Coach of the Week: Dan Chang, Plymouth Whitemarsh

While Chang has kept all his players in order over the years and set the standard for what is expected from the team, the culture is so ingrained in everyone who goes through the program and has been passed down throughout his tenure.

While it may be easy to point the blame on others and make excuses during tough situations, his players respond to the message of holding each other accountable and being a role model no matter if they are on the field or in the classroom.

“Football, I truly believe, is the ultimate team sport. There’s not one guy who is more important than another guy on our team, and we talk about that every day in practice, whether it’s a scout team guy or a varsity two-way starter. We can’t do the things that we want to do without everybody being on board and on the same page.” Chang said.

The values that Chang has instilled in his teams have led to a great amount of success on the field, and he feels blessed to be a part of the Plymouth Whitemarsh community. But for Chang, the main credit will always come back to the kids.

“I think our success is due to our kids. They come in all year, and they work their tails off. I think they come in knowing the expectations of sacrifice, of commitment, and we have kind of built that tradition over the last couple years that now these incoming guys know that when you’re part of the football team, a little bit more is expected of you,” Chang said. “There’s a little bit of a higher expectation in the classroom, during practice, during games, during film, all that stuff. And that takes a long time to kind of get going. But once you’ve got it going, your goal is to continue it and keep building it.”

Chang has also been able to surround his players with the right people, having almost his whole coaching staff together for several years.

“I’ve got a great group of guys who are great with football, but even more importantly, they’re great with kids and how to relate to kids and how to help kids off the field. And I think our kids know that we care about them off the field – at least I hope that they do, and I know that kids have to believe that we care about them before they will start to work their hardest for you. I think that’s kind of the base and the core of what we build on here,” Chang said.

Chang’s players have also helped in their community, cleaning up after events, volunteering with the youth football programs, and paving the way for the…