A decision leads to a state championship and a perfect season for the Bishop Chatard football team

The football team of Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis runs onto the field of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Nov. 24, the day when the Trojans defeated the team from Heritage Hills High School to win Indiana’s Class 3A championship. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

Head coaches use different ways to keep their teams focused during a long season, and Rob Doyle turned to one of his favorites in leading the football team of Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis to another state championship this year, including a perfect 15-0 record.

Every week during a season, Doyle shares one word with his players—a word to help them not only prepare for the upcoming game, but also to help them in the way they live their lives.

So, in the week leading up to an intense game against the strong, talented team of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, Doyle chose the word “decision.”

“We use that to ask the kids to make a decision about what kind of teammate you’re going to be, what kind of man you’re going to be, what kind of football player you’re going to be,” Doyle says. “Write it down. Put it in your phone. Put it on paper.

“It’s easy to give up when you haven’t decided in advance that you’re going to do something, that you will do it. If you make a decision to do it—a contract with yourself—it’s a lot easier to finish it, and it’s a lot harder to fail at it because you’ve decided that this is what you want to do. No one wants to fail.”

After trailing 21-10 at halftime, Bishop Chatard rode a dominant second half to a 24-21 win over its rivals.

That victory was one of the turning points in a season that ended on Nov. 24 in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis where the Trojans defeated the team from Heritage Hills High School 35-7 for Indiana’s Class 3A state championship.

It’s the 17th state championship in football for Bishop Chatard, a state record. And while it’s the fourth state championship in the past five years under Doyle’s leadership, the member of

St. Pius X Parish in Indianapolis turns the spotlight away from himself and onto his players, especially this year’s seniors.

Describing the seniors as smart and hardworking, their head coach also praised them for their willingness to challenge their teammates when they weren’t living up to the “standards” for the team.

And striving “to live up to standards” is a constant theme that Doyle shares with his players—a theme that starts with what happens on a football field and soon focuses on what can be achieved in life.

“We work really hard every day in trying to build the best men we can. That’s our culture. That’s our standard,” he says. “We talk about those standards for on and off the field all the time. It’s real important for our guys to live up to those standards. They don’t always do it. They’re kids. We don’t always do it, but that’s why we’re doing this. We need strong, good men in our country today. And part of being a strong man is being generous and helpful to people.

“Our seniors were willing to help the younger guys and bring them along. I think it’s really important when your best players are generous to those who are younger than them. When you can bring someone else along with you and help them out, it makes for a pretty full life. If you have someone to love and someone who loves you, that’s a successful life.”

Another standard in the Bishop Chatard program is what Doyle calls “brotherhood.”

“I know it’s real because the kids talk about it all the time,” he says. “They will fight for their brothers. They have faith in their teammates. I don’t know how you can have faith in God if you can’t learn to have faith in other people and those around you. You have to learn to trust each other and lean on each other—be there for each other. That’s what our brotherhood is.”

While “decision,” “standards” and “brotherhood” were mentioned often, Doyle avoided one word with his team for most of the season as they kept winning and winning—“perfect,” as in having a perfect, undefeated record.

“We have a rule that we don’t talk about anything but the next game,” he says. “We never talk about winning state or beating some team down the road. Our thing with the kids is, ‘Take care of business now and the future will take care of itself.’

“Obviously, you want to prepare for your future, but planning and preparing for your future is done by being really good at what you’re doing now. If you’re really good at what you do now, you’re probably going to have a lot of good things happen.”

Before the state championship game, Doyle finally talked to his team about the potential for a perfect season. He looked back on the previous 14 games and how the team overcame injuries to starting players, how younger players stepped in to make a difference, how striving for a standard had led to a special opportunity.

“At the end, right before the very last game, I did emphasize the chance to have a perfect season and how historic that would be,” Doyle says.

When it happened, the joy overflowed.

“Amidst the madness and having fun, I told them we’re very proud of them and we love them. All our coaches love our kids, and I love all our coaches. It’s a really special group of men. It was a great ride to be with them, to share this journey with them. They achieved something historic by going 15 and 0 against a really good schedule.

“The perfection thing is really neat to see for the kids. I want them to think about what they accomplished and how they accomplished it. Years down the road, they’ll look back and say, ‘That was a really special part of our lives.’ ” †