Leroy Marsh has been head football coach at Munster for 37-plus years.
He knows this much about the state of the profession.
The days of a coach going wall-to-wall at one school are gone.
A coach hitting the 20-year mark will be rare.
“There is no way I could’ve done it if I had young kids,” Marsh said.
The longest-tenured coach in the Duneland Athletic Conference was Lake Central’s Brett St. Germain.
St. Germain, who was in his seventh season as the Indians’ head coach, is currently not coaching the team. Three weeks ago, St. Germain stepped away, telling the Post-Tribune the “stress and anxiety had gotten the best of him. I just need to step back and reevaluate some things.”
It’s not clear when St. Germain will return.
After going 34-10 from 2011-14 under St. Germain, the Indians have lost nine of their last 10. St. Germain’s time off is an admission that he needs to learn to control the stress better.
Or do something else.
Marsh has a formula for managing stress that was scripted from over four decades in coaching.
He walls himself off from anything not football-related from August through November.
That means he rarely reads newspapers in season.
And he doesn’t Google search “Munster” to see what everyone else is saying.
He also doesn’t overdose on watching game film.
“Some coaches watch video constantly, ” he said. “You have to flush it and get ready for the next day.”
Marsh admits that he’s been fortunate in two respects.
His family is completely on board with his vocation and the school has supported him through winning and losing seasons unflinchingly.
What is more difficult, he said, are the summers.
Teams have speed work or conditioning four or five days a week and they have up to 15 days of mini-camps and 10 to 12 days of competitions, like 7-on-7s.
It’s non-stop.
When Marsh started, he couldn’t work with the kids during the offseason other than for weightlifting and conditioning.
That workload is just too much for someone with a young family, he said.
“You won’t see guys like me anymore,” he said. “I’m a dinosaur. You just can’t maintain it that long.”
During the season, Marsh said the coaching staff has a policy of not talking to parents unless there is an emergency.
His days are long, starting at 6 a.m. and ending at midnight.
When he gets home from practice between 7:30 and 8 p.m., after eating dinner, he watches film for an hour or two and then jots down an outline of practice for the next day.
The biggest challenge for the games is getting the “right kids on the field” in the right situations.
“We try to get kids out there who are team-oriented and not ‘me’ players,” he said.
Chris Meeks is another exception.
He is in his 18th year as head coach at Rensselaer.
Meeks started there as an assistant when he was 20 and a student at St. Joseph’s.
When Meeks saw some of the abuse that the head coach took from fans, he told his wife to “stop him immediately if he ever applied to be head coach. I just wanted no part of it.”
A couple years later, Meeks, a 1984 Rensselaer graduate, took over because he felt like he was the best person for the job.
Meeks said one of the best things that happened to him was to learning to deal with failure.
“When I first started, I’d ball myself up in the bedroom for two days after a loss,” he said. “Eventually, I just figured it out.”
Meeks is fortunate to coach in a bedroom community, where football is revered.
The support from fans, players and administrators has been unwavering.
Two years ago, the Bombers won the Class 2A state title.
Often, Meeks is asked when he is going to bolt for a job at a bigger school.
It’s not in the blueprint, he said.
“Why would I go to a bigger school for a job that is more stressful?” he said. “I love what I do and I love this place.”
Twitter @MikeHuttonPT
Top 10
With records, last week’s rankings in parentheses.
1. LaPorte (6-0, 1): Slicers put up 46 against Merrillville in a win at home last week. They play Crown Point.
2. Valparaiso (4-2, 2): Vikings churn out a 21-7 victory over Crown Point. Merrillville is up next.
3. Michigan City (5-1, 3): Wolves get thrilling 46-42 victory over Merrillville. Portage is next.
4. Portage (4-2, 5): Indians struggled to a 22-13 victory over Chesterton. Michigan City is the favorite in this one.
5. East Chicago Central (4-1, 7): Cardinals crush Morton and wrap up their first Great Lakes Athletic Conference title.
6. Merrillville (3-3, 4): Pirates will have their work cut out against Valpo. They have lost two straight.
7. Hobart (4-2, 9): Brickies move up a couple of spots after win at Lowell. Tough game at Munster.
8. Hanover Central (6-0, NR): Wildcats’ shutout of Whiting at Whiting is the most impressive win of any area team. Oilers were ranked No.1 in 2A.
9.Griffith (4-2, 9): Panthers’ win over Munster on the road is another big notch in their belt.
10.Whiting (5-1, 6): It’s back to the drawing board for Oilers after Hanover pounds them.
