2022 with Jeff Essig Head Coach Bethel -Tate (Ohio) @CoachJeffEssig

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, News

David Burnworth | June 29, 2022

Head Coach: Jeff Essig

Behel-Tate (Ohio)

Twitter: @CoachJeffEssig

I have covered Bethel Tate twice and I highly recommend taking in one of their home games.

How long have you been coaching and where did you start your coaching career?

I have been coaching for 19 years. I got my start at Bethel-Tate at the middle school level but soon joined the varsity staff as an assistant a few years later. In 2009, I took over as the interim head coach but was not hired on as the head coach at Bethel-Tate at that time. I joined Evan Dreyer at Western Brown in 2010, where I coached for 7 years. Currently, I have been the head coach at Bethel-Tate for the past 6 years.

What is the one piece of advice you would give to a first-year coach?

The best piece of advice I can give a first-year coach is this: it is about people first. Everyone has X’s and O’s. You have to get to know your community and kids before anything else.

Can you share a few of the lessons football has taught you?

Football has taught me so many lessons. Attention to detail has to be the number one thing our sport has taught me as a coach. preparation for not just games, but our program as a whole. As a player, football has taught me discipline and resilience. A football game is a roller-coaster. There are ups and downs, corkscrews, twists, and turns. You have to be able to handle it all.

What is the best part about coaching at Bethel-Tate?

The best part of coaching at Bethel-Tate is the interactions with our players, administration, school staff, faculty, student body, and community. There is so much support for our team from every aspect of our town. I say it all the time that we are one of the best small towns in Ohio.

You guys finished 9-2 last season. Despite losing to a very good TAFT team and an even better Archbishop McNicholas, those teams combined to go 20-5. One loss was by two points, while the other was by 36. What do you need to work on the most if you want to beat teams like this?

We have to continue to keep our athletes playing our great game. We have so many multi-sport athletes at Bethel-Tate and we need to continue to have these athletes play football too. We have had success in the past few years because the wrestlers, basketball players, baseball players, and track athletes also come to play football. We have to continue to work hard to keep these student-athletes playing football. We are a small division 4 school and participation needs to continue to rise in order to continue to be competitive. When you play a private school like Archbishop McNicholas that has 3 times the student-athletes as we do on their sidelines, it is important to have all the student-athletes in our building fill out our roster too.

Should private and public schools have their own playoffs and state finals? Why? Why not?

I am torn on this issue. Sure, private schools can pretty much go and have student-athletes enroll at their school from anywhere. Some pay for it, while other student-athletes may get a scholarship. Many private schools have long had winning traditions and great cultures when it comes to academics and athletics. However, the opposite could be said for other private schools. You could also say the same about some public schools. Some public schools have open enrollment, where students can go to any school that accepts them. There are also public schools that compete at a high level. They have long-winning traditions, great culture, and academics. Ohio uses a “competitive balance” when it aligns the divisions to adjust to the public vs. private issue.

What are your thoughts on playing against teams from out of state?

Before COVID, we would try to schedule an out-of-state team. Our location makes it very easy for us to schedule a Kentucky or Indiana team. My first career win as a head coach came against Bishop Brossart (a Kentucky private school). Playoff points actually encourage this. When an Ohio team plays an out-of-state team, the Harbin points are then based on one division higher, no matter the opponent’s size or division rank.

Which of your victories have been the most significant in your career, and which defeat has kept you awake at night?

Our biggest win was two years ago in the playoffs vs. Waynesville. It was the first time in school history that a Bethel-Tate team had won a 2nd round game in the playoffs. We won in the final 1:57 of the 4th quarter. It was a perfect example of how our kids always have a no-quitting mentality and we feel we are never out of a game. Our biggest defeat has to be this past season vs. Taft. We made too many mistakes to win the game, but still only lost the game by two. It would have been a statement game for our program, but again, our kids never quit and kept fighting to the very end.

What is your favorite sports movie?

My favorite sports movie has to be Friday Night Lights. I know it sounds cliché, but not many people remember how emotional it is at the end and how they feel when the movie is over.

Have you watched any of the USFL games? What did you think?

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