THE ART OF COACHING; COACHING ART: LAWRENCE BROOKINS BREAKS THE MOLD

Coaching football and teaching art aren't really different, Central High School football coach and art teacher Lawrence Brookins says.

"Coaching is teaching. And it isn't the stuff you see in the movies. Good coaches are great teachers."

Many assumptions are made about football coaches, beginning with the one that they majored in physical education. Brookins has a bachelor of science degree in art education, a minor in psychology. That throws some students and parents.

"They think artists are all soft," he says.

Brookins isn't soft. During summer football camp, he drills his players for six straight hours with a 25-minute break for lunch. Two games -- both of them lopsided losses -- into his first season as head coach at Central, six of his top players quit rather than meet his demands for a stronger commitment to the team. The pressure to ask them to return was strong. Brookins played with those who stayed.

His Introduction to Art class fulfills a freshman prerequisite. Some students take it thinking art will be easy. Brookins makes sure those students are disappointed.

"I take as much pride in the classroom as I do on the field or track," he says.

Brookins' class created the exhibit of colorful and exuberantly creative masks that has lined one wall of the community room at the Cape Girardeau Public Library the past two months. The class was studying art from Meso-America, Mexico, Central and South America from 2500 B.C. through 1500 A.D.

But when the time came to create art, he didn't want them to make something that looked like a Mayan mask or an Inca mask. "Put together something that reflects you," he told them.

Ironically, masks can be very revealing. A quiet student might conjure up the most boisterous creation.

"A lot of times, the mask and the kid don't go together," Brookins says.

Naturally, the Central mascot appears in the exhibit, but one tiger mask is traditional, one walks on the wild side.

You must look closely to find the third face in Michaelyn Burns' "Triple Portrait."

An African-influenced mask titled "Covenant Keeper" was made by Esther Ehie, whose parents originally are from Nigeria.

The mouth of Heather Haas' mask, "Beautiful One," is wired shut. "I don't know what she's trying to tell us here," Brookins muses.

The approach he takes to coaching football and teaching art is the same and begins with giving the student a foundation to work with.

"You can take an average athlete and give them good technique and they will get better," Brookins says. The same goes for artists. "Creativity in the class has to be encouraged," he says.

Blending talents

As a child growing up in Fulton, Mo., Brookins liked both art and sports. "You find out sometimes relatively young what you can do," he says.

But he had no idea he would end up standing in front of classes or barking orders to football players. At Fulton High School, Brookins was an all-stater who blocked for Tony Galbraith. Galbraith went on to star for the University of Missouri and in the NFL. Brookins was so unassuming his buddies called him "Silent Service."

But at Westminster College, family friend George Tutt suggested he commit to being an educator. "He said, 'I can see you are blessed with the ability to talk to just about anybody ... that is a gift. Everybody can't do that.'"

He was recruited by Central High School after coaching and teaching art at Moberly, Kirksville and Columbia Hickman.

Brookins' work ethic was one reason he was hired, says Central High School principal Randy Fidler. "He is one of the hardest workers I've seen. He is very dedicated to his job and very enthusiastic about both art and football."

A football coach who teaches art prevents students from equating coaches with physical education, Fidler says.

"It really helps because students are able to see coaches in a different light. In the classroom they gain a different respect for them."

One of Brookins' students, Michaelyn Burns, didn't know what to expect of an art teacher who coaches football. "Usually coaches are math teachers or science teachers," she says. "It was kind of different."

But, she says, "He's a really great teacher.

"... He's serious about it in a way, but he also makes it fun," Michaelyn says. "He likes us to be creative and do different things with our art."

Brookins being black is one more plus for the school, Fidler said. "African-American educators are hard to find. We wish we could get more. It's great to have them in leadership roles."

Controversial call

In his first year as head football coach at Cape Central in 1999, six seniors quit after the second game of the season. Some were among the team's most talented players, but Brookins wanted more from them, including a commitment to the team rules and policies. "There were a few youngsters who had historically had problems handling frustration and following the rules," he said, "and it usually showed in an ugly way."

After quitting, two of the players asked to rejoin the team. Brookins left the decision to the rest of the players. Unanimously, they said no.

The Tigers suffered through a 1-9 season. But they lost as a team, Brookins says. "Once those people were gone, it was a good experience. The rest of the kids got along together. That led into this season and a whole new attitude. The kids liked each other."

Last fall, the Tigers reversed their field, going to the quarterfinals of the state 4A playoffs.

When the winner of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award was announced Jan. 15, the Rev. David Allen pointed out that the Central High School football team and Brookins, Central High School's first black head football coach, were one of the three nominees.

The players all have T-shirts that say: "From worst to first."

Brookins also is the school's head track coach. He and his wife, Willetta, have twins, Marquis and Marquita, who are juniors at the high school. Marquis plays tight end and defensive end. Marquita is a manager on the football and track teams. He also has an older daughter, LaRisa, and a 4-year-old grandson, Lorenzen.

When students at the school received grade cards a few days ago, Brookins asked his art class if anyone had all A's. Shyly, one girl held up her hand. She was rewarded with a soda and candy and a high-five from her coach.