Bear Down (DCTF Q&A with Montgomery head coach John Bolfing

[BrenhamFan]

[b]Bear Down[/b]
By Greg Tepper // TexasFootball.com

Watch out, District 17-4A: John Bolfing’s Montgomery Bears mean business.

Bolfing led the Bears to the state quarterfinals a year ago, by far the best of his six years at the helm of Montgomery. And despite needing to replace 14 starters, Bolfing’s squad, ranked No. 24 in the Texas Football preseason 4A rankings, is ready for the challenge of 2011 – and reaching even higher goals.

Coach Bolfing recently took some time to answer some of DCTF’s questions.

[b]DCTF: What was different about last year that made the 2010 team reach those new heights?
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Coach Bolfing: It was not something that just happened overnight. Since we took over in 2005 we have been building on the successes of the teams that came before, and we will continue to strive to do that. Last year’s team combined two very good classes (both went undefeated as freshmen). We had good talent at every position and had a lot of depth. Most people probably don’t realize we very seldom had all of our starters healthy for our big games. Whenever someone went down someone else stepped in and did a great job. However, the thing that set last year’s team apart from some others was it had great leadership. I have been coaching 23 years and I can look back at the most successful teams I have coached and that is the one common characteristic they have. They worked hard and expected those around them to work hard. They held each other accountable to a very high standard.

[b]DCTF: With success, of course, come expectations. Are the raised expectations something you’ve preached to your team during the offseason?[/b]

Coach Bolfing: Our expectations stay the same each and every year. Work hard, do the right thing and use every bit of your God-given ability to become the best you can become. If you do these things and respect your opponent the scoreboard will take care of itself.

[b]DCTF: You’re losing RB Leroy Dobbins, but you’ve got a surplus of weapons still, including WR Devon Gasaway and RB Tevin House. Do you expect the offense to be as potent this year as it was last year?[/b]

Coach Bolfing: It is remarkable to me how consistent we have been offensively, statistically speaking, through the years. I feel like we have an offensive system that is flexible and that our players understand and can execute. We had some very good players graduate including Leroy, but we feel we have some very good players who will step into “fill their shoes.” Tevin is very capable. We won three games last year with him as our starter while Leroy recuperated. Between Gasaway and Alex Peppe we have over 80 receptions and 21 receiving TD’s coming back. Ty Taliaferro will step in at QB to replace three year starter, Tyler Bolfing. I am expecting Ty to bring a new element to our offense. Behind Braden Meador and Grant Wisenbaker I feel like we should still be able to move the ball very well.

[b]DCTF: You’ve got a senior-laden defense, including LB Henderson Watkins and the curiously small but devastatingly effective DT Jesse Hooper. How important is experience going to be your defense’s success?[/b]

Coach Bolfing: We rotated a lot of players on defense last season, so although we don’t have a lot of starters returning we do have a lot of experience. Scott Herman, our Defensive Coordinator, has done a tremendous job with our defense. There is no substitute for experience. We can coach, watch video, practice, etc. but until you have been on the field and done it, you never know how you will perform. We really like the aggressiveness of this group of seniors including Watkins and Hooper. Cade Scott will help shore up our secondary and our defensive ends, Jeffrey Elliott and Parker Kuehn should play key roles.

[b]DCTF: This is your first public school head coaching job after working at Reicher and Waco Christian. How have you noticed the public school game differing from private school?[/b]

Coach Bolfing: I have been away from the private schools now for 15 years. From my experience the greatest difference is the number of teams at each classification and the vast number of quality teams at any classification in public schools. In the private schools you never knew who might show up since there are no attendance boundaries, but you also never knew who might leave because they wanted to attend their public school or maybe they couldn’t afford the tuition.  As far as coaching, the game is the same. We play by the same rules on the field and have the same challenges. I have coached against some great coaches and players in both private and public schools and have enjoyed my experiences in both.

[b]DCTF: In your opinion, what makes Texas high school football so special?[/b]

Coach Bolfing: What other event brings people from all walks of life and different communities together in one place? In my opinion, there is nothing like Texas High School Football. I know when I am finished with my coaching career I will still be attending games. Every week in the fall entire schools and towns come together to put on a show, “the greatest show on earth,” Texas high school football.