To completely turn a team around from a 4-12 season, there are more than a lot of things that need to happen. Players and coaches will have to perform differently. A number of play-makers will need to emerge.
The entire culture of the program would have to change.
That’s exactly what Iowa Barnstormers head coach Dixie Wooten has done this season in Des Moines.
Dixie Wooten has changed the culture in Des Moines
When Wooten was announced as the newest Barnstormers head coach in August, the first task he had on his to-do list was to recruit a coaching staff.
“If you don’t have coaches, you don’t have anything,” Wooten said. “You’ve got to get coaches that are dedicated to understanding the game [enough] to the effect where they can teach any player.”
Wooten formed a staff of Marcus Coleman, Michael Custer, and Malcolm Nelson. The group hasn’t looked back since.
Coleman, a former NFL defensive back, coaches the defensive-backs, while Custer and Nelson handle the offensive and defensive lines respectively.
The coaching staff has now been part of an 11-game win streak for the Barnstormers.
“[Our record] speaks for itself,” Wooten said. “I feel like we can coach any player.”
However, Wooten hasn’t needed a large pool of different players. This year’s 25-man roster has stayed the course, aside from a few exceptions.
“That was a big part of last year’s failure,” linebacker Javicz Jones said. “You had too many people coming and going.”
Last year, Iowa finished the season with a 4-12 record, ending the year 1-11 after starting 3-1.
“In the IFL players come and go so we have to structure in the coaching staff” Wooten said. “We have to find players that fit to what we’re trying to coach.”
Wooten’s team that he brought to Iowa at the start of the season is full of players any staff would want to coach.
His 21-man roster features six former all-IFL players, and a handful of others deserving of the award this year as well.
“He got us great players,” quarterback Travis Partridge said. “With the play-makers around me, I know a lot of people that probably want my job.”
The Proccess Unfolding
After Wooten signed his players for the 2017 season, he and the staff would make sure that the players knew what they expected going into training camp.
“We were having conversations before training camp started,” Wooten said. “We let these guys know what we demanded from them and what we wanted from them in every practice. When somebody didn’t do it in training camp, we let him go right away. The other guys bought in.”
It was visible in training camp that Wooten had brought a different attitude to the team.
The team had more energy than in year’s past at that point in the season.
“He came in and took over and was a strict coach, but [at the same time], he’s a player’s coach,” Jones said. “You’ve got to respect him. He asks you to work your butt off, and that’s what he expects of you.”
Wooten and his staff brought in those types of players: the ones who would buy in and work hard, bringing success.
“Coach Wooten hit the nail on the head in bringing in guys who are self-motivated,” defensive back Dee Maggitt Jr. said. “At this level we’re all grown men. You shouldn’t need someone to tell you to be here and give a certain amount of energy toward what you’re doing.”
Those types of players and the culture that Wooten has created has brought Barnstormer fans maybe the best season in team history.
After starting 2-2, the team rattled off those 11-straight wins – a franchise record.
They now sit at 13-2, and a win against Sioux Falls on Saturday would statistically make this team the best in Barnstormers history.
“He has changed the way of thinking [in Des Moines],” Partridge said. “The exciting part about it is, it’s not over yet.”
