Back on the sidelines

For the first time in six years, Rod Metz is back on the sidelines coaching for the Crescent Heights High School football team.

Last year, the long time teacher was invited to return to help out the program by head coach Anthony Donner. Metz sat in the press box relaying down to Donner on game days and helped out with the odd practice.

This season, Metz has a more hands on role as defensive coordinator, which is where he stood from 1997 to 2002 as head coach of the Viking program. With is passion for the game, it almost makes you wonder why he stayed away for five years.

"I was getting burned out," said Metz about his departure after the 2002 season. "I was the only one on staff.

"I continually had to round up coaches from the community. I always had good coaches, but we never seemed to have the continuity of some of the other programs."

The bigger reason for the departure is Metz's wife, Leeann, gave birth to daughter Matayah in the spring of 2003.

Metz decided it was time to be daddy and hung up the headset with the Vikings in a pretty healthy state. The team had 45 players in the 2002 campaign. Crescent Heights had also advanced to the Rangeland Football Conference final that season and in 2000.

While concentrating on family life, Metz found other ways to get his football fix. He played receiver for the Medicine Hat Buccaneers, who won a provincial touch football title in 2003.

A year later, he returned to the tackle ranks as a slotback with the senior football Medicine Hat Marauders. At age 35, this former member of the Edmonton Wildcats and University of Alberta Golden Bears finished fourth in the Alberta Football League in receiving and was named a second team all-star. Metz also received a recruiting phone call from the head coach of the University of Manitoba Bisons, Brian Dobie.

In the Marauders next two seasons before folding, Metz served as an assistant coach.

Meanwhile, the Vikings made the Rangeland Conference final in 2005 before going on a decline. This season, the Vikings average about 28 players per practice, and Metz hopes to help Donner get the program heading back in the right direction.

"There was a sense of pride in our school," said Metz. "I think the pride and I think the school spirit has waned a little bit in the last few years.

"I think we have some positive things going on in our school. I think we have an administration that is fairly supportive."

With the Viking defensive coordinator from a year ago deciding to leave the team, Metz decided to step into the role despite the fact he been on the offensive side of the ball since his days a player for Grande Prairie Comprehensive High School, where he was a safety, slotback, place kicker and kick returner.

"It is a little new to me, but at the same time, I have been scheming against defences for 20 years of my life as a player and a coach," said Metz. "I am having a lot of fun with it."

While the Vikings have started out with a 1-4 overall record, Metz has installed about three to four different pass coverages, two to three different front looks and a number of blitzes.

Thanks to his offensive experience, he has been teaching his player how to read the various looks of their opponents. James Michalopolous, a Grade 12 centre and linebacker for the Vikings, believes the Vikings defensive players have benefited greatly from Metz's teaching.

"I feel we have clicked better than we have clicked in the last three years that I have been on the team," said Michalopolous. "We definitely played hard the last four games.

"I feel the defence is right where it needs to be."

Besides goals on the field, Metz has future plans to help the Vikings raise enough money to build a clubhouse. Those plans were originally made during his time as head coach.

The former receiver said he expects to be with the Vikings and help Donner for the long haul.

"Tough times don't last," said Metz. "Tough people do."