Team _Tunnel

Football Matt Witwicki, NSIC Blogger

Head Football Coach Tom Dosch Talks with d2football.com

MW: Coach, you are coming off an 8-3 season in which most followers of the Northern Sun figured your squad would be about a middle of the pack team.Instead you nearly make a bowl game and you are personally rewarded with as the Northern Sun 2014 Coach of the Year. Why was this your most successful year so far with the Wolves football program?

Coach Dosch: I think a big part of it was that we did very well on the road. We were 5-1 in road games and 4 of those games we came from behind to win.Honestly Matt, we hadn't done that much in my first few years here. We didn't play particularly well in the beginning of the year at home against Winona and Augustana. Overall we did have some seasoned guys who played better as the year went on. Our quarterback Jared Jacobson played extremely well, he had 40 touchdowns as finished 3rd in total offense in the history of our conference. We also had a lot of guys around him who played well. Our tailback and wide receivers played very well.

We would've liked to have played better on defense but we were opportunistic and got a lot of turnovers that gave our offense a lot of short fields. Like anything else, it's also a confidence thing. When we started winning on the road it told us that we can win tough games and not to get worried when we were down a score or panicking. I thought we stayed composed very well. The last 8 weeks we played pretty good football.

MW: In looking over the stats for the Wolves in 2014, you guys oddly have a mixed bag of information. While you scored 37ppg, you allowed 33 ppg. The squad was also outgained for the season and allowed more opponent first downs. As a staff when you look over the statistics and results from 2014, is it hard to make sense of some of those numbers while finishing with a strong winning percentage? Or is it as simple as the Wolves lost some one-sided games that skew the stats and that you found a way to win all the close games you had?

Coach Dosch: Well, there was a couple of those..yes, that's exactly right. We had a couple games that got out of hand early in the year and yes we did find a way to win the close games. In this day and age there's such a huge emphasis on offense, you are going to give up some yards. We have teams in our league going to the fast tempo and frankly that's what made us successful this last year on offense. However, when you are playing that style of offense you also know that you are going to put your defense out there more. I think our style of play can certainly impact all that.

That all said, we'd still like to play better defense. I've been on that side of the ball and that's one change that I made. At the conclusion of our season I promoted our Defensive Line Coach Matt McLagan to Defensive Coordinator. I fired myself I guess, ha, and promoted Matt. He's a good young energetic mind who connects well with the players and I'm really excited about having him being in-charge of our players.

We also had an opening in our staff and we got Kraig Paulson who's been a defensive coach with the University of Montana, UNLV, and also Utah State. I think he will be a huge asset to our program as well. We expect to play better defense this coming fall. 

MW: The immediate question for most Northern State fans heading into 2015 is going to be who is going to be the starting quarterback? For the last 4 seasons the Wolves had the luxury of having a very reliable and strong performer in Jared Jacobson. I've seen video of Christian McAlvain (Santa Rosa Junior College Transfer) and he looks like he's got a similar skill-set to Jared and almost shows some Doug Flutie-like ability to escape the rush and use his speed to make plays down the field. In addition to that you have redshirt freshman Kyle Lavand from the Chicagoland area who also can throw and run well. Now with Jared gone, who seems to be in the lead for being your signal caller come the fall?

Coach Dosch: The competition is going well. Actually, when we signed Christian in January his younger brother Colin was at San Diego State and was not on the football team, he was just a student for one semester. Well he came with too. When we got Christian we ended up getting two quarterbacks out of the deal.That was something we weren't expecting.

As we broke spring practice both guys you mentioned were really competing neck-and-neck. We really don't have a clear cut #1 as we head into the summer.Both did some good things. Kyle brings some more knowledge of our system. While he redshirted last year, he traveled with us and was in all of our meetings.As great as Jared was last year, we didn't have a real deep backup situation. We had Kyle on the ready if needed last season. He's been through all the film sessions and has traveled. So his comfort level with our offense is probably ahead of Christians at this point.

What Christian bring us is that he's played college football at a fairly high level in California. That's a good league they play in out there and a lot of guys running around out there that end up at D1 and D2 schools. He's seen a good speed of the game in California and the game speed tends to not be as big an issue in those cases. He fits what we like in our quarterbacks with his speed and ability to throw the football. His brother Colin made big strides too. He's not going to back down to anyone, including his brother. He's been a very pleasant surprise for us. Our biggest concern is of course that none of these guys have taken a snap for us in a real game yet at that position.

We also had Jake Comeaux from Brandon Valley sign with us as well in February. We also like what he's going to bring to the table as well. We don't know if he will be ready in the fall but we will find out when the time rolls around.

MW: No matter who the quarterback ends up being, they will obviously have some of your weapons from last year such as tight end Conner Doherty (who has over 700 yards receiving in 2014, along with 6 scores) and you also return playmaking wideout Zachery Barber, and running back Nick Truen. These are guys who've had success in our league. Who are some of the other players that Wolves fans can expect to contribute on the offensive side of the ball?

Coach Dosch: Well really when you mention Connor Doherty there is also our other tight end Cody Kraft and we played those two together for about 90% of our plays last year as they both offer us a lot in the run game in the pass game. They are both huge in what we are trying to do offensively. They can make us tough to defend as they are both versatile. You mentioned Zachary Barber, he's had an interesting career. There was a time less than two years ago when his football playing was said to be over due to neck injury in high school. Later in the summer he got a call from the Mayo Clinic and they'd done a little more research and consulted more people and they decided if he went through a procedure that he'd have a chance to play again. So we went through that and he's been good ever since. He went from being a guy that couldn't play to being a guy who led the conference in kickoff returns.

Taylor Houchin is a guy that played a little slot for us and in the backfield as well. He's from Rapid City and got better and better as the year went along. Steven Erlandson is a back that helped us by sharing a carries with Nick Truen. Steven showed us a lot of good things and Nick had a great year as well.

Our offensive line had good competition as we had 4 guys who started for us that are returning. We also have some younger guys that are pushing them right now though as well. We think we have better depth now in that spot and there will be some good battles on the line this fall.

MW: Taking a look at your recruiting class is would seem that once again you've got a good footprint in the state of South Dakota, but you are also bringing in a rather large class, over 30 guys. Is the plan to try and redshirt most of the bunch or based on position needs do you foresee any of those new Wolves competing for a spot due to position needs?

Coach Dosch: You know that's a good question. You never know. I don't want to give you too much coach-speak, but the one thing that's hard in football is that we just don't know with the young players until they actually get into practice. I joke around with our basketball coaches about how they can have their recruits play with the guys on their team and you can get an idea of how guys can be on your team. With us, we can't give them a helmet and shoulder pads and see how they do for the next 2 hours, haha. You really don't know until they are actually on your field.

The two things are how quickly these freshman can adapt to the speed of the game and the learning part of football. With us, we have a no huddle offense.That takes a while to get accustom to. On defense, you need to be able to process information very quickly. We have guys that we think can come in and compete physically, but we just don't know how quickly they can adapt. Sometimes you see a guy and you can just tell that things are moving too fast. Others it might look natural. 

MW: Looking at attendance numbers for the Northern Sun, it jumped out at me a bit that Northern State is near the top with an average of 4600 people attending your games on average. Certainly the basketball program gets really good attendance. However, the football program hasn't been at the top of the Northern Sun standings, yet your attendance is strong. What do you feel are some of the drivers for your good D2 attendance numbers?

Coach Dosch: We have a tremendous fan base here in Aberdeen and the surrounding communities. We are also what our name would indicate. We are Northern State University, a regional school and tremendous boosters and support in this area. Our Athletic Department has really promoted our football program. Josh Moon is our AD and he's done a great job with us. Zach Flakus (Asst. AD) and Blake Day (Asst AD, Marketing) have done a great job of getting the word out. That's been a big part of it .You'd like to think that when you put out a better product that people show up as well. 

Our team has become a very local squad. We've had over 50 guys from South Dakota in the last 4 years. A lot of North Dakota and Minnesota guys as well.That all helps attendance too, when they don't need to travel but a few hours to see us play. We had a few games last year when it seemed like we had more fans than the home team did.

MW: Your 2015 schedule is a pretty interesting one. You have a long road trip to start the year in Fayette Iowa when you visit the Peacocks of Upper Iowa.Then 2 of the next 3 weeks that follow that you host Mankato and then USF, who lost 1 conference game last year between them. With playing 2 of the top teams in the conference right off the bat, do you have a concern that when Fall Camp hits that you only have 3 weeks before your first game and you will still be working out the kinks at positions like quarterback?

Coach Dosch: Yes, things will come up very fast. Our conference as you mentioned is really strong. This year we are going to play some of the top teams in the country. In week 1 in Fayette we will be taking on a team that's put together back-to-back 6-5 seasons. They've beaten some good teams over the last few seasons too. We know we will be playing a good team right there. This type of start certainly does magnify those first 3 weeks yes. The old adage of showing up for fall camp to get in shape doesn't apply anymore. If you aren't physically ready when you arrive at fall camp, then your football team will not be ready to compete 3 weeks later. Our guys know that. We can't work with our kids over the summer, but they get together on their own.

MW: Do you feel that you've changed the culture of Wolves football in the time you've been in Aberdeen?

Coach Dosch: I certainly think so, certainly hope so. I think it goes back to having the right guys and coaches in your program. You really want to find guys who want to do well academically and ones who want to play at a high level. Also guys who are good quality citizens.

MW: A lot of our D2Football.com readers in the Northern Sun territory might not know that your dad, Al Dosch, coached high school football in Strasburg ND (an hour SE of Bismarck and a few hours NW of Aberdeen-SD). He retired as the winningest high school coach in the history of North Dakota. What are some of the things you've taken from watching your father run a football team that help you out with the Wolves today?

Coach Dosch:You are right, when he retired he was the winningest in the history of the state. Growing up football and coaching was something intriguing to me. I grew up going to practice at 6-7-8 years old. All the strategy and the X's and O's were very interesting to me, but the biggest thing was the relationships you could see forged. He also coached basketball and track. People would come back for reunions and to see him with his former players. So I guess it's really been in my blood. How to treat guys right as well. Not to micro-manage players. How to spread the field out offensively. He was before his time, he would go no-backs and stuff like that. You just didn't see that back in those days. He was willing to take risks. In addition to my dad there was my college coach Hank Biesiot. 

MW: Hank Biesiot, the legendary NAIA coach from Dickinson State who just retired a few years ago..?

Coach Dosch: Yes, yes, exactly. I've been fortunate to be around some really high quality guys like my father, Coach Biesiot. I was around Hank as a player and then as a student coach, then went against him when I was at Jamestown College. That was a really bizarre thing, coaching against a mentor like that. In my coaching career I've had a chance to be around others like Dale Lennon and Roger Thomas. All these men are really quality people.

But yes, it still all started with my dad and he's been the biggest influence on my life. Actually, he still helps and gives me suggestions after the games. I keep telling him that we need to get him here early in the week to figure things out. Everybody has the answers on Saturday after the games right? Haha. It's great though, he still comes to our games and we are able to have football conversations and he's able to make good observations that the average person watching the game might not see. Having been around football for so many years he's able to point things out and I appreciate his input.

 
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Players Mentioned

Jared Jacobson

#6 Jared Jacobson

QB
5' 11"
Senior
Zachery Barber

#34 Zachery Barber

WR
5' 10"
Sophomore
Conner Doherty

#85 Conner Doherty

TE
6' 3"
Junior
Taylor Houchin

#3 Taylor Houchin

WR
5' 10"
Junior
Cody Kraft

#82 Cody Kraft

TE
6' 3"
Junior
Kyle Lavand

#10 Kyle Lavand

QB
6' 0"
Freshman
Christian McAlvain

#9 Christian McAlvain

QB
6' 0"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Jared Jacobson

#6 Jared Jacobson

5' 11"
Senior
QB
Zachery Barber

#34 Zachery Barber

5' 10"
Sophomore
WR
Conner Doherty

#85 Conner Doherty

6' 3"
Junior
TE
Taylor Houchin

#3 Taylor Houchin

5' 10"
Junior
WR
Cody Kraft

#82 Cody Kraft

6' 3"
Junior
TE
Kyle Lavand

#10 Kyle Lavand

6' 0"
Freshman
QB
Christian McAlvain

#9 Christian McAlvain

6' 0"
Junior
QB