How Del Rio Rams Head Football Coach Steve Hoffman Plans to Turn it Around

October 23, 2007
By Alan Davis
Special to LIVE!

The Del Rio High School football family has a new head of the family – Head Football Coach Steve Hoffman. Coach Hoffman comes to Del Rio after serving as the defensive coordinator for Samuel Clemens High School in San Antonio. Coach Hoffman is an alum of Clemens High School where he played for his mentor, Robert Lehnoff.

After Hoffman graduated high school, his football abilities led him to play nose tackle at Texas Tech University under Spike Dykes in the early 1990s. Upon earning his degree from Tech, Coach Hoffman began his own coaching career as an assistant in Cleburne, Texas. From there, he made stops at Marion, Texas, and finally at Clemens, where he became defensive coordinator under his former high school coach, Lehnoff. Coach Hoffman has nine years coaching experience.

According to Hoffman, although Coach Lehnoff is the man who inspired him to coach, he is not who he patterns his coaching after. Coach Hoffman likes to think he patterns his coaching style after another assistant coach he worked with at Clemens - Rick Carlton.

"I really admired Rick not only for his coaching style, but also for the way he interacted and handled kids. He was able to coach the kids without deviating from his priorities. He does his best to successfully instill similar priorities in his players," he said.

Hoffman is also enthused about his coaching staff in Del Rio. He said, "I am very fortunate to get the coaches I have here in Del Rio. All of these guys are positive in their belief that we can get the job done. The coaches and I all believe that the kids here in Del Rio can be successful. Our toughest challenge is to get the kids to believe it themselves and believe they can win. One of the biggest challenges we have as a staff is to get the kids comfortable with our system, all the way from the junior high up. We know our system will work."

All of Coach Hoffman's staff are of the "old school" style of coaching. That is, when a kid does something wrong, they are not afraid to get in the player's face and tell them like it is. However, when an athlete does something right, all are very excited and are the first ones to congratulate them and encourage them to do it again.

As any good and successful program should be, the positive re-enforcement should be more numerous than the pointing out of mistakes. After watching the coaches with the players, it is easy to see how their excitement and adrenaline filled persuasion is starting to make a difference with this year's team. When the coaches get excited, so do the players. On the field, there is definitely more excitement than complaining this year. Coach Hoffman and his staff are very adamant about ending each practice on a positive note and are quick to point out all that the boys did right that day. "I don't want them leaving remembering what didn't go right."

He stressed that it is very important for him and his staff to stay current with coaching styles and techniques. One way they do this is to attend coaching clinic in the summer.

He said, "It is very important that we as a staff attend these functions. The coaching profession is one of the last professions with a close-knit fraternity. There is tremendous comradery that takes place at these clinics. We are able to visit with other coaches that use similar offenses and defenses and learn from them what works well and what doesn't. Then we are able to bring back with us what we learned and apply it to our programs. We also are able to view and discuss new technology and equipment. These clinics are the best way for a coach to better himself or herself."

Hoffman has no ambitions beyond coaching high school football. "There is nothing better than high school football in Texas. This is where I want to stay. I hope to one day have the opportunity to coach my son Blake in high school, not his position, but his team."

He is more interested in being an excellent educator and mentor. "I want the kids to know how much I cared about them as people, not just football players. I want them to remember the relationships they built with me and in school," he said.

Hoffman likes his new home in Del Rio. "My family and I really like it here. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to come here. It has been a great place to work so far. I was a little concerned about how my wife would feel about Del Rio, but after being here a little while she told me she really likes it here. There has been tremendous support from the community, the administration, the athletic director, and the teachers. I believe everyone is ready to see these kids be successful and I am going to do everything I can as a coach to see that it happens."

Alan Davis is a trainer at Del Rio High School and a graduate of Texas A&M University