CACHE — Two years ago, Cache Athletic Director Lonnie Nunley was desperately searching for the next head coach of the proud Bulldogs’ football program.
Nunley found the perfect fit in Faron Griffin, but he didn’t know it at the time of the hire.
Still, the praise colleagues showered Griffin with was impossible for Nunley to ignore. One close friend, Walters Superintendent Jimmie Dedmon — who used to coach against Nunley in basketball — sold him on Cache’s current head coach.
“When I called Jimmie up, the greatest compliment he gave was this: He said, ‘Nunley, the kids believe in him more than any coach I’ve ever seen. He instills faith in them and he’s honest and true to these kids,” Nunley recalled.
Just ask former Walters players like Cade Baumann and others who have taken life advice from Griffin to heart and turned to it when their high school football careers finished.
Those watching Cache got this season got to see firsthand the belief in the Bulldogs’ eyes as Griffin led a talented but often overlooked team to a successful 8-3 campaign which featured a District 4A-1 runner-up finish, several impressive wins and a trio of agonizing losses that could’ve gone either way.
Now, following a 21-11 loss to Blanchard last Friday, a talented senior class will depart, but Griffin and the Bulldogs have changed the culture with their #CodeofthePack motto and have set the bar high for next season and beyond.
“These guys started a culture we are happy with,” said Griffin who called this the most exciting group he’s ever coached. “I’m gonna miss these guys dearly. I hate to lose these seniors. There are certain things you can’t measure like heart and attitude and the bond. That’s gonna be hard to replace.”
Getting to this point wasn’t simple, though. In Griffin’s first season, Cache got off to a promising start before the Bulldogs limped to a 5-5 finish and missed the playoffs.
“I’m telling you that first summer was rough on coach Griffin with the fact we were trying to piece together a whole entire staff,” said Nunley, who had his fair share of high school football success back in the day, playing on two state semifinal teams at Waurika. “We lost our entire staff except for (assistant) coach (Les) Abbott, who’s been the rock of our staff for years. But Faron did a phenomenal job getting those guys together.”
There’s a movie from the 80s — 1982 to be exact — called “Six Pack” featuring the iconic Kenny Rogers who played a race car driver, Brewster, in the movie. As the movie unfolds, Brewster realizes a set of orphans has been blackmailed and he decides to take on the kids as his pit crew.
So when Griffin first placed his staff together and had an entirely new team, Nunley joked with Faron, telling him, ‘You’re Kenny Rogers! You got Less Abbott and then you’ve got a bunch of kids you’ve adopted under your wing.”
It’s been a hit ever since.
Having Cache roots has been a key part of the Bulldogs’ success.
Cache is the hometown of Griffin and Aubrey Mithlo, the running backs and offensive line coach. Same goes for defensive coordinator Tanner Thompson, who grew up playing basketball for Nunley. Thompson’s father, Miles, also coaches the boys basketball team and helps out with the football team.
“They all have roots here and this is special to them,” Nunley said. “It’s not that it’s not special to the other guys, but for this group this is hometown, brother. They want to be a part of this and love it. This is where coach Griffin wants to be. It’s a very exciting time.”
The coaching staff’s work ethic and motivation directly rubbed off on the players, who took it upon themselves to set big goals and relentlessly work in pursuit of them from the moment after the Newcastle loss last November.
“I feel like we are more in charge of what is happening now compared to our freshman and sophomore years,” senior Hayden Nunley said earlier this season. “We can control the work ethic everyone on the team has and how much they want it.”
While the team showed strides on the field, the Bulldogs were also taking in life lessons to help them in the future.
“What I love as an AD and as a ‘DAD’ is coach Griffin’s teaching them more than the game of football. He’s preparing them for the game of life,” Lonnie Nunley said. “He preaches family, and that’s why this team is as close as they are. The bond these kids have will stick with them for the rest of their lives. It’s going to make them better men, better husbands and better fathers down the road.”
The morning after the agonizing 21-14 loss to Clinton for the district title in Week 10, the Bulldogs were heartbroken.
“They were mad they didn’t win the district championship, but the coaches did a great job preaching to them, ‘Hey! The game is over. This is life.’ His staff preached it as a life lesson,” Nunley said. “Once they hit the field Monday, I saw a pep in their step.”
While the ending wasn’t what the Bulldogs had scripted, there should be nothing but admiration shown for a group who impressed and laid it on the line each week.
“There is not a single Cache fan who will say that this group of boys didn’t lay their heart and soul on the line,” Nunley said. “Every Cache fan is going to walk out of Ulrich Stadium proud of what this team achieved this year and how they represent our school.”
As the Bulldogs began turning heads with win after win, Hayden Nunley — who plans on going to school to become a physical therapist — said something that marked the turning of a page for a program that demanded more success rather than continuing to live in mediocrity.
“We don’t want to be the same old Cache,” Hayden Nunley said.
Thanks to Griffin, his coaching staff and this talented and poised senior class, the Bulldogs proved just that.
Stay tuned with Cache football.