Veteran Coach Still Doing It Old-Fashioned Way

ANAHEIM —  Jim Howell still listens to the click of the projector while he watches game films, staring sometimes blurry-eyed into the plays on the large white screen. He still wipes the plays, drawn in magic marker, off the sheet of clear plastic after practice.

While more and more coaches are relying on technological advances--video cameras, computers, overhead projectors, video playbooks--others believe in a simple, old-fashioned approach.

“I’ve always done it through blood, sweat and tears,” Howell said.

The technological advances seem almost foreign to Howell, who began his coaching career when John Kennedy was president.

“I guess I’m not really the one to talk to about technology, because I’m just not into it,” Howell said. “It’s just too much. I guess I’m not smart enough to figure out the newfangled technology and stuff.”

Howell has coached football for 30 years, all but two in Orange County. He coached at Loara, Katella and Magnolia before taking over at Western in 1978. He’s 62-67-3 in 13 seasons with the Pioneers.

Howell still draws plays on a board--no longer a chalkboard but nothing fancy--instead of using overhead projectors. Most games are filmed with a 16-millimeter camera, instead of a video camera, and played back on a projector. “We’re looking at a lot more video now than we used to,” Howell said. “We still use the 16-millimeter films, but more than half the teams we play are using videos.

“They’re using better viewing equipment than we are. I suppose it’s just a matter of time until we are forced to do it, too.”

Scouting is kept simple. Statistics and scouting reports are written by hand instead of tapped into a computer. Reports are filed on cards for later reference. Howell keeps stacks of playbooks and diagrams on his shelves.

“I get a lot more out of doing things manually than on a computer,” he said. “I believe in doing it the hard way.”

Howell said coaching is becoming “too technical.”

“At least for me it is,” he said. “I’m not willing to get into video breakdown or using computers. You can spend hours on those things, and I don’t believe in it.

“I believe in letting my coaches run our summer program and taking some time off. You have to do that when you’ve been coaching for so long. You have a family, and you have to spend some time with them.”

Howell, who has four varsity assistants, said it’s becoming more difficult to find good coaches.

“There’s not as many who want to do it anymore,” he said. “Maybe it’s because of all the technology and what’s expected of the job today, all the time you have to put in it.

“I’ve been forced to change a little because of the lack of on-campus coaches that we had 15 or 16 years ago. We’re more dependent on walk-on coaches now. We used to scout ourselves much better years ago. We just don’t have the manpower to do so now.”