GODDARD, Kan.—
Goddard football head coach Charlie Nally is in a tough spot. He will be Eisenhower’s first-ever football coach in 2012 when the team takes it first steps on the field. But for now, he’s leading the Lions.He’s leading a team that is formed from two different schools, but athletes that have played together for years. This will be the last season for a lot of them to take the field together. Because of that, Nally says he and his staff could have something special on their hands.
“That will add a little extra to our play this year,” Nally said. “We’re all playing for one thing and that’s Goddard football.”
That point couldn’t be stressed enough. Nally has made it quite clear that although he is looking forward to the future, right now his focus is Goddard football. Eisenhower, to him, doesn’t have a team yet.
Questions have risen as to who will get playing time. Also, if the team will change its offense and defense because when he goes to Eisenhower, Goddard will know not only the offensive and defensive schemes of its former coach, it will know how to beat it. What’s more, it will know the names of the plays.
“We will change it up at Eisenhower,” Nally said. “But you know, when you scout a team you basically know what they’re going to do anyway. At the end of the day, you just have to stop them.”
As playing time goes, Nally said the best player will play. But again, what happens when he starts someone ahead of a future Eisenhower player? What’s that say to the future Tiger? Coach Nally is in a tough spot.
But, for now, his focus is Goddard.
“We won’t order any (Eisenhower) equipment until this season is over,” he said. “No uniforms, nothing.”
He wants it to be made clear that he is still the Goddard football coach, and it will stay that way for the duration of the season.
Goddard hasn’t named its head coach yet, but the teaching staff has been named at the new school, and a few Goddard coaches are teaching at Eisenhower starting in the fall.
The issue of who is coaching where and when hasn’t come up among the staff, though.
“We haven’t talked about what that’s going to look like,” Nally said. “It hasn’t crossed anyone’s mind as to who will be coaching where. We are the Goddard staff. Some may be offered head coaching positions, I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it.”
As for the team, it’s working on getting faster.
“Speed kills,” he said. “We want to simplify things. We want to be fast and simple.”
Nally said the biggest challenge he’s looking at is the team’s first opponent, Andover Central. With that statement he showed he is taking this season one game at a time.
“We’re working for one thing,” Nally said. “That’s the Goddard Lions. We want to win now.”
This will be his last chance to win for Goddard, because after this season, it will be an entirely new effort.
