Victory Christian Starts Strong Under Dub Maddox
By MIKE MOGUIN
GTR Sports Writer
VICTORIOUS TEAM: Victory Christian has started the season strong under first year head coach Dub Maddox.
Courtesy photo
It has been a smooth transition for Dub Maddox since he took over the rein of Victory Christian football in the spring.
Having taken over after the resignation of Ron Smith, Maddox came with a plan that had to be done in a short amount of time. It was well received.
“It’s been fast and furious,” he said. “I got hired on in May. We had to jump right in, get (assistant coaches) hired and get our plan and culture in place. It has been unbelievable with the support I have had with the school, administration and the students. A lot of positive energy. We’re (unbeaten) right now and there’s a lot of good things going. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Victory was 5-0 overall and 2-0 in District 2A-3 as of submission of this aerticle. The Conquerors have outscored their opponents by average score of 51-10.
An element to the success under Maddox’s young tenure is “We have great senior leadership,” he said. “We have 14 seniors. All of them are starters on either side of the ball, really a close-knit group, and anytime you have good senior leadership, it makes your job as a coach easier. When I got here, they were very hungry to learn and were acceptable with the new things we were trying to do. It was a real smooth transition and that’s been the key to us is that strong senior class.”
The senior class includes the likes of offensive linemen Braden Murray (6-2, 265), Wilberto Irizarry (6-3, 280), quarterback Garrett Williams (6-3, 205), wide receivers Josh Sirleaf (6-0, 170) and Ethan Church (5-9, 170), running back Gabriel Byrams (5-8, 185), defensive linemen Shamar Forbes (6-2, 270), linebackers Asa Colbert (6-1, 190), Dane Boswell (5-11, 200) and Tramon Hinajosa (6-0, 185) and safety Caleb Edwards (5-11, 180).
Maddox is well grounded in the game of football. A native of Skiatook, where he graduated from high school in 1995, he comes from a family of educators. His mother was a kindergarten teacher and his father was a principal. Both are now retired.
He attended college at Northeastern State in Tahlequah and was an assistant coach on Allen Trimble’s staff at Jenks for 13 seasons (2005-17) before coming to Victory. He is a Christian and that factored into his decision to pursue the Victory job.
“God told me that this where I was supposed to be,” Maddox said. “Then I came here, and there were multiple conformations that this was the place He has for me and this where He wants me. I haven’t second guessed that or regret that decision. It has been a real blessing.”
Maddox brought a wealth of football knowledge. He has written two books and has a website that give techniques that provide help for coaches to develop their quarterbacks. He calls it the R4 system, which he devised in 2007. Other coaches across the country have viewed his site.
With half the season behind them, for Maddox and the Conquerors there are more challenges that lie ahead.
“I know it’s kind of cliché talk, but, we’re taking it one game at a time, and we’re really trying to ignore the score, ignore who we’re playing, correcting our mistakes from the previous week and just getting better and our kids have really bought into that,” Maddox said. “We’re trying to hammer home to them, ‘if you could just focus on getting a little bit better each week, the big things will take care of themselves.’ As long as we can stay healthy and continue to do that, it’s going to be interesting to see where we end up at the end of the season.
“I really feel good with where we are right now and we have some big games coming up down the road,” Maddox added.
At this writing games remaining on their schedule are at home against Haskell (Oct. 5), on the road at Beggs (Oct. 12), back-to-back home games with Sperry (Oct. 18) and Kiefer (Oct. 26) and a trip to Caney Valley (Nov. 2).
Updated 10-15-2018
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