We hear the expression all the time.
“These kids today don’t understand…”
It mostly comes from our older generation. There have been a lot of changes in the game of football and the coaching profession over the years. Sometimes change is good and sometimes the old ways of doing things are still the best.
I thought to start this football season I would ask some of the old guard what they think of the coaching profession currently. I sat down with Tim Martone, Ernie Bojrab, Dean Doerffler and Dale Doerffler, some of the area’s most well-known former head coaches, and asked them what they think of the game of football and coaching in 2024.
What do you think is the biggest change in high school football you have seen in the last couple of years?
Tim Martone (Former Northrop head coach, current Leo QB coach and former assistant at Northrop, Concordia, North Side, and South Side)
- “ The game is much more open now. The spread has been the biggest thing offensively. Defensively, when we started everyone ran some form of five-front. You rarely see that type of defense anymore, so schematically that has been the biggest difference I’ve seen.”
Dean Doerffler (Former Northrop and Concordia head coach, current Leo OL coach)
- “Football hasn’t changed that much. Fundamental football is still what wins football games. Blocking and tackling are still the most important things. When you think about it, the stuff that we did early like triple option is still there, it’s just now put in more of a spread out formation. It goes in circles. I would venture to say in the next couple of years you’ll see someone running a wishbone again.”
Dale Doreffler (Former North Side HC)
- “ When I was head coach I wanted to be double tight, have a great back and run power left and right. I still think running the football is important, but the game has changed in how you do it.”
Ernie Bjorab (Former Northrop and Bishop Dwenger head coach)
- “I don’t think the game has changed at all. You just see things recycled year to year”.
Area head coaches say that one of the most difficult things is finding good assistants. Why do you think it’s so difficult to find good assistants for programs in the area?
Dean Doerffler
- “Well it’s not just football, it’s every sport. One of the biggest things is there’s not that many people going into education in general anymore. When we were growing up, to stay close to sports you would go become a teacher and then you would be able to coach sports. You just don’t see that anymore.”
Dale Doerffler
- “If you want to coach, you need a job that ends at 3 p.m. You’re not going to find many jobs like that, except for being a teacher. So that’s the first hurdle. When I was first named head coach, it was me and four assistants and that was enough. In today’s football, you need so many more people.”
Ernie Bojrab
- “Our Culture has changed and people don’t really have the desire to invest in a program anymore.”
Tim Martone
- “Coaching takes a lot of time and commitment and a lot of people don’t really want to do that anymore.”
Dale Doerffler
- “No, they don’t want to commit the time to do it right!”
Fort Wayne coaches seem to have a strong bond with each other even though they may be opponents on the field. Why do you think the coaches in Fort Wayne share a strong connection?
Dale Doerffler
- “ I think we did a lot of things outside of football. Playing Sunday basketball and other things.”
Dean Doerffler
- “ I think it’s a school thing. Snider, Northrop and North Side all were close to each other so we shared common experiences. I would not say we had connections to Elmhurst or South Side’s staffs.”
Ernie Bojrab
- “I’d like to think all of us who have coached in the past were in the business for the right reasons, meaning that all us wanted to better young men in the game of football. So that transitions to our personal lives as well.”
Tim Martone
- “ I think the biggest bond is when former players come up to us a lunch or wherever.”
What is a moment in your coaching career that you keep replaying in your head? What is the moment, good or bad, that you can’t forget about?
Dale Doerffler
- “ The one thing I keep going back to is that I did not take time to enjoy the wins we had. I was focused more on the next opponent. I didn’t take time to celebrate what we accomplished. I also think about 1980. We played Bishop Luers, both teams were 9-0 and I feel that we did not do the things we needed to do (in a 8-6 loss). So I go back to that again and again.”
Ernie Bojrab
- “There is no question that the moments for me are the past players that I have come up to me and thanking me. Those are the moments I keep going back to.”
Dean Doerffler
- “The moment for me is when I look back taking over at Concordia and turning that program into a successful program. Concordia will always be smaller than most teams that they play and we were able to make a very competitive team for many years and I think I’m very proud of that. And I think back on all the good that we did with those teams.”
Tim Martone
- “ I agree with Dean. The fact that we were able to turn Concordia into a consistent winner was a very proud moment for me.”
Ben Martone
- “ Dale mentioned a specific game. Do the three of you have a specific game that you continue to go back to?”
Ernie Bojrab
- “For me, there’s no question the 2015 state championship that we were able to win and I was the interim head coach meant a lot to me and the Bishop Dwenger program. Knowing that we were playing for (Coach Chris Svarczkopf, who was ill and had to step aside for the season), that was a really special moment for me.”
Dean Doerffler
- “In 2006 at Concordia, we played Snider the first game of the year and we were able to win (21-17). That was something special to me, because that was something we were working towards at Concordia for years and to see it finally come to fruition was special.”
Tim Martone
- “There are games that stick out very vividly in my mind. The first was winning the regional championship back Concordia against South Bend St Joe (in 2002). To me, that was the best I’ve ever seen a team execute both offensively and defensively. The second one for me is in 2002 as well when we played a very good Northrop team and were able to win in overtime. That game was big for Dean and myself just with our relationships with that program.”
I’ve talked to those guys for hours. The four of them, plus former Snider head coach and current assistant Russ Isaacs, often meet for lunch at least once a week. I have had the pleasure of sitting in on a few of those meetings and the stories that those men tell never get old.
What they said in their answers is so true. Football hasn’t changed much, but the thing that maybe has been lost in this social media era is the relationships coaches and players have. Many times at these lunches, someone will stop at the table and talk to them, asking if they remember them playing in days long past. Those interactions mean a lot to these men.
As we get ready for a great high school football season, my Hope Is that coaches take time this year and build those relationships with their players. The relationships they foster will be life-long memories for both the players and the coaches. And I am sure those memories will be talked about at weekly lunch meetings for years to come.
Coach‘s Corner appears weekly at Outside the Huddle. The author Ben Martone played football in the SAC and has coached at North Side and Northrop. He is currently a teacher at Weisser Park Elementary in Fort Wayne Community Schools.
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