SYRACUSE — The Wawasee School Board of Trustees approved the hiring of the eighth head varsity football coach in the corporation’s 45-year history Monday evening. In a special meeting of the board, 28-year-old Joshua Ekovich was officially named the new head coach of the Wawasee Warriors. The position came open on Feb. 19, following the departure of Tom Wogomon, who left after six seasons to coach at Northridge High School. Ekovich served as the offensive line coach/run game coordinator/JV head coach and strength/conditioning supervisor the past two seasons at Wawasee, while also teaching health and physical education at the high school. “One of the things that was very important to us was his expertise in strength and conditioning,” Wawasee Athletic Director Steve Wiktorowski said. “We wanted a football coach that not only would train our football players, but is going to train all our athletes. With us having so many kids that play multiple sports, we think it’s important that they don't bounce around between two, three, four different weight-training sports.” According to Wiktorowski, Ekovich was one of 26 candidates for the position, which included applicants from inside the program. “This process really brought to light that we have a really good staff that we feel is very important that we keep together,” Wiktorowski said. “We also feel really good that one of the people we had in-house rose to the top. “He has been well-prepared,” he continued to tell the board. “This isn’t something that came by happenstance. He has been training himself and preparing himself for this moment. One of the things that came through was, he was not just looking for a head coaching job. He very much wanted to be the Wawasee head football coach.” After graduating from the University of St. Francis in 2008, Ekovich coached for two seasons at his alma mater, before moving on to teach at Huntington North High School. In August 2010, he became a teacher/coach at DeKalb High School before once again moving on to Wawasee a year later. Despite being at three high schools in three years, he’s wrapping up his second year at Wawasee and plans to be around a while. “I left another school for this school, so it wasn’t like I just had to have a job,” he said about his move to Wawasee. “I left another school for this school, I left another school for this football program. I’ve invested almost every spare minute of time, it feels like, in the past two years to try to improve (this program) and leave my mark.” And what attracted him to Wawasee? “The biggest thing that attracted me here was that it was like what I grew up with, it was like New Prairie,” he said, referring to the high school he graduated from in 2003. “It was something I was comfortable with and it was just an easy transition.” For now, Ekovich will continue to commute from Kendallville, where he lives with his wife Jeni, as well as his son Tyler, 4, and 1-year-old daughter Kalyn. Despite the travel, he feels fortunate to have such a rapid ascension in his trade. “I was just at the right place at the right time,” he said. “I feel like I’m a qualified candidate, but I feel I may have been overlooked in other situations because of my age.” And his age was probably mentioned during the hiring practice, but obviously wasn’t too much of a negative. “He’s young and we have a plan to help him with some mentoring – both with our administrators and with people on his staff,” Wiktorowski told the board during his recommendation. “We also are very united in our support for him and feel that in very short order, people are going to refer to him as one of the top young coaches in the area.” And Ekovich will have the tools to be successful. After opening the season at 2-4 last year, the young Warriors went on to win their next five games, having their run end in the sectional championship game against Concord. “It’s not too often a young coach gets his opportunity in a successful program,” Ekovich said. “The expectations are high. If you come into a poor program, four wins may be a success. Now, four wins may be, ‘What in the heck is going on here?’ The biggest thing will be getting kids to play hard, getting kids to play tough and with enthusiasm.” Getting the kids to play with enthusiasm is one of the reasons Wiktorowski was able to overlook Ekovich’s inexperience. “I’m sure there will be a game or two when an experienced coach might throw something at him that he might not expect,” Wiktorowski said. “I also think there are far more positives. For instance, just his ability to relate to kids. We’ve been able to watch that. He’s a guy that gets excited about football. His passion is very evident.” That passion was key in his hiring, as there was plenty of competition for the job. “If we went outside, one of the things we were looking for was somebody that was clearly better than what we had in-house,” Wiktorowski said. “We just didn’t feel that way (with any of the candidates). We felt very good about what has been going on here. We didn’t see a need for change and felt we had someone here that could carry on what we have been doing here.” Getting a quick lesson on what it’s going to be like to be the head football coach from board member Rob Fisher, who commented about ‘talking offense’ with him, board vice president George W. Gilbert had simple words for him following the drop of the gavel. “It’s your baby,” Gilbert said.
