Decorated Seymour High School football coach receives award from IFCA

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Inside Joe Goodman’s home office, on either side of his computer — a device that is loaded with every detail of Seymour’s football history — are long glass cases filled with more than four decades worth of achievements and photos.

On his U-shaped desk, underneath the see through encasing, Goodman has even more plaques and mementos carefully organized.

Next to his Seymour Athletics Hall of Fame plate is a football with his name across it, dated 2018.

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It’s his most recent accolade, and it’s prominently positioned so he can see it when he’s working on his book.

Last week, Goodman was presented the Bob Springer President’s Award by the Indiana Football Coaches Association.

The award is named in honor of the legendary Indianapolis Washington High School coach, who was one of the founders of the IFCA, and is presented to an individual who has been dedicated to contributing to the success of the game of football.

Goodman was presented the award prior to the North-South All-Star banquet last Friday, which he was unable to attend.

“Bob and I were close friends,” Goodman said. “He was such a great guy, and such a legend in Indiana football. To have an award named after him is a pretty big deal to anyone who receives it. It’s a great honor for me.”

Goodman retired from coaching in 2003 after a 38-year career. He spent his last 30 seasons at SHS, where he is the all-time winningest coach in program history.

Over his career, Goodman had a record of 202-133, which included a Hoosier Hills Conference record of 38-11. He was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

In his last six years of coaching, from 1998-2003, the Owls had a record of 53-17. In his last 16 years of coaching, his teams went 119-54.

He coached 65 All-State players, 16 Indiana All-Stars, 54 Academic All-State Players and 209 All-Conference players.

Goodman coached teams to six sectionals, two regionals, and one semistate. He led the Owls to the state championship game in 1991.

He was the IFCA president in 1982 and has served as an IFCA assistant secretary in charge of awards for more than 20 years. He has been instrumental in shaping the IFCA, and continuing the growth of the sport in the state.

“I’ve had that role since 1995 (with the IFCA). I handle all of the awards, for example for the state finals, I put together a group of coaches that line all of the kids up so they get their medals and so forth,” Goodman said. “In ‘91, they gave us medals in a box. I said, ‘No, we need to get this fixed.’ Now, we read all of their names, put the medal on them, and put them on the screen. We do it right. That’s one of my jobs.”

He is a co-chair of the IFCA All-State Selection and chair of the “Mr. Football” selection committee. He was the head coach of the IFCA All-Star Game in 1998 and has been an assistant three other times.

The IFCA also has an award named after Goodman, which is given to an Indiana All-Star player who exemplifies the most leadership and spirit on and off the field each year.

He served on the National Federation of Rules Committee from 1982-87 and was the Midwest National High School Football Chairman from 1981-87.

Goodman said that the Springer award is special because of all the memories he has with the former coach, and the group of people he joins that have received the award.

“Bob and I worked together quite a bit on all-state teams, the playoffs, etc. He was an instrumental guy and an outstanding man,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for Bob. He was one of the real founders of the association along with Tell City’s Joe Talley. It’s a great honor…there’s no doubt about it.”

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