By Kyle LoJacono
Brian Wachtel was named the Land O’ Lakes football coach in January, and the new Gator has seen the program is like none other he has coached before.
Wachtel was an outside linebacker at River Ridge and impressed enough to earn a football scholarship to play at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
His career as a coach began as assistant at his alma mater River Ridge. A year later he became the defensive coordinator at Ridgewood.
After three years he became an assistant at Mitchell and took over as the Mustangs coach in 2009. Wachtel posted a 13-7 record as Mitchell’s leader, but was not brought back after the season.
Wachtel recently spoke with The Laker and the Lutz News about leading Land O’ Lakes.
Q: Why did you first get into coaching?
A: Football has always been a huge part of my life. It’s a great opportunity to build men of character. You teach these guys lessons that will help them in life. It’s also a fun and exciting game that I feel mirrors life.
Q: You grew up in this area and understand the history of Land O’ Lakes football. Talk about the chance to add to that tradition.
A: It’s a tremendous opportunity to coach here. Land O’ Lakes has a great football tradition. There isn’t another job that I think any coach would rather have over this one. Land O’ Lakes is where it’s at and I’m so looking forward to the future.
Q: What are your impressions of the support from the school?
A: I can’t say enough about this high school with the faculty and the community. The community support from January until now has been outstanding. We have people coming out to watch spring practice every day in 90-degree heat. That shows people love their football here.
Q: The Gators have a Pasco County record 14 straight playoff appearances. How much pressure is there to maintain that?
A: People know and talk about the streak, and it’s something you can’t avoid. My real goal right now is teaching this kids the new systems we’re putting in place during our 20 practices in the spring. We need to take those little steps before we worry about playoffs in the fall.
Q: What are the things you focus on as a coach?
A: There are a lot of things we focus on. In the offseason we focus on academics and doing the right things in school and out. Then we have all the offseason stuff we’re doing to prepare for the fall season. Right now we’re building and teaching fundamentals. We’re getting them acclimated to the new systems that we’re doing and that rolls right into the summer and fall.
