Coach Blane Gold stands on the sidelines at the Sept. 21, 2018, Whiteout Football Game. (Photo by Mackayla Males/Student Contributor)
By MACKAYLA MALES
Student contributor
Redbank Valley did not look far to replace the longtime head football coach, Ed Wasilowski. Blane Gold, assistant coach and RVHS teacher, was hired at the monthly school board meeting on Monday, Jan. 7.
Coach Wasilowski resigned after this past football season. Wasilowski served as head football coach for 18 seasons that took place over two stints from 1997-2007 and 2012-2018.
Gold grew up in Franklin and graduated from Franklin High School in 2007. He played football throughout school, both offense and defense. While in college, he played defensive line and long snapper.
When asked about what and who drew him to football, he shared, “That is a good question because at Franklin we did not have a youth football team, so we didn’t actually get to play until we were in seventh grade. I think once I started playing, I just really enjoyed it because of the coaches that were there. They just really influenced me. I really probably liked basketball and baseball more as a kid, but once I started playing football and getting to know some of the coaches there – the way they treated me and the way they made everything fun – is what drew me to it.”
Gold was persuaded to take over Wasilowski’s position because it has always been something he wanted to do. He elaborated, “…there have been a couple other opportunities to go to other high schools and potentially be a head coach, but I really like Redbank Valley. I like the students here. I like the people that I work with. Coach Waz has built a historical program, a winning program, and we have a lot of kids that play every year. I just felt it was a good idea to follow him as head coach.”
A new head coach always brings change to a program, and Gold is no different. Mike and Jason Kundick will be back from the previous season.
“I’m still talking to some people about coaching. We have two more spots open, and Mr. Hibell will be on staff also,” Gold said.
Practices will change, as well. Gold laid out his schedule for the Bulldogs.
“They (players) get out of school at 3:15, so we will start stretching at around 3:30, and then once we are done stretching, practice will run from about 3:45 to about 5:45. Coach Gold’s practices, as far as what players do, is similar to what we have done it the past, but there will be some tweaks. We will proceed a little more uptempo, a little bit faster pace than we have done it the past.”
Most varsity coaches like to be involved in the different levels of the sport to build their program, and Gold plans to bring up some more seventh graders to get the junior high numbers up to make sure that there is more than 14 to 15 players on a team.
“We are also starting a youth flag football team for some of the kids whose parents are not ready for them to play tackle football yet,” he said. “We are going to have our seniors coach our youth tackle football team, which is going to be two days a week, a couple weeks of practices and a couple weeks of games.”
Gold shared his final reflections on the challenges of a head coach.
“Being the head coach of a football team can have its good and bad times,” Gold said. “You will have experienced kids coming up; you will have kids trying football for the first time; and you will have kids that can get injured. You will have to find a way to work around it. As a head coach, you have to enjoy the sport and enjoy teaching the kids.”
Congratulations, Mr. Gold, and good luck!
Mackayla Males is a student at Redbank Valley High School and a member of The Bark, the school’s journalism/publications group.
