Wyatt’s coaching staff key to improvement

Somewhere along the long journey covering sports for more than 50 years at the high school level, an oft-used word vanished from many conversations. However, that work has now been revived by one of the area’s best defensive football minds, Elgin defensive coordinator Jack Baker.

Tonight, Baker will be leading the Owls’ defense against Claremore in a Class 5A quarterfinal playoff game at 7 p.m. in Elgin. The road he took to land up at Elgin was full of curves and challenges.

“To be honest, football kinda saved my life,” Baker said Thursday before practice. “I was that punk kid who knew everything at that age. I was that knucklehead that everyone talked about.

“Along the way I had guys like Tony Henry, who hired me for my first job at Millwood,” he said. “I had other coaches like Tim Reynolds, Jerry Koschow and others. They wouldn’t let me quit football. I wound up playing a year of college ball and then joined the Army where I was an MP. My success is a testament to those coaches who weren’t about to let me quit and take the easy road out. They never let me walk way.”

Baker has come full circle; now he’s the coach making sure his own players don’t give up on themselves. He tells them every day how important they are in his life and how much he loves them.

Along the way Elgin players have listened intently each week as he puts together a defensive game plan to limit the success of some of the best big-school offensive teams in the state.

Baker is just one piece of the puzzle that Chalmer Wyatt had to locate when he was hired five years ago as the new Elgin football coach, With each position that he worked to fill after taking the job, it seemed like everything just fell into place and now the Owls are 11-0 overall and ranked No. 4 in Class 5A.

While Baker coordinates the defense, Adam Castro is the offensive coordinator, but there are other important staff members who work year round to put their team into position to chase a gold ball.

“Lance Hill is our strength and conditioning coach and also helps with the defense,” Wyatt said. “Brandon Langford, Orrin Forsythe, Cody Rowell and TJ Chase are also important members of our coaching staff. All of them have had a hand in getting us to this point.”

Wyatt and Castro had a chance meeting at Cameron and they’ve formulated that friendship into a great coaching partnership.

“Adam and I met in college at Cameron and since we were both aspiring football coaches, we just seemed to have many of the same ideas. He knew a great deal about the offensive line and I had experience with the skill people; wide receivers and backs. The more we talked the more things fell in place.”

This is the fifth season they’ve been at Elgin and while the first year wasn’t all that good, things have turned dramatically and now the Owls are in the thick of the fight for the 5A title.

“Adam calls the offensive plays and most often we are in total agreement,” Wyatt said. “His strength is the offensive line and I am more about working the passing game. Things just pop into our heads and we work to incorporate them into our system.

“Jack also throws his thoughts out there at times if he sees something. We aren’t going to toss aside input from the other coaches. Lance is Jack’s right-hand man and they have a good relationship. Orrin coaches defensive backs and Cody helps me with the wide receivers and he also helps Jack with the defensive line. TJ has taken over the quarterbacks and that allows me to focus on wide receivers which is where I played and where I can help the offense the most.”

Wyatt says the priority of the staff is to win games but to do that you need the trust of the players.

“The most important thing we do is develop relationships with the players and Jack is been great at doing just that,” Wyatt said. “That trust drives those kids to play so hard. Those guys love him and he loves them right back. That trust is just as important as the Xs and Os.

“That’s part of this ‘Black Flag’ defense. The kids call it ‘organized chaos’ and that’s probably a good way to describe how our defense plays. Those defensive guys have bought into Jack’s system and that’s why they’ve been so successful.”

Baker, who spent two seasons at Mac as defensive line coach, says the job at Elgin worked out great and allows him to spend more time watching his own kids.

“The guys actually came up with their own identity of this defense,” Baker said. “These guys put everything into this defense and since they own it, they are willing to work hard to make it work. Remember, this bunch was 0-8 that first year, then 4-6 and now the last two years they are having success. There were people telling these kids that we wouldn’t be able to compete at this level for 10 years but we are competing and that means something to these kids. I’m super proud of what they are accomplishing.”

Castro is proud of how the offensive coaches have worked together to form a talented group on that side of the ball.

“Coach Wyatt and I bounce ideas off each other and as we’ve improved on the field, it’s like the stars aligned for us,” Castro said. “I have been taking what I have learned and putting it together with what Coach Wyatt knows and we have built a good offensive group.”

Castro played and coached under former Lawton High School offensive line coach Brad Widger and former LHS head coach Randy Breeze.

“Getting to play for Coach Widger was awesome,” Castro said. “His work ethic is amazing; nobody will outwork him. We still talk a great deal and he’s always willing to offer advise.

“Coach Breeze was my head coach when I played and then I got to coach under him for five years. He could talk to the players as well as any coach I’ve seen. He had a way of getting them to believe in themselves. At that time LHS was one of the most successful programs in the state and all of that helped me learn from some great coaches.

“Coach (Ashley) Henley was a defensive coach but he also taught me a great deal both on and off the field. He’s not just a good coach but a great human as well. There were others who helped me along the way; Coach (Aaron) Molloy, Clarence Madden. I hope that we can get more young people into coach football because we need more good leaders to step up and get into this profession.”

All of that experience will come in handy tonight because Claremore comes in with a solid team.

“They have a really good 3-technique (defensive tackle) named Josh Feleciano and they have a good linebacker named Jesse Cagle who is a good linebacker and also plays fullback,” Baker said. “They are going to mix up their coverages and give us a zone look at times or a man look on oher possessions. Our defense has been playing well and I feel confident they are ready for this next challenge.”