Legendary football coach R.C. Slocum was head coach at Texas A&M University from 1989 to 2002, with the winningest record in Texas A&M football history.
R.C. Slocum, College Station, Texas
I coached major college football for thirty-three years and was around some really good coaches during that time. Craig Cameron is a really good coach who just happens to coach horses and riders. When I bought some horses about six years ago, I felt like I needed some coaching myself. I watched many of the clinician’s TV shows, and I really took a liking to Craig. I ended up going to one of his clinics and it was a great experience.
Of course, I looked at the clinic through the eyes of a coach, and I told Craig he would have made a great football coach; he has a passion for what he’s doing, he knows what he’s doing, and he has great teaching skills. One of the great things I’ve observed about Craig is that he can take people of different talent levels—from beginners to very experienced people and everyone in between—and know how to adapt his teaching to the level of the student.
Craig works with people who lack confidence in such a way as to build confidence. And as for the ones who know what they’re doing—he coaches to their levels as well. The object of coaching is to get a player to the point where he can coach himself, and Craig gives you the material in such a way that you can do that.
When coaching college football and bringing in a freshman class, you find that you have some guys who are confident of their abilities and maybe some who are over-confident of their abilities and need to be reined in a little bit. Other players have a lot of raw talent but it’s never been developed. You have to give that guy encouragement that he could be a really great player. In the same way, recognizing that ability in a horse and being able to bring it out is what makes a great horse coach.
Someone who enjoys coaching will find it an exciting challenge to see if he can take this great undeveloped talent and make it into something. Craig is excited about doing just that. He likes working with new people and interesting horses, and he wants to see how far he can take each of those individuals with the ability they have.
Football coaching has changed over the years. When I was playing football in high school and college, players weren’t allowed to take water breaks. Over the years, coaches and team doctors have gotten smarter. They recognized the need for hydration and they’ve adapted. It’s akin to what has happened in horse training. Smart people adapt over time. If there is a better way to do something, they change.
For many years, people have tried to relate to horses with human logic instead of trying to understand what makes them tick. I think Craig has been a voice for the modern cowboy as far as understanding horses and the way they think, and using that understanding to teach them and coach them instead of trying to manhandle them.
We’ve always had a saying in coaching that they really don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. That can apply with horses also. They don’t care how much you know until you’ve gained their respect, and until you’ve gained their respect, you aren’t going to be able to teach them much.
Coaching is coaching. The great football coaches, the great basketball coaches, the great horsemanship coaches—they all have the same makeup, and it’s those qualities I see in Craig.
