Coach Nick Wagner

Video

Champion HS Football coach Nick Wagner talks football.

Bohren, Wagner are at opposite ends of coaching timeline

By, Steve Ruman

Together, they have a combined 49 years of head coaching experience. They own a combined 298 victories, and have guided a total of 11 different programs.

Individually?

Well, individually they are proof that area coaches are quite a diverse bunch.

They are Bill Bohren and Nick Wagner — a pair of men who represent the old school and the new wave of coaches.

Bohren is in his second year at Southington. Just seven miles down the road, Wagner is in his first season at Champion. Both men are looking to turn around programs which have struggled in recent times. The Wildcats are currently 3-5, while the Golden Flashes are 4-4.

The similarities pretty much end right there.

Bohren is in his 48th season as a head coach, in a career which began in 1965. The 82-year-old owns a 291-169-6 record, and has coached at 10 different schools.

At the age of 29, Wagner is in his first season as a head coach. In fact, Wagner’s entire staff of six coaches at Champion have 22 fewer combined years of coaching experience (at all levels) than Bohren has as a head coach.

Bohren has coached 458 more games than Wagner. For Wagner to catch up, he would have to coach 10-game seasons until the year 2062 — and that’s only if Bohren stopped coaching this year, which he has absolutely no intention of doing.

“It’s crazy to think of any coach doing what Coach Bohren has done for as long as he has,” Wagner said. “Not just the duration and the number of games, but the success. He has succeeded everywhere he’s gone. Everywhere he goes, he turns programs around. It’s beyond remarkable.”

A native of Ambridge, Pa., Bohren’s earliest football memories revolve around high school football. He remembers sneaking into games, and being captivated by rivalries such as Ambridge and Aliquippa. As a boy, he also found himself sneaking into bars to watch Notre Dame and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“In western Pennsylvania in the ‘40s, you were either a Pitt or a Notre Dame fan,” Bohren said. “I was a big Notre Dame fan. Well, most of us didn’t have televisions back then, but the bars had them. So that’s where I watched Notre Dame play for national titles.

“Everyone in Ambridge rooted for the Steelers. There was no crossover. And this was a time when the Steelers were really bad. I remember watching them run the single wing formation at Forbes Field.”

Ironically, Wagner was born in 1987, the same year Bohren led the Boardman Spartans to the Division I state title game. He began playing organized football as a seventh-grader, and later played for Mike Pavlansky at Canfield.

“I see a lot of similarities in coach Pavlansky and coach Bohren,” Wagner said. “Two very dedicated, extremely intelligent coaches who are in it for the right reasons. I would like to think that I could follow in their footsteps in some ways. I really admire those coaches who have been in it for a long time, and they’ve always done things the right way.”

Wagner, also a Steelers fan, traces his earliest vivid memories of the game back to Super Bowl XXX, played in 1996 between Pittsburgh and Dallas.

“My grandfather played for Indiana, my dad graduated from Ohio State,” Wagner said. “One year I rooted for Michigan just to be that annoying kid. But I learned from it.

“I just always remember football as being something that brought the family together. Whether it was going to the Horseshoe, or watching games on TV, it has always been something to unite family and friends, give them something in common to talk about.”

Bohren began his coaching career at Ohio High School in Illinois — a small farm-town school in which 33 of the 39 boys participated in football. That year, he coached football, basketball and track.

“I told myself that I would stick with whatever sport I had the most success in that first year,” Bohren said. “I could very easily be coaching basketball today.”

As it turned out, Bohren’s football coaching debut started out on a sour note. His team lost 12-0 to a neighboring perennial power. The following week he saw his record go to 0-2, but then his team went on an eight-game winning streak to end the season at 8-2.

Bohren never looked back. He spent six years in Illinois before making his way to Ohio, where he had a four-year stint at Ottawa-Glandorf. He then spent three years guiding the Steubenville program before establishing himself as a fixture in the Mahoning Valley.

In addition to his tenure at Boardman, Bohren has coached at Lakeview, Salem, Niles and LaBrae.

“I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to coach in real football towns,” Bohren said. “In Steubenville, you can walk into a store, and any old lady in there will tell you the score of last week’s Big Red game. I’ve always said that in Niles, they’ll name a street after a football coach one week, then the next week they’ll chase that coach down that street and out of town.

“But those are the types of communities you want to coach in. You want that type of passion in the community, because it’s going to create passionate football players.”

Wagner, a 2005 Canfield graduate, began coaching right out of high school. He spent eight years at Valley Christian (where he is still employed), working his way up from volunteer assistant to offensive coordinator. He was in line to be the Eagles’ assistant head coach this season until the Champion job opened the door for him to become a head coach.

“I caught the coaching bug right away,” Wagner said. “From the very first day, I knew that coaching was something that I wanted to have as part of my entire career.”

While Bohren lost his first two games of his career, Wagner found immediate success. Champion opened the season with a 42-27 win over Waterloo, then followed that up with a 20-14 victory at Conneaut. It marked the first time in nine years that the Golden Flashes opened a season 2-0.

Like Bohren, Wagner didn’t begin his coaching career exclusively with football. In fact, Wagner is now in his 11th season as a track coach at Canfield. While coaching and student teaching, Wagner earned a degree in mospitality management. He then began pursuing a masters in education.

“Coaching any sport is very time-consuming, and you have to be very dedicated to what you’re doing,” Wagner said. “That’s especially true for football, because it has become a year-round sport.

“At times it has been crazy, and very challenging, trying to juggle my schedule with my family life. But, like any other coach in the area, I do it as a labor of love.”

Bohren echoed the comments made by Wagner, noting that “coaches at times see other parents’ children more than they see their own.” He said that the amount of time and dedication a coach puts into a program often separates that program in terms of success.

“You look at Steubenville. They’ve had the same coach and pretty much the same staff for 30 years,” Bohren said. “That staff works tirelessly. They’re prepared, and the whole community is on the same page as the football program.

“This is why you see Steubenville succeed year after year. It’s more difficult these days to get an entire coaching staff to buy in. let alone an entire town.”

Bohren is now coaching in his sixth decade.

“Holy hell, that is a long time, but I don’t feel any different and I’m as enthusiastic as ever,” he said.

Bohren has seen many changes over the years, most notably the recent swing toward an offensive-oriented game highlighted by the spread formation.

“The game has tilted toward the offense, you just don’t see teams other than a Georgia Tech or a Navy line up under center anymore,” Bohren said. “The style of play and the rules definitely favor the offense, and it favors scoring.

“The other difference is the fact that conditioning, lifting, the year-round workouts have made today’s athletes bigger, faster and stronger.”

Meanwhile, the style of play which seems so newfangled to many is the only style Wagner has known. He pointed out that he grew up with the spread formation, both as a fan and as a player.

“As a fan, I love it, it raises the level of excitement,” Wagner said. “Of course, as a defensive coach, I hated it.”

While many believe that the offensive fireworks are here to stay, Wagner isn’t so sure. He noted that he has already seen a number of teams “go back to traditional formations,” and believes it is only a matter of time before defenses even the playing field.

“These things usually run in cycles,” Wagner said. “As a coach, you have to prepare for every situation. You don’t want to pour everything you have into one style, only to see the opposition have it figured out.”

Always eager to learn, Wagner noted that earlier this season when he attended the Warren Hall of Fame Pigskin Preview, he “picked the brains” of several area veteran coaches — Bohren included.

“I not only respect these guys, I admire them for their knowledge and dedication,” Wagner said.

Who knows, perhaps in 2033 the next great high school football coach will enter this world. And 29 years later in 2062, he may be seeking advice from the wily veteran Wagner.