Published: May 21, 2014
West finally has its football coach
Spartans land versatile leader
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
All the paperwork is done. All the reshuffling of the school
district is done. West Bend West can finally release the name of its varsity
football coach.
The school announced Tuesday it has hired Jeff Richardson to
lead the Spartans.
“We’re extremely excited,” West Athletic Director Scott
Stier said. “He brings experience on both sides of the ball. He’s very well-versed;
played college football at Drake University.”
“It was important to (the search committee) all (applicants)
had extensive experience, with minimum varsity coordinator experience, if not
head coaching experience,” he added. “The other thing we kept talking about is
the offseason weightlifting program. Jeff has a history of developing kids.”
Richardson replaces Aaron Paulin, who led the Spartans for
five seasons, going 16-31. He led the team to the playoffs in each of his first
two seasons, but the Spartans followed that up with a winless 2011 season.
“Offensively, we’ll be disciplined,” Richardson said. “We’re
going to move the ball on offense and put up a lot of points. Defensively,
we’ll be tough up front and play discipline.”
Richardson spent three years coaching football and teaching
at Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, Virginia, from 2004-07. Richardson is a
native of Audubon, Iowa, and he moved to teach and coach at West Liberty (Iowa)
High School from 2007-13. While at West Liberty, Richardson was the football
team’s defensive coordinator.
Richardson has lectured at coaching clinics, developed and
supervised off-season conditioning programs, and helped lead West Liberty to
the playoffs the last four seasons.
“One of the big things was fundamentals and discipline, a
toughnosed work ethic is what we instilled in players and had some fun, enjoy
being out there,” Richardson said.
He will become a science teacher at West. Plus, he also
brings coaching experience in wrestling and track and field.
“I’m really excited,” Richardson said. “I’m looking forward
to the opportunity. I’m really excited to get the ball rolling.”
Richardson will arrive in West Bend early next month and, at
that time, he will quickly proceed to prepare for the 2014 season. Football
practice begins Aug. 5.
“Right now as late as it is, we have to move quickly as
possible, gather a staff and get into the weight room,” Richardson said.
Going into next season, both West and West Bend East will
have new football coaches. East’s Athletic Director Jeff Rondorf will resign
effective June 30 to become the Suns’ football coach. That move was announced
in January.
Last week, West Bend high schools Principal Jim Curler said
the reason the West search took this long was because of the reshuffling going
on in the district. With Badger and Silverbrook middle schools being split, and
Barton Elementary closing, it was harder to find a vacancy for Richardson.
With Rondorf, the district already knew of a vacancy where
Rondorf was licensed to teach.
“We’d love to have the person in place in January, but you
have to identify the very best person you can get,” Stier said. “I’m very
pleased with the process. You want to be as thorough as possible.”
“I think there’s a thirst for success in football in West
Bend,” he added. “I’m excited to see what Jeff can do.”
No comments:
Post a Comment