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SOUTH WHITLEY - When a sports team is in the throes of a 29-game losing streak, the temptation for a new coach is to tear the program down to the foundation and start over.
At the high school level, it really doesn’t work that way; a fact not lost on Whitko’s new head football coach, Thomas Tyree. He’s looking to build on what’s in place and bring a strong sense of pride from the team and in the community.
The first task is to build a roster, and the Wildcats are shorter on numbers than Tyree would like as the school year’s start.
“I really don't know where they were before. Right now we're at 31 and we are back to school,” he said. “We’re trying to get some more freshman out trying to get those classes up.
“I believe a real target goal is 10 kids per class and we're not there yet. We know we have six seniors and we have three juniors, so obviously we have a lot of work to do, but those kids are older.
“They've kind of wrote football off and I was able to get a couple kids back out that are seniors. I was able to get one kid out that was a junior, but they haven't had a lot of success. They really lost the fun in it. They felt like they’ve lost enjoyment; that it wasn't worth their time.
“So we're freshman and sophomore heavy, but still like I tell our 16s, they're gonna drive our bus.
Tyree said he’s looking for more than just bodies to fill a roster.
“A lot of people say ‘you wanna recruit the hallways’ but I believe that you want kids that genuinely wanna be there.”
The new coach said he’s just meeting athletes where they’re at, regardless of whether or not they have an interest in football. But, he’s not telling anybody ‘no,’ either. Tyree has taken over the weight room and helps train all Wildcat athletes.
“We got a basketball kid that never had one conversation with him from the day I met him,” the coach explained. “I've had tons of basketball conversations with him. I helped him in the weight room in our summer weight weights and conditioning program to help him for basketball and then you know he comes with me and says ‘hey coach, you know, I'm hearing great things. I love how you help our basketball team you never try to push football on and I want to play football.’
“I believe that's the best way, like you can't try to recruit a kid to come play for you unless you're willing to do something for them. That's what I try to show first; ‘this is what I'm going to do for you. I'm going to help you where you are and what you enjoy and then you know once I show you that like hey I'm doing this cause I want to help you.’
“‘Eventually that you're going to want to come and you know, be a part of whatever we're doing.’”
The new coach wants tomorrow show he’s not just interested in the athlete, but wants to play a role in leading young people into adulthood.
“Ultimately, you know you have to live it in building. You have to teach him how to become man, not because their dad can't l, but I think that the more people you have pouring into them showing them different ways to do it is better, you know cause it truly takes a village in order to raise children.
”So when they come around, they should see kids that are always trying to represent their families in a positive way and trying to make a positive impact; that if they see trash to pick it up right they just don't just leave it for the next guy. I think that's a big step because in order to build anything you have to value it so we're trying to create a sense of ownership, commitment, and value and what we're trying to do.”
“In-season I think those things are kind of harder because you know you're in the thick of (the season), but the kids that aren’t in another sport we're going to be trying to get them over to get kids at the elementary schools to help kids get off the bus every day. I think those things are important. We want our high school kids to open car doors for little kids, because they're so excited to know the high school football player they're going to go watch on Friday night.”
There are plans for even more community involvement.
“I'm going to start things like reading programs; getting our kids reading to elementary school kids. That's super-important because we want to give back to the community.”
In addition to weight training, Tyree wants to develop youth football as part of a successful program.
“When I first got here they have not had football before seventh grade now our sixth grade is playing well. Mr. (athletic director Barry) Singery developed a flag football league kindergarten through sixth grade.” Tyree said.
“And what we did was we transition sixth grade into the middle school so now sixth grade is playing paddock football and then I really pushed and started a fourth and fifth grade padded tackle team and we're playing in the Huntington league right now, so we'll play all of our games out of there but now we have kids fourth grade through 12th grade playing tackle football where that wasn't a thing before so it's a small change for big game.”
In the mean time, Whitko opens the 2025 season at 7 p.m. Friday night with a trip to Prairie Heights, the site of the last Wildcat victory almost exactly two years ago.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” said Tyree. “The guys on the team may be young, but they’re hungry.”
