125 wins in a row! Bob Ladouceur the message and the messenger. (Person To Person).

COACH: Your high school football team has won 125 games in a row. It is the greatest winning streak in the history of football. The previous record was 72 by Hudson (MI) High School. In your wildest dreams, did you ever believe it was possible to win 125 games in a row?

LADOUCEUR: No, thoughts like that are too absurd. All a coach can do is concentrate on one day at a time and try to get a little better each time. As coaches, we have to see ourselves as teachers. You can't go out there and harp on winning over and over again.

COACH: How do you get your players to concentrate on the present and not get carried away by the winning streak?

LADOUCEUR: Football is a demanding and humbling sport and it's very difficult to achieve a consistent level of excellence.

If you're good enough as a coach to understand the techniques and the minute details that go into the perfection of the skills, you can make the kids understand the teaching process that goes into teamwork and winning.

We count our victories on a daily basis by the small things we do each day -- executing our skills and overcoming our selfish natures.

COACH: How would you describe your coaching philosophy?

LADOUCEUR: I believe that my program has to provide the opportunity for kids to improve physically, spiritually, and emotionally. If that's not happening, I am not doing my job.

I also believe that the program requires a certain amount of attention to all aspects of our lives. Not just concentration on the field, but in the classroom, in the home, and in our social lives.

I don't believe we can do a whole lot in some of those areas, but we have to be aware of the total person in our coaching. We have to know what our kids are doing in every aspect of their lives. Once you do that the student will respect you for it and you won't have many of them crossing the line on you.

Sometimes the sport and the team structure are not cut out for everyone and you may have to let a player go, but that doesn't happen much here.

COACH: Where did you grow up and how old were you when you started playing football?

LADOUCEUR: I was born in Dearborn, MI, and I lived in Redford, right outside of Dearborn, until I was eight. My parents then moved to San Ramon, CA and I have lived there basically ever since.

I started playing organized football in the eighth grade, but I can remember that ever since I was old enough to run around and catch objects, I loved football. I was always wearing those plastic helmets and shoulder pads. I loved going to the park with my friends and playing tackle football.

Kids don't do that very much any more, but we used to do it and I grew up with a certain feel for the game.

COACH: Where did you go to college and what did you major in?

LADOUCEUR: I attended the University of Utah as a freshman and then transferred to San Jose State and played for a coach named Darryl Rogers. He went on to Arizona State and Michigan State and eventually coached the Detroit Lions.

We had some good teams at San Jose State. I was a running back my first two years and then played defensive back my last year. I went through two knee surgeries that knocked me out. I wasn't a real good college athlete. But I was OK.

What helped me a lot was that I played under a good coach with a good staff and I played on both sides of the ball. It afforded me the opportunity to learn the game a lot better and quicker.

I majored in criminal justice and worked for the county for two years as a probation officer after I graduated. In the meantime, I got my master's degree in physical education.

I have a degree in criminal justice from San Jose St. and a degree in theology from St. Mary's College.

COACH: What made you quit your job as a probation officer and go into coaching in 1979?

LADOUCEUR: I didn't see myself utilizing my talents. I felt like a cog in a machine in the justice system. When I read in the Catholic Voice, a local newspaper for the diocese of Oakland, that De La Salle H.S. was looking for someone to teach and coach football, I decided to apply.

I had never considered coaching, but since I was unhappy in my job, I thought I should give it a try. If I didn't like it, I'd move on to something else.

I was 24 years old when I interviewed for the job and they liked what I had to say. They hired me and I've been here ever since. I am now 48.

COACH: Before you took over, De La Salle had never had a winning season. Since you arrived, the Spartans have never had a losing season. How did you go about building your program?

LADOUCEUR: I've always felt that you have to raise the bar high for your students. In the classroom and on the field, you have to expect a lot and most of the time your students will reach that bar.

I made it difficult for them. I wanted them to be competitive on Friday and Saturday and to do that we had to push them to a certain limit.

When we started to win, the kids started to respond. We started with a varsity roster of 26 kids and now we have anywhere between 40 and 50. That does not qualify as a huge varsity, but it's not easy to make the necessary commitment. When you play at the level we do, it takes a lot of time and a big commitment.

COACH: What kind of offense and defense do you use and who was the main coaching influence in your life?

LADOUCEUR: I use the Split-Back Houston Veer as our base offense. On defense, we use a basic 4-4 stack from which we do a lot of different things, like blitzing and moving the front around a little bit.

I'd say the biggest influence on my coaching style was my high school coach, Fred Houston, at San Ramon Valley H.S. He taught me that to play your best in the game, you had to work hard during the week. He taught us to worry more about ourselves than our opponents.

Take care of yourself first and everything else will fall into place. I've carried that thought with me.

COACH: You have had four players make the NFL (Amani Toomer, Aaron Taylor, Dave Loveme, and Doug Brien) and last year alone you sent six players to Division I programs. How did you mold these kinds of players?

LADOUCEUR: We offer them the opportunity to become much better than they are, and they mold themselves.

We are confident we can take a bad football player and make him average, take an average football player and make him good, take a good football player and make him outstanding.

Whatever skill level the player is at, we are confident that we can elevate it significantly - as long as the player is willing to jump through all the hoops and make the time commitment.

Once they make that commitment they usually will get the job done.

COACH: We know that you are a spiritual person and that you teach religion in addition to coaching football. Were you born into a religious family or were you drawn to religion later in your life? How have you integrated it into your coaching?

LADOUCEUR: I was raised in a Catholic family, but it wasn't overly religious. I know there are people who have a greater feeling for the spiritual side of themselves and are more aware of it.

I don't believe in forcing religion or pushing your beliefs on anybody. You should deal with people fairly and treat them how you would want to be treated yourself.

I do believe we are here for a special purpose. What that is, I don't know. We may have to search our entire lives to figure that out. But I do believe in the existence of a higher power. I think that if you operate from that premise, kids will think that it's the way to go.

It's not like I'm trying to force any beliefs on them. I don't always want them to think the way I think. I want them to be their own men, men of integrity, and men of faith. I want them to be honest.

COACH: What football coaches have impressed you over the years and what have you learned from them?

LADOUCEUR: I don't know a lot of coaches. I'm not in the inner circle, so to speak, and I don't attend a lot of clinics. I'm not a networker.

I know Steve Mariucci (49ers). I really like him and I think his heart is in the right place. I love Tony La Russa (Cardinals). He's one of the most genuine, honest, outstanding people I've ever met.

COACH: How do you keep up with the game?

Those two coaches have influenced me.

LADOUCEUR: I don't think you need to know a whole lot. As far as X's and 0's in football schemes, I consider my knowledge average. But what I do know, I know well. And I think I have a certain feel for the game.

I can look at a play and I can tell if we're going to be able to run it or not. I can sense whether it is a solid play or if it has a real weakness to it... if we can block it right... if guys are going to be able to get open on the routes... whether our personnel can perform it or not.

I believe the game is totally and absolutely won through technique and skill mastery: breaking down blocks, tackles, routes, throwing motions, whatever it is, just breaking it down and helping our players get better at their jobs.

Coach along these lines and you'll succeed with whatever offense or defense you run. I don't look for plays that will save us or break a team's back. You break a team's back by being so disciplined and technically sound that they'll find it frustrating to crack through you. That's where our strength lies.

As far as plays go, I've stolen profusely from the teams that have worked them successfully against us. I'll look at them on film and say, "Wow! What a neat play."

I've stolen plays from Mater Dei, Long Beach Poly, and other great teams that we play. I have those dotted throughout my play card and I even name them right after the school we got them from.

I think it's a compliment to them, and a smart thing to do as a coach.

Face it, how many of us out there in coaching have that many original ideas? Everything I've run is basically plagiarized from somewhere. It's like picking them off a menu.

COACH: What kind of changes do you envision in the game?

LADOUCEUR: I think we're losing quality coaches on the high school level, at least during the 20plus years that I have coached. I see that there are a lot of quality coaches getting frustrated with the liability factor, with parent groups, with lack of support from the administration, with lack of funding, and lack of salaries. I think there are a lot of factors in play.

A lot of times it's because of the deplorable conditions in their school... and I don't see them getting better.

I don't have that problem so much at a private school, but I see it at the public schools in this area.

I think it's sad. We used to pay a premium on extracurricular activity. But when there are budget cuts, those are the first to go. And it has definitely had its effect.

But the primary thing is that it all comes down to the quality of the coach. It's a hard job to do and if you don't get the support you need, you'll end up giving up after a few seasons.

COACH: You have a year-round strength program and have a fulltime strength coach. What do you look for in a strength program?

LADOUCEUR: I think the most important person you can have in your program is your strength and conditioning coach. He's going to get your kids into a position to make success possible.

Take an athlete who hasn't any previous training and ask him to block some guy out there on the field. He will find it physically impossible. Now have him go through an intensive strength program and send him back on the field. He'll have the strength and agility to block anyone.

I see myself as teaching the technique for the block, but the strength coach is going to physically enable the player to do it. It's a team effort.

Strength and conditioning has evolved so quickly that it would be difficult for a coach to learn it all. As a relatively young coach, I would have to go back to school and relearn everything to enable me to do what my strength coach does.

It's ironic. I did all the strength and conditioning work for the first 15 years that I was here. When my strength coach arrived, he discarded all of the things I had been doing.

It is now all quickness and ballistic training. Certainly, speed and quickness are valued over size and strength. Naturally, you want a combination of everything, but training has become more scientific. It's more periodical with different phases and it's hard to keep track of. I believe you need an expert to do it.

Mike Blasquez is my strength coach. He's a certified athletic trainer and a member of the Association of Strength and Conditioning Coaches. He's outstanding. He does agility training, speed enhancement, speed technique, lifting technique, ballistic training, plyometrics - a whole range of training methods and aids that need mastering.

COACH: This season you will host Long Beach Poly and travel to Hawaii to play the powerhouse St. Louis Honolulu team. What is the thinking behind such challenging out-of conference games?

LADOUCEUR: Our athletic director, Terry Eidson, believes in challenging the kids. We were playing Mater Dei, a powerhouse, last year, and he said, "Let's get Long Beach Poly on the schedule, too."

I wasn't afraid to play them, but I was concerned about playing two pretty good teams in a three-week period.

"The kids will work harder because of it," he said.

He was right. They did. It was like elevating a bar. You put a challenge out front and say, "Can you meet this challenge?"

Don't underestimate the power of 16 and 17-year-old kids. I've learned never to do that. They'll climb, and climb hard. They'll try to reach that bar and more often than not, they'll do it.

Again, provided you've got the right program.

A lot of people wonder how we've won so many lopsided games. It's because I know what kids are capable of doing and I prepare accordingly. At times, the other kids won't measure up physically or heartwise. It will depend on who is running the program, who is in charge, and how important the game is to the school we're facing.

COACH: We have heard that you have turned down opportunities to coach college football. What is it about the high school game that keeps you at De La Salle?

LADOUCEUR: I like the age group I work with a lot. I think, that high school kids are deciding not just what they want to do, but who they want to be.

It's a very difficult time in their life. The changes in their physical and emotional lives are so dramatic that they need our best people to look after them.

The game is just a vehicle, not an end in itself. I like to use the game as a means of teaching. On the college level, that gets reversed. It's used for prestige, for notoriety, and for money. You don't have to contend with that on the high school level.

All I have to worry about is how we are going to get this kid or that kid to behave in class. Do we have to suspend him for a game? Those are the kinds of discussions I have with my athletic director.

COACH: Do you have any time for hobbies?

LADOUCEUR: I make time. I have young kids--a son in the fifth grade, a son who is a freshman at De La Salle, and a daughter who is a freshman at Cal-Berkeley.

They are all involved in sports and I love spending time with them and my wife. I golf and ride my bicycle with my wife, and I like to read. In short, my family owns my free time.

COACH: Is it true that you do not hold pep rallies and that you don't display any trophies in your showcases? That you keep such memorabilia in your closets and garage? You have been quoted as saying, "This isn't what my program is about. The key to the program should lie in your heart, not hung on a wall." True or false?

LADOUCEUR: There's a lot of truth to that. The school is expanding, looking at redoing our gym and providing a bigger trophy space. I think it's good in a way. You should display student achievement.

But I have a lot of old graduates who disagree, who believe that all the good things should live on in their hearts and memories, not put on display.

There's nobility in that kind of thinking, a humbleness that our kids should carry with them. That is what I saw when our kids were voted national champions. It made me feel proud to see it.

RELATED ARTICLE: BOB LADOUCEUR "THE MESSENGER"

De La Salle High School is an all-boys Catholic school with an enrollment of 1,050 students in an upper middle-class Bay Area (CA) suburb. Up until 1979, its football team had never recorded a winning season, and a young coach named Bob Ladouceur was brought in to administer first aid.

He was an odd choice-a probation officer who had never coached a team in anything. Over the next 23 years, he never dressed more than 49 players for a game, never held a pep rally, and almost never lost a football game. He won 261 of his 275 games-an incredible winning percentage of .949.

Also incredible was the 125-game winning streak that De La Salle brought into the 2002 season. Nobody in the history of football ever came close to matching those two records.

Coach Ladouceur is a deeply religious man whose work ethic is predicated on brotherhood-loving one another and committing to values and sacrifice. And he firmly believes that "the messenger must live the message."