First-year McDonald County football coach John Diehl is not only excited about his players, he is just as excited about the assistants he and athletic director Nick Martin assembled for the 2016 football team.
"This is, without a doubt, one of the best staffs I have put together in 38 years," Diehl said. "They have done a great job."
Diehl will serve as offensive coordinator while Sean McCullough will be the defensive coordinator. McCullough is a 1999 graduate of McDonald County High School and a 2003 graduate of Bethany College, where he played rover (strong safety) for four years, including serving as captain his senior year and being named all-conference.
"Sean is an outstanding defensive coordinator," Diehl said. "He was an assistant defensive coordinator on Waynesville's state championship team."
Serving as defensive and offensive line coach will be Chris Kane. Kane is from Illinois, where he coached high school at Wheaton Academy in West Chicago before becoming an assistant coach at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. Kane played college ball at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill.
In addition to coaching the offensive and defensive lines, Kane will serve as special teams coach.
"Coach Kane is doing a great job with the offensive and defensive line," Diehl said. "He is young and he is aggressive and enthusiastic."
Blake Martin begins his coaching career as receivers and defensive backs coach. Martin is 2001 graduate of McDonald County and played baseball one year at Crowder College before switching to football and playing for four years at Missouri Southern.
"Blake was a defensive back (three years) and a receiver (one year) in college," Diehl said. "He is doing an outstanding job with our kids. He is enthusiastic and gets the kids pumped up. He is exciting to play with and exciting to play for."
Freshman coaches will be Chris Potts, Chris Collins and Daniel Sumler.
Potts will be head freshman coach. He coached the past two years at East Newton High School. He attended Fort Zumwalt High School before playing football for a year at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.
Collins will serve as running backs and linebackers coach for the freshman. He attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and Southern Utah University. Collins is a Marine who was twice deployed to Iraq during his four years in the service.
Sumler is a 2012 graduate of McDonald County and four-year member of the Baker University football team in Overland Park, Kan. He will coach defensive backs and receivers for the freshmen.
Diehl said all three of the freshman coaches will also help with the varsity, including working in the booth on Friday nights.
"The freshman team could quite possibly be one of the best freshman teams we have ever had come out of McDonald County," Diehl said. "They're big. They're strong. They're fast. They're intelligent. I put three of the best coaches down there because I wanted the best coaching possible at that level. That's not to say the varsity coaches aren't great, because they are."
Diehl said the personnel in place will bring success for McDonald County not just for this year, but will turn the program around for years to come.
"I believe with everybody we have hired, and the junior high coaches in place, we have everything set for us to make a long run at being successful," Diehl said.
Martin said he and Diehl were patient before hiring someone and brought guys in from all over who wanted to move to the area and be a part of the community and program. He said he advertised on several websites to find the new coaches.
"We are excited about the staff we have assembled," Martin said. "A lot of them played college football or coached football at the college level. It happened to work out that it was a good year because we had quite a few people who are retiring from the P.E. department. We hit it at the right time and we got guys in here when we had openings teaching-wise."
Martin said he has been impressed with the dedication the new coaches have shown, especially since the new school year doesn't begin until August.
"They have already spent many hours this summer and haven't got paid a paycheck yet," Martin said. "We have guys who have come in and started early and don't even have homes yet. They are living with coach Diehl. I mean they are dedicated to our program and want to get this thing going in the right direction."
Sports on 06/30/2016