HOW DOES ARRUZA DO IT, KEEP SO MANY PLAYERS HAPPY EVEN IF THEY DON'T PLAY?

 No, we haven’t forgotten our promise to expand on what football has become at Randolph-Macon College since PEDRO ARRUZA was named coach 21 years ago … how he built his program with literally hundreds of players who have played little, if at all, yet became better for the experience.

Spiking our interest was attending a game in Ashland for  

first time in many, many years … and watching players 

leave the locker room and run onto the field in a 

seemingly never-ending wave. While the Yellow Jackets, 

not unlike most teams, probably don’t use more than 50 

or so on a regular basis, there were upwards of 140 

athletes decked out in the latest gear.

The official game program had 153 names, for crying out 

loud. Arruza explained he prefers keeping numbers 

around 125 or so … but the COVID 19 pandemic, which 

limited competition, led to the NCAA allowing an 

additional year of eligibility … which bloated rosters and 

should return to more normalcy in 2025.

(By the way … although the NCAA recently announced a 

crackdown on the number of players in the higher-profile 

divisions, nothing has changed in DIII. Arruza has no 

limits, he said.)

So, tell us, coach, how do you do it … retain an 

uncommonly-large player pool without having many 

defections along the way? It’s not like you are easy on 

them, no milk and cookies after practice … you don’t 

have them say their prayers then tuck them in at night. In 

fact, despite being 50 years old, you are old-school tough 

... Check it out sometime. Arruza seldom smiles on game 

day, no matter how well his team is doing … and these 

Yellow Jackets are doing very well, thank you.

“I’m not as serious as I come across,” he said. “I think the 

players probably see a lighter side to me. I have a lot of fun 

with them, I really do … but there’s a time to be serious, too 

...You know, the best coaches I had were the toughest 

coaches … and that’s what I tell the kids when I recruit them 

… ‘I’m going to be tough on you. We’re not going to 

demean you, cuss you out, treat you like a dog … but it’s 

going to be TOUGH. It’s not easy. You talk to Clay. He’ll 

tell you. It’s a tough program to be part of, but I think the 

kids take pride in that.”

CLAY BROOKS came to R-MC from nearby Goochland 

High School, a defensive lineman, and got into one game 

in three years. “You’ve been one of the best and you 

think, ‘Hey, it’s Division three, I should be able to play 

there, too,’ but everything changes when you get to 

college,” he said.

Brooks left with a degree in business management after 

four years including a senior season without football 

because of Covid-19. By then he was ready to get on with 

his life. He dropped more than 80 pounds … and became 

an entrepreneur with his own landscaping business, 

which has proved very successful, I might add.

“I really didn’t want to go to college … but [R-MC] was 

close to home; I thought I might be able to play some 

football, and it was a United Methodist school so I could 

get scholarship money,” said Brooks whose father and 

mother are UMC ministers. “It was one of those things 

that just worked out. I’m glad I went.”

When he arrived at R-MC, he knew there would be a lot 

of competition. Arruza, Brooks said, “never made any 

promises.” That is, other than he would get the same 

chance to play as anyone else.

“What you’ve got to remember is, one … it’s Division III 

football, so you’re not going to make money playing here … 

or anywhere else … so transferring doesn’t make any 

sense … and two, by the end of your freshman year you 

realize you’re not as good as you thought you were … 

[meanwhile] you have built relationships with the guys. 

You are with them every single day and, unless you are 

really good, and you think you are going to play at 

another school, I might as well stay … I got pretty close 

with seven or eight of the guys… some were starters, 

some played a little bit or didn’t play at all ... and, at that 

point, I really didn’t want to quit.”

Besides, Brooks isn’t a quitter. Take it from someone who 

knows, he has a great work ethic. “I don’t think I missed a 

practice,” Brooks said. “I liked doing it. I liked going up 

against the starters, see what I could do. And, with the 

opportunity to get better, I’d have a chance to play.”

Sure, Brooks hd his moments when he wished he was 

anywhere else. It wouldn’t have been natural otherwise. If 

there was one thing about Arruza he could have done 

without, it was the coach’s trademark intensity.

“I thought he was a good coach,” the easy-going, 

unfailingly mild-mannered Brooks said. “His style is 

great for some people but I didn’t understand it when I 

was there. I was more appreciative of it later.”

To repeat the burning question: Why do so many players, 

who don’t get on the field Saturdays, stick it out for so 

long, nevertheless? “Because,” said Arruza, “I think we 

recruit the right kind of kids … [and] their parents are not 

concerned how much they play on Saturday … as much 

as ‘Is my son being treated fairly? Is my son being 

challenged? Disciplined? Is my son in a structured 

environment that’s going to help make him a better man?’ 

… At the end of the day, you want then to be able to say: 

‘I had a great experience. I grew and I got better.’” … 

Kids who come here understand if a meeting begins at 3 

o’clock, you better be early … and it doesn’t matter who 

you are, rules apply to everybody … Tough love? Yeah. 

You can love kids and be tough at the same time.”

Having a successful program helps, of course … Helps a 

lot. Arruza’s Yellow Jackets have dominated the Old 

Dominion Athletic Conference, winning six 

championships and sharing three others … including 

seven of the last nine, the last five in a row. His overall 

record since (and including) 2016 is a gaudy 82-15 … 

About the only thing Arruza hasn’t dominated is the 

NCAA DIII playoffs. More on that in a moment.

As we noted in a profile of Arruza recently (See The 

Richmonder.com), he had a lot to overcome early on … 

beginning his head coaching career here with three straight 

losing seasons … what he described as “a humbling 

experience.” … A devout man, who believes God has a plan 

for him, Arruza was tested immediately on arrival here. “I 

don’t think football was important enough to the players 

then… as it is to the kids we recruit now. They have great 

character … they care about academics … and they love 

football. They are committed to it … I tell our guys all the 

time … ‘It’s really hard to be good at anything if you’re not 

committed to excellence in every part of your life. If you 

don’t go to class, if you don’t work at it academically, how 

can I count on you to be a great football player?’” … I think 

the right kids want to be challenged and, if you build a 

relationship with them and show them you love them … and 

care about them … that you want what’s best for them, 

they’ll do anything you want them to … I feel like every kid 

in our program has a role, and every kid matters. They are 

valued and important.

“Listen, most guys, even if they start four years, you know 

99.9 percent aren’t going on to play professional sports. So, 

by the time they graduate, every kid in our program is in the 

same boat … You’re gonna go out, get a job and start a 

family. You have to live your life … and what I’m most 

proud of is, we have built a program where a kid who may 

not play a lot on Saturdays still values his experience here 

because it’s a program that is character-centered … and 

pushes kids to be the best they can be … Football is 

important, but there is more to the program than just 

football. I know, it’s hard for someone who is not part of the 

program and here every day, to really understand that.

“I have all the seniors over to the house [the week] before the 

Hampden-Sydney game … and after dinner we gather 

around a bonfire, and everybody talks about the experience 

they’ve had here … and what it’s meant to them … and, in 

all the years we’ve been doing this, not one kid has talked 

about football. It’s all about relationships, the lessons 

they’ve learned … the things that have added to their lives. I 

think that resonates with young adults more than you think.”

AT THE RISK of resuming a more mundane topic like 

football … we would be remiss in not reporting the only 

big thing that has escaped R-MC since Arruza’s arrival, a 

national championship, will have to wait another year … 

Semifinalists in 2023, the Yellow Jackets were ousted in 

the third round of the 2024 playoffs Saturday (Dec. 7) by 

unbeaten Salisbury, Md., University 35-14.

Unable to take advantage of a pair of recovered fumbles 

on the home team’s first two drives, Randolph-Macon 

(10-2) scored back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth 

quarter to cut the deficit to 28-14 and leave some hope for 

a miracle comeback … that was quickly squelched when 

12-0 Salisbury’s freshman QB SyRUS McGOWAN ran 

44-yards for the clinching TD with 2:35 remaining … 

before a crowd of 1,841.

R-MC, which usually features a prodigious running game, 

was limited to – believe it or not – 14 yards on the ground 

by a Salisbury’s defense that kept constant pressure on 

Yellow Jackets’ quarterback DANTE CASIOLA … 

sacking him eight times. Nevertheless, the 6-2, 198 

pounder from Charlotte, in his first season with R-MC 

after two 

years at FCS Dayton, accounted for both touchdowns … 

throwing 17 yards to 5-7 senior HOLDEN HODGE then 

eight yards to 6-3 junior CULLEN MARTIN. In all, 

Casiola completed 22 of 40 passes for 226 yards (no 

interceptions). 

Until next time ...