Mike Yew knew what he was in for. He knew he couldn't script every event that would unfold during his first year as head football coach at Massanutten Military Academy.
He just had the feeling it would not be easy.
He was right – it was difficult. The Colonels finished with just two wins in nine games, but Yew expressed no regret in taking the job. In fact, he said he plans on being around as long as MMA wants him.
"I'm enjoying getting head coaching experience," Yew said Monday. "I plan on being there for an extended time to come."
Yew, coming from a public school atmosphere down the road at Central, had to adjust to the fact that his program wouldn't run near as smoothly. MMA's players had other obligations, those of the military kind, to adhere to.
Yew said that was one of the hardest things to get used to.
"What they have to do around the clock," he said, "I didn't think it was that hard. It's definitely a lifestyle that they have to adjust to. They're accounted for from 6:30 in the morning until 9 at night."
MMA Athletic Director Lenny Paoletti said Monday he'd love to have Yew, MMA's fifth head coach in the past five years, stick around, but it's not up to him.
The president of the academy makes those decisions. Paoletti credited Yew for taking nothing and turning it into something.
"I think he did the best he could with the talent he had," he said. "We had eight [players] back from last year's team."
If placed in a public school athletic department setting, Yew should have had more players from the year before. However, youths are taken out of school at the academy for several reasons. A solid player might be a sophomore but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll play for two more years.
One player who did return was Jeff Schmitt, MMA's "Mr. Everything." Schmitt played fullback, linebacker and was the team's best punter. He earned all-district honors a few years ago playing for Mount Vernon High School at the Group AAA level.
Schmitt's season was cut short, however, by a knee injury that occurred during the Colonels first win of the season against Fishburne Military. Schmitt took a shot to the knee in that contest, but didn't seem too bothered by it.
He took another hit to the knee two weeks later in a loss to Roanoke Catholic and completely tore his ACL. Schmitt was lost for the remainder of the season.
Yew said the team was never the same after the injury.
"Kids looked to him as a leader based on his performance from his junior year," Yew said. "That took the wind out of some of their sails. I hate that stuff like that happens because they thought so much of him. They thought they were better with him, and in some regards we were."
Schmitt's injury affected the MMA defense more than anything. One player replaced him on offense, but that wasn't the case on defense. Yew had to change his entire defensive setup around in order to help fill the void
Several other players missed time due to various reasons. Some quit during the season, some sat out due to academics and a few others suffered injuries.
"We started season at about 30 kids," Yew said. "Throughout the season we dressed anywhere from 20 to 24."
There are about 10 to 12 players that Yew expects back next season, and with them, he said, the Colonels will be a much-improved team. In Yew's eyes, MMA should have ended the season double the amount of victories. He felt that the Colonels should have won their games against Quantico and New York Military Academy.
The Quantico game was lost when MMA fumbled deep in its own territory late in the game. The season-ending loss in New York on Saturday was perhaps the best game the Colonels have played in two months. The breaks just didn't go their way.
"I think if we had [Jeff] Schmitt playing and James Schmitt, it would have made huge difference," Yew said. "We had a few kids playing out of position."
A day after the season came to a disappointing end, Yew said he's already planning ahead toward next season. He plans to get the kids started in a weight-training program in hopes of fielding a much stronger team in 2004.
"I look forward to the challenge of establishing [MMA] as a successful program," he said. "We have a lot of room for improvement. That room may have come from the fact that we were so young. If things come together this year and we get kids back, the experience card is one we can play a little better."
Sophomore running back Zach Mondres, who gained nearly 500 yards this season, expected the team to win a few more games, but felt the experience as a whole was a good one. He said the players meshed with their first-year coach from the beginning.
"It was a very good atmosphere with the new coach," Mondres said. "It was like a family right away."
