DALLAS DIAMONDS
NAME NEW HEAD COACH

Young Talent takes Control of a Team on Top

 

The Challenge is unusual and difficult: lead 50 women in the male-dominated world of tackle football. Brian Bishop, a 26-year-old, claims he is the man for the job. Bishop, a former wide-receiver for Texas Tech, beat out four other men to take over as Head Coach of the Dallas Diamonds in their effort to win a fifth World Title.

Former Diamonds Head Coach Todd Hughes introduced Bishop to women's professional football just a year ago. He brought in the young coach to work with the receivers. Bishop says he was impressed by the fact women can play the game of football just like men, " When I first heard about women and football, I thought powder puff, flag football, a bunch of girls who don't want to touch and don't want to hit. Boy did my eyes get open! This is not powder puff. This is real, legit, full contact, give all you got football."

Hughes quickly moved Bishop from Receiver's Coach to Assistant Offensive Coordinator, "Todd recognized I understood the game better than the average Joe and gave me more of a role and showed me the ropes." That role turned out to be key for the Diamonds who finished undefeated last year (11-0) culminating with their 4th World Title in five years. In a heated battle against the Chicago Force, the Diamonds won the IWFL Championship in sudden death overtime 35-29.

With that Championship experience, Dawn Berndt, Owner of the Diamonds, believes Bishop will bring a new excitement to the team, "It just seemed like a good fit to go with Brian. We have had a lot of changes this season and with those changes he never wavered with his outlook for the Diamonds. I think Brian is going to bring a new energy to the Diamonds." Coach Hughes agreed, "It is difficult to step down, more than anyone realizes, but I feel confident Brian has the ability to lead the Diamonds in a positive direction."

Bishop is careful about the shoes he is following. This is not a typical situation of a coach being driven out as Hughes is leaving on top, "Hughes is not being replaced, he is retiring. It's going to be a little easier for me to step in and instill the same goals and attributes he had but yet do it in my own way. I bring a new style or flavor with a more spread open offense."

Along with a more open offense, this young Head Coach describes a 3-pronged approach for leading these women of the gridiron. The first priority is Motivation. He says he learns each players' style and adjusts to match the individual needs of his athletes. And, Bishop is easy to hear from anywhere on the field. At any given moment, shouts of a job well done are balanced with flavorful criticism when improvement is needed. He believes, however, in enjoying the process, "Having fun is an expectation. I want them to play because they want to not because they have to."

A Family Environment is Bishop's second prong. He says this team will be established as a family where everyone from the scout team member to the star running back is important, "If you think of one of those Diamond women as your sister rather than just a teammate, then she is going to go out there and prepare, play, and sacrifice a whole lot harder than if she was some average Sally Sue off the street."

So what about when conflict arises among 50 women? Bishop believes a 'family' can handle it, "Of course you are going to have conflict. It is inevitable. It either creates division or unity. We have to have unity on the field." Bishop intends to establish this family environment during the team's first practice by circling the team up and setting a precedence for dealing with any issues that surface. He wants them spending more time working as a team than expending energy on each other, "All families are going to fight and have differences. When differences are known, then we can come together a whole lot better and deal with differences in a family atmosphere."

The final prong focuses on Skill. Bishop inherits a team with many Veterans retiring and plenty of rookies joining the team. "With the new ones coming in, some of them have never played football before. Some of these women have great talent, but that's it. It's raw talent and they don't understand the difference between offense and defense which is totally understandable." Bishop intends to go back to the basics and teach the fundamentals of football. He knows the more knowledge of the game these women have the better and easier it will be to transition when it really counts.

And, it is that kind of work ethic and drive that earned Bishop All-District and All-State during his high school years at Coppell High School. Bishop earned a full-ride scholarship to Tyler Junior College where he was a Blue Chip Top 100 JUCO Player. After two years of hard work in Tyler, Bishop landed a preferred walk on spot at Texas Tech. Still, given his small stature, Bishop knew he had to double his effort to compete at the Division 1 Level, "Being a small kid in stature, I worked really hard in the weight room and in practice my red shirt year. It really paid off to get on the field the next year. It instilled in me that hard work will persevere. I saw so much talent just waste away because they had no work ethic whatsoever."

Bishop finished up his college football career with a full scholarship to Texas A&M Commerce. While he revealed that was his worst experience in football, it produced his desire to coach, "I was down on football and burned out. I pulled a hamstring and spent time away from the game. I did not finish football the way I wanted to and that taught me how much I missed it and loved it." Bishop also gives credit to his Mom with motivating him to coach, "She knew I had the intuition and drive to stay in football and be a coach. She knows I understand the game more than the average person and I look at it more in-depth."

The first test of Bishop's 3-pronged coaching philosophy comes April 11 when the Diamonds take on their arch rival the Houston Energy. For ticket information, visit www.dallasdiamondsfootball.com.