Pekin grad named Washington head football coach

WASHINGTON ? Pending the Board of Education?s approval, Washington High School has found its next head football coach.

Randy Schrader was offered, and accepted, a position as the Demons? head football coach on Friday. He will also be the high school?s Dean of Students.

Washington?s new hire has an impressive résumé. Most recently, Schrader was the head football coach at Rockford College in Rockford, Ill. He led the Regents to their first-ever Upper Midwest Athletic Conference South Division crown in 2006, and then to another division title in 2007. In four seasons, Schrader led Rockford to a 17-23 record.

Before that, Schrader spent four seasons as the head coach at Davenport West. During that time, he was also the Director of Athletics for the entire Davenport School District.

He spent nine years as the head coach at North Scott High School, leading Lancers to the Class 4A state playoffs in 1999 and 2000. He was the 1999 Mississippi Athletic Conference Football Coach of the Year, as well as the 1999 Southeast Iowa 3A/4A Football Coach of the Year. He was also the Dean of Students at North Scott for four years.

From 1987-92, he was the head coach at Clarinda, leading the school to the Class 2A state semifinals in 1990. He started his head coaching career at Dow City-Arion in 1983.

?He?s very qualified,? Washington athletics director Bryce Smeins said. ?He?s done a lot of things at the high school level and the college level. He?s been an administrator. It?s a pretty impressive résumé.?

Smeins said that six coaches were interviewed for the position, and that there was a lot of interest.

?We had a lot of good candidates,? said Smeins, who called Schrader the No. 1 choice for the job. ?It?s a good football job, and then the Dean of Students job made it even more attractive. To be honest with you, we had tremendous interviews. We had some really awesome candidates. It was a fun process because a lot of qualified people applied.?

Schrader was born and raised in Southeast Iowa. He was born in Fairfield, grew up in Ollie, and went to high school at Pekin where he played defensive end for legendary coach Tom Stone. After high school, he got his bachelor?s degree in history at William Penn College. Now he?s back close to home.

?It?s a great opportunity to get back to God?s Country,? he said. ?Being a Southeast Iowa guy ? I went to Pekin ? I?ve been looking for the last couple of years to get back into Iowa.?

After coaching a pair of Class 4A high school teams and at the collegiate level, some might view Schrader?s move to Washington as a step backward. But he doesn?t see it that way.

?I spent the greater part of my career at the high school level,? he said. ?Coaching college football was a great experience, but I think my heart is in coaching high school football.?

Schrader, 54, said he wants this to be the final stop in his impressive coaching career.

?I was looking for someplace to really end my career,? he said. ?It?s close to home. My parents are still living in Ollie. It?s time for me to get back home.?

Schrader replaces former head coach Jason Ganoe, who led the Demons to a 24-15 record and two postseason appearances in four seasons before his physical education teaching position was cut. Ganoe has been hired as a teacher and the head football coach at Fairfield High School.

Schrader plans to run the option on offense and a 4-3 defense, but he said it all depends upon the returning personnel.

?We?ve always been a ball control offense,? he said. ?We like the option and power football. I?d really like to spread the field a little bit and run the option. We like the screen. Defensively, I want to play fast. Real fast. I?ve always been a 4-3 defense guy. It?s going to depend on when I sit down and see the personnel. I need to sit down and talk to the coaches and get into the weight room and see how they?re working. That?s all part of it. Then you have to play great special teams. We?ll probably emphasize special teams more than anybody in the state.?

Schrader has been married to his wife, Denise, for 30 years. They have two children. Memorea, 27, is a graduate student at Drake University, and Michael, 23, is in the 101st Airborne.