New coach starts new year

Papers and boxes fill the Hickman High School commons, the aftermath of seniors filling the area early in the day to receive this year’s class schedules. Despite the mess, the air conditioning there is an respite for football coach Jason Wright on Tuesday during the second sweltering day of two-a day practices.

He can’t escape everything, though, and he is peppered with questions from teachers about the upcoming season and how many games the Kewpies will win.

Wright replies as a true head coach with a safe answer.

“We’ll see,” he says. “You know I can’t make those kind of predictions.”

Wright, who served as the Kewpies’ defensive coordinator for the past 8 years, was named to replace former head coach Greg Nesbitt, who took an assistant coaching job at Central Methodist University in Fayette. Wright was selected from three candidates who were interviewed in the spring. He said that regardless of who was chosen, he was glad to see that the school went with someone who had experience with the team.

“He was an overwhelming favorite when we went through the interviews,” Doug Mirts, the Hickman athletic director, said. “He’s smooth, he is well schooled in what he does, and he knows what he wants to do. He now has the reins to do it.”

Wright is taking over a football team that won the Class 6A state championship in 2004. With a few members of that team returning for their senior seasons, Wright hopes their experience helps during a season filled with tough opponents.

“We are a young football team,” Wright said. “We have only got about 10 guys coming back that have any varsity experience, and our schedule does not help us any. We’re talking about playing three of our first four games on the road.”

The team starts its regular season with away games against Saint Louis High School (Sept. 1) and Bentonville High School in Arkansas (Sept. 8), then returns home on Sept. 15 to play Hazelwood Central, the runner-up for the state title last season.

Wright says he welcomes the challenge and hopes he can rely on his coaching experience. Wright’s coaching resume includes time spent at Parkview High School in Springfield, Mo., Joplin High School, Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and Webb City High School. Wright said he is hoping to take what he learned from Nesbitt and build on it.

“Why would you change something that Greg Nesbitt has done for 14 years? With the success that he has experienced and the lives that he has touched. We have a system in place and when you have been pretty successful, why would you change that?”

One of the changes Wright and the team are happy to see this year is the playing surface. The Hickman and Rock Bridge stadiums were outfitted with with FieldTurf for $1.4 million this summer. Hickman began their summer practice on their new synthetic field Monday.

“The kids love it,” Wright said. “It’s an added attraction facility wise. The only thing we have to worry about, really, is when it gets hot, because it’s about 15, 20 degrees hotter on turf.”

Wright is one of the few members of the coaching staff who is not a physical education instructor, and will continue to teach five 10th-grade English classes this year. Even with school being out for summer vacation, Wright has already seen a jump in responsibilities and time commitment since he was named head coach.

“It’s just endless the things that you have to do to run a program of this magnitude,” Wright said. “I know that. I welcome that. That’s not a problem. There was a lot of days this summer that I had to work 12 hour days, and that’s just the summer.”