As a volunteer assistant, Troy Potter works with the Baylor football team without pay. But his experience and perspective as a former Red Raiders player are invaluable.
Potter averaged more than 100 rushing yards per game as a junior to help the Red Raiders reach the 1977 Class AAA state championship game. Before Baylor advanced to today’s Division II-AA championship against Ensworth, that was the last time the program played for a title.
A halfback pass for a touchdown with less than a minute remaining left Baylor on the short end of a three-point loss that night, but now Potter has helped the team return to the title game, and he has spent the last two weeks preparing this year’s team what to expect emotionally.
“I pulled them aside and reminded them that they will never come back out on this field to practice as a team and after Thursday’s game, they will never play a game together either,” Potter said. “I want them to grasp just how much this game will mean to them after it’s over.
“When I played, we were just living in that moment. The most important thing is that when they walk off the field and through the gates to leave, they look back at the field and know that they gave it everything they had.”
After he graduated Baylor, Potter walked on at the University of Alabama and played for one year there. He had an opportunity to play at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, but injuries convinced him to give up the game instead.
Although he’s had a successful business career, he was reminded just how much he missed the game when he began coaching at Baylor’s middle school nearly 10 years ago. Two years ago, Red Raiders coach Phil Massey asked him to join the varsity staff as outside linebackers coach. Since then, he has tried to not only teach tackling techniques, but the importance of leaving the program without regrets. He’s also a direct link to Baylor’s past success and traditions.
“I actually thought about some of the things he’s talked to us about as I was driving to school this week,” said senior linebacker and team captain Joe Wolf. “He’s a guy that played here and played for a state championship, so he knows some of the things we’re going through this week.”
Potter said his e-mail in-box has been noticeably more full since Baylor began its playoff run this season and just this week had three former teammates come to his office simply to wish him and the team luck and size-up the Red Raiders’ chances against Ensworth.
“The thing that most of us love most about football is the relationships you build,” Potter said. “I used to stand at games with buddies I played with and the first thing we would start talking about, after our families, was memories of games we had played in. It’s a fraternity. It’s a group of friends you’ll have for the rest of your life and I want these kids to understand that this is something they will be able to talk about that nobody can take away from them.
“I volunteer my time because I love Baylor, and this is a way for me to give something back to the school that changed my life. If we can win it, I think it will ease some of the hurt I still carry from not winning it as a player. All of us who have ever played the game, as we get older, would give up about anything to be able to go back and play just one more time. This is as close as an old guy can get.”