Phil Jensen knows how tough it is to get a first job in the football coaching profession. He also knows how important that first step is. And so he wanted to return the favor to the man who gave him his start.

But someone beat him to it.

Former Wawasee High School head coach Myron Dickerson was set to come on board the Warsaw Community High School football coaching as a volunteer assistant and scout. But just before practice was to start this week, Dickerson received another offer. An opportunity he could not pass up.

So instead of Dickerson making his return to coaching for the Tigers, he will be on the staff at the University of Missouri at Rolla as the defensive secondary coach.

"This came along, and it was considerably more lucrative, especially since I was going to be a volunteer coach at Warsaw," Dickerson said.

"It is a nice opportunity for me," he said. "I am always going to be grateful to Phil Jensen, Dr. (Lee) Harman and the school board for at least giving me the opportunity to work with young people again and that (coaching) staff."

When Dickerson was the head coach at Wawasee High School, he gave Jensen the defensive coordinator position in 1988. Jensen would stay for a year before becoming an assistant and eventually the head coach at Churubusco High School.

Dickerson, who spent a decade at Wawasee and then three years as the head coach at LaPorte, ran into some trouble with the law after an altercation with an ex-girlfriend. The trouble cost him three years incarcerated at the Indiana Youth Center in Plainfield.

"There are certain barriers that I am going to face the rest of my life," Dickerson said. "I am going to clear a lot of hurdles, although there will be some hurdles that I won't be able to make. It doesn't mean I won't try to jump.

"I don't go through the back door," he said. "It is an issue that I confront everyday. It happened. I can sit back and rationalize it, but it was some bad choices on my part, and I have paid my debt completely. I am going to move forward, and everything connected with that is behind me."

Since his release in 1996, Dickerson had positions at the United States Golf Academy in Plymouth, Youth For Christ and the Goshen Parks and Recreation Department. But now Dickerson is getting his chance to get back into coaching football.

"Getting back into coaching is something I am working toward," he said. "I am climbing that mountain. I may never get up to smell the roses, but I am certainly going to get a look at them. That drive is with me more than ever. I love the game. I think it is God's gift to mankind. I can't think of a better team sport than football. I am very excited about getting into football again."

Dickerson, 54, has experience coaching high school football at five different schools, dating back to 1967. He doesn't see the transition to college ball being that difficult for him.

"There will always be a minor adjustment, no matter what position you take," Dickerson said. "I was coach of college all-stars, so I have dealt with that level of athlete before. With the SAT scores here, you are going to deal with young men who should be able to adjust and learn quickly. I am going to have to step things up a notch."

Missouri-Rolla has an average SAT of around 1380 and was second in the nation to Georgia Tech two years ago.

"The school has a very high academic rating," Dickerson said. "It is an engineering school. I have a strong desire to coach again, and this will give me that opportunity."

Jensen wanted to help Dickerson ease back into the coaching ranks a year ago, but because of Dickerson's past the WCHS administration was not crazy about the idea. After several letters of recommendation, the school board approved Dickerson's joining of the coaching staff.

"I understand the reluctance," Jensen said about Dickerson's slow move back into coaching. "You have to be careful. It is natural for people to not want to be the first.

"He knows what he did was wrong, and he paid the price," he said. "He doesn't make any excuses about it. It helped him that he was up front and honest about it from the start."

Jensen's connection to Dickerson has another twist. When Jensen started at Wawasee, another young coach began his career as well. That coach was Troy Akers, who is now Jensen's defensive coordinator. Akers replaced Jensen as the defensive coordinator at Wawasee and worked with Dickerson for three years.

"He has always taken pride in coaching coaches," Akers said. "He is concerned about that. I learned so much from him in three years as his defensive coordinator.

He has always been well-organized and has things lined up in progression," he said. "He helped me out a lot in that respect. Some of the things we still do. A lot of it is what we learned from him."

Dickerson has 22 years of head football coaching experience, as well as stints as a baseball and golf coach.

"Age is not a factor with him," Akers said. "I have been looking for him to get back into coaching. He has a passion for football." [[In-content Ad]]