The Process of Bart Lockhart

Bart Lockhart calls Dora High School his mission field.He was introduced as the new head football coach earlier this year after two seasons across town at Sumiton Christian School. According to Lockhart, the decision to move to Dora High wasn’t easy.“I did a lot of investigating,” he says. “My wife and I prayed about it and had other folks praying about it to give peace about what I needed to do, whether it was to stay or go. And I have ultimate peace that this is where I am supposed to be.”Dora fans probably know Lockhart best as a cross-county rival. In 2003, Lockhart was the Cordova Blue Devil Quarterback who was leading the offense deep into Bulldog territory when the game was stopped because then-Dora Head Coach Johnny Wright had a heart attack on the sideline. It was perhaps the most indelible moment of the entire history of the rivalry.Lockhart may be a third-generation Cordova quarterback but he believes in the philosophy of “being where your feet are.” Right now, his feet are firmly planted in Dora, Alabama.“I am all in! I am a Dora Bulldog!” Lockhart exclaims.Upon meeting the sixty or so players who chose to wear the navy-and-gold this fall, Lockhart began establishing the new brand of Dora football. Football fans in the state of Alabama will recognize the Nick Saban-esque philosophy of establishing a brand and following “the Process.”Lockhart has a process of his own.He created a Dora football twitter handle—@DoraFootball. Controlled by him alone and used to reach social-media-savvy youth, boosters, and fans in the community, the page is a tool that he feels will allow him to spread the program’s brand daily.As part of the Dora brand, Lockhart introduced the twitter hashtag- #Dawg4Lif3“The Dawg is our mascot, the reason that we are all on this journey together” Lockhart explains. “The 4 represents the player’s high school career, and the “lif3” is our core values. The L is for Love, the I is for Influence, the 3 F’s- Fearless, Focus, and Finish. And the backwards E represents excellence.”Along with the established brand, the workouts, and the practices, Lockhart initially sat down with every student-athlete to begin what he calls the “Game Plan for Life.” As part of this plan, he poses three questions:1- What do you want out of your high school career?2- What do you want out of your academics here at Dora High School?3- Fast forward your life 10 years. What do you want your life to be like?After the players answer these questions, the coaching staff will spend the rest of the player’s high school career helping them achieve their goals to be successful beyond football.“When football is over with, we hope they will have gained something from this program that will help them be successful in life.” Lockhart says. “Tools that will help them be successful fathers, successful husbands, and successful in their careers.”Coach Lockhart is intentional in his approach to his players. He describes his job as, “We are here to build men first. Winning football games is second.”This approach to the team is grounded in Bart’s family.“My mom and dad were unbelievable parents,” he explains. “God blessed me beyond measure with those two and I feel like since God blessed me with those parents that as a coach I can impact young men that maybe don’t have that same upbringing. Maybe I can be what they were for me, for them.”Lockhart also praises his wife for her support. “The biggest calling on my life is to being a Christian husband and father and my wife is the ultimate coach’s wife. She’s my support system and my breath of fresh air when I need it.”This support system, along with a handful of mentors, has been instrumental in the coaching success of Lockhart. However, he had other plans when he initially arrived at Delta State University, the school he attended on a football scholarship.“I thought I wanted to go into business. I didn’t know what that meant,” Lockhart states. “I had just heard that businessmen make money. But my coach over academics, Coach Grierson, asked me what I wanted to do with that degree and I said I didn’t know. He said he felt like I could impact a lot of lives if I went into coaching. We sat down and had a long talk and it really hit home. After praying about it I changed my major to get into coaching.”That conversation set Lockhart on the path of a professional calling. A path that has led to this upcoming season as the Dora Head Coach. He is taking over a team that has won just four games in the previous two seasons.But Lockhart knows how to turn a program around.When he walked into the doors of Sumiton Christian, the team had just one winning record in the previous seven seasons. Then last season the Eagles won nine games--the best record in over a decade.As he enters his first season as the Bulldogs head coach, he has already built a foundation that not only will allow the players to be successful on the field but also to be successful beyond their high school careers. He knows what it takes to reach the young men of today. From being active on social media, to directing their studies, to achieving goals that are ten years away, Lockhart is a player’s coach.But it isn’t all about just making men. In Lockhart, Dora has found a competitor. “If I am playing Tic-Tac-Toe with my Grandmother, I am playing to win,” he says. 78Photos by Al Blanton