By RYAN WALKER
Southern Wells Athletic Director Todd Thieme has confirmed that the school has selected Blake Blaker to become the Raiders’ new head football coach.
The hire will be official at the July school board meeting next month, but Blaker has just met with the players and coaches and plans to begin work next week.
Blaker, 29, will be a first-time head coach after serving in coordinator and junior varsity head coaching roles at Central Noble, Concordia, South Side and Huntington North.
Blaker is thrilled to be able to take over the reigns of the Southern Wells Raiders, a job that has been passed twice in a row by their prior coaches Mike Roeder and Jeff Sprunger over the last two seasons.
“I took the SW job because I’ve been an assistant for a handful of years and felt ready to step out on my own and build my own program,” Blaker said in an email. “I remember wanting to be a head football coach since I was 16 and am grateful that the opportunity has finally come. I’m beyond excited to be the head football coach and can’t wait to get started and see what we can build at Southern Wells. The community has been very welcoming.”
In his playing days, Blaker was a quarterback and linebacker for the Eastside Blazers in high school before going to Ball State University. He then transferred to Saint Francis, where he switched to the defensive side of the ball as a defensive end and won two national championships with the Cougars.
He’s spent the last six years on the sidelines after his playing days, that was where he climbed the ladder to becoming the head of a program, which he is excited to do, and has a plan set already.
One of his primary goals is to build a program for the youth ages on up. He’s already strung together a flag football league for first through fourth graders in hopes of keeping Southern Wells kids playing football and keeping them at Southern Wells. He plans to recruit kids for this year’s team and set a goal to have a junior varsity team to develop underclassmen. The Raiders recently graduated a larger football class last year.
This season, Blaker will have Jordan Caldwell, Chad Elzroth and Trevor Bower as his assistant coaches, all who are familiar with the Raiders’ football program. However, with Blaker’s experience on both sides of the ball, he will take control of calling plays on offense and defense until the new coaches are accustomed to his system.
Blaker plans to run a spread offense to get many players a touch of the football, and on defense “We want to play fast and disciplined. Play everything in front of us and eliminate big plays,” he said.
Southern Wells’ first game will be at home against Elwood at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23.
ryan@news-banner.com
