Zach Mott is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover North Canyon for AZPreps365.com

Culture. One simple word, with a meaning so great it has the ability to change lives. In the world of sports, culture is a word heard often. Many believe that culture is about what happens on the field, or on the court or the ice. How many wins the team has. How hard they compete. How they finish each game and each individual play. But sometimes, culture isn’t about all of that. Culture runs deeper than that, and in high school football, culture can be everything. 

Adam Beene was officially named the head coach of the North Canyon Rattlers football team in January 2019. Beene had been around football for quite some time, having played football back in his home state of Mississippi in both high school, where he played linebacker, and college, where he played defensive back at Division III Belhaven University. Beene also had some prior coaching experience before taking the job at North Canyon. 

Beene entered a program in North Canyon that had only two winning seasons since 2011. He gained a team that was young and inexperienced, many of their main contributors in just their sophomore seasons. 

When Beene was first hired as head coach of the Rattlers, he said he had one main goal, “Change the mindset of all of the players on the team and take them from a deterministic mindset to a growth mindset. Flip a negative situation and turn it positive.” 

Senior running back Brock Biley has been around for Beene’s entire tenure as the head coach. While Biley has not been able to see much success in the wins and losses department, he says Beene has been different from other coaches. “The previous coaches just didn’t really care as much as he does and he’s just doing everything possible to make the team better.” 

Fast forward to year three for Beene. His main contributors are now mostly seniors and leaders of this team. They talk about brotherhood and about playing for each other, “There’s a lot more chemistry going,” said Izzy Durgin. “We have each other’s backs.”  Durgin is another senior running back for the Rattlers. After practice and games, Durgin and Biley can be found chatting it up on the sidelines or on the field, “We’re starting to play for each other now,” Biley said.

While the transition for Beene from football in Mississippi to Arizona may be tough, he talks about how grueling the school schedule can be on the kids and how it affects them. “School starts at 7:30 (a.m.), so they’re here, like me, from 7:30 (a.m.) to 8 or almost 9 at night sometimes, then they (have to) go do homework and so it’s hard for them to stay on top of their grades. ... That’s one of the major differences that I’ve run into out here. These late practices are tough on the kids.” 

Culture can be many different things, but in the eyes of Beene and his players, the culture that’s changing is not merited on wins and losses. It’s based on having each other’s backs and playing for each other. A team that plays for each other, and treat each other like brothers is what’s most important as Biley and Durgin have both previously said.