New era begins for local football teams

By Jason Wesseldyk

Otsego coach John Kubiak offers words of encouragement and instruction during the first day of football practice. After a nine-year stint with Martin, Kubiak is entering is first season in charge of the Bulldogs. (Photo by Jason Wesseldyk)

Sports Editor

Monday, Aug. 6.

That’s the day that high school football coaches throughout the state have had circled on their calendars for months.

Why? Because that’s the first day teams can, under Michigan High School Athletic Association guidelines, conduct their first official practice of the season.

It’s a day full of optimism, one of new beginnings as coaches look to gear their teams for what they hope to be a success 2007 gridiron season.

And for a trio of Allegan County coaches, it wasn’t just the beginning to a new season, but also the beginning of their head-coaching tenure with their teams.

Martin’s Tim Heath, Otsego’s John Kubiak and Plainwell’s Mike Harper are all entering their first season at the helm of their programs.

“The first day of practice is also an exciting time,” Kubiak said. “The kids are anxious to get going and the coaches are anxious to get going. The fact that I’m in my first year with Otsego just adds to that feeling.”

The day was especially memorable for Heath, who is getting his first shot as a varsity head coach after spending the last six years as an assistant coach with Martin, including the past four seasons as the defensive coordinator.

“It was a good first day,” Heath said. “To be honest, it felt a lot like being an assistant, only there were more things to worry about. Whereas in the past I would worry about the defense, now I’m worrying about everything, like who’s going to be the starting JV running back. I have to concern myself with the entire program now.”

Fortunately for Heath, he’s surrounded by a solid staff.

Of his 11 assistant coaches, four are holdovers from last year, while three others—Zach Hettinger, Tom Schaafsma and Keith Snyder—are former Clippers players.

First-year Martin coach Tim Heath keeps a watchful eye on his players as they stretch during the first day of practice Monday, Aug. 6. (Photo by Jason Wesseldyk)

“I have a great, knowledgeable staff,” Heath said. “Between the holdovers and the past players, most of them know the system, which makes things a lot easier. Plus when I’m pulled away by administrative duties, I know I can trust these guys to run the show.”

A year ago, Kubiak was running the show in Martin. But after nine seasons with the Clippers—including four playoff berths in the past six seasons—he decided it was time for a change and chose to accept the job at Otsego.

“The first day was kind of a feeling-out process,” Kubiak said. “The kids are trying to learn what I expect from them and the way things are going to be done around here, and I’m trying to learn the kids we have on this team.

“Overall I was pretty satisfied. It was a great day by any means, but it wasn’t terrible, either.”

Coming off two straight winless seasons and entering the season with a 26-game losing skid, Kubiak said changing the players’ mentality is a key.

“These kids haven’t done a lot of winning in recent years, so we—my staff and I—need to get them to be mentally prepared to win. There’s a lot of excitement from the community with the new facilities and everything, and we need to channel some of that excitement to our players.”

Like Kubiak, Harper comes to Plainwell with previous varsity head-coaching experience, having had a two-year stint with Kalamazoo Christian. And like Kubiak, he’s trying to implement the same things that made in successful with former teams.

“The kids are pumped up, and that’s great to see,” said Harper, who led Christian to a 9-0 regular season last year. “We’ve told them we’re going to open things up on offense, and they’re very receptive to that.”

At the same time, Harper is aware that change can take time.

“We told the kids that there’s going to be an adjustment period,” Harper said. “It might take days, weeks or even months. All I ask during that time is that the kids work hard. I believe you play like you practice, so we practice hard every day, and the kids need to get used to that.”

And for at least the first day, Harper said his charges responded just as he wanted them to.

“The kids have a great work ethic,” he said. ”That’s not to say there’s not things to work on, because there are. But I told them I’m never going to give up on them, so they can’t give up on me. We’ll keep working together until we can put out a product every Friday night that we can be proud of.”

Martin, Otsego and Plainwell all open their seasons Friday, Aug. 24. The Clippers and the Trojans will be at home hosting Wyoming Lee and Paw Paw, respectively, while the Bulldogs are on the road at Gull Lake.