Dunbar High School head coach Craig Jeffries is a popular guy.
Tuesday morning before the Turkey Bowl, he warmly greeted Dunbar employees, students and well-wishers as he made his way through the school halls. Then he was interrupted by a text message from Southeast Missouri State. Apparently, the university wants some of his players.
As well it should. Jeffries has led the Crimson Tide to 11 straight Turkey Bowl appearances, winning nine of them. He has missed the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs only once in his 13-year tenure as head coach.
“[1997] was the only time I didn’t make the playoffs,” he said. “And from that point on …
“We rolled from that point on.”
“He’s like a father figure to a lot of these kids,” said D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, a Dunbar alumnus. “He’s built a program that … attracts some of the best student-athletes in the District of Columbia.”
After an 0-5 start this year, Jeffries turned to some innovative practice techniques to get the team back on track. One strategy involved providing hot apple juice during practice.
“That warmed them up — it gave them a little boost through practice,” he said.
“You know, it really worked,” he continued. “It’s like, they drink warm apple juice in the middle of practice, and it heated them up and [kept them] from complaining about the cold.”
In lieu of conditioning drills, he also had the team play “airball” at the end of practice sometimes, a no-rules free-for-all in which “it’s hard to score,” but the players get a good workout, he said.
After such a rocky start, it’s tough to argue with the results.
“There was definitely a sigh of relief,” he said. “We didn’t want to be the guys to end the streak — we didn’t want to be the guys who didn’t make it to the Turkey Bowl.”
