seem to be figuring out what to hang their hats on, which is understandable as it is so early in the Urban system.

Texas Lutheran may be primed for better

Texas Lutheran, having pounded its first two opponents of the season, faced a tough test against Louisiana College at Pineville and passed it. Coming off of an 8-1 season last year and an SCAC title, this Bulldog team may be able to achieve something better.

The Bulldogs (3-0) won 38-32 after surviving a late-game drive by the Wildcats (1-2). Running back Marquis Barrolle had 179 yards on 34 carries, and the Bulldogs offense had 290 yards rushing to go along with 559 yards of total offense.

While the Wildcats were 1-1 coming into the game, they seemed like a worthy opponent in a game of evenly matched offenses — the Wildcats had 460 yards of total offense but only 83 of those yards came on the ground.

The Bulldogs will need to get their defense in order for upcoming games against Howard Payne (3-0) and East Texas Baptist (2-1) in Weeks 5 and 6. For now, they will prepare for Southwestern Assemblies of God (0-2) and hopefully “get better” as they say and get ready for some more tests.

Looking ahead

The game that might be an interesting battle of good vs. tough is that of Centre hosting Washington U., at 1:30 in Danville, Ky.

It will be interesting to see if the Colonels can keep their winning streak and SAA lead going and how those pesky Washington U. Bears will perform after getting off the snide last week with a 24-19 win over North Park and moving to 1-2 on the season.

The Colonels have the advantage – many, that is – and will probably win, but the journey to that win should consist of some good football.