As happens in sports there is coach turn over and that is no exception in high school sports.
New Boston Huron
New Boston Huron has a new coach manning the sideline, and that is Hall of Fame and former Allen Park Jaguar head coach Tom Hoover. Hoover retired from coaching Allen Park in 2015 due to health issues. Coming back after that Hoover said, “My health was doing well, and I was struggling with the Covid sit at home restrictions,” that was only part of it though. After he retired Hoover wanted to take up things like golf in the summer, but as he said “I never did the amount of activities I thought I would in the summer.”
Hoover spent 21 years as the head man at Allen Park, and the last six years of his coaching career in the Downriver League so coming to a new school and a new league will be challenging right? Well according to Hoover there are a lot of similarities with both Allen Park and New Boston saying “You might see some Allen Park methods on Friday nights but we are mainly going to feature the players we have,” Hoover went on to say the new league is bringing him a lot of excitement.
After being gone from the sidelines for so long Hoover said he was looking forward to building new relationships with the players and the friendships with the coaches is what he said he missed the most from the sidelines. In the end, Hoover added the competition on Friday nights is an excitement like nothing else he’s found saying “I appreciate the opportunity.”
Southgate Anderson
Southgate Anderson went to rival Allen Park and hired their defensive coordinator Bobby Martin to be the next head coach. Martin had been on the Jaguars staff since 2015 so he knows first hand what this rivalry is all about, but as he said “That game is week nine for us,” he continued “We are a long way away from worrying about them.”
Martin is a first time head coach and he isn’t coming in trying to change everything overnight, but he did say that they are going to go day by day. To get where Martin wants to be it’s going to take hard work, and as he said “We need to focus ourselves on getting stronger, and becoming a better football team.”
Knowing how the league is doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be easy as Martin said “It’s a very competitive league,” he added that outside of the top three teams in the league “everyone is improving each year.” Martin’s goals for this year he said is to be more competitive, and to be in more games this season.
Carlson Marauders
After a 9-2 record and a share of the Downriver League title Carlson will have a new Head coach for the third time in three football seasons, former coach Landon Grove left and got a job as the head coach of powerhouse Grand Rapids West Catholic, and now the team will look to former Wide Receivers/ Defensivebacks Coach Jason Gendron to patrol the sidelines as the new head man in charge, and the players are excited. Sophomore Quarterback Chrisitan Copley said “I’m extremely excited to work with coach Jay,” Copley continued by saying “I’ve been with him since my Freshman year, and he’s the best guy for it.” That excitement is a reflection of the coach as Gendron said “I’m honored and excited to lead this group of young men,” he went on to say that there’s going to be a great deal of continuity coming back with our staff and players.
Being a first-time head coach Gendron said that they are going to do things the right way and that he is going to lead by example. Gendron also talked about not wanting to change much from last year saying “We are looking to stay the course and build on what we established last season,” that’s a big thing for Gendron is the continuity. As he put it “Our core values are centered around the Team, not one coach or player.”
Gendron said that his team is going to be physically and mentally tough, along with being prepared in all phases of the game. Gendron finished by saying “We’ll play for each other with accountability and compete with discipline and a desire to be champions.”