A new era of Red Knights football kicked off with the start of spring football practice Thursday — the Barry Goettemoeller era.
North Fort Myers High School hired Goettemoeller to replace coach James Iandoli after Iandoli stepped down for what school administrators called personal reasons.
Before taking over the Red Knights, Goettemoeller coached at Carrollton (Ohio) High School, where he went 39-44 in his eight seasons and took two teams to the playoffs.
Iandoli led the Red Knights to a district championship in 2006 with the help of Lee County’s all-time leading rusher, Noel Devine, who plays for West Virginia University.
Last season the Knights took a plunge by posting a 2-8 record.
With the new coaching regime, which includes only one assistant from last year’s squad, a new offense, a new defense, and even a renovated field house, the Red Knight faithful are hoping for big things.
“I think the word around campus is ‘excitement,’ ” said North athletic director Erik Timko. “We’re excited to usher in the new era. We’re built on tradition, we’re not going away from tradition, but sometimes new blood brings good things.”
That excitement could be seen throughout Thursday’s practice, if not in numbers alone. More than 80 players came out for the first day. Goettemoeller said more than 100 signed up.
“We’re rolling,” Goettemoeller said. “We’re working on basic stuff. We’ll see what we got.”
While Goettemoeller said the first few days would be about conditioning, evaluating talent and administering equipment, he was set to start installing the new offense, which he said would consist of a lot of shotgun formations.
“I love shotgun,” said senior-to-be quarterback Mike Nelson. “That’s more my style.”
But that doesn’t mean that Nelson will be behind center come game time.
Goettemoeller said that regardless of statistics a returning player might have racked up the previous season, no starting position is a lock.
The mood throughout practice seemed to be upbeat. Despite running conditioning and agility drills in the mid-afternoon heat, the players kept clapping and seemed to motivate each other with encouraging words as fatigue set in.
“Lets go!” shouted senior-to-be fullback Tommy Bohanon as his teammates pushed through an agility drill.
Last season, Bohanon was the heart of the North offense, amassing 623 yards rushing and nine touchdowns.
“I want to learn as much as I can,” Bohanon said. “We have a new offense, a new defense. But I’m confident we can all learn it.”
Bohanon said he thought more returning players were physically prepared entering this spring than in years past, which he said should show up in the win column.
“Everything is good,” said senior-to-be halfback Robenson Merci. “We have a new coach. He has new ideas. If we execute and give 100 percent, things are going to go well.”
