- WEEKLY POLL
Jim Welling enters prep coaching ranks at Lake
By J. Patrick Eaken
Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com
Long-time Owens Community College basketball coach Jim Welling has accepted the boys’ basketball coaching position at Lake.
Two weeks ago, Lake athletic director Dave Shaffer e-mailed The Press that former St. John’s Jesuit assistant basketball coach and head baseball coach Ed Mouch was to accept the job. But that changed when Mouch decided he could not commit.
“He told us after roughly a week that he didn’t feel like he could make the commitment; that our kids deserved more of his time than he could give. His goal is to be a coach at a City League or a Division I school, and that he didn’t feel like he could give us the long term commitment that he wanted,” said Lake Superintendent Jim Witt.
Mouch, who coached basketball under legendary St. John’s coach Ed Heintschel, could not be reached for comment. Lake Schools approved Welling’s contract at a board meeting Thursday morning.
“Words can't describe how honored and grateful we are to be a part of the Lake Local School District. This school district has been so supportive to our families over the years and now it is time to give back to this community,” Welling was quoted in a statement released by the school district.
“We are excited to have a coach with the level of experience and successes Jim Welling has enjoyed over his coaching career. We look forward to Jim building a strong basketball program in the Lake School District,” said Athletic Director Dave Shaffer.
Welling told The Press in March of 2006 that he might be interested in coaching again, if the right opportunity came up. This followed his announced retirement after coaching Owens basketball 20 years.
At the time, he was interested in another college job, but admitted he’d be interesting in coaching high school basketball, too. He was skeptical about a return to prep coaching, however, that was before he became involved in legal matters against Owens over his firing as the college’s golf coach and athletic director.
A Luckey native and 1977 Eastwood graduate who once held Owens’ all-time assist record as a player, he feels his experience playing and coaching at a two-year college will not deter him from successfully coaching at any institution.
There were also rumors among Eastwood residents that he would be up for that boys’ basketball position, too, but officials there said he did not formally apply. That position was ultimately filled by another former Eastwood player, Todd Henline.
“As much as I love Eastwood and my heart bleeds Columbia blue and red, I don’t think I’d ever have an interest in going the high school direction,” Welling told The Press in 2006.
“I’d love to be able to coach at Eastwood, but on the same token as I say that, I want to move up, I don’t want to move back down. I don’t care if it was the best high school in the state, I don’t think I’d want to entertain that,” the former Owens coach explained.
Welling joined Owens as a part-time admissions representative in 1986. Beginning in 2004, he served as director of student enrichment and athletics, where he was responsible for overseeing all day-to-day operations for the college's seven intercollegiate athletic programs, as well as the cheerleading team.
As head coach of the men's basketball program, the Express captured two NJCAA Division II national championships in 1992 and 1993. He concluded his basketball-coaching career with an overall record of 550-127.
Welling also served as the first head coach of the new men's golf team. In its first year, the Express golfers made their first trip to the NJCAA Division II national championships, finishing 14th in the tournament. Owens captured six match and invitational titles during the season, including a first place finish in the NJCAA sub regional.
Welling has received several honors during his career, including basketball coach of the year five times by the OCCAC, seven times by NJCAA Region XII, and twice by NJCAA Division II. In addition, Welling has made many presentations and served as a keynote speaker at several state, regional, and national NJCAA conferences on leadership and the coaching profession.
A resident of Northwood, Welling earned his associate's degree in recreation from Owens and a bachelor's degree in physical education and health from the University of Toledo.
Welling was fired as Owens golf coach and from serving as the college’s athletic director after allegations he misappropriated a lease payment to the college and other infractions. He was replaced by Gilbert Guerrero, the brother of Clay boys basketball coach Joe Guerrero and an assistant golf coach under Welling until his release.
Since his release, Welling filed two lawsuits against Owens — one a federal lawsuit asking for a name clearing after media reports were printed about the firing. The other is a lawsuit in the Court of Claims for breach of contract, seeking $500,000 in damages.
Basketball season off and running at full speed
By J. Patrick Eaken
Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com
Thanks to an early Easter, the 2007-08 prep basketball season is already off and running.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association moved up the season so that state tournaments would be completed by Easter. The girls started playing basketball while prep football teams were still involved in regional final playoff football games.
Officials at two local schools, Genoa and Eastwood, were apologizing because their basketball seasons were being delayed and schedules and team photos had to be delayed. No apologizes needed, sirs.
Even though the girls season is now three weeks old, and the boys season two weeks old, the Eagles had to postpone their first two boys basketball games wasn’t to play their first game until Dec. 1 against Napoleon.
First-year Eastwood boys coach Todd Henline said the team started practicing with players off the football team on Nov. 21.
Henline and new girls coach Hans Glandorff replace two long standing traditions at Eastwood — former coaches Steve Stoller (22 years, 272-203) and Jim Gracyk (17 years, 298-97). Jim Robinson Jr. filled in for Stoller in 2006-07.
Two other new boys’ coaches on the scene are really old faces we are all familiar with — Lake’s Jim Welling and Oak Harbor’s Don Christie.
The two already met and faced each other in the season opener, and the Rockets won what must have been an “exciting” 24-20 victory over the Flyers. Don’t expect things to be that way at either school long term.
For Christie, it’s back to the grind. There is one major difference this season — he’s not coaching at Woodmore any more, instead Christie is coaching at his alma mater.
“It’s fun. It’s been so long, back in the 80s when I was here, and our basketball program is in a tough position now but we’ve got good kids and they’re trying to do the things that we’re asking them to do, and it’s just going to take some time to get it back,” said Christie.
At Woodmore, Christie’s teams went 109-45 in seven seasons, won three SLL championships before he decided to spend more time with family in 2005.
All the while Christie lived in Oak Harbor near the high school. Now he’s back to getting to work at dark and coming home at dark, but he’s enjoying every minute of it.
“That’s nice. I live here, I’m assistant principal at the middle school in Oak Harbor and I only live two miles from the school,” Christie said.
Christie now has three children — ages 8, 6, and 4, and the older ones often accompany him to practice. Still, he says, “it takes a big sacrifice from home.”
Everyone in Oak Harbor is glad he’s back. The football and wrestling teams have had years of success, but last year the boys basketball team was 3-18, 2-12 in the Sandusky Bay Conference.
The Rocket junior varsity team didn’t fare much better, winning just two games in 2006-07. Christie knows he has to rebuild the program from the ground up.
While a player at Oak Harbor from 1980-84, Christie led the Rockets to the Class AA state title game as a junior in 1983. His brother Dan, who now lives in Dayton, was his teammate. His father, who was the coach, remains nearby.
“My dad still lives here in Oak Harbor, and he comes out to practice every once in a while and stays,” said Christie.
Welling is used to leading basketball players at Owens who are already used to winning championships and garnering all-league awards.
Welling began his coaching career at Owens in 1986 when he took the helm of the men’s basketball team. His teams compiled a record of 550-127 and won National Junior College Athletic Association Division II championships in 1992 and 1993.
Welling has received several honors during his career, including Coach of the Year five times by the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference, seven times by NJCAA Region XII and twice by NJCAA D-II. In addition, Welling has made many presentations and served as a keynote speaker at several state, regional and national NJCAA conferences on leadership and the coaching profession.
Now Welling has to build a program from the ground up. Back on the prep scene, where he spent a few years prior to Owens, he’s finding the coaching environment to be a little different.
“The problem is, what we’re teaching now should have been taught to them years ago,” said Welling. “ Lake basketball is what it is today and I knew that going in.
“I can’t tell you how rewarding this is for me as a basketball person to be around such great kids. That being said, we’re trying to crash-course basketball to these kids in four and a half weeks what they should have known in four and a half years.”
Contributions to this article and to the 2007-08 Press basketball previews were made by Press sports editor J. Patrick Eaken and contributing writers Mark Griffin, Jeffrey D. Norwalk, and Scott Calhoun.
No bones about it — Henline has the Eastwood job
By Mark Griffin
Special to the
Press
sports@presspublications.com
Todd Henline makes no bones about the fact that becoming Eastwood's new varsity boys basketball coach is his dream job.
“Number one, living in the community, I know quite a few people,” said Henline, 38. “The quality of people here has kept me in coaching. Right now we have a good group of kids coming through. I looked at it as being a great opportunity, along with being a dream job. That's why I decided to go for it.”
Henline was named the Eagles' new coach last week, but he wasn't the school's first choice for the position.
Jaymes Zachrich was named the new coach in June, but he resigned last month due to the fact that his wife could not find a teaching job in the school district.
Henline, a 1987 Eastwood graduate, said he has no problem being Eastwood's second choice.
“The athletic director (Troy Slattman) and the principal were both up front with me and they gave me their reasons for going the route they did,” Henline said. “I was satisfied with their explanation. With (Zachrich) being a teacher and having head coaching experience, I knew he would have a leg up on me. When (the position) came back around again, I came back to the administration and got some answers, and I was satisfied with their answers.”
Henline was a point guard at Eastwood in 1986-87, earning second-team All-Suburban Lakes League honors his senior year and helping the Eagles to a 19-1 record.
He has been coaching for 16 years, starting out with Eastwood's eighth grade team and moving up to junior varsity head coach for four years. He was also former Eagles coach Steve Stoller's varsity assistant for four years.
“I always looked at this as a dream job,” Henline said. “I'm looking forward to building the program and working with the younger kids. That's what drove me to get back into it, too. I know quite a few of the juniors and seniors and they were getting frustrated with learning three different systems in three years. I wanted to bring stability back.
“Hopefully, I can be around for a few years and see my boys go through the program.”
Henline last coached Eastwood's junior varsity team in 2005-06 and went 11-9. He coached the school's youth program last season.
“That kind of satisfied my itch for basketball,” Henline said, “but I like being around the varsity action.”
Henline, who has owned Henline Construction in Pemberville for the past 13 years, said his style suits the team he is inheriting this season. Several starters return from a team that finished below .500 a year ago.
“Defensively, I like man-to-man,” Henline said. “I like to press a little bit and play up-tempo a little more than they did last year. I think we have athletes capable of playing a more up-tempo style. Offensively, I think we have a couple weapons inside and we'll try to run a couple of different motion offenses. I look for teams to play a lot of zone against us, so we need to really work on our zone offenses. We have some decent size for the SLL.”
Henline and his wife, Cyndi, have two sons: Zach, 8, and Noah, 5. Cyndi also has two girls from a previous marriage: Brittney, 14, and Hannah, 12.
First year coach Todd Henline has Eagles on track
By Mark Griffin
Special to the Press
sports@presspublications.com
If Eastwood boys basketball coach Todd Henline had the opportunity, he would tell Eagles fans to stay out of his team's collective ears.
Don't tell them how good they are, or that they're on their way to a Suburban Lakes League title.
Henline, Eastwood's first-year coach, doesn't want to hear it. Not even after the Eagles went on the road to hand defending SLL champion Elmwood a 51-41 loss on Dec. 20, or even after they won again two days later, 49-45, at previously unbeaten Genoa (5-1).
“I've been telling our kids, it's nice to get those road wins, however we're not even halfway through the SLL schedule,” Henline said. “It does put us in the drivers' seat. We control our own destiny, but it's not an easy road.
“Obviously, it's been shown to this point that on any given night somebody can knock somebody off. I told them we're the team with the X on our backs now. We're going to have to respond accordingly.”
With a non-league Friday night home game against Delta looming, the Eagles were 6-1 and 5-0 in the SLL. Their lone setback was a season-opening 46-42 loss at home to Napoleon, which was 4-2 through Wednesday.
“We played pretty well that game,” Henline said. “There was one spurt in the second quarter where we were up by 11 and got into a little foul trouble. Their pressure caused us into some turnovers and they rattled off 7-8 points and it was the difference in the game. It was a letdown in the second quarter.”
Henline admitted that blowing that second-quarter lead to the Wildcats may have helped Eastwood in the long run.
“The biggest thing is that the game is about runs, and runs can happen at any point in the game and it's about how you respond,” the coach said. “They played a 2-2-1 press against us and dropped into a zone. Rather than taking our time and making good decisions, we got caught turning the ball over a little bit and rushing shots.
“Since then, I think we've grown a little bit and it's helped me stress to try to execute on the offensive end.”
The Eagles, 9-12 and 8-6 in the SLL a year ago, have relied on solid team defense early on. Senior guard Eric Rutherford and 6-6 sophomore post Clay Rolf have been the defensive catalysts.
“Defensively we've been solid all year,” Henline said. “I'm surprised how good our team defense has been. The kids have responded. Eric Rutherford has been our shutdown guy. We put him on the guy we feel we need to shut down. We even had him play aganst one of the post players against Elmwood. He's guarded a wide variety of different players and done a really good job of that.
“Clay Rolf has really solidifed us. When teams are able to penetrate, he usually changes a shot or blocks a shot. He's probably averaging about four blocks a game. I knew, physically, he had the makeup. I just didn't know how aggressive he'd be. He plays smart as far as being aggressive and picking his moments.”
Rolf, an honorabe mention all-league pick last season, is averaging a double-double and scored a career-high 23 points against Gibsonburg.
Senior post Chad Fairbanks has come on strong since scoring just three points against Napoleon. Fairbanks has averaged more than 17 points a game since then, scoring 21 against Margaretta and 23 against Woodmore.
“He brings the toughness to our team,” Henline said. “There were a couple games where we needed big baskets and he's been the guy who comes through. He gets a big offensive rebound and a stickback. He has that knack of being at the right place at the right time.”
Junior point guard Jason Faykosh, who started toward the end of last season, poured in 18 points against Margaretta and has reached double figures five times this season.
“He's been pretty solid for me,” Henline said. “He's really come into his own. He's taken a leadership role as far as running the show from the point guard position. He's hit some big threes for us this year.”
Mark Schult, a junior wing, scored 15 points against Woodmore and also does a lot of the intangibles, according to Henline.
“Mark is 6-2 and pretty solid,” he said. “He handles the ball pretty well for a big guy and he rebounds well. There are times where he hasn't scored a lot, but you look in the stats and he has five or six rebounds, four assists, three steals ... He's been pretty consistent in that regard.”
A solid role player has been Zach Lawniczak, a 5-8 junior guard.
“The last couple games he hit some big threes for us,” Henline said. “He had 11 against Genoa off the bench.”
Clay alumnus Mike Donnelly hired as football coach
By Kelly J. Kaczala
and J. Patrick Eaken
sports@presspublications.com
The Oregon school board last week hired Mike Donnelly as the new Clay football coach.
Donnelly takes over the Eagle football program from Jeff Lee, who announced his resignation after the 2006 season.
“We are excited about having the prospect of having Mike take over the leadership of our football program,” said Clay principal Dr. Mike Zalar. “His credentials speak for themselves and our selection committee was impressed with the combination of energy and experience he brings to our program.”
“There were 28 candidates who applied for the position and Mike clearly stood out above the rest,” Zalar continued. “He is a local product and knows first hand the tradition and expectations our community has for its football program. Success breeds success and Mike has been a winner his entire life.”
A nine member committee interviewed candidates for the job before recommending Donnelly, according to school board member Jeff Ziviski.
“Mike was the committee’s first choice,” he said. “The committee selected those who would receive an interview and four were brought back for a second interview. The second interview is where Mike’s experience and vision stood out.”
Donnelly will also be an assistant administrator for the school district during the two year contract. His annually salary will be $46,000. He lives in the Oregon district and has a bachelors’ degree in chemistry from Wittenberg University.
A 1993 graduate of Clay, Donnelly was previously the offensive coordinator at Central Catholic, where the team went to five playoffs, won two league titles, and won the Division II state championship in 2005. During the last seven years with Donnelly serving as an assistant, Central teams went 61-21.
In addition to the state championship, Central Catholic’s 2005 football team had 22 straight wins between 2005 and 2006.
“We had quite the run,” he said.
At Central Catholic, Donnelly became responsible for the offensive game plan, including position coaches, play calling, and video scouting.
Donnelly said there are only two high schools he wants to coach — Central or Clay.
Zalar said Donnelly is expected to begin assembling his staff and meeting with prospective players immediately.
“The opportunity came open at Clay, to my surprise. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted the chance to run my own program, and follow through on some of the ideas I had for when I played at Clay,” Donnelly said.
“I’m really excited to be at Clay. It’ll be a new challenge. It’s a great opportunity for me and my family. Hopefully, I’ll be able to take some of the success we’ve had at Central Catholic and implement those ideas at Clay.”
“In Mike, Oregon is getting a quality coach,” said Ziviski. “He is a local guy whose dream was to come back and coach his alma mater. He knows how to win and what it takes to win. I am excited to have him join our district. There are some lofty expectations for Mike but I expect him to exceed these expectations and restore the pride that surrounds Clay football. People know the name, he has a good reputation.”
While a player at Clay, Donnelly earned seven varsity letters in football, basketball, and baseball. He went on to play football at NCAA Division III Wittenberg and earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors twice.
After graduating from Wittenberg in 1997, Donnelly stayed on as an assistant coach. He was responsible for wide receivers, assisting with developing the offensive passing game plan, videotaping, and recruiting.
Donnelly inherits a Clay program that has gone 41-40 the past eight seasons under Lee. In 2004, Clay earned its first playoff appearance in school history, losing to the number one state ranked team, Avon Lake, in the first round Division II regional quarterfinal.
Hometown coaches have arrived to save the day
By J. Patrick Eaken
Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com
Clay football fans may finally be getting what they’ve wanted — a homegrown star who can remind them of the day when a coach named Ted Federici ruled the day.
Most longtime Oregon residents remember the late Federici's storied career as the Eagles' head football coach. Federici led the Eagles to 204 wins, 83 losses, and 20 ties from 1950-81.
Federici had six undefeated seasons and won a combined 14 Great Northern Conference and Great Lakes League championships. He was inducted in the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 1982. He was inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
The new Clay coach, Mike Donnelly, may cringe to find himself compared to Federici, but you can bet he would aspire to that goal. After all, Donnelly played football at Clay, even though the legendary coach was not at the helm during his playing days.
Donnelly, a 1993 graduate of Clay, was previously the offensive coordinator for Central Catholic, where the Irish went to five playoffs, won two City League titles, and won the Division II state championship in 2005.
Donnelly, who lives in the Oregon district, has a bachelors’ degree in chemistry from Wittenberg University, where he played football. He replaces Coach Jeff Lee, who resigned several months ago.
Donnelly has said there are only two high schools he wants to coach – Central or Clay. One Oregon Schools’ board member already feels as if the district has made the right decision in hiring Donnelly.
“In Mike, Oregon is getting a quality coach,” said Jeff Ziviski. “He is a local guy whose dream was to come back and coach his alma mater.
“He knows how to win and what it takes to win. I am excited to have him join our district. There are some lofty expectations for Mike, but I expect him to exceed these expectations and restore the pride that surrounds Clay football. People know the name, he has a good reputation.”
But Clay isn’t the only local school who is bringing in homegrown coaching talent to take over a football program that hasn’t quite met with the community’s standards. At Lake, former Flyer lineman Bob Abbey has taken charge 24 years after he played his last football game.
For Abbey, an assistant under Coach Jim Kubuske the last five years and a biology and human physiology teacher at Lake the last eight, his new responsibility is a dream come true.
“When you get into coaching you always dream about someday coaching at your old high school and, fortunately, I’ve been blessed with that chance,” Abbey said.
Abbey was an outright stud during his playing days at Lake from 1980-83. With the program then in the Northern Lakes League, he was a three-time all-league offensive lineman and earned the same honor playing on both lines as a senior. During his career the Flyers were NLL co-champions twice — 1981 and 1983.
He went on to play center in a successful career at Ashland University.
Abbey has since accrued 18 years of assistant coaching experience at various schools with three more as a head coach.
However, Donnelly and Abbey aren’t the only new coaches in town. At Genoa, veteran Mike Vicars arrived from Delta, near his hometown of Liberty Center, where he once played high school and then semi-professional football.
When Vicars took over as head coach of the Delta program eight years ago, the Panthers were barely on the gridiron map, so to speak.
"Previous to the year I got there we were 0-10,” Vicars recalled. “From 1950-99 they had seven winning seasons.”
Delta's football program is now a legitimate playoff contender and back on the map. If Vicars has his way, he'll get Genoa’s program up and running full speed ahead this fall. He brought his two sons, both All-Northwest Ohio Athletic League selections last season (one a returning all-state running back), with him to help achieve that goal.
Vicars, 43, whose hiring was approved by the Genoa School Board on April 17, takes over a program that went 6-24 under Bill Jones the last three years. Genoa hasn't won a Suburban Lakes League title in 13 years.
Winning titles was nothing out of the ordinary for Vicars at Delta. The Panthers won three NWOAL championships, and last year finished 9-2 and lost to Bedford Chanel in the first round of the playoffs.
In this issue are the football previews for 10 area football teams, as written by Press sports editor J. Patrick Eaken and contributors Mark Griffin, Scott Calhoun, and Jeffrey D. Norwalk.
Former Lake gridiron star takes coaching position
By Scott Calhoun
Special to The Press
sports@presspublications.com
Twenty-four years after Bob Abbey played his last football game on the Lake gridiron as a star lineman for the Flyers, he finally comes full circle to take the reins as the Flyers new head coach.
Abbey was suddenly offered the position just after the Fourth of July holiday when it became official that coach Jim Kubuske’s contract would not be renewed.
Kubuske had gone 45-45 in nine seasons at the Flyers’ helm although the Flyers finished 1-9 last season.
“Coach Kubuske previously got the program going in the right direction- there’s no question about that,” Abbey said.
For Abbey, an assistant under Kubuske over the last five years and a biology and human physiology teacher at Lake the last eight, his new responsibility is a dream come true.
“When you get into coaching you always dream about someday coaching at your old high school and, fortunately, I’ve been blessed with that chance,” Abbey said.
Abbey was an outright stud during his playing days at Lake from 1980 to 1983. With the program then in the Northern Lakes League he was a three-time all-league offensive lineman and earned the same honor playing on both lines as a senior. During his career the Flyers were NLL co-champions twice in 1981 and 1983.
He went on to play center in a successful career at Ashland University.
Abbey has since accrued 18 years of assistant coaching experience at various schools with three more as a head coach.
In 1992 he took a job teaching classes and coaching the game at Division V Lewisburg Tri-County North. He spent six seasons as an assistant there before spending three as the Panthers’ head. At the helm of the Dayton area program Abbey built a 13-17 record.
Then he rediscovered his gridiron roots.
“I moved back home eight years ago to become a teacher at Lake and to coach here,” Abbey said.
After four years serving as a line and quarterbacks coach Abbey was the Flyers’ offensive coordinator in 2006. He will man that post this fall while running the whole show.
His task won’t be an easy one.
The Flyers return just nine lettermen from last year’s team and must fill numerous starting positions with players coming up from the junior-varsity squad and beyond.
“What’s good about those nine returning letterman is they all played a lot last year and over the last couple of years,” Abbey said, “so there is some experience out of them.”
Still, Abbey has to essentially build from the ground up. He has all the confidence that the winning ways can be restored in time to a program that hasn’t topped the SLL since 2001.
“We’re just hoping to build on what Coach Kubuske had created,” Abbey said.
“We have good kids that are working their tails off right now, and that’s what we’ve been trying to emphasize. Just keep working hard and good things will happen down the road.”
Getting the offer for the position thrust unto him so close to the start of the season did not make things easier for Abbey.
Not only did he essentially have just over a month to acclimate himself and his players-to-be to the head coaching role before the start of practices, but that same short amount of time to build an assistant coaching staff.
“Getting the job so late in the summer created some challenges for us such as organization and getting a coaching staff pit together,” Abbey said.
He kept his search close to home in hiring all former alumni to help restore a winning tradition into the Flyer program.
Steve Hankish will be the defensive coordinator, Dave Rymers the quarterback coach and cornerbacks coach, Chris Woodbury the running back and outside linebacker coach and Kevin Cassidy the receiver and safeties coach.
“With coaches being new and not having much time to get to know each other or getting to know the kids it has also been a challenge we’ve worked hard to overcome,” Abbey said.
Abbey seems to have a bittersweet situation on his hands. On one he has his dream job, but on the other he has some very high walls to climb over before returning his beloved alma mater’s football team to the glory he once reveled in as a player.
“With the kids we’re talking about working to get better every day and that’s our focus,” said Abbey.
“When we have a practice we want to get better at something during that practice. That’s what we’re after.
“We think that if we can continue to do that and make that a foundation of our program- that we work hard everyday to get better- then the wins will start to take care of themselves.”
Genoa snags one of Northwest Ohio’s top winners
By Mark Griffin
Special to The Press
sports@presspublications.com
When Mike Vicars took over as head coach of the Delta High School
football program eight years ago, the Panthers were barely on the gridiron
map, so to speak.
"Previous to the year I got there we were 0-10,” Vicars recalled. “From
1950-99 they had seven winning seasons.”
Delta's football program is now a legitimate playoff contender and
back on the map. If Vicars has his way, he'll get Genoa’s program
up and running full speed ahead this fall.
Vicars, 43, whose hiring was approved by the Genoa School Board on April 17,
takes over a program that went 6-24 under Bill Jones the last three years.
Genoa hasn't won a Suburban Lakes League title in 13 years.
Winning titles was nothing out of the ordinary for Vicars at Delta. The Panthers
won three Northwest Ohio Athletic League championships; last year they finished
9-2 and lost to Bedford Chanel in the first round of the playoffs.
Before Delta, Vicars, who played football at Patrick Henry, coached at Ada
for six years and at Hilltop for two years. He said he never intended to move
around in coaching circles so often. But when the job opened up at Delta nine
years ago, he couldn't turn it down.
“At the time, we wanted to get a little bit closer to family,” he
said. “Our kids were smaller and we wanted to have more opportunities to
have grandpa and grandma and aunts and uncles involved. My wife (Cecilia) and
I both grew up in (nearby) Liberty Center. It gave us an opportunity to be within
eight miles of family.
“At that time and that point in our lives, we wanted an extended family involved with our family. Out of the blue one day, an opportunity came to come to Delta and we kind of made a quick decision and it happened.”
Vicars and his wife have three boys, ages 20, 17 and 16. He said leaving his Delta football “family” - he was also the school's athletic director - behind for a chance to build new relationships in Genoa was “a terribly hard decision.”
“To make it simple, it was a much easier decision to go to Genoa than it was to leave Delta,” Vicars said. “I have a lot of established time here, a lot of extended family. When you talk about, why go to Genoa, there are a couple of different reasons.
“One is I wanted to get back to working with kids on a daily basis. I wanted to slow life down a little bit. As an athletic director, you're working a lot of 12- and 14-hour days. The other thing was, when I inquired about the ( Genoa) job I had no idea where it would go. I kind of put it in God's hands.”
Nice Fit
Genoa Athletic Director Rick Briggle called Vicars a nice fit for the Comets.
“Coach Vicars, first and foremost, is a family person who not only talks the talk but also walks the walk,” Briggle said. “His decision to leave Delta was made very difficult because of his wife's ties to the community and his kids' wishes to graduate with their friends. Coach Vicars believes in his faith and in his players. He remains humble, despite the many successes he has had.
“Coach Vicars, simply put, is truly an excellent fit for our kids, community and staff. He is a man of character, humility and personality.”
Briggle added that Jones’ contract was not renewed for 2007 “when it became very likely a position on the teaching staff would be available in 2007.”
Jones was never a full-time employee of Genoa Area Schools during his three years as the Comets’ coach.
“We were in agreement that if an opportunity presented itself to fill such a vacancy with a
teacher/football coach, it would be the proper direction to take academically and athletically,” Briggle said. “Difficult financial times prevented this from occurring when coach Jones was hired in 2004.”
Vicars said he was impressed with the Genoa administration and the
school's athletic facilities.
“Most of all, from the research I did, I was most impressed with their
community and their kids,” he said. “I really liked what I saw. My
wife and I spent a lot of time there driving around, going from community to
community. The statistics of how well they do on their test scores, Genoa has
a very high percentage of students in extracurriculars.
“All of those things add up to a well-rounded community that we as a family were interested in.”
Vicars said he has 10 years of experience working with students who
are struggling academically or with other assorted problems. He said
and opportunity to get back into that type of teaching - and to be
closer to Genoa's student body in general ˆ helped seal the deal.
“One of the reasons I took the job was to get closer to those kids,” he
said. “At Delta
I was the athletic director and was pretty out of touch with kids. Me and my
computer knew each other pretty well. I'm looking forward to getting the opportunity
to work with kids on a much closer basis. I got into being a teacher because
I want to spend time with kids. Genoa is giving me that opportunity.”
Vicars is aware that he is now the Comets' third football coach in five years, but he looks forward to quickly building a bond with his new program and new school.
“They've had a lot of coaches,” Vicars said. “We're going to have to build some relationships and trust. I've moved around a little - I never thought I would leave Hilltop. I'm hoping to come in and bring some stability and finish it out, whether that's 10 or 20 years.
“Things happen with people in our job. We just want to try to go in and build some relationships and trust and love and hopefully do some good things.”
- BUSINESS DIRECTORY
- COMMUNITY RESOURCE
