Long road to the Ivy title

"Success makes you slow to learn and quick to forget."

That's a favorite saying of Roger Hughes, head coach of the football team, but in this particular instance, it may be the fans who have forgotten — not the football team.

Four years ago, when present seniors such as quarterback Jeff Terrell and defensive back Tim Strickland were still freshmen, the football team trudged off the field following its final game with a dismal 2-8 record, one of the worst in Tiger history. After ensuing 5-5 and 7-3 seasons, the team posted a 9-1 record in 2006 and currently stands triumphant atop the Ivy League after winning its first championship in more than 10 years. But as students and players alike reveled in the bonfire and charged onto fields, many easily forget that this program was struggling, to some extent, only a few years ago.

Moving beyond that malaise of mediocrity didn't happen overnight. Looking a little closer to really examine the differences between seasons, it becomes apparent that the football team has slowly been evolving into a top program, albeit at the D-IAA level.

According to Hughes, it was a group effort, involving many people from the university administration, the athletic administration and the training staff who all deserve credit for the transformation. That response, however, is skirting the issue, which is: What changed, and how did it change? The easy, appealing answer would be that play calling has improved and talent has matured, but as with most easy things in life, it's too convenient to be true.

According to Hughes, the offense utilizes the quarterback run and the shotgun offense more frequently than before, but both of those changes were instituted five years ago. In fact, the offensive schemes haven't changed at all in the past five years.

"The problem is, in the sports world, in the football world, everybody thinks there's a magical call, there's a magical play that's great," Hughes said. "And when you hear sports people talk, 'Well, that was a bad play call,' I'll bet I can put up every bad call they talk about and you'll see that one guy missed a block, a quarterback didn't throw it where he was supposed to or the receiver didn't run his route or dropped the ball. It's about execution. It's not about the play call, it's about the players executing."

Moreover, success requires that everyone execute — not just a key player or two, but the entire team. Football, more than any other game, is a team sport, a fact Hughes stresses over and over again.

"What we've tried to do as a staff is make sure that whoever touches our players is sending the same message — a message of do the right thing, a message of character counts, a message of team, team, team. Check your ego at the door, it's all about the team," Hughes said.

That message fittingly shined through at the season's final press conference.

"I've been saying it all year — call it cliche — but one thing I've always said is that we haven't always had the best individuals, but we have always had the best team," senior linebacker and co-captain Luke Steckel said. "I think that trust, and that camaraderie, and that belief that every other teammate you have out there on the field is going to do their job, so you just have to take care of yours. When it comes down to when the game's on the line, that's the type of trust you need in your teammates."

Now, the players have become more and more proficient at execution. Packages haven't changed, but one key player who inspired a good deal confidence this year — senior quarterback and co-captain Jeff Terrell — honestly believes that poise has been the major difference this year.

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"I would say it comes down to the end of games. It comes down to a feeling you have as a player, when the game is close and it's coming down to the wire, and it's whether you feel like your team is going to pull it out, or whether you feel like your team is going to somehow find a way to lose the game," Terrell said. "I think the last two years and especially this year, the whole team including the offense just had confidence that we were going to pull it out. Someway, somehow, we were going to win the game."

Building confidence can take years, but once you have it, it can be one of the more powerful assets in sports. That's where Hughes and his staff have made their most prolific mark: in establishing a true commitment to the football team.

That commitment manifested itself in this season's greatest test against Yale. The Tigers found themselves in a deep hole after halftime, but it was obvious that the team hadn't given up yet. Never was there a moment of panic, and both sides of the ball came out and proved it over the course of the last 30 minutes.

This team has demonstrated the miraculous ability to walk the fine line between confidence and arrogance.

"This team was probably as even-keeled emotionally as I've ever seen," Hughes said. "I think we used that to put other teams under pressure where they cracked and we didn't."

Yale cracked. Harvard cracked. Princeton didn't, and that was the difference. That confidence enhanced the Tigers' ability to execute in games, even in the most pressure-filled situations.

"There's a moral fiber running through this team and that counts," Hughes said. "There's nothing that's going to substitute great work ethic and doing the right thing."

Heading into this season, members of the University doubted the team's ability to win after the loss of some key players. People are likely to do so again as many of the team's leaders, including Terrell and Steckel, will graduate. But while the names on the backs of the jerseys may change, the name on the front will not, and if the confidence and mentalities that helped lift the Orange and Black to victory remains, success should as well.

"Winning is so contagious, and I think that, the attitude, the poise and the confidence is what got us here," Terrell said. "Everything on paper can be there but you need to have that winning attitude, and now that we've established it and that it's become expected around here to win football games that really will carry over to next year."

Steckel echoed Terrell's beliefs that this new culture is here to stay.

"I would just encourage the student body to remember all the fun they had at the Yale game, at the Harvard game and winning the Ivy League championship against Dartmouth," Steckel said. "Those are the feelings you dream about [as a player], those are the events that you look forward to. Those days aren't over yet, and [the students] can be a part of those in the future."