Jim Sochor shaped more young lives thanjust about anybody whoever strode the sidelines at Toomey Field. And he knows as much about leadership as he does Xs and Os in football playbooks.

“Once we clear our minds, we have a chance to do wonderful things,” said Sochor, the former Aggie head football coach, in a talk to more than 100 people Tuesday in MU II for the Staff Assembly’s quarterly meeting. As guest speaker, he explored topics of leadership, team-building and optimal performance. He illustrated his points by explaining how he helped turn a mediocre UC football program into a Division II dynasty.

Sochor began his UC Davis coaching career in 1967 when he was hired for the baseball program. In 1970, when he took over as football head coach, the team had not had a winning season for 22 years and had not won a championship since 1915. Under Sochor, UC Davis would win 18 straight league championships, more than any other football program at any level in NCAA history, until he retired in 1988.

With a coaching philosophy deeply influenced by Taoism, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Deepak Chopra, Sochor gained the respect of his players down through the years with his sage advice. As the new Aggie head coach, he started first by changing attitudes. Fresh from a doctorate program in education, the 32-year-old Sochor put into practice social and sports psychology he had studied at the University of Utah.

Like Winston Churchill, Sochor adheres to a never-give-up philosophy. And he emphasizes team-building that shares key values such as trust, unity and togetherness.

“Our goal was to be the most close-together football team in the country,” he said. This approach, he believed, would soon overcome the lack of facilities and recruiting ability in UC Davis football at the time. Sochor’s underdogs actually posted a winning record in their first season.

In Sochor’s second season, the momentum truly shifted. One incredible game symbolized his never-give-up philosophy. In dramatic fashion, Sochor told the story of how his 1971 Aggie football squad clawed its way from 16 points behind to win in the final 20 seconds of a game. 

“After that, things were never the same,” he said, “and we had gained our confidence for the long run.”

A long run, indeed. Sochor has more wins (156) than anyone in UC Davis football history. He only lost 42 games. He has coached 14 players who have been drafted and/or played in the NFL. He also has been a mentor to a long line of successful coaches, including USC’s Paul Hackett, Oregon’s Mike Bellotti and UC Davis current head football coach Bob Biggs. A berth in the 1982 Division II National Championship was a major highlight of the Sochor tenure.

Sochor is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. After his football coaching he also worked as UC Davis’ athletic director and golf coach. He then spent three years as an offensive coordinator in the World League in Scotland.

Asked about UC Davis’ move to Division I athletics, Sochor said, “The years ahead will be wonderful as we plan our new schedules. The university is coming into its own.”

Sochor has advice for those seeking optimal performance. When attempting to master a subject, he says, it’s best to first clear the mind and find an inner calm or stillness.  Then move yourself to a feeling of serenity by recalling a positive and happy recent experience. Finally, move to a sense of playfulness and joy in the task at hand.

“We can program our state of minds,” he said. “When you’re feeling good about yourself, you can do anything.”

Sochor said he tried to make football fun and yet held every athlete accountable for his own actions. Negativity — “whining” or “scapegoating”  — and emotions like fear, anger, envy and doubt were to be avoided.

“I never once coached a game that I didn’t firmly believe we would win,” he says.

Instead, he challenges people to understand that: “we are what we think” and “we shape and create our world based on our thoughts.”

He noted that Chopra says that for every thought we have, it produces a chemical reaction within our bodies. “How we think is huge to how we feel.”

It all comes down to self-esteem, he says. When his team would lose, it was due to a lack of preparation. “Like they say, if we fail to prepare, we have prepared to fail,” he noted.

In the 1970s, Sochor had his team visit and study the football program of the vaunted Dallas Cowboys. Later, when Bill Walsh took over as San Francisco 49ers head coach, Sochor’s program adopted some key elements of the Walsh style, such as the “West Coast offense.”

Sochor said people don’t spend enough time reflecting about what they want to do in life. Lives are so busy and full of distractions that it’s hard to find the time for introspection. But this is a critical area, he said.

“Our power truly is inside ourselves,” he said. “Realizing this, we’re unstoppable.”