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Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald
New Ottawa High School football coach Marc Bergan has the building blocks in place to begin the rebuilding process of the Cyclone program. Bergan comes to OHS after a six-year stint as an assistant coach for Baker University in Baldwin City.
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New coach in charge
Bergan begins rebuilding process
By GREG MAST, Herald Sports Editor
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It has been a whirlwind of activity since March when Marc Bergan was hired as the new Ottawa High School football coach.
He spent the first couple of months meeting with the prospective student-athletes, interviewing the previous staff members and hiring assistant coaches.
He spent the summer months leading the summer conditioning program and last week’s summer football camp.
Bergan, who has spent the past six years as an assistant coach for Baker University in Baldwin City, said the opportunity to be a head coach and stay in the area is what appealed to him about the position.
He succeeds Pat Boeh, who resigned last November following the second straight winless season.
The new coach can’t wait for Aug. 18, the first day of practice, after doing all the behind-the-scenes work.
Part of that is getting to know the players and his staff.
He said the players who attended the summer conditioning have a leg up in that category.
“I am a positive coach,” Bergan said. “I expect a lot. I coach kids the way I want my daughters to be coached. Treat them fairly.”
Bergan got his first extensive look at the athletes at last week’s summer camp. The first objective was to know all the players’ names and let them get a feel for him.
He wants the athletes to be comfortable around him and trust him.
Bergan liked how the athletes have accepted him and their work ethic.
“They have worked very hard,” he said. “They have done everything I have asked them to do. They have been respectful to the coaches. That is important. That has made it easy.”
Bergan used the camp to throw a lot at the players. The practices were four hours long, split between offense and defense.
Each player learned an offensive and defensive position.
“We installed our basic system,” he said. “Some of them will be playing a lot of football. We are not as deep as we would like. One drawback is if you lose a player to injury, you lose two starters and two or three special teams.”
Bergan, who will be the offensive coordinator, expects to run an offense that best fits the personnel. He said in a perfect world, he wants to be balanced.
“I don’t know what our strengths are offensively,” Bergan said.
One thing he will do is give the defense a lot of different looks and formations.
On defense, Ottawa will run a base look of four lineman and three linebackers, but look to switch that up when the situation calls for it.
Bergan is attempting to turn around a program that has been on hard times, losing 20 straight games.
The coach said he is not concerned about the past, but knows he has to instill confidence in the players.
“We want them to have fun,” he said. “Losing is not fun.”
Coaching staffThe staff is fairly young with just one holdover from last year in Mike Bellinger.
Bergan will handle the offense. Bellinger will coach the linebackers and be the special teams coordinator.
Briley Rivers, a former Ottawa University football player, will coordinate the offense.
Bergan said Rivers was an important hire because he is familiar with the players and will be the associate head coach.
Kyle Ruona and Antonio Solomon were players for Baker when Bergan coached the Wildcats.
Ruona, a Baldwin City native, will coach the offensive line, while Solomon will be responsible for the defensive line. Josh Todd, who works for the Ottawa Recreation Commission, rounds out the staff, and will coach the running backs.
Familiar with leagueBergan is no stranger to the Frontier League. The past six years he has watched several games and recruited players from the league to Baker.
“There are no easy games,” Bergan said. “We are going to do the best we can. We would like to have success early.”
Ottawa’s schedule is tough throughout with powerhouses such as Louisburg, Paola and Eudora in the first three weeks and end the season against St. Thomas Aquinas, Pittsburg and Gardner-Edgerton.
The middle of the schedule features Spring Hill Charter, Baldwin and De Soto. All three of those programs have been solid in the past.
FamilyBergan’s wife, Linda, is a real estate agent in Baldwin City. Oldest daughter Alex is a freshman at Coffeyville Community College where she will play volleyball.
Sydney will be a third-grader this fall, while Avery is 2.
Greg Mast can be reached at sports@ottawaherald.com.
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