May 21, 2014 at 3:36 p.m.
Ferge named new RHS football coach
Two Rivers assistant 'excited, honored' about opportunity
Ferge named new RHS football coach
The School District of Rhinelander Board of Education on Monday approved the hiring of Chris Ferge, an assistant football coach at Two Rivers High School, as the new head coach for the Rhinelander High School football program.
Ferge's hiring ends a four-month coaching search that began in January when the board voted not to renew Jim Moore's coaching contract, ending the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer's 10-year coaching tenure with his alma mater.
Ferge, a physical education teacher in the Two Rivers Public School District who will be taking on a similar teaching role in Rhinelander, said he is ready for the challenge.
"I'm honored. I'm excited," he said. "It's driving me crazy that I can't be there right now. I want everyone to know that. I can't wait to meet the kids. I can't wait to be a part of the community and I'm going to make you guys proud."
Ferge will be only the third coach head football coach the Hodags have had since the turn of the century. He said the area and the opportunity to be a head coach attracted him to Rhinelander.
"I grew up in Marshfield and we played Rhinelander in the old Valley conference," he said. "The location for my family. I really wanted to move up there one day and live up in the Northwoods. That really intrigued me as well as I think there are a lot of great athletes there and a lot of untapped potential. With the right kind of offense, I believe we can open things up, get people excited and, more than anything, I wanted the opportunity to be a head coach. Like I said, this is an awesome opportunity for me and I'm looking to make the most of it."
Activities director Brian Paulson, who helped lead the coaching search, said he is confident Rhinelander has landed the right man for the job.
"I believe this individual knows what it takes to get kids out to play football," Paulson told the River News. "He knows how to be able to scheme against other teams. I think he's the right fit for us at Rhinelander High School."
Paulson said 20 candidates applied for the vacancy, six received interviews.
"We said until we found the right candidate we would keep interviewing and it just happened to be the sixth person we interviewed was the right fit for us at the time," he said.
The interview committee included Paulson, district administration, members of the RHS football coaching staff and other parties with a vested interest in the Rhinelander football program.
Board treasurer Mike Roberts, who serves as a volunteer assistant with the RHS program and has a sophomore son, Lucas, who has played high school football at RHS the last two seasons, said Ferge performed well in the interview process.
"I think he hit all of the key points through the interview process that we were looking for as far as things to try to recruit players, get kids who have maybe never played before, get kids who have played before and have for one reason or another stepped away," Roberts said. "He's got ideas on trying to get those kids to come back and just to motivate them. Numbers are important in football as far as having kids out and the more numbers you have, typically the better you are."
Paulson noted Ferge's passion for football and teaching showed through during the process.
"The desire. His desire to get kids to participate," he said. "The desire to see kids smiling, having fun, at the same time taking work seriously."
Ferge will replace Moore who complied a 22-73 record and had only one playoff appearance in 10 years at RHS. The Hodags went 1-9 last fall. In the offseason, prior to Moore's dismissal, the coaching staff was considering abandoning the power running game that had been a staple of Moore's offense in favor of a spread attack. Ferge, who has served as varsity defensive coordinator, varsity line coach, head JV coach and head freshman coach, became versed in the spread during his nine years at Two Rivers and plans to bring that offensive philosophy to Rhinelander. He also plans to continue the 35 defensive scheme that the Hodags have used in some variation over the last two seasons.
"I believe that football is football regardless," Ferge said. "The kids are still going to be playing football, but the spread offense and the 35 defense are both something that the kids are very passionate about and excited about.
"They see it on TV. I've seen that strategically, it gives you a very good advantage, both offensively and defensively. On offense, there's a lot of pressure put on a defense. You're making a defense cover the whole field. You're getting the ball to multiple athletes. Defense, you can blitz many different people from different angles and the offense really doesn't know what's going on. Also, I like to have a nose guard over the center. I always believe that really causes problems with the snap and puts a lot of pressure on the offense."
Roberts said he can appreciate the fresh take and perspective Ferge will bring to the program.
"He's got different ideas than what we've had here in a while and that might push some kids to go out who maybe haven't because it's going to be different and look different," Roberts said.
Ferge takes on the challenge of trying to turn around a program that has not had much success over the past quarter century. The Hodags have qualified for the WIAA playoffs only twice, their last winning season was in 1996 and their last conference championship was in 1989.
Part of what impressed the interview committee about Ferge is a winning pedigree. Ferge played on Marshfield High School's 1997 WIAA state championship team. According to Ferge's biography on the Two Rivers Public School District website, he graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 2003 with a degree in Kinesiology. He has been with the Two Rivers district since the fall of 2005. The Purple Raiders have had four consecutive winning seasons, after 20 straight sub-.500 campaigns.
"The program they had at Two Rivers was a little like ours as we currently stand," Paulson said. "They were able to take it almost right to the top. It was a big turnaround a couple of years ago. He's been in that program. We think he has the right attitude to get our kids out for football."
Ferge said turning a program into a winner is about a winning attitude that starts at the top.
"It's a mindset and it's an attitude. The coaches have to bring it every day," he said. "I have to be the person that's basically starting the fire, lighting the candles. It has to happen every day. The kids need to understand that every day we're going to do something to improve. We're going to get better. As long as we carry that attitude and we're very positive and keep working forward, things are going to happen."
One of the biggest hurdles facing the program is a lack of numbers, which was apparent last year at the varsity level. Only nine seniors on last year's team played four years of high school football.
"Football is a numbers game right now and with getting kids out to participate, he's going to be dedicated to the weight room," Paulson said. "He's going to be dedicated to going to all the kids' different activities through the winter, through the spring. That's his opportunity to recruit them."
Ferge said he will be actively recruiting within the district once he gets to Rhinelander.
"We're going to recruit kids. We're going to talk to kids. If they tell us no, we're going to say, 'That's fine,' and then we're going to talk to them about it again the next day," he said. "We're not going to take no for an answer. The big thing here is we want the community to have a football program, something they're excited about. We want the kids to have an ultimate football experience."
Paulson said Ferge will have some time to try to turn the program around.
"I think Chris deserves six years to see what direction we'd be heading in with this program," he said. "(Moore) was able to have 10 years to see what he could do with the football program. I don't necessarily think there's a timetable. I know that myself and the kids and the community would like to see us be very competitive every single game as fast as we can, but we do understand that Chris is going to come in, changing the offense and maybe tweaking the verbiage he uses on offense and the verbiage he uses on defense, (and) it might take a little while for those kids to grow."
Roberts said success will be measures in a number of ways - including participation and competitiveness on the field.
"The No. 1 goal is participation. We want to get kids involved in cocurricular activities because all of the studies, everything you look at says if kids are involved, they do better in school," he said. "That's the No. 1 goal to get kids involved (and) keep them involved. Success can be measured in a number of ways, but a lot of what we talked about when we were meeting and preparing is you want to be competitive. The goal is to be competitive year in and year out. He came across as having a plan to get us to that point. Time will be the test."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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