By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
Tim Watson has banked a lot of memories throughout his football career, one that has now spanned several decades. He was a standout player at Mainland Regional High before playing at the University of Maryland and Rowan University, and even made it to the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 2000. He also had a highly successful 10-year run as head coach at Cedar Creek High, leading the Pirates to several sectional championships.
But his best memory came when he wasn’t even wearing a uniform or cleats. It happened a few short weeks ago at Rutgers University, where he saw his son, Hunter, win a state championship along with his Mainland teammates in a 56-0 rout of Ramapo. Hunter Watson is a 6-foot-4, 225-pound tight end and defensive end who helped lead the Mustangs to a perfect 14-0 season and the first overall state championship in school history (which just became a thing last year).
Tim Watson also played a big role as the team’s defensive coordinator and since stepping down at Cedar Creek a few years ago, has had the opportunity most fathers would dream of — a chance to coach their son on a state championship-winning team.
“It was awesome. I mean, at the end of the day, that was a big reason why I stepped down at Cedar Creek, to be able to just be a part of his journey from really his freshman year, and a more involved role these past couple of years. It’s been really special. You couldn’t have written a better script for us as a father and son. And I coached his position, too, on top of me being the defensive coordinator. It was awesome,” coach Watson said. “The hardest part is probably trying to find the balance of not bringing it home while still wanting to give him guidance at home, you know. You don’t want to be overbearing, so a lot of it was me kind of waiting, in some cases, for him to open the door up so I could jump in there and try to help him out.”
“We put so much work and so many hours into this. It’s a credit to our hard work and our discipline in the offseason, and this entire season,” Hunter said following the state championship victory in late November. “It’s surreal. He’s been my coach since I first started football, so it’s been great having him by my side.”
Chuck Smith, Mainland’s head coach, said it wasn’t always unicorns and rainbows, however. Football is a tough sport and the Watson boys would go at it from time to time.
“It’s a hard thing. I think it sounds great on paper, it looks good, but there’s a different aspect. I know Tim probably coached his son a little bit differently than others,” Smith said. “He was more intense and put a lot more on Hunter than he necessarily would other players. There was a little bit more passion in his voice when he was getting at Hunter. But being the head coach and watching it, it was really special to watch somebody coach their son. I’ve only seen that a couple of times in my career and it was really special, especially with what we’ve accomplished during Hunter’s high school career.”
Tim Watson, the coach, was tough on Hunter because he knew the potential Hunter had, and after growing five inches and putting on about 75 pounds during his high school career, Hunter Watson is now a Division I recruit who plans to continue his career and education at Monmouth University this coming fall.
“What I think a lot of people might not understand is he was probably about 6 feet, 150 pounds as a freshman. That’s a pretty good size for a freshman, nothing crazy, but I think we knew what he was probably going to develop into,” coach Watson said. “To see him develop physically — a lot of that was really on him. He was dedicated, he stopped playing basketball. He dedicated himself full bore to the weight room. He began to train in the offseason with Dave Klemic and really dove into that and treated that like a sport. He never missed a session with Dave, never missed a weight training session with coach (Antoine) Lewis at mainland, and then he would do stuff on his own, too. He would go to the weight room or go to the gym on his own. And he was making sure he was eating enough. So he really bought into the idea of what can I do in the offseason to help me be the best that I can be? I guess that’s the thing that makes me feel the best is, although it seems like, oh, you know, the kid’s got good genetics and it was easy for him. It wasn’t. He worked his tail off. He did a lot of stuff in the off season to get better. I’m extremely proud of the work that he put in. He earned every bit of whatever recognition he got, the college offers. He earned every bit of that.”
Smith said he could see the relationship just get stronger every week as the Mustangs put together their finest season ever.
“To watch their interaction on the football field — I said to Tim the last week of the season, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to (let Hunter go off to college) because I find myself crying a lot right now knowing this is the last week we have with these guys.’ I could only imagine what he was feeling, being a father and coaching his son for the last time,” Smith said. “He’s coached him since Hunter was in youth league. Tim said he was having a hard time with it, too, just realizing that that this could be it. During that championship game, we knew this was it. There’s a lot of emotion on our staff because we grew up with these kids and they were part of what we believed in four years ago. We took our lumps and these kids stuck with it, and it all came out perfectly. You couldn’t have a better ending, and it was unique to see that happen for a father and son.”
Coach Watson — like any good coach — has learned how to make adjustments throughout the years. Coaching a 10-year-old is much different than coaching a varsity star player.
“I learned early on in his process, probably when he was in middle school, to back off a little bit. And as he got older it was harder. But as he got older, I trusted his judgment a little bit more and it was easier to back off. In the beginning I was probably a pain in his butt a little bit more, but as he got older I could see that there were lessons that were sinking in. He was giving me enough info back and I said, ‘OK, he’s starting to figure it out,’ and all those conversations were not in vain,” coach Watson said. “My favorite memory is when he caught his first — and only — touchdown, in the playoffs. I didn’t notice until we watched the film but every person who was in the game was so fired up to run over to him to celebrate his touchdown with him, and that let me know the type of teammate and the type of kid he was because you don’t see that all the time. We had a team of guys we’re always excited for; we had the most unselfish team I’ve ever been associated with. But they were so fired up for him to catch a little 4-yard touchdown, everybody wanted to go celebrate with Hunter. So that let me know that he’s a good kid and that his teammates respect him. That probably outweighed a lot of the other things he was able to do.”
Smith said he believes that in time — maybe when Hunter has a son of his own, years from now — it will sink in just how special this was for Tim to win a state championship while coaching his son.
“I think to a degree Hunter knows (how special it was),” Smith said. “I think all of us don’t truly appreciate it yet or can absorb it until it’s fully in the rearview mirror and we have time to reflect on it. It was a historic year.”
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
