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Snow in forecast for Stockdale
Topics: Frontier, school, football, coaching, sports
Posted by sunnica Tue Feb 5, 2008 23:01:34 PST
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At noon on a brisk Tuesday during football’s off-season, Frontier’s head football coach is rushing around like it’s game day. 

 

Mike Snow, 38, has just finished teaching physical education to sophomore boys and has only enough time to eat a quick lunch before driving across town to a new job that won’t officially begin until the end of the 2008 school year.

 

He will be Stockdale High School’s varsity football coach.  But Snow isn't waiting for the fall. He’s laying the groundwork now by becoming familiar with his coaching staff, assessing talent, and getting organized.

 

Working at one school while coaching at another seems a lot like trying to ride two horses at once. Ambitious. Impossible for most people.

 

Not for Mike Snow. 

 

“Some coaches wing it. Mike doesn’t do that,” says Cy Silver, head baseball coach of North High School. “He runs his football program like it’s a year-round thing.”

 

Silver should know. He coached under Snow during Snow’s six-year tenure at North before Frontier High School opened its doors in 2006, when Snow became the Titans first varsity football coach. Silver claims that Snow is one of the most organized people he has ever met.

 

“He would give us a practice schedule two weeks in advance, lined out minute to minute,” says Silver, adding that Snow’s attention to detail is a quality that allows him to be prepared for everything.

 

“He doesn’t get surprised.”

 

Snow’s preparedness shows. He knows he has exactly enough time to answer questions, eat lunch, drive to Stockdale and spend a few hours getting to know staff and students before his wife, Debbie, is admitted to the hospital to give birth to the couple’s third child.

 

No surprises. The baby’s name will be Brodie, and he has two older sisters, Madison and Kynadee. Seems like clockwork.

 

Snow plans to run an efficient football program, too. He knows he faces challenges unlike those he faced at Frontier, a school starting from scratch with no expectations, no students, and no history.

 

Stockdale is different. There is a different air around a campus tucked among the lofty Oaks neighborhoods. Stockdale supporters expect the team to win in a tough league. Snow thinks he can accommodate those expectations by coaching his way.

 

“You have your own principals and philosophy with you,” Snow says of how he will acclimate to the school’s football program. “It’s like learning a new language. The job of a head coach is to get everyone on the same page.”

 

Asking a new team to buy into his coaching philosophy isn’t unique for Snow. After coaching four years in his hometown of Dinuba, he had assistant roles in Exeter and Porterville before applying for the head-coaching job at North High.

 

“I had coached every level and felt I was ready (for the head coaching position). I threw my hat in the ring and lucked out.”

 

It wasn’t all luck. When 13 other applicants vied for the job at Stockdale, Snow was the one to get the nod.

 

“He does an awesome job of everything,” says Silver, North’s baseball coach. “He’s dedicated.  You can’t ask kids more than you ask of yourself.”

 

That’s Mike Snow. The kids are his top priority.

 

“At the end of the day, your job is to manage the entire program – to make (the kids) feel important all the way down to the youth leagues,” Snow says.

 

Snow tries to work with the Golden Empire Youth Football league in order to know the kids when they are as young as 8 or 9. He claims it’s part of his coaching philosophy.

 

“The sooner they get to know me, the better.”

 

If they haven't met him yet, they will. Each day after classes, Snow leaves Frontier to begin work at Stockdale, hoping to attract the attention of athletes who aren’t playing a spring sport so he can get to know them, assess their talent, and get them to try football. 

 

Leaving the Titan football program, however, was not an easy decision for Snow to make. 

 

“The kids at Frontier were what made me hesitate,” he says, adding that his departure wasn’t easy for anyone.

 

Snow claims that the Titan program will be successful. “The hard part’s over,” says Snow. “Frontier will reap the rewards of what we’ve been doing for 2 years.”

 

Sounds like a win-win situation. Frontier will enjoy the benefits of having had a top-rated coach initiate their program, and Stockdale, coming off of a 3-8 season, has a new season with new hope on the horizon.

 

Maybe it is possible to ride two horses at once. It is, at least, if you’re Mike Snow.

 

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