‘Sponge’ son teaching father as FHS coaches; final of a two-part series
“J.T and Paddy (sons) were both playing CBFO football and I was putting the stars and stripes on their helmets,” which looked, and still look exactly like, the FHS Admirals helmets, Doucette said. “It’s one of those things you can’t make up.”
Younger son, Paddy, meanwhile would prove “to be like a sponge” in terms of soaking up football information — even starting on the CBFO level, his dad said. “He’s a student of the game.
“He’s been fortunate to be around a bunch of good coaches,” Tom added about having his flesh-and-blood colleague on the FHS coaching staff.
Paddy’s skills led him to become a standout Admirals linebacker and offensive lineman, FHS Class of 2013, before becoming a four-year starting center in college at Virginia Military Institute.
And then back to Farragut, alongside his father, as the Doucette pair enter their second season as a father-son coaching/teaching duo at FHS on the Admirals staff (Tom defensive line and strength coach, Paddy offensive line/long-snapper coach).
“I love being around football,” said Paddy, a special education teaching assistant. “As a coach, I want to help kids, especially linemen, develop. If their dream is to play college football, I’d love to help them do that.
“If not, still have them learn about discipline. ... And to find their purpose,” he added.
“It’s been 20 years now. It’s been great for me and my family,” said Tom, a physical education/wellness teacher.
Well before Paddy actually chose to be a teacher/coach, Tom and his wife, Margaret Lubert-Doucette, had him pegged. “We said his calling was going to be in coaching,” the elder Doucette said.
As a CBFO player, “Dad always took the approach of being hands off,” Paddy said. “He never coached me or my brother’s little league teams.”
When first learning Paddy would join Tom on the FHS staff, Margaret “was ecstatic,” dad said. “And myself, too.”
In addition to the advice from the more experienced father, “Paddy has helped me out. ... it’s more him giving me advice than me giving him,” said Tom, a native of Boston who first moved to West Knox County in the early 1990s.
“He’s always telling me, ‘dad, the game’s changed, you have to do this and this and this’ ... technique stuff,” Tom added. “It’s helped me out huge.”
That includes being better in tune, communication wise, with today’s high school kids.
On the other hand, “I told him the toughest part about coaching is not everybody’s like you ... they’re not going to get it right away,” Tom said.
With Paddy’s linemen, “He gets their respect,” said Tom, a defensive lineman at Northeastern University who was a graduate assistant for one year at Rutgers, then an “intern” coach with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles — also for one season.
Tom said his youngest son “has come a long way from being a waterboy and ballboy” for FHS players as a little boy.
Reflecting when Paddy was an Admirals player, “being a coach’s son is a tough thing because you’re held to a higher standard” by others, said Tom, a former assistant coach/teacher in the late 1990s at Knoxville Catholic.
“There was always an extra level of scrutiny put on me and my brother,” Paddy said. “But that’s something we took advantage of because it just makes you better.”
About Tom’s qualities, Paddy said he most appreciates “his honesty. He’s going to tell you what he thinks you need to hear. ... And he takes responsibility for things — those are two qualities I’ve been wanting to emulate ... so I can be the same kind of man that he is.”
