New girls flag football coach Dylan Kuhn has been an NFL fan since childhood.
While he had spent most of his childhood playing baseball, the SH baseball team’s assistant coach said he had a fond spot for the gridiron sport, recalling times when he would sit in front of the television to watch his favorite team — the San Francisco 49ers — whenever the Niners played on Sunday Night Football.
So when he learned of the need for a head coach for the school’s inaugural season of the Lady Lancers flag football team, the SH alum said he was willing to step up to the gridiron plate.
“I just saw it as an opportunity to get involved in something else on campus and something that is a little out of my comfort zone,” said Kuhn, who first learned of the opportunity through a Jan. 18 informational meeting with athletic director Paul Jones and others interested in competing in the sport that CIF sanctioned the previous year.
Unlike most head coaching positions that the district would post online, this one was not needed; in fact, it wasn’t even necessary for Kuhn to be interviewed for the position even though an unspecified number of others applied for the job, Jones said.
“As a teacher on campus, he was the most qualified person to take over the program,” the athletic director said. “[He’s] a good coach, good person, good teacher and has a lot of athletic knowledge.”
Principal Craig Weinreich, who had the final say in the matter, agreed.
“He’s got a good background, does a good job working with our athletes and our kids and got a positive influence on them,” Weinreich said.
To get Kuhn acclimated to the sport, he was given the chance to coach 11th-graders for the May 17 powder puff, a flag football game pitting the senior girls vs. the junior girls. Many of those players would eventually join the team as seniors this school year.
FIGURING OUT THE X’S AND O’S
Since becoming head coach last semester, Kuhn has assembled a team of assistants who also are recently hired teachers on campus; second-year social science teacher Troy Nelson works with Kuhn training the varsity and junior varsity [JV] squads, while third-year social science teacher and baseball head coach Christopher Vogt works solely with the varsity girls.
Second-year instructors science teacher Monet Taylor and art teacher Chablis Bates also help out with the JV Lady Lancers.
With two non-league wins in the season so far, some of the players have positive feedback about Kuhn.
“He has a solid grasp on the game,” said varsity safety and co-captain senior Michele Pacheco, who has also been on the frosh/soph soccer and varsity track and field teams. “[His strategies] really help when we need to intercept the ball and when we have the rusher run to the [opposing team’s] quarterback and pull her flag before the team throws.”
Others recognize the head coach’s personal approach with each player.
“He provides good feedback and tailors the approach to individual needs,” said sophomore Saraya Jhawar, who plays wide receiver and one of three quarterbacks. “He invests time, consistently shows up and builds trust by offering guidance and celebrating wins with us.”
KUHN’S SHORT- AND LONG-TERM GOALS
Although the additional role increased his workload, Kuhn said he does not regret his decision.
“I have taken on a lot this year with not only coaching a new sport, but I have started the program from the ground floor,” he said. “It has been a lot of work, but fortunately, I have always been a teacher and a coach, so I have learned how to juggle the two.”
Because of his lack of expertise in the sport, the head coach said he has relied on YouTube videos, the CIF website about girls flag football rules, and other coaches in the county.
“The best resource is just going to be from any coaches who have experience,” Kuhn said. “There’s a lot of differences [between flag football and tackle football], but at the end of the day, it is still rooted in football.”
For their league games, the head coach said the team plans on utilizing strategies such as misdirection, a tactic in which players deceive opponents of where the play will be heading. For defense, he stresses the importance of zone defense— guarding not only a single player but an entire area.
“The idea of just trying to get them the ball in whatever way possible and letting them use their athleticism has really been the focus offensively,” he said. “Our defense on both levels has been phenomenal.”
With the Lady Lancers at 2-6 as of Saturday, Sept. 21, without a win yet in the North Hills League, Kuhn said the season will be more about the journey than the results.
“It’s been a fun experience just getting to do everything from the ground floor, being able to design our first uniforms to holding the tryouts for the girls and just seeing the amount of interest that there is,” he said. “It’s been a really exciting experience.”
The long-range goal is to develop a program that would vie for league and CIF titles.
In the meantime, “the main goal is to make sure that the girls that are playing, [that] they enjoy themselves and that the non-seniors have a good enough time and want to make this something that they do long term,” Kuhn said. “I want them to make flag football something that they do while they’re here at Sunny Hills.”
