Team

Warren JFK

Record	Div.	Conf.
7/6	Div. VII	North Coast League

JFK @ South Range

Gallery

First time the two teams have met in Regular season

Team

South Range

Record	Div.	Conf.
4/6	Div. V	Independents

This Week’s Q&A

There is both a lot of change and a lot of continuity for the Warren JFK Eagles in 2011. Longtime coach Tony Napolet, a fixture on the Eagles’ sideline for nearly 30 years, resigned from the position due to ailing health. But stepping into the role is another veteran fixture of the Kennedy staff: former assistant coach Dave Pappada. Pappada, who was coached by Napolet while attending Niles, has also spent some time on the Eagle sideline — or rather in the coaches box. He has been an assistant with the team for 20 years and is more than ready to assume the role his mentor abdicated, albeit reluctantly.

Q. Is it weird to you to not have (Napolet) roaming the sidelines after what seems like forever?

A. Actually, it seems like he’s still there because everybody is doing the same things that we’ve done for the last 20 years, basically. I’m not going to be on the sideline, I’m going to be in the press box because that’s where I’ve been for the past 20 years. In a way, it really doesn’t seem like he’s gone from the team in that regard. We’ve been successful that way, and that’s the way we’re going to start out doing it.

Q. How comfortable are you with inheriting the head coach’s headset? And how has the transition been so far?

A. I’m in a new position title-wise, but I’ve been at Warren JFK for 20 years now as an assistant. That transition, even though it was little disappointing under the circumstances, was a smooth one because I inherited the bulk of his staff. Most of the guys know one another and they know the kids. And the coaches know them. There are six assistant coaches returning. When I first started, that was kind of a large staff. Nowadays, you have programs that have staffs almost twice as big as that.

Q. You have obviously had a great teacher to lean on and learn the ropes. How have you benefited from learning under someone like Napolet?

A. I’ve been leaning on him since I was 17 years old. He was one of my high school coaches when I was at Niles. He’s an impact guy. When he came to our program, the kids fell in love with him and his style of coaching. And even up to this last year it still hasn’t changed. The admiration still exists between him and the players, and that’s just the respect that he’s earned in the many years that he’s been a high school football coach.

Q. What differences can fans expect this year as opposed to the past few seasons? And how has the team embraced them?

A. Not a lot. Our kids, they know what we expect out of them. They know our offensive and defensive schemes. One thing we did about three years ago, our players that are now our junior class, we brought them up to practice with the varsity. We eliminated our freshmen program and they came up with us. So when we hit the field this year, we only had about 10 kids, who are freshmen, who really didn’t know much about the program. It’s a big advantage.

Q. So no major overhauls in terms of gameplanning or philosophy?

A. Not really. Each year, we do make a couple tweaks here and there relating to personnel more than anything. Some years we have big backs and some years we have more speed. But one of the strengths this year is our speed and quickness. So we want to get as many of those kids who possess that speed the ball in space quickly. Defensively, our strength is in our secondary and in our linebacking corps.

Q. And you have the advantage as a first-year head coach of having players in place who know the system. How does that help?

A. Another advantage that we have is that Kennedy is a very academic school district and we have kids who are very intelligent. And these kids bring that asset with them on the field. They know what we expect of them. And since I can’t be there on the field with them, these kids are the ones who need to take control of the game.

Q. Well, everyone can expect one somewhat-major change. Kennedy will be playing in a conference for the first time in a long time. The Eagles are the newest members of the lower tier of the North Coast Conference. That’s got to be exciting, right?

A. It is. We’ve played almost every team in the lower tier of that conference in the past 20 years, and we’ve done pretty well against them. And we hope history repeats itself. It’s a challenging schedule and a good league. But we just have to go out and play tough; play Kennedy football.

Q. The goals for every coach are obviously to win first and foremost. But does anything change now with league play?

A. You’d probably have to ask the kids that. But our goals don’t change. Our goal every year is to have a winning season and get into the playoffs … Only now we have the option to compete for a league title, which is something we haven’t been able to do for the past 18 years. Interview conducted by Vindicator correspondent Jon Moffett.