Whirlwind Of A Day For Wogomon
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Wogomon told Wawasee Athletic Director Steve Wiktorowski of his intention to resign as the school’s football coach Monday, but didn’t submit his formal resignation until Tuesday.
In a phone interview Tuesday evening, Wogomon admitted he kept the news quiet so rumors wouldn’t spread before he could talk to his players.
“The very first thing I told the kids at Wawasee (Tuesday) was that some of the most important decisions you make are rarely easy,” Wogomon said. “This was really sitting down and creating the list of reasons to stay and reasons to go.”
After speaking with the players, word spread pretty quickly, and following a Northridge School Board meeting Tuesday evening, Wogomon was the Northridge Raiders’ new skipper.
The move from one Northern Lakes Conference school to another may seem like a lateral move, even though Wawasee actually has a better history.
In 10 seasons under Jon Kirkton, Northridge compiled a 22-81 record, going 0-10 two seasons ago and 2-9 this past season, with one of those wins being a forfeit.
“It’s about looking forward,” Wogomon said. “At Northridge, it’s no secret that they’ve struggled on the football field. Jon Kirkton has done an incredible job of working with those kids. I have the utmost respect for him, but what we have to do is have eyes forward. When I talk to the Northridge players (today), it’s going to be about looking to the future and not the past.”
So why move from a school he went 20-12 at in his last three seasons to a school that went 5-26 in that span?
His family lives in Middlebury.
“There aren’t many reasons that I’d leave Wawasee,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, I’ve spent 19 years driving at least 35 minutes home after each practice. When I was over at East Noble (as an assistant coach), that number was around 50 minutes. Nineteen years of doing that, I was always kind of envious of those teachers and coaches that were in the community. That was a big thing.”
A graduate of Goshen High School, Wogomon and his wife Maria moved into their Middlebury home 15 years ago.
Since that time, their son Josh has graduated from Northridge High School and is a freshman at Ball State University, while his daughter Hannah is a Northridge freshman and Emma is a 5th grade student in the corporation.
“The one thing I’ve always taught is that old adage of faith family and football,” Wogomon said. “I’ve always told them that their faith needs to come first, then the family before football. I felt this was the time I needed to live by my own words. This was just something deep down that I knew was going to have to happen.
“The hardest part was knowing I had to break away from the Wawasee family for my real family at home,” he added.
During his six years at Wawasee, Wogomon went 25-37, but went just 5-25 in his first three seasons as the team was short on experience following the departure of Joe Rietveld.
The new Wawasee coach won’t run into that problem.
After beginning 2012 at 2-4, the Wawasee football team went on to win its next five games before falling 24-10 at Concord in the sectional championship game.
Many of the players on this year’s team were underclassmen, led by sophomore quarterback Gage Reinhard and sophomore wide receiver Clayton Cook.
Reinhard didn’t take over as the team’s quarterback until the third game of the season, but still finished with 1,328 passing yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 120.7 passing yards a game.
Helping with those stats was Cook, who hauled in 40 passes for 782 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“There’s not only good football players, there’s special kids (at Wawasee),” the two-time Times-Union Coach of the Year said. “There’s some great leadership roles that kids are stepping into. The senior class has grown so much from when they were freshmen. Then there’s the sophomore class, with what they did with Cook and Reinhard.”
And while he knew it was tough for the players to hear he was leaving, he could relate.
“When I was a senior at Goshen, my coach Ken Mirer retired,” Wogomon said. “I can look back and it was a difficult moment. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate Coach Mirer now. It’s a little bit of a process that they will have to deal with. They can play for a coach, but they also play for a program. That’s something that they’ll respond to.”[[In-content Ad]]
Wogomon told Wawasee Athletic Director Steve Wiktorowski of his intention to resign as the school’s football coach Monday, but didn’t submit his formal resignation until Tuesday.
In a phone interview Tuesday evening, Wogomon admitted he kept the news quiet so rumors wouldn’t spread before he could talk to his players.
“The very first thing I told the kids at Wawasee (Tuesday) was that some of the most important decisions you make are rarely easy,” Wogomon said. “This was really sitting down and creating the list of reasons to stay and reasons to go.”
After speaking with the players, word spread pretty quickly, and following a Northridge School Board meeting Tuesday evening, Wogomon was the Northridge Raiders’ new skipper.
The move from one Northern Lakes Conference school to another may seem like a lateral move, even though Wawasee actually has a better history.
In 10 seasons under Jon Kirkton, Northridge compiled a 22-81 record, going 0-10 two seasons ago and 2-9 this past season, with one of those wins being a forfeit.
“It’s about looking forward,” Wogomon said. “At Northridge, it’s no secret that they’ve struggled on the football field. Jon Kirkton has done an incredible job of working with those kids. I have the utmost respect for him, but what we have to do is have eyes forward. When I talk to the Northridge players (today), it’s going to be about looking to the future and not the past.”
So why move from a school he went 20-12 at in his last three seasons to a school that went 5-26 in that span?
His family lives in Middlebury.
“There aren’t many reasons that I’d leave Wawasee,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, I’ve spent 19 years driving at least 35 minutes home after each practice. When I was over at East Noble (as an assistant coach), that number was around 50 minutes. Nineteen years of doing that, I was always kind of envious of those teachers and coaches that were in the community. That was a big thing.”
A graduate of Goshen High School, Wogomon and his wife Maria moved into their Middlebury home 15 years ago.
Since that time, their son Josh has graduated from Northridge High School and is a freshman at Ball State University, while his daughter Hannah is a Northridge freshman and Emma is a 5th grade student in the corporation.
“The one thing I’ve always taught is that old adage of faith family and football,” Wogomon said. “I’ve always told them that their faith needs to come first, then the family before football. I felt this was the time I needed to live by my own words. This was just something deep down that I knew was going to have to happen.
“The hardest part was knowing I had to break away from the Wawasee family for my real family at home,” he added.
During his six years at Wawasee, Wogomon went 25-37, but went just 5-25 in his first three seasons as the team was short on experience following the departure of Joe Rietveld.
The new Wawasee coach won’t run into that problem.
After beginning 2012 at 2-4, the Wawasee football team went on to win its next five games before falling 24-10 at Concord in the sectional championship game.
Many of the players on this year’s team were underclassmen, led by sophomore quarterback Gage Reinhard and sophomore wide receiver Clayton Cook.
Reinhard didn’t take over as the team’s quarterback until the third game of the season, but still finished with 1,328 passing yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 120.7 passing yards a game.
Helping with those stats was Cook, who hauled in 40 passes for 782 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“There’s not only good football players, there’s special kids (at Wawasee),” the two-time Times-Union Coach of the Year said. “There’s some great leadership roles that kids are stepping into. The senior class has grown so much from when they were freshmen. Then there’s the sophomore class, with what they did with Cook and Reinhard.”
And while he knew it was tough for the players to hear he was leaving, he could relate.
“When I was a senior at Goshen, my coach Ken Mirer retired,” Wogomon said. “I can look back and it was a difficult moment. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate Coach Mirer now. It’s a little bit of a process that they will have to deal with. They can play for a coach, but they also play for a program. That’s something that they’ll respond to.”[[In-content Ad]]
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