Otterbein football head coach Jake Schaefer is beginning his first full season as the head of the program, after taking over mid-season last year. He takes over a program that has had three head coaches in the last two years. Sitting down with Coach Schaefer for an interview, he talked about bringing stability and success to the program through the experience he has gathered during the long playing and coaching career that has brought him here.
You had an impressive football career, playing at John Carroll and in Germany, and
coaching at both those places, Eastern Kentucky, Akron, Gilmour Academy and Case
Western Reserve, but have never been a head coach from what I understand, correct?
"That’s right"
What has your first exposure to being a head coach been like?
"It’s been unique. When you’re in the chair, you don’t realize a lot of the behind the scenes stuff
you have to deal with as far as coordinating meals in the cafeteria and making sure kids arrive on
campus on move-in day. We had a 14 day camp schedule with 99 kids on the roster, so the big
challenge was loading all these meals on the kids' accounts so they can swipe their cards in and
out of the cafeteria. We have a great group of parents who are helping us after the games getting
guys snacks and Gatorades and getting meals to them after games. Whether, we’ve had pizza or
Subway and things that I didn’t really plan for, just having a good support system around me has
made that a lot easier to deal with."
Last year didn’t go ideally how you wanted, but I see the signs you have posted up around
your office that say things like “Only Now Exists” and “This is our moment.” That seems
to be your guys’ motto. Talk to me about that a little bit.
"That is actually one of the first things I wanted to implement when I got the opportunity to step
into the head coaching role here. The kids have been through so much. For the juniors and
seniors, I am the third head coach they’ve had in the last two years. For the freshmen, it seems
everything is on their phones and there’s this emphasis in society on instant gratification. So I
feel that if we can get these kids to focus on whatever they’re doing right now and just live in the
moment, I think we can have a really successful season, and that concept of living in the moment
extends beyond football into their everyday lives as well."
The passing game was one of the things you guys did well last year, and specifically the
receiver position. Do you expect to be pass-heavy again this year, or a little more balanced?
"You like to keep it as balanced as you can. Me being a former quarterback and now
quarterbacks coach, obviously we're gonna lean a little more towards the Air Raid. But we’ve
got two really good running backs, and it’ll be important for our running game to keep the
defense honest to support our passing game. If we can use the running game to create space to
get our skilled receivers and tight ends the ball in space and let them do their thing, we can
definitely be successful."
In the OAC, everyone has been chasing Mount Union for quite some time. What steps are
you and the staff taking to get to the level of being able to challenge them for OAC titles in
the future?
"It comes down to the kids you recruit and the staff you surround yourself with. The men you
surround your players with every day matters. If you look at our staff online, the average full time
age is about 32 years old. When I was playing at John Carroll, our coaching staff was about that
age as well, and now they’re all in the NFL as very successful coaches, and that’s what I want for
my kids. I want them to be surrounded by guys who are very passionate about their jobs, make
the kids excited to be here, and create a competitive environment, which will help with
recruiting. Our focus right now is consistent and deliberate day-to-day preparation. You have to
be confident in your preparation to be able to do what you need to do to win football games."
You mentioned preparation has been a big emphasis for you guys. Have you changed
anything about the practice schedule since taking over?
"Where last year we did everything in the mornings five days a week, we changed it up this year
so our players are only up early on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thursday they have night practice
and then Friday is an afternoon walk-through. That way the guys aren’t exhausted coming to the
field every day and we can count on getting our best out of them. Because if you aren’t practicing
at your best, there’s no real reason to be practicing. As far as practice we’ve put an emphasis on
practicing our starters against each other consistently so we are actually getting better and not
giving our starters looks that may be different from in the game when they’re going against guys
that do have more experience."
