The two words “Hey coach!” can easily be heard many times directed to many different coaches in the hallways of NHS, but in this case they are directed at the 13 individuals. Some who work at NHS and some who don’t, they are the coaching staff for the Miller football team this season.

    Each season brings new changes to the football team. One in particular is the coaching staff and how well the teams adjusted to one of the major adjustments besides the obvious one of the head coach.

    Head coach, Jason Simmons, is aware that bringing in new coaches could have created an issue with how the team would adjust to them, but didn’t stop the new coaches from integrating themselves into the team and staff nicely in Simmons opinion.

    “When you bring in new coaches and new people there’s a feeling out process.” Simmons said, “The coaches have to get to know the players, the players have to get to know the coaches.”

    Coaching his seventh season for the Millers and his fifth season as the defensive coordinator, Adam Metzler, is one of the many coaches who returned to help the boys and stay closer to the game.

    “I had a real good experience playing high school football and I really wanted to come and be closer to the game.” Metzler said, “Being a coach is really close to being a part of the team, apart of the game and I really wanted to make a difference in young men’s lives.”
    With this being a major transition year, a worry was how the coaches would do with the players but it proved to not matter much after the off season was over and the boys were back on the field.

    “Our coaches have done a great job building relationships with the kids and getting themselves integrated and that’s made a difference,” Simmons said.

    Most coaches don’t do it just for the game, some do it for the impact they have on the young men’s lives that they become a part of in the season they play in.

    “I guess that’s why you do it [coaching],” Metzler said, “I think that’s when you know you’ve made some sort of impact when you talk to kids after they graduate and come back or kids who after playing and they still say ‘Hey Coach’ to you in the halls.”