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Newly hired head Parkway football coach, Brian Schmidt.
ROCKFORD - A former head coach of a professional indoor football team has been tapped to lead the Parkway varsity football team next year.
School board members at Wednesday night's regular meeting approved Brian Schmidt as the Panther's head coach for the 2024-2025 school year. They also moved to issue him a teacher's aide contract for the rest of this school year.
Schmidt resides in the Columbus area but said he intends to move to Rockford once he can secure a place to live. He will replace Jake Circle, whose resignation as a teaching aide, head varsity football coach and weight room coordinator was accepted by board members at the Nov. 16 meeting.
Schmidt said he's coached football for well over 20 years, including at the high school level in central Ohio. For the last 17 years, he coached professional indoor football teams.
He was the head coach of the Billings Outlaws of Montana and most recently served as defensive coordinator and business developer of the Frisco Fighters in Frisco, Texas, according to his online resume.
Coming into Parkway, Schmidt plans to build the football program from the ground up.
"From what I've seen, there's some talent here. We've got to develop that … we've got to get them in the weight room. The long-term plan is we want to build this program," Schmidt told The Daily Standard after the meeting.
It's going to take time to build the program the right way and there can be no shortcuts, he said. Schmidt's expectations also extend beyond the football field.
"We want to be outstanding in the classroom, we want to be outstanding in the community," he said. "We want people to be watching us and saying, 'Look, these kids are doing great things.'"
Schmidt said when he looked at the Midwest Athletic Conference, a lot of teams stood out.
"It's a great conference, but there's no reason we can't compete," he said. "We're going to become a show that the community's going to want to come to see because our kids are going to do the right things in the community, in the classroom, on the football field and we're going to be fun to watch, but we're going to build it the right way."
As to his coaching style, Schmidt said he's an offensive guy.
"We're going to do a lot of things offensively that probably haven't been seen," he said.
Schmidt was chosen from a pool of 19 candidates, said athletic director Teri Samples. His wealth of experience and lively disposition made him a shoo-in for the position, she added.
"He had the excitement. He was just so eager and so excited, and that's what we need. We need that for our kids," Samples said.
Board president Deb Call spoke optimistically about Schmidt's hiring.
"I hope he does well, we're all hoping that, so I'm excited," she said.
Schmidt said he's been asked many times why he's going from the pros to high school football. Though his responses have varied, his answer after driving through town on Wednesday was clear: He wants to build something special for the kids at Parkway.
School board members on Wednesday night also accepted the resignation of interim elementary principal Mary Hay, effective Dec. 22, due to personal reasons.
They moved to hire Ken Schmiesing to fill the interim principal role on an as-needed basis at a daily rate of $375. Schmiesing will retire as Celina City Schools superintendent on Jan. 1 after leading the district since Aug. 1, 2015.
"I'm truly looking forward to retirement," Schmiesing said. "What a better way to retire than to come back to an elementary school. I've got over 12 years experience as an elementary school principal, so looking forward to getting some of those knee-hugs again and having fun in education, not so much stress."
Board members also,
• went into executive session to discuss personnel - investigation of charges or complaints against an employee, official or student.
• approved Karina Melendez as a teacher's aide for the remainder of the school year, effective Dec. 11.
• reappointed Marcia Ripley to a seven-year term to the Rockford Carnegie Library, effective Jan. 1.
• approved Ryan Berry and Monty Gibbons as varsity baseball assistant coaches; Coty French as varsity baseball assistant volunteer coach; Jordan Ross as junior high baseball coach; and Tony Salisbury as junior high baseball volunteer coach.
The board meets next at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 10 in the community room at the high school.
