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3 High School Programs - 3 Different Strategies for Success

An In-depth Look at How Three High School Coaches Built Dominating Programs
by: Terry Jacoby
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They seem to be there every year. Like a leaf changing color in the fall or students grumbling about going back to class, the high school football elite return each season to reclaim their dominance.


These high school powerhouses didn’t earn their reputations overnight. But how did these teams reach this unique place? What road takes a football program to the pinnacle and then keeps it there for season after season after season? Players change. Even coaches change. But the program remains the same. Let’s take a trip around the country and visit a few of these football factories. You don’t need a hard hat, but a pen and notepad are recommended.

Harlan Community High School
Harlan, Iowa

The game in this “small town” in Western Iowa is football. And everyone east, west, north and south of Des Moines knows about Harlan Community High School. And they also know about the school’s legendary coach, Curt Bladt. Bladt’s numbers jump off the scoreboard. Try these on for size: Nine state championships, 288-31 career record, 27 seasons as head coach, 24 playoff appearances and a current 26-game winning streak.


But there are even bigger numbers these days for Coach Bladt. Bigger and much more meaningful. Try these on for size: 21,513 different on-line visitors, 746,000 hits, 1 very deadly disease.


Bladt didn’t realize what he meant to not only Harlan but the entire state until late last year when he came down with a paralyzing nerve disorder called Miller Fisher syndrome. The rare disease hit him just weeks after Bladt and his Cyclones won its second straight and ninth overall Class 3-A state titles.

It knocked him out, but not down. And it woke him up to the extent and reach of this love affair which began back in 1978 when he became the team’s head football coach. But the affair goes beyond the sidelines and even beyond the bleachers at Harlan High. A web site (coachbladt.com) set up by his family proved how revered he was across the state.


At Harlan, it’s all about preparation. It’s all about enjoying yourself. It’s all about hard work. It’s all about the team. Do all these things and “the winning takes care of itself.” Bladt insists football is not a year-round sport at Harlan. You won’t see kids running drills all spring and summer.

“It’s definitely not a year-round sport,” said Bladt, who is a full-time science teacher and part-time track coach at the school. “We do have some kids who only play football and they lift weights in the off-season, but most of our players are doing other things.” So how do they do it?


It starts at the beginning.

“The winning here goes back to 1972 when I was an assistant here,” Bladt said. “The first year Iowa held state playoffs was in 1972 and we were the champs in Class 3-A that year.” If that was the start, then the 1980s was the boom. The Cyclones won titles in 1982, 1983 and 1984 and made six consecutive trips to the state finals starting in 1981. The winning also starts at the top.


“We have had basically the same coaching staff for the past 25 years,” Bladt said. “Ken Carstens (defensive coordinator), Bill Hosack (secondary), Russ Gallinger (offensive backfield) and Al Simdorn have all been around for a long time with me. Everybody has their own piece of the pie.”

And the results have been some sweet seasons of success. Each coach has his role. Each coach knows his responsibilities. Bladt says he lets his coaches do their thing and stays out of their way – but Bladt has the final say and isn’t afraid to change the play now and again.

“I think it helps for the kids to see the same coaches year in and year out,” he said. “They know us. They know where we are coming from. And they know what to expect.” And they also know the results.

Bladt says his approach each year is dictated by the type of players they have on the roster. There isn’t one set offense that they make the players adapt to. Instead, the coaches and the system adapt to the players.

“We look at the kids and put them in the positions where we think we as a team will be most successful,” he said. “Two years ago we set records for throwing the football. Our quarterback threw 42 touchdowns that season. Last year, we had an outstanding running back so we ran the ball. He ended up scoring more than 30 touchdowns and rushing for over 2,000 yards.”

The school has only 600 students and about 75 to 95 come out for varsity football each year. “We get a lot of kids out, but we haven’t had many Division I football players,” Bladt said. “We have had a lot of Division II players though. We just have a lot of very good football players.”


Bladt’s tip for success: “We always look at a lot of film. We don’t skip any games. We take everyone serious no matter what their record is. We prepare for every game the same way. Everyone knows where the target is so we have to be ready because they are going to give it their best so we have to also give it our best.”

Muskegon High School
Muskegon, Michigan


At Muskegon High School, located on the far west side of Michigan, there is really only one game. There also is really only one system. And there really is only one voice.


“Football is a year-round sport here and the kids not only know that, they accept it and they understand why,” said the voice of Coach Tony Annese, who is known around the state as not only a great football coach, but a great football mind.

The “why” is easy. Just look in the win column.

The Big Reds won their third state championship last year in convincing fashion, winning 31-7 in the Division 2 final at the Pontiac Silverdome. It was victory 695 for the program, the most in state history. The school won 12 mythical championships before the state playoffs kicked off in 1975.


Annese has not only maintained the tradition, he’s built on it.

While finding plenty of success at other schools around the state, including Ann Arbor Pioneer, Annese was offered the job at Muskegon. He turned them down.

“They asked me if I would at least help find a coach and I agreed,” he said. “They asked me some of the things a new coach would want. So I made out a list for them. That included things such as creating a large and well-equipped weight room, raising the levels of expectations each year, player development and having the coach inside the building every day.”

After Annese presented his list, school officials again asked if he would be their coach. “They basically said if we do all these things, would you coach us. And I agreed,” he said.

Annese, who teaches physical education and weight training at the high school, is known as the master of the split-back veer option. He even puts on clinics each summer for other coaches. While the offense might change slightly from year to year, this system has proven to be successful and it’s a system all levels at Muskegon learn, practice and run.


“We are an urban school and a very successful urban school,” said Annese, whose team at Montrose High School won 61 straight games. “We utilize the type of talent that is in the school. We have a fast-break style offense. We don’t huddle and we take advantage of our great skill players.”

The key is the quarterback, who must run the show from the line of scrimmage and know the defense he is looking at as well as the options available to him. Preparation and grooming are the keys.

“We signal in the play to the quarterback who then communicates the system,” Annese said. “He must be a bright person because we need him to check to a play based on how the defense lines up.”

The quarterbacks are always upper-classmen. It’s a little tricky for a freshman to come in and run the show. But by the time he’s a junior, he should have the offense down cold.

“We have two junior high teams, a freshman team, a JV team and the varsity team,” Annese said. “By the time the quarterback gets to me, he’s been running the offense since he was in 7th grade so he should know it. It should be second nature to him.”

The offense is often tweaked to take advantage of different skilled players. “We’ve had some outstanding wide receivers here so we try and get them isolated and take advantage of their speed,” he said. “It’s now more of a spread option offense, and we always assess our talent and then adjust the system to the type of talent we have.” Annese also is the head track coach and encourages his players to join him in the spring.


“We have a lot of three-sport athletes here and that’s good,” he said. “But they also should still be lifting weights and working on things like footwork to help prepare for football.”

Annese’s tip for success: “The coach needs to be teaching and working in the high school every day. He needs to be there for the kids. He needs to be involved in their academic progress and helping them become good citizens. In my situation, I have to be a coach to these kids, but also a mentor and even a dad. A coach needs to be involved with the kids on multiple levels.”

North Penn High School
Lansdale, Pennsylvania

North Penn is a monster in many ways. With 3,400 students in grades 10 through 12 the school is among the top five biggest in the big state of Pennsylvania. Perched in the suburbs northwest of Philadelphia and on the way to Allentown, Lansdale is a fairly affluent community.


It’s very affluent on the football field, winning a state championship in 2003 and compiling an impressive 35-6 record over the last three years. The team burst onto the national map fairly recently. It was eight years ago when coach Mike Pettine took the team to new heights.

“Before Mike got here the team was pretty much around .500,” said North Penn Coach Dick Beck who took over for Pettine (now the outside linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens) four seasons ago. “Before we got here the team hadn’t won a league title since 1983, and after we got here we made six trips to the state playoffs in eight years.”

And making the state playoffs in Pennsylvania isn’t easy. Only four of the 40 teams in North Penn’s district qualifies for the state playoffs. Another amazing statistic was that despite the size of the school, there were only 45 kids on the football team the year before Pettine and Beck took over. That also changed in a hurry. “We get about 100 to 110 now out for football,” Beck said. “We now have a sophomore team that plays its own schedule as well as a JV team.

“And we do have an advantage with the size of our school system. We have three middle schools that feed into our high school and all three schools have football teams. So we get three quarterbacks, six running backs and so on down the line. All these kids have experience and experience in the system we run.”

Football even starts earlier than that for many players, another key to North Penn’s success, according to Beck. “We have a kids camp where about 150 kids in grades three through nine come out and practice for a week in the summer,” Beck said. “What it does is give us a chance to meet the kids and for them to get to know us. It’s like a big family.”

But starting early and getting a large turnout is only part of the program’s formula for success. Beck breaks down the reasons for his team’s success over the years into different categories.

“The first and most important reason I believe we are successful is our off-season workouts,” he said. “When we first got here the weight room was a closet. It’s now huge and is filled with equipment. We have 12 squat racks, mirrors, ceiling fans, a stereo. It’s just a huge room. And we emphasize working out year-round. We encourage playing other sports, but we have workouts three days a week for 2 1/2 hours during the off-season.”

The second category for success is the family atmosphere the coaches present and the number of players they get out for the team. The third reason is the coaching staff, which includes 12 assistants and two full-time trainers.

Beck also gives plenty of credit to the parent’s club and the students. “We have an amazing parent’s club here that is second to none,” he said. “They do whatever the program needs. They buy all the bottled water we need for the season. And if we need equipment, they will raise the money to get it.

“We also have a very vocal and supportive student following known as the Blue Crew. They tailgate before games, both at home and on the road. They have their own section in the stands and they really get loud during the games. There are probably 500 to 600 kids per game in that section.”

Beck’s tip for success: “The most challenging and I think the most rewarding part of coaching high school football is that you get different players every year. Kids come and go and every year you have different kids with different skills. It’s the challenge of the coaches to adjust to fit the type of players we have that year. With that said, we are a run-first football team. I always believe if you can run, you open yourself up to be successful in all the other areas. It (running the ball) makes everything easier.”






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