LOCUST GROVE — Travis Sims is one day away from his first game as a head football coach.

After 11 seasons as an assistant, Sims now is in charge of his own program.

He takes over the Locust Grove Pirates who did not win a game last season. And they haven’t had a winning record since 2006.

But Sims is not one to dwell on the past, or on the negative.

He is a positive sort. This is his moment, and he is going to make the best of it.

“It’s a great challenge. I’m looking forward to it,” he said this week while discussing preparations for his professional coming-out party.

“The X’s and O’s parts are fun, and that’s the easy part. It’s getting used to some of this other stuff on the side that’s a little worrisome,” he said.

The X’s and O’s will be all he needs to deal with on Thursday night when he and his band of Pirates sail into Salina for the traditional Mayes County season-opener.

It will be the latest reincarnation of the county’s longest-running rivalry, a game that pits the county’s best record from last season against the county’s lone winless team.

Sims has been busy the last three weeks, balancing his work as a motivator and as a memory eraser.

“I go in, I put up our schedule on the board and I can say: ‘Hey, you look here, you look here, you look here. You look at a couple of these games and we should win these. On paper.’

“Then you can also point out that paper doesn’t mean anything, because last year there were three or four we should have won on paper and we didn’t get it done,” he said.

“None of us did. Us here in the coaching office, and out in the lockerroom.

“We’re stressing we’re all in this thing together, and we’ve got to right the ship. It’s a big challenge to build the thing back up.

“I’ve said a few times, when you haven’t won a game, there’s only one way to go and that’s up.

“We’re striving to get better every day and as long as we’re doing that, I think, overall, I’m doing my job,” he said. “At the same time, if we don’t get to a certain level that I think we can, I’m not going to be happy.”

Sims played football at Weatherford for the iconic high school coach Woody Roof. Before being inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999, Roof won five state championships at three schools.

“Woody’s a great guy,” Sims said. “We definitely respected him. He is very much a motivator. I run into him a few times during the summer and there’s still a level of intimidation with him.”

Sims admits that his own coaching manual contains several entries from the Book of Roof.

“Hard work. The discipline thing,” Sims said. “We’re trying to instill that here. Dedication to team is one of those things we’re trying to build here as part of building a program.

“That’s one of the things Woody always pushed. It didn’t matter what number, grade level, was after your name, if you’ve got those colors on, you’re part of that team.

“Everyone’s got a role to play. That’s a big thing he pushed. If you ain’t the main cat, keep pushing to be the main cat.

“That’s one of those things we’re trying to get here. We’re starting to see some of that take off,” Sims said. “We’re starting to see competition for positions. That’s one of those things we keep stressing, but he stressed it, too. You’ve got to compete. You’ve got to compete. You’ve got to compete.

“As for the overall competition, if we’re just throwing names up on the board because we’ve got to fill spots, you’re not going to have a very good team.

“But if you’ve got people that are actually competing to get in those spots, ah, that’s when it starts taking off.”

Sims’ Pirates have been competing for spots in his lineup since practice began on Aug. 10.

He expects to see the positive results of that competition on Thursday night.

“If we compete every play and every second of every play and do our best on that, we’ll be able to look each other in the eyes and say we did everything we could and we can live with that,” he said.

“But we can’t live with giving up on stuff and anything less than what our best is.”

Sometimes, players should be able to rise to the occasion of a big game, a season-opening game on their own. It is up to the coaches to control, or harbor those emotions.

He calls it “an ebb and flow.”

“It’s game week, and we’ve got to get psyched up for it,” he says. “At the same time, if you get too hyped up, it steals your air at game time.

“I want intensity there, but it’s got to be directed in the right way.

“It’s a big challenge to make sure you keep the reins on things like that.”

Sims is facing an assortment of challenges as he prepares for his first outing as a head football coach.

But then, that’s why he entered the profession.