As the football team enters Sectional play, players adjust to new coach, new style

By Olivia Walker
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As the football team enters this year’s tournament trying to reach the State Final for the fifth year in a row, it comes with a big change in leadership.

Kevin Wright took the position of head coach this year after the previous head coach, Mo Moriartity, left to take a job at IU. And while the Greyhounds record is the same as it was last season, Wright’s manner of coaching, according to his assistants and players, is drastically different.

Corey Diehl, varsity football player and senior, was on the team last year. He compared the philosophies of the two coaches.

“Coach Wright’s probably more subtle,” he said. “Coach Mo got more fired up. He definitely got into your face more when you made a mistake, while Wright talks to you about it. But both of them are great coaches, and both of them may have had different techniques but they got the job done on the football field.”

According to Diehl, Wright works on improving the team’s weaknesses. However, in addition to changing and improving the team’s playing style, Diehl said Wright also strengthens his team outside of the playing field.

“We have some new traditions that help the team out a lot,” Diehl said.

New traditions include activities such as the walk down the trail to the stadium after dinner and presentations from motivational speakers that Wright will occasionally bring in.

In addition to bringing in speakers to motivate the players, Wright also does his best to motivate and connect to the players himself. According to Wright, the coach-player relationship is very important.

“I think that it is important to develop great relationships between players and coaches, which…I believe was already in place here at Carmel,” he said.

“The tough part for me was getting to know all the kids, so I gave them my cell number our first meeting and told them if they ever needed anything to give me a call. I really wish I had more time with this group of seniors because they are an outstanding group of kids, and whenever there is a coaching change it is usually toughest on seniors. When I was hired in May, I sat down with each senior and at least tried to get to know a little about each of them personally.”

According to players like Diehl, it is actions like these that help players feel close to Wright.

“He’s a very approachable guy,” Diehl said. “Coach Wright has talked to me several times about things not related to football. This strengthens the relationship between player and coach.”

According to Assistant Coach John Hebert, although the personalities and styles of the two coaches are different, both methods are successful.

“They are really different in the way they interact with the assistant coaches and the players, their personalities are different,” Hebert said. “Coach Wright is probably more outgoing, but they both have a real strong connection with the players, in a different way. Coach Wright really enjoys dialogue, so he encourages kids to approach him with concerns that they have. I think that makes a lot of people more comfortable. Coach Mo, I think he had a different way of interacting with the kids. I think he joked around a lot, but then people knew when he was serious too. So, different dynamics, but obviously by the results they are both effective.”