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Locker Room talk: Coaches Edition with Wes Beachler
Editor’s note: Locker Room Talk: Coaches Edition, is a piece where every week the Nevada Daily Mail will interview a high school coach and ask them a series of questions. This week's guest is Nevada High School Football Coach Wes Beachler.
Who is your hero?
I would have to say my high school football coach Don Day and my high school basketball coach Jim Weeks back when I was in high school. My dad left when I was five years old, so those guys filled that void. They were disciplinarians, but also a very positive influence.
What made you want to be a coach?
Actually, I wanted to go into law enforcement initially and dabbled in that in my freshman year of college, but my senior year, our basketball coach asked me to be his Teacher’s Assistant. I helped teach third and fourth grade P.E. class, and I absolutely loved it. I loved teaching the skills. Taught them how to field a ground ball in baseball, how to shoot in basketball, and other stuff like that. The kids were so eager to learn that kind of stuff, and it really springboarded me into wanting to become a coach.
What was your favorite sport to compete in back in the day, and what is your favorite sport to watch either at home or on your phone?
Football for me, and it’s not even close. People talk about the way you build family, and you get that with football. The way we built a family was through shared hardships. We used to have two-a-day football practices; one from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., and another from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in just one day. It was just a grind and it was just tough. Once you get through that mentally, there is just a camaraderie of ‘I got through this and I did this’. You feel like you accomplished something. I feel like that shared camaraderie and shared hardship can’t be replaced. Eleven guys also have to be on the same page. It’s not a case where you have one or two positions that are dominant and are okay. If you don’t have 11 guys executing together as a unit doing their own job, then the play will fail.
Let's say the Nevada R-5 School District is looking to add a sport to their athletic calendar that they do not currently have. Tyson Beshore (Nevada R-5's Superintendent) comes up to you and asks what sport they should add. What sport are you choosing, and would you coach that sport?
I don’t know if I would be good at coaching it, but I do know some schools that have started fishing teams. I used to bass fish a lot growing up, and still do know every now and then. I think that that would be very entertaining and it would reach some kids who are interested in a lot of other things like fishing and non-traditional sports.
What advice would you give someone who is going through a rough time?
I heard in a sermon probably 10 to 15 years ago saying, ‘Sometimes life is tough and you have to act as if.’ I think when you're going through a tough time, you have to act as if everything is fine and keep pushing through. You can't take that to the point of, ‘I need help and need to sit down and talk with someone,” but I think the ability to bow your neck a little bit through hardship and keep plowing through each day is important. Obviously, there are things for acting as if isn't going to be good enough, but I think minor setbacks and things like that, you just have to keep your chin up, keep plowing ahead, and act as if you're fine.
What are some of your hobbies that don't include sports?
I really don't have a lot of hobbies, but I think the one that I love to do that surprise some people is that I like to read. I read almost daily. It may be the last thing I do before I go to bed at night, but it's a wide variety of things I like to read. I like outdoors type stuff, I'll read anything about football, and a few other things. Right now, I'm reading Head Slap by Deacon Jones, who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams back in the 60’s and 70’s. And also anything on weight training. I'm kind of fortunate that my hobby is football. One of my former defensive coordinators and I always talked about our hobby is football. That's what I like to watch; that's what I like to read about; and that's what I like to entertain myself with. I like doing things with my family. I like camping, hiking, being around people all day, and trying to motivate kids to lift weights and play football the right way. I also like just to sit at home and read sometimes, overwatch YouTube once in a while, but usually that ends up drifting to football or weightlifting type stuff. I also like nutrition, and I like to study the science of how the human body reacts to different things.
What is one single piece of advice you would give to someone who might want to be a coach someday?
Know what you coach and coach what you know. I think sometimes people come in and they try to learn too much. You can get on YouTube and you can find a thousand different things on football. I understand not everyone agrees with the way I coach and run the offense the way we run, but these are things that I know that work. That's how I coach. I just want to coach what I know and know what I coach. The biggest thing you can't really change is who you are. People are going to be upset and criticized no matter what you do, so you have to do what you believe in and keep your nose to the grindstone. Get a staff that believes in what you do as well. I have now a bunch of high character assistant coaches, and we work together and keep at it. You’ll see some differences this fall based on the talent that we lost and the guys we have coming up, but I think you have to coach what you know and know what you coach.
Is criticism something you have to get used to overtime?
Most people, 99.9 %, won’t ever vocally approach me, unless it's like an athlete director thinks I need to change something. Criticism is going to be part of it, and you can't listen to that. For instance, if I sat down and talked to every parent that's not happy with their kids playing time, I wouldn't have any time to coach. There are certain things you can and can't do, and one of them is that you can't change who you are based on a few people's opinions.
Last time on Locker Room Talk, Skylur Mashek wanted me to ask you if there has been a life lesson that you have learned from one of past players?
That's pretty emotional, but I would say the entire senior and junior class from 2021. When Coach Downing passed away the first day of practice, we had no idea how they would deal with that. We thought we were a pretty talented group but we had no idea how they would deal with that. So their perseverance and their ability to overcome that and still be hurting, but still be able to go out and honor him with the way they played, is impressive. That's probably the most impressive thing I've learned. To overcome that kind of a setback, they handled that situation better than most adults would. Also the young men who don't second guess, don't critique everything, and they just show up. I call it the lunch payment mentality - they show up every day, they do what we believe it's important for them to do to the best of their ability, and they work hard. I've been very blessed to have a bunch of young men who “drink the Kool Aid so to speak.” They understand it's what we want to do, and this is how we feel like we can win games. They show up every day, they work hard to do things right. Those guys have been important as well.
Next week on Locker Room talk, it will be Nevada R-5 Athletic Director David Hawks, who was the former Tiger wrestling coach. Do you have a question for him?
So I remember when I went from head football coach to head football coach and athletic director, and that transition was huge. So my question to him would be, what is the most difficult part in transitioning from a teacher and coach to the athletic director position?