Where are you from?

Originally, I grew up in Muskegon. Went to Muskegon Catholic Central, graduated from there a long time ago, class of ‘91. Went to Grand Valley, graduated from there and then moved to Grand Rapids and then spent the past 10 years down in Georgia.

What’s your favorite thing about living in West Michigan?

I think you get a little bit of everything. I’ve been, past 10 years, I’ve experienced three seasons; so here there is obviously four seasons. Five if you count construction. But, family and west michigan especially you got a little bit of everything.

What’s the hardest adjustment as a new teacher and coach in Grand Haven?

Well one, the fact my family is not here with me. They’re still down in Georgia ‘till spring unless something, if we catch lightning in a bottle, that’s the toughest thing not having them here. Outside of that just getting acclimated. It’s busy for me now with football and you know teaching a class that I’ve taught for years, but you know- new system, new text and all that, just staying ahead of it.

What sets you apart from other teachers in the way you teach?

Honestly, I teach to my personality. I think you got to be real with kids and set clear expectations. It’s been awhile since I’ve taught all freshmen; so that’s a change.

Do you try to connect more with the kids?

I think you have to. You know, with the sake of time, you have to make yourself available, you have to be genuine. Obviously, they need to know that and I always tell my students day one that the week one stuff is to show that we are in this together. I’m not up here just to dictate things at you. You need to know this stuff and I’m here to help facilitate your learning.

What is your biggest weakness?

I have a hard time delegating when it comes to things that I have to do, with the football program and wanting to do things, brought up with the mentality that if you want to do something right, do it yourself. Ultimately trusting in people and delegating certain tasks.

How do you plan to increase participation in the football program?

Ultimately, we want our focus is to have multiple sport athletes. You can’t drag kids out on the football field. It’s difficult, it’s not an easy thing- the time that’s involved and the commitment level, really it’s not for everyone. One, kids have to be open to the fact to want to participate. We don’t look at it just in terms of being involved, we look at it as a full commitment and I think that’s part of it. For the larger picture, when you look at athletics here in Grand Haven, all of us need to be on the same page, being able to encourage kids to participate. It’s tough, there are a lot of other things, when you have over 30 sports, kids are pulled in all different directions. Football is one of the tougher ones. I think it’s a matter of us, with winning a cure-all, when you win, people want to be involved and so our goal is to look and say ‘Hey, we need people who want to be game-changers and to resurrect the program, getting us where we want to be.’ The struggle this year with not having the JV and my understanding is that is the same across the board; that this sophomore class are just not participating in sports. If that’s the case, then we’ll look to the next group. We‘d like to have them come out, there are some that should be playing that aren’t. We aren’t going to force people to do that. They gotta want to be involved, do things the right way and get better.