1. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to high school and college? What sports did you play in school?

I grew up and played high school football in Holdrege, Nebraska. I also played Basketball, Track and Baseball throughout my high school years.I earned All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-State honors my senior year of Football in 1975.

I then walked-on to the University of Nebraska Football team as a non-recruited walk-on and eventually became a 3 year starter at Cornerback from 1978-1980. In 1978 and 1980, I was named Honorable Mention All-Big 8 Defensive Back. In 1979, I was named 2nd Team All-Big 8 Defensive Back and in 1980, I was named to the All-Big 8 Academic Team. In 1979, I was named the ABC Television Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Game against Oklahoma.

Due to five concussions, two which were major, I decided not to try out for pro football and concentrate on becoming a high school coach and teacher.

2. How did you first get interested in coaching? Did you have somebody who got you excited about coaching as a career?

My interest in coaching came as a result of my love for sports and playing the game of football. I always loved the strategy of the game and I wanted to continue being a part of it after I played. No one really got me excited about being a coach even though I had great role models in my high school coach, Ted Mills, and my college coach, Tom Osborne.

3. What would you have become professionally if not a teacher/coach? What appealed to you about that profession?

I really don't have another profession that I was interested in. From the time I was little, I remember wanting to be a coach and teacher. My dad was a dentist and played football for Nebraska in the late 1940's and early 1950' and my mom was a Kindergarten teacher so they had a big effect on me as I grew up.

4. Tell us about the most memorable game ever played by a team you coached. Who was it against, what was at stake and why is it your favorite?

There are two that stick out the most: the first one was in 1995, when I was an assistant at Millard South. We were playing Millard North in the State Semifinals, with Eric Crouch at QB, and they were rated # 1 and had beaten us in the first game of the season. We won 35-0 in probably the most perfectly executed game I've ever been a part of as a coach. We went on to beat Papillion for our first State Championship that year.

The second one was against Elkhorn in 2009 in our State Championship year when we trailed 41-21 at the end of the 3rd quarter and came back to tie the game and blocked a game winning field goal attempt by Elkhorn at the end of the game and picked the ball up and ran it in the end zone and won the game 47-41.

5. If you were starting your team from scratch what position would you want to fill first? Why?

In football, it has to be the QB. He has to be the leader and usually how he goes, the rest of the team goes. The next positions would be offensive and defensive Line.

6. What is the most rewarding part of your job as a teacher and coach? Why do you say that?

I tell my players that when we win, they make my weekend. I enjoy watching them work hard all week and have that hard work pay off with a victory. Their faces after a win, are PRICELESS!

I've had my "day in the sun" at Nebraska. I serve my players to help them succeed to the best of their abilities. When we win it's for them, the school, the students, and the coaches, not for me. And that is what is so rewarding about this job.

I take that same attitude in the classroom. When I see a student succeed in the classroom, I know this is what I've been called to do in life.