“Fall can’t get here fast enough!” said Pat O’Brien, Montezuma High School’s new head football coach.
“But there is some stuff to do first,” he said. “We’re going to be putting in some different defenses . . .attacking defenses,” he said.
“The emphasis will be on safety in technique,” he said, “and to some who like the traditional style of tackling, it might take some getting used to.”
Montezuma stayed in-house for its new coach, who is taking over after Tyler Baethke resigned after this past season. He was appointed at the December school board meeting.
O’Brien, 27, was an assistant on Baethke’s staff this fall.
The new head man said he hasn’t been discouraged by recent lower numbers in Montezuma football.
“We could have 36 kids out this fall, and that’s good for an eight-man program,” O’Brien said.
Lack of physical size as regards offensive linemen?
“It’s all about leverage and technique, a low base and balance,” he said.
On defense, the new tackling style won’t involve the head,” O’Brien said.
“It’s more of a rugby style of tackling.”
He said he wants his down linemen to be involved with the school’s wrestling program, where, he said, they can learn tons about leverage.
If you see a Williamsburg look to the Braves, don’t be surprised. O’Brien said he learned much from Raiders coach Curt Ritchie and his staff. “I love those guys,” he said.
“Really, I learned how little I really knew about this sport!” he laughed.
O’Brien coached linebackers four years while with the Raiders.
The new coach is a special education teacher for kids up to eighth grade in the Montezuma district. He’s in his first full school year here.
O’Brien also was head junior high football coach at English Valleys for a year.
The coach is a 2009 Williamsburg High graduate. He played a year at William Penn and a year at Central College, “but then I hung up my cleats after I found out my wife, Kenya, and I were expecting.”
“Now, we have three beautiful kids, Addysen, John Eamon and Acen,” he said.
O’Brien said he’s in pursuit of his Masters degree, online, from Western Governor’s University in Salt Lake City.
O’Brien has been to a clinic in Michigan which featured the coaching Harbaugh family. He was impressed there by the emphasis “on the need to be a good father and husband.”
He also was impressed by the need for culture-building. “You’re building men for others,” he said. “Players need to develop the mindset of pushing themselves,” O’Brien said.
He said Montezuma activities director Tim Burgess and his wife, Janel – two more who advocate culture building – have mentored him.
O’Brien hasn’t completed his Montezuma football coaching staff. He said John Beck will be on the staff, Josh Kriegel and Partner Maschmann will return, as will junior high coach Josh Anderson. “Meanwhile, I’m talking to other staff members,” he said.
And, he’s talking to potential players. It’s about that all-important culture building.