Drew Dayton blows a whistle and shouts in a gravelly voice, “Hustle back, hustle back, let’s go!” Dayton’s on the faculty of the Physical Education Department and serves as the Head Coach of Middle School Softball, but during the fall, his primary job at Charlotte Latin School is Head Coach of the Varsity Football Team (currently enjoying a 5-0 record), a role he approaches with equal measures of intensity and calm. Walking briskly around a waterlogged practice field on a Tuesday afternoon, he moves from one squad of football players to another, checking in with the team’s other coaches. “Squeeze and scrape, it’s stacked force,” he instructs a group practicing a defensive play. He explains the minutiae of the “Super Cleveland” call to a small cluster of quarterbacks, and runs some drills with a group of eight defensive backs. “Eat up the grass!” he barks. “The quickest way between two points is a straight line!”

Why does football speak to you?

It’s the only sport that mimics life. A play can’t get run until the ball gets passed from one person to another. You’ve got to work with people who may be similar to you or completely different: it takes all 11 folks every single snap to make a play successful. 

How do you measure success in Latin’s football program?

Are our kids better versions of themselves than when they came to us? That’s number one. And are they having a good experience? There are wins and losses in our program that aren’t associated with the scoreboard at all.

Even if that’s not easily quantifiable, how do you see it?

The things you say over and over again, players may mimic or mock. But then they come back and they appreciate them: they say, “Coach, I was five minutes early to my first interview and they noticed.” 

Have you had a favorite day in this year’s season?

So far, the Metrolina Christian Academy win. The game got rained out: I saw the ball spotted on the field and it was floating toward the end zone. We had to come back on Monday losing, but the kids rallied and scored 20-something points in less than two minutes. It was really impressive to see the kids stand up and say, “We’re going to dictate what the outcome’s going to be.”

How do you prepare each week for a game?

Sundays are staff time: we break down the film and evaluate what went well and what we need to improve on. Mondays we spend the majority of our practice time on the offensive side of the ball, about an hour and a half, and then 30 minutes on defense, introducing what we’re going to do that week. Tuesday is the flip of that: heavy defense and cleaning things up on offense. Wednesday is split in half, making adjustments. And then Thursday mornings before school, 6:30 to 7:30, we have a practice that we call a breeze-through. It’s just making sure all the hay’s in the barn. The kids have Thursday afternoons to meet with teachers or do academic things. And then Friday is game day.

How long have you and your family lived in Charlotte?

Since 2012, which is crazy. I came here as part of the original UNC Charlotte football staff; we were at Duke and Lenoir-Rhyne University before that.

Where did you grow up?

In the mountains: Spruce Pine, North Carolina. I played quarterback from fourth grade all the way through high school. And then I got a chance to play at Wake Forest, which is when I figured out that I wasn’t going to make a living playing football and that I needed to figure out something else. Originally it was going to be law school, but I had breakfast with my position coach, who asked me if I’d ever thought about coaching.

You have a master’s degree in humanities from Duke — what was the subject of your thesis?

The utilization of coaching techniques in the business world.

Are you a better coach now than when you started?

Experience is the best teacher: I’ve been through just about every scenario that you can as a coach. I would like to say that I’m less emotional, but once the ball gets kicked off, my competitiveness kicks in.

Right now, you seem like an incredibly chill dude. Does the switch flip when the whistle blows?

As a quarterback, you’re supposed to remain calm in hectic situations. I think I have the ability to do that, but when I need to get emotional to get a kid’s attention, or when the momentum’s going against us, I’ll find that fire. I’m a better resource for the kids if I’m my authentic self.

That calm in the center of chaos: was that a trait that made you good at quarterback, or is it something you learned because of your time at quarterback?

I would probably say yes to both. There’s something inherent about leadership that can’t be taught, but there’s also things you can improve. I always tell the kids to be green and growing, not ripe and rotting. When something is blowing up, I don’t need to multiply the problem, I need to help find the solution. But sometimes I will create chaos just because I want to make practice harder than the game.

If it’s raining on game day, is that good news or bad news?

With this team, I would say it’s not welcomed. You hope that you’re strong enough and have enough mental fortitude that you’ll figure out a way to win no matter what the circumstances are. But we like to play fast and we like to put the ball up in the air. Around here, playing fast and using the whole 53-and-a-third width of the field has lent itself to more success than trying to shrink the field down or shorten the game. But I try to teach the kids to control the things you can control, and you can’t control the rain.

Do you ever watch football for fun?

I played my first football game in probably 1989, and then I never watched a game from the stands until 2014. I was either on the field as a player or coach. I don’t watch the Super Bowl like everybody else does. They’re invested emotionally in a team, while I’m invested in the learning part of it. I’m watching as an evaluator, studying the people that nobody else watches. What’s the blocking scheme? How’s the defense lined up against that formation? 

You and your wife Laura have three kids: Wyatt, Nola, and Aaron. Does the family have any pets?

We have three dogs: a golden retriever, Bennett; a Charlotte street mutt, Birdie; and Arlo, a cockapoo that we got about three weeks ago, right in the middle of football season, which is really ideal. And two cats, Beastie and Zelda. Wyatt has a leopard gecko, and we’ve had rabbits and gerbils. My wife’s a vet — when you marry into that, you know what you’re getting yourself into.

What are you good at that has nothing to do with football?

I’m in a weird spot right now because all of my energy is hyper-focused on football. I’m pretty good at unloading and loading the dishwasher in the morning because I know that’s going to help my wife. But I would say that I am pretty good at mentoring people, helping them find out what their passions are and helping them find their direction.

Tell me something you used to believe that turned out not to be true.

That I knew everything.

(Photography by Ernie Cutter via Charlotte Athletics)