Approaching life in the moment helps us to manage the things that lie beyond our control and get past those regrets that might weigh us down. Many coaches focus on the existential one play, one day, and one opponent at a time. “First of all, they are the number one and really good team, number two, we didn’t play as well as we wanted to play,” said Washington School Generals head football coach Todd Lott. “Number three, the Tri-County game is one game, and it will not define our program.” The 41-12 loss drops the Generals to a very good 4-1 on the season as they prepare for Rossville Friday night.
Taking the same approach of existing in the moment works well coming off a tough loss, but it presents a challenge when coupled with a coach’s nearly 40 years’ worth of experience reflects on the long and winding journey. His biggest accomplishment has nothing to do with anything on the field. Instead, the sport of football became the medium for his own personal development and cultivation of lasting relationships.
Pensive and overcome with emotion, Lott paused, took a deep breath, and said, “Aww man! Probably the thing that is the absolute best to me is that I see kids from a lot of different years and a lot of different stops. I still have kids who send me texts that say, ‘Happy Father’s Day.’ I have kids who see me in public. They hug me and say, ‘I love you, Coach’- kids that I’ve coached at every stop along the way. Those were some great kids. There are some things that I said and did when I was young that I shouldn’t have, but I hope that whatever we did helped young men become better husbands, better fathers, and better people for having become part of our program.”
With age comes wisdom. And Lott’s experience in building young men’s character through football has made him more attuned to players as one era gives way to another.
“I don’t know that I coach them any different,” Lott said, speaking of coaching players in today's social media age. “I think there are different ways of getting to them. You have to build a relationship with players to coach them, and you need to understand how a player responds to the way you coach them. What I do now is find out what makes players respond, and probably didn’t pay as much attention to that when I was younger.”
Players must also buy into the habits that make for success on Friday nights. Whether it’s 2025 or 1995, a Todd Lott team practices with intentionality.
“It’s extremely organized and scripted, and we try to be efficient and get a lot of things done in a short period of time,” he said. “We’re going to work all three phases of the game in practice. I think you’ll see us focusing on fundamentals. We focus on ourselves to make our team and our program better.”
Lott said that he hopes to remain the General’s head coach as long as he is effective and moving the program forward. His time away from the school at other coaching stops reminded him of the unbreakable bond he had with his school.
“I’ve always loved Washington School. I always checked in and kept up with scores,” he said. “I always checked in and never cut ties. I got a chance to make good friends and work with some great coaches, and I learned a lot at each stop. But Washington School is my home.”
Midway through the 2025 season, perhaps the Generals will get a chance to exact a little revenge against their only loss thus far. The coach comes back to his foundation of experiencing each moment as it happens.
“My message to our team is the same as it was day one,” We’re going to focus on getting better each day and each week is its own week,” Lott said. “We’re not going to worry about what’s going to happen in October or November. We can’t look ahead and can’t look behind.”
