This year’s senior football players at Carlisle High School have had an interesting four years on the team.   

It all began their freshman year when the freshman football team was cut.  It wasn’t the players that got cut, but the athletic department got rid of the entire freshman football team.

The seniors this year have had a different coach three times in their four years of playing for Carlisle High School.  Coming into the high school team, they had Joshua Oswald.  After that, they had Pat Conrad for their sophomore and junior year, and now their current coach Brett Ickes, who had been previously been the varsity coach several years earlier.

Several players believe that because they have gotten a new coach almost every year, they don’t get to build any relationships with their coaches.  It’s  hard to get to know a person and build a relationship if they are not around for long.

Senior wide receiver Sean Sullivan said, “Everyone has different coaching styles and it gets hard to get used to them.”

If you are constantly getting a new coach, and all coaches have a different strategy, it may be difficult to get used to them so that you can get better at that strategy.

Senior lineman DeAndre Perry said,  “Sometimes the team doesn’t play as well as if it would if they had the same coach.”

But with the bad, there was also good.  Sullivan believes that the coaching ability is important.  

He said, “Some coaches have better strategy than the previous coaches, and it helps the team improve.”  

Others agreed with Sullivan.

Senior lineman Jater McCleary said, “Some coaches have better experiences, therefore better strategies and coaching techniques.”

With fresh strategies coming in with the new coaches, it gives the football team new ideas and new techniques that they are able to learn and improve on.

Not all coaches are new, however. Assistant coach Bill Owens has been with the team all of the seniors’ four years.  His opinion seems to be very similar to what the players said.  

“It doesn’t have an impact on the playing ability, but there’s no consistency and organization.  Each coach does things differently,” Owens said. “It’s important to get someone that the kids would know; they have to get used to having a new coach every year. People are different so they have to learn things all over again.”

Having a new coach every year can make things hard on the team and can be confusing. But with that being said, players also were able to shine a positive light on the situation.  They get right back up, dust themselves off, and keep playing the game.     

As of press, the team was 4-2 (0-2 in league play) with a fresh win over Susquehanna Township.