This is the second installment in our series of coaches’ interviews. Today we sat down with head coach Brian Fluck of West Catholic and asked him some questions about himself and his career coaching football.
Fluck’s career record is 109-49 and recently his team won a state title in 2010, Eastern runner-up in 2009 and a state runner-up in 2008. Last season his team featured three 900 plus runners and his team is one of the top Class AA teams in the state every year.
Let’s get started!
Q. Why did you decide to coach High School Football?
A. It’s been in my blood. My dad coached for over 30 years and he coached my brothers and me. My brothers and I got into coaching.
Q. How many years have you coached at your school?
A. This is my 13th season as head coach. I coached a couple of years as an assistant in the 90’s at St. Joseph’s Prep. I have been coaching almost 23 years as a head coach and assistant.
Q. Do you have any interest in coaching at a higher level?
A. I did have some interest when I was younger. Right now it would have to be the right opportunity and a solid job.
Q. Growing up was there an athlete or coach you particularly admired and patterned your self after?
A. I admire coach Paterno the way he presents him self on the sidelines and the way his team plays on the field. My father and brother, watching them coach their kids and me.
One other guy that helped my career is Gil Brooks. I learned a lot in two years like organization, preparation and the little things head coaches do. He gave me everything I needed to become a head coach at the high school level and to make my team successful. I can’t thank him enough for that.
Q. How important is strength training and nutrition in your program?
A. It’s essential. It’s the most important thing out there. If you don’t do the work in the off-season it doesn’t pay off on the football field. They have to hit the weight room and get stronger. But they need to be flexible. I have a trainer here, Kyle Schaffer who’s our fitness trainer from University of Penn and does our medical stuff. He has put together a good fitness program for the players. It has benefited our team the last couple of years.
Q. What kind of offense and defense do you like to run?
A. We run a multiple “I” formation. If we can’t run the ball then I like to have an athletic quarterback. On defense we were a 4 – 3 defense earlier in my career. We run a 3 – 4 defense now and we put more athletic linebackers out there and we can attack a lot more people in different areas. We play man-to-man 90% of the game now.
Q. Who is the best football player you ever coached against?
A. I coached against Victor Hobson (St. Joseph’s Prep), Kevin Jones (Cardinal O’Hara), Steve Slaton (Conwell-Egan) and that is the top three that comes to mind. I also coached against Marvin Harrison (Roman Catholic) in my younger days as an assistant.
Q. What is the best team you ever coached against?
A. Archbishop Carroll in 2000. They put all kinds of points on the board. Carroll was outscoring opponents 574 – 42 and they had eight shutouts. They beat us 74-7 that year and Archbishop Wood 77-0. They were a phenomenal team.
Q. Do you want your athletes to play other sports?
A. I encourage it, but they don’t have to. If they don’t play other sports then they need to hit the weight room. We probably have eight or nine basketball players, we have about 25 track players and four or five play baseball. We have a lot of kids that do different sports.
Q. Do you think 16 games is too much for high school teams?
A. It is, you are playing a NFL season without getting a break. You have high school kids playing through late December and it’s tough on the kids. They have to give the kids a break or they will be burned out.
Q. What type of a game schedule would you most like to see?
A. I like to play the best teams I possibility can play. I try and play 3A and 4A teams even if they aren’t from the Catholic league but from the area. I think playing tough games early in the season will benefit you going into the playoffs. That helped us last year and when we got in the playoffs we were playing so much better than we were in the beginning of the season.
Q. What are your goals/challenges for the 2011 season and what do you have coming back as a team?
A. Our goals are always the same, playing in a state championship game. We try and do it in three phases, number one is to win the Catholic league title, number two a district title and number three win a state title.
Our challenge is a tough schedule early. It will show how good we are going to be and how tough we will be. I think with our kids we have coming back like running back David Williams, Tristan Freeman, TJ Waters and Kevin Malone we have a good nucleus coming back. We have a lot of front guys coming back, especially the front seven on offense and defense. Our quarterback saw a lot of action last season. He is going to be the key factor for us. If he keeps his confidence and plays the way I think he can I think will be back in the state title game.
Q. Do you have a pre-game ritual?
A. Not so much. I like to get there early to get on the football field and just to walk around and get used to the field. Than we go in and get our equipment on and come out together as a team. They do their thing in the end zone, that’s what they put together. They like to play some music before the game. Keeping the team relaxed helps us play better.
Q. Final Question. How do you define a successful season?
A. Getting the most out of your kids every single game. If a team is better than us, they are better than us. Then we have to face it. If we are playing the best we possibility can, then if that team is better than us than I can go home and sleep the night.
