Football: Is your coach old school or new school?
There are 11 Wichita-area football teams playing in the quarterfinals on Friday and Saturday with coaches ranging in age from 32 to 60. While fans see them on Fridays, way down there on the sideline, the players are really the only people who know what their coaches are like.
The Eagle asked one player from each area playoff team to characterize his coach as old school, new school or a blend of the two.
An old-school coach is usually someone who relies heavily on a running offense. His focus with his players is likely going to be football only without straying into their personal lives or connecting with them through pop culture.
A new-school coach is one who is probably running a pass-heavy offense like the spread, while making Friday games also about the atmosphere surrounding the game. He is able to connect with his players beyond the game and utilizes technology.
A fascinating result? Age doesn’t mean much.
Tom Audley, 54, Andover Central
96-46 in 14 seasons, 13 playoff appearances
Abilene (9-1) at Andover Central (8-2)
Player: Senior Grant Schoonover
Type: Old school
Old school: “We want to talk about trick plays, and he’s totally against this. He doesn’t really like the flashy parts of uniforms. It took us until last year to be able to wear socks with logos on them. At practice, it’s get down to business and get your work done. Outside of practice, he’s pretty much the same way. We had a senior float trip before the season started. It was kind of weird to see him being funny and stuff.”
New school: Nothing
Brandon Clark, 36, Derby
77-35 in 10 seasons, one state title, eight playoff appearances
Derby (9-1) at Junction City (10-0)
Player: Junior Kenyon Tabor
Type: New school
Old school: “We’re not allowed to wear all that extra stuff. Say during breast cancer awareness month, we’re not allowed to wear team socks but we do something small, like a wrist band. We can’t wear sleeves, but he gave us team sleeves that were green.”
New school: “He really likes to keep us involved with the community.… On game-day lifting, he has newer music. He asks us what kind of music we like. He knows about (rappers) Drake, Future, Meek Mill, Chief Keef.… He tries to keep us up-to-date and in the nicest, safest and best-looking gear. We have white helmets; I’m not sure many schools have multiple helmets. We have four jerseys and we have camouflage pants that are brand new.”
Mike Gehrer, 60, Collegiate
156-36 in 19 seasons, two state titles, 14 playoff appearances
Norton (9-2) at Collegiate (11-0)
Player: Senior Jack Larsen
Type: Blend
Old school: “When we’re running a play and we’re not getting it and have to keep going over it, the coaches will say, ‘it’s not Earth Science.’ No one knows what they mean. Then all the coaches laugh about it.… When he talks about someone that’s good at football, he calls them a ‘bad mamajama.’ ”
New school: “He’s far from old school with all the pregame stuff we have at home games. All the stuff he tries to do with the entire school, getting them involved.… When we’re warming up before practice, he’s out there throwing the football with whoever. He throws a really good football.”
Jason Grider, 40, Halstead
21-3 in second season, two playoff appearances
Hoisington (11-0) at Halstead (11-0)
Player: Senior Eli McKee
Type: Old school
Old school: “It’s not just the offense (double-dive, I-formation) he runs, which he’s been doing for ever. It’s the next man-up mentality. If someone gets hurt, it’s the next man up because we’re all one unit. In practice, every week I know what Monday will be like, what Tuesday will be like, what Wednesday will be like. He’s a big quote guy. He’ll have quotes before every practice. Sometimes we’re like, ‘where did he get that from?” In weights he always plays music. It’s always old, 80s music. We give him crap for that.”
New school: “He’s a player’s coach. He’s a big-time jokester.… We have a routine after every game we win and he comes in to the locker room and says, ‘how about them Dragons!’ and everybody goes crazy.”
Terry Harrison, 32, Heights
22-10 in three seasons, three playoff appearances
Carroll (9-1) at Heights (7-3)
Player: Senior Creighton Sanders
Type: Blend
Old school: “It’s an offense (flexbone) that’s from back in the day, where you find a hole, run through it. We make it work and score points. It’s old but it still works.”
New school: “We listen to the radio in weights, usually 93.5 or 96.3. He’s cool off the field and on the field. He’s like another mentor, but he’s talking, joking. It’s not just, ‘hey, I’m your coach,’ and we only talk straight football.”
Marc Marinelli, 34, Eisenhower
10-18 in three seasons, 1 playoff appearance
Eisenhower (6-4) at Maize South (8-2)
Type: Blend
Senior Jarin Hanika
Old school: “It’s just the way we practice. I think he got it mostly from when he was at Andale. The guy has everything timed perfectly to where if we’re not going at a certain time to another drill, he goes nuts.… We want to be perfect, so we work harder, and that’s when the old school comes out.”
“His music is definitely not new school. He’s all about that Wu-Tang (Clan). He’s usually playing hip-hop from the 90s. Some of the stuff he plays in the weight room, you don’t even know what song it is.”
New school: “It’s his personality, and he’s always joking around with us. He relates to us more. He’s up-to-date with everything that goes on in school and on Twitter. He tweets a lot.
Steve Martin, 34, Northwest
28-12 in four seasons, four playoff appearances
Free State (7-3) at Northwest (10-0)
Player: Senior Branden Ho
Type: New school
Old school: Nothing.
New school: “He’s a new school coach and he recruits coaches who have the same views. They talk us through things instead of yelling at us. It has helped develop us as a team and come together as a family.… He’s changed our offense around with the speed tempo and the spread offense.… He’s really big with the technology on the sideline. We have TVs to review plays. He has an app that he developed himself to help us communicate.… In the weight room, he has a lifting system where each person is assigned a band, so you do the workout highlighted with the color and he can track what we’re doing.”
Gary O’Hair, 57, Andale
141-27 in 14 seasons, three state titles, 14 playoff appearances
Andale (8-2) at Hugoton (5-5)
Player: Senior Mark Hageman
Type: Old school
Old school: “Look at the offense we run. Robust is just good old smashmouth football. Instead of running the spread like college or NFL teams, we’re playing just hard-nosed football. It’s the way it used to be. He’s sticking to that route. Look at his record: he has some success with the robust offense.… The level of respect for him is through the roof. He’s an all-around great guy. If you hear someone trying to bad mouth him, you tell them to knock it off.”
New school: “He lets us wear shorts to practice every day. We used to wear pads every day.… (O’Hair uses) the echo system, an electronic device that films the play and sends it directly to an iPad to one of the coaches down on the field.”
Brent Pfeifer, 42, Maize South
44-26 in seven seasons, six playoff appearances
Eisenhower (6-4) at Maize South (8-2)
Player: Senior Max Kubik
Type: New school
Old school: “We’re more of a defensive-oriented team. Typically he puts a lot of our better athletes on the defensive side, and our team has been all about holding teams from scoring.”
New school: “He’s new school because he’s more in touch with the kids. He knows more of what’s in and now. He knows our music, like Drake.… He’s on Twitter, and I think that makes him kind of a new school guy. On Thursday nights, he’ll set a Twitter curfew so we get to bed on time. He follows all of us on Twitter.”
Alan Schuckman, 51, Carroll
184-42 in 21 seasons, two state titles, 14 playoff appearances
Carroll (9-1) at Heights (7-3)
Player: Senior Noah Johnson
Type: Blend
Old school: “He brings that toughness and physicality to our team. He’s old school with how he disciplines us and with the traditions he pushes. If someone says a cuss word, we’re running. If someone’s jacking around in school and messing with a teacher, we’re running. If we don’t keep our lunch room clean when we’re watching film, we’re running.”
New school: “He’s new school with our offense. He’s running the spread offense, and he’s always with the times, looking for any advantage, like modern football developments.”
Steve Warner, 54, Buhler
97-23 in 10 seasons, one state title, 10 playoff appearances
Buhler (10-0) at Topeka Hayden (9-1)
Player: Senior Dillon Engelland
Type: Blend
Old school: “He’ll quote some songs and everybody will be silent. ‘Oh, you guys are too young to understand that.’… He’s always been an I-formation guy. If we need yards or things aren’t working out, we go back to the I. We can run the old school stuff.”
New school: “He’s open about anything. He knows we’re in a different generation and the songs we listen to are not anywhere near the same as his. He understands our quirks, and he’s not too harsh on controlling our lives outside of football.… With the personnel we have, with (quarterback) Jace (Williams), we’ve been able to put in a lot of different formations that incorporate the shot gun and that uses all of our athletic ability.”
Joanna Chadwick: 316-268-6270, @joannachadwick
This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Football: Is your coach old school or new school?."