Spring Break
WNMU Football: A Rest Stop for Coaching
Eric Boyles
Issue date: 2/12/04 Section: Opinion
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When you think of Western football, what comes to mind? Some people would say, "A struggling program." Others would say, "A program trying to win," while I'm sure others have worse things to say. But having played under head coach Charley Wade for two years, I would say "A program lacking leadership."
Western football just lost its 10th coach in a span of two years, when Assistant head Coach, Ken Foresch decided to leave for Sacramento State University (Coach Tim Skipper left Western to coach at SSU a year earlier). Foresch, after only three years here at WNMU, decided to call it quits. For all three years Foresch coached the offensive line, and during his last year was assistant coach. This doesn't happen that often, and yet Western still couldn't get him to stay.
One constant that holds true in football is that a team is built around the leadership of the coaching staff, and if you look at all of the great programs in history, they are centered around this concept. For example, if you look at Penn State University football, their program is built around Joe Paterno, who has been the head coach for an ungodly amount of years. Or see the recent Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots: their fearless leader Bill Belichick is the foundation of their success.
I am not saying that Western football doesn't have good leadership; I am saying that they lose good leadership when they find it. In my two year span here as a Western New Mexico University Mustang, I saw a total of 10 or more coaches come and go. That cannot be good for a program trying to get back on the winning track. Players need know that their coach is going to be there to lead them on, and if they are worrying about their coach moving on has an affect on morale.
Historically speaking, like any profession, coaching has a ladder of succession. It starts out at the high school level, with the NFL being the ultimate goal. It is very rare to become a coach in the NFL, so in all reality, coaching at the NCAA level is a great accomplishment for any coach, and a career can be made at even the Division II level of the NCAA. With that in mind, if you look at the ladder of succession, which goes from high school, to junior college, to the NCAA, and then to the NFL, the transitional stage for most coaches would be at the junior college level.
Western football just lost its 10th coach in a span of two years, when Assistant head Coach, Ken Foresch decided to leave for Sacramento State University (Coach Tim Skipper left Western to coach at SSU a year earlier). Foresch, after only three years here at WNMU, decided to call it quits. For all three years Foresch coached the offensive line, and during his last year was assistant coach. This doesn't happen that often, and yet Western still couldn't get him to stay.
One constant that holds true in football is that a team is built around the leadership of the coaching staff, and if you look at all of the great programs in history, they are centered around this concept. For example, if you look at Penn State University football, their program is built around Joe Paterno, who has been the head coach for an ungodly amount of years. Or see the recent Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots: their fearless leader Bill Belichick is the foundation of their success.
I am not saying that Western football doesn't have good leadership; I am saying that they lose good leadership when they find it. In my two year span here as a Western New Mexico University Mustang, I saw a total of 10 or more coaches come and go. That cannot be good for a program trying to get back on the winning track. Players need know that their coach is going to be there to lead them on, and if they are worrying about their coach moving on has an affect on morale.
Historically speaking, like any profession, coaching has a ladder of succession. It starts out at the high school level, with the NFL being the ultimate goal. It is very rare to become a coach in the NFL, so in all reality, coaching at the NCAA level is a great accomplishment for any coach, and a career can be made at even the Division II level of the NCAA. With that in mind, if you look at the ladder of succession, which goes from high school, to junior college, to the NCAA, and then to the NFL, the transitional stage for most coaches would be at the junior college level.
