Northrops Doerffler to take over at Leo

[Guest]

Fort Wayne Northrup Head Coach Jason Doerffler will take over at Leo High School

Doerffler posted a 23-58 record with the Bruins over 8 seasons. Northrup is bumping up from 5A to 6A for the 2022 season.

Coach Doerffler takes over from the highly successful Jared Sauder, who was 139-42 over 15 seasons with the 4A Lions.

[Guest]

Fort Wayne Northrup Head Coach Jason Doerffler will take over at Leo High School

Doerffler posted a 23-58 record with the Bruins over 8 seasons. Northrup is bumping up from 5A to 6A for the 2022 season.

Coach Doerffler takes over from the highly successful Jared Sauder, who was 139-42 over 15 seasons with the 4A Lions.

[Yuccaguy]

I wish the best for Coach Doerffler.  

I am surprised that he is moving to Leo;  But understanding of the "talent that roams the halls of Northrop" and the inability of multiple staffs to get those individuals on the gridiron....I believe this will be a seamless transition with the Leo program.   I also see a coach whose "record" is no where near reflective of his knowledge and leadership.  

The NE8, IMO is an absolute best of a mainly 4A Conference!  I think that it will continue to be so, with perhaps a more diversified offensive approach now heading to Leo HS.  

As for Northrop;  I also believe that they could be on the cusp of a sea-change.  If a Coach and their staff could get those kids to 'buy into' the program....there is no doubt they could be a force within the SAC and perhaps 6A North.  Open enrollment in the FWCS is the issue also.  But no need to get all into that quagmire of an issue.

[Purdue Pete]

Big shake up.  High expectations for new coach.  Leo graduated a lot of talent last year.  Can’t imagine they stick with that offense… couple months to put in a new offense.  Kokomo, Angola, Norwell to start the season.

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, Purdue Pete said:

Big shake up.  High expectations for new coach.  Leo graduated a lot of talent last year.  Can’t imagine they stick with that offense… couple months to put in a new offense.  Kokomo, Angola, Norwell to start the season.

Was there some dissatisfaction with the prior staff due to lack of offensive creativity?

[Robert]

8 hours ago, Yuccaguy said:

I wish the best for Coach Doerffler.  

I am surprised that he is moving to Leo;  But understanding of the "talent that roams the halls of Northrop" and the inability of multiple staffs to get those individuals on the gridiron....I believe this will be a seamless transition with the Leo program.   I also see a coach whose "record" is no where near reflective of his knowledge and leadership.  

The NE8, IMO is an absolute best of a mainly 4A Conference!  I think that it will continue to be so, with perhaps a more diversified offensive approach now heading to Leo HS.  

As for Northrop;  I also believe that they could be on the cusp of a sea-change.  If a Coach and their staff could get those kids to 'buy into' the program....there is no doubt they could be a force within the SAC and perhaps 6A North.  Open enrollment in the FWCS is the issue also.  But no need to get all into that quagmire of an issue.

My kids go to Northrop.  School spirit=low.  School culture=low.  School identity=low.  New principal=often.  Once, my daughter called to tell me that there was no teacher in the room.  I quickly called the office and they said that there was a teacher in the room.  I told her I would patch in my daughter three-way calling if she'd like to talk to my daughter and the invisible teacher in the room at the same time.    Oh, the stories I hear and the amazing videos I see every day.  

 

A long time ago, I was an instructional coach with Leo on my coaching list...not really there much, but it was wonderful when I was there. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Robert

[Tanka Jahari]

2 hours ago, Purdue Pete said:

Big shake up.  High expectations for new coach.  Leo graduated a lot of talent last year.  Can’t imagine they stick with that offense… couple months to put in a new offense.  Kokomo, Angola, Norwell to start the season.

What was Leo's offense previously? I have to poop now so I will check back in later. 

[gonzoron]

30 minutes ago, Tanka Jahari said:

What was Leo's offense previously?

Let's just say they had no need for end zone cameras.

[Wedgebuster]

From what I understand, they ran a version of the Full T? (Double TEs, 3 Backs) 

You only have to look a little bit to the north to find some schools that are really, really good in it.  Zeeland West's HC Jon Schilito has won 4 state titles and 300+ games in it.  Hudsonville Unity Christian just set the state scoring record with it (803 in a 14 game schedule).   

1 formation, ball in the air 4-6 times a game.  It doesn't look like what people watch on Saturdays and Sundays and so they don't like.  

Pioneer runs the Delaware Wing-T, and you see some other Indiana Teams dabble with Wing T concepts.  Plymouth ran some T in the last 00s, last I've seen Full House T in Indiana was Dave Sharpe at Laporte.  Is he running it at Noblesville?  

Michigan has more T and Wing-T.....Indiana seems to have more Option.

It's been interesting to compare HS football in the 2 states during my time in each. 

 

 

[foxbat]

7 minutes ago, Wedgebuster said:

From what I understand, they ran a version of the Full T? (Double TEs, 3 Backs) 

You only have to look a little bit to the north to find some schools that are really, really good in it.  Zeeland West's HC Jon Schilito has won 4 state titles and 300+ games in it.  Hudsonville Unity Christian just set the state scoring record with it (803 in a 14 game schedule).   

1 formation, ball in the air 4-6 times a game.  It doesn't look like what people watch on Saturdays and Sundays and so they don't like.  

Pioneer runs the Delaware Wing-T, and you see some other Indiana Teams dabble with Wing T concepts.  Plymouth ran some T in the last 00s, last I've seen Full House T in Indiana was Dave Sharpe at Laporte.  Is he running it at Noblesville?  

Michigan has more T and Wing-T.....Indiana seems to have more Option.

It's been interesting to compare HS football in the 2 states during my time in each. 

 

 

They run this quite well; especially in 1A matchups.

[Wedgebuster]

2 minutes ago, foxbat said:

They run this quite well; especially in 1A matchups.

Pioneer and their former coach Mike Johnson are talked about nation wide in Wing-T circles.  Throw in some the talent and toughness of Royal Center kids........😍

Then Coach Berry added some nice wrinkle with Option and Shotgun Variations to highlight the talent he had. 

[Purdue Pete]

8 hours ago, HHF said:

Was there some dissatisfaction with the prior staff due to lack of offensive creativity?

They were very good at / very successful running that offense.  It was fun to watch the few times I got to see it.  But not many coaches today are fans of double TE / full house back field.  Which why I assume a change is coming.

[temptation]

I am not extremely familiar with Fort Wayne nor Allen County but is this basically Northeast Indiana’s flight to the suburbs that we are seeing in Marion County?

[BTF]

46 minutes ago, temptation said:

I am not extremely familiar with Fort Wayne nor Allen County but is this basically Northeast Indiana’s flight to the suburbs that we are seeing in Marion County?

Yes. Homestead, Carroll, and Leo. Too much Amish owned property between Fort Wayne and Woodlan on the east side for them to to be next. No development on the south side for Heritage to be next. Look for the three forementioned programs to continue to grow. Homestead and Carroll will both be pushing 3000 students in the near future and I look for Leo to bump up to 5a at some point. 6A could be on the horizon for the Lions. 

[BTF]

22 hours ago, HHF said:

Fort Wayne Northrup Head Coach Jason Doerffler will take over at Leo High School

Doerffler posted a 23-58 record with the Bruins over 8 seasons. Northrup is bumping up from 5A to 6A for the 2022 season.

Coach Doerffler takes over from the highly successful Jared Sauder, who was 139-42 over 15 seasons with the 4A Lions.

His uncle, Dale Doerffler, was one of the better coaches to come out of Fort Wayne. His North Side teams were Snider's nemesis in the 80's and sometimes state ranked. 

Father Dean probably goes down and Northrop's second most successful coach. He had some good teams in the late 80's and early 90's. He also had a very successful stint at Concordia. The Cadets were a doormat before he took over. 

Conclusion: Coaching is in the blood in that family. I kept waiting for Northrop to have a breakout season, especially after he added his father to the staff. A breakout season never materialized. I think for a program to be successful, the entire school has to be "bought in." Maybe that just wasn't the case at Northrop. Good luck Jason at Leo. 

[Robert]

10 hours ago, BTF said:

His uncle, Dale Doerffler, was one of the better coaches to come out of Fort Wayne. His North Side teams were Snider's nemesis in the 80's and sometimes state ranked. 

Father Dean probably goes down and Northrop's second most successful coach. He had some good teams in the late 80's and early 90's. He also had a very successful stint at Concordia. The Cadets were a doormat before he took over. 

Conclusion: Coaching is in the blood in that family. I kept waiting for Northrop to have a breakout season, especially after he added his father to the staff. A breakout season never materialized. I think for a program to be successful, the entire school has to be "bought in." Maybe that just wasn't the case at Northrop. Good luck Jason at Leo. 

Buzz Doerfler-  Another uncle.

https://www.indiana-football.org/?q=node/114

Edited May 18, 2022 by Robert

[Blitz]

My take on the situation: https://outsidethehuddle.net/2022/05/18/blitz-the-hypocrisy-is-real-when-it-comes-to-prep-coaches-heading-elsewhere/

Thrilled for Jason and his family. Great opportunity. 

Key for Leo is starting to think like East Noble. Coach Amstutz does not think about league titles, he dreams bigger. The conference crowns come with the deep postseason runs. 

Coach Sauder did a tremendous job in constructing a program, from the youth up, that is almost automatic for 8-10 wins a year. How does Leo take that next step and win a sectional for the first time since 2011? How does it become a consistent 4A threat in the north? 

That is the new regime's job. 

[NE8_Fan]

On 5/17/2022 at 7:18 AM, HHF said:

Was there some dissatisfaction with the prior staff due to lack of offensive creativity?

There has been complaints about the offense because its not "flashy" or mainstream (i.e. spread), but you know what it did?  It WON.  21-3 the last two seasons and 2 outright NE8 conference championships as well as appearances in back to back sectional finals (last 3 years actually according to Harrells).  Averaged over 40 pts/game last season and set school record for rushing yards and scoring in a season.  The full-house backfield offense has worked for them.  The games I've seen them play the offense has been fast, deceptive and physically dominant.  The defense was also very good which, to me, go hand in hand with that style of offense.  When you can control the pace of the game with your offense, you keep the opponents offense off the field and your defense fresh.  Those with short term memory also forget that when Leo last won back to back sectional and regional titles, they ran the same full house backfield offense.  Yes they also ran some spread too but they had a stud QB and a stable of receivers then.  Yeah they made an incredible drive during the East Noble sectional game this year (game of the year in my opinion) but some of that drives success had to come from catching the Knights off guard. How much does anyone think Coach Amstutz prepared for  any form of passing attack??  Great job by the kids AND the coaching staff for keeping that in their back pocket but some of that successful drive had to come from the element of suprise.  People wanting "change" be weary, the same success in the win/loss columns can change with offensive philosophy.  I, personally, think they made the BEST choice with Coach Doerffler!  Things will obviously be/look different next year, but to hear so much bashing of Coach Sauder's staff and offensive philosophy is absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for!  139-42 career record, only losing season was his 1st on the job.  Looks to me he made pretty darn good decisions for the Leo program IMHO.  Last 10 seasons the ONLY program with a better winning percentage in the Ft Wayne area is Snider (.810 Snider, .793 Leo) per Harrell's site.  That's pretty good company.

[FlyingHigh]

2 hours ago, NE8_Fan said:

There has been complaints about the offense because its not "flashy" or mainstream (i.e. spread), but you know what it did?  It WON.  21-3 the last two seasons and 2 outright NE8 conference championships as well as appearances in back to back sectional finals (last 3 years actually according to Harrells).  Averaged over 40 pts/game last season and set school record for rushing yards and scoring in a season.  The full-house backfield offense has worked for them.  The games I've seen them play the offense has been fast, deceptive and physically dominant.  The defense was also very good which, to me, go hand in hand with that style of offense.  When you can control the pace of the game with your offense, you keep the opponents offense off the field and your defense fresh.  Those with short term memory also forget that when Leo last won back to back sectional and regional titles, they ran the same full house backfield offense.  Yes they also ran some spread too but they had a stud QB and a stable of receivers then.  Yeah they made an incredible drive during the East Noble sectional game this year (game of the year in my opinion) but some of that drives success had to come from catching the Knights off guard. How much does anyone think Coach Amstutz prepared for  any form of passing attack??  Great job by the kids AND the coaching staff for keeping that in their back pocket but some of that successful drive had to come from the element of suprise.  People wanting "change" be weary, the same success in the win/loss columns can change with offensive philosophy.  I, personally, think they made the BEST choice with Coach Doerffler!  Things will obviously be/look different next year, but to hear so much bashing of Coach Sauder's staff and offensive philosophy is absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for!  139-42 career record, only losing season was his 1st on the job.  Looks to me he made pretty darn good decisions for the Leo program IMHO.  Last 10 seasons the ONLY program with a better winning percentage in the Ft Wayne area is Snider (.810 Snider, .793 Leo) per Harrell's site.  That's pretty good company.

I haven't seen/heard the complaints about Leo's offense under Sauder, but I do understand the frustration with the lack postseason success. I'm assuming that Coach Sauder and his staff would trade most, if not all, of their conference championships for sectional & regional championships. I'm not saying that had they run a more modern offense they would've had more postseason success, but I do understand how people can draw that conclusion.

Since Coach Sauder has taken over, Leo has averaged 11.6 points per game in their postseason losses. Many of those teams had expectations to make it out of sectional and only 2 of them did (0 since 2011). Most of those losses boasted some solid defensive performances as well. Like it or not, the game is changing and more importantly, the strengths and abilities of opponents are changing.  There are more teams now, especially in the upper classes, that are equipped with size, strength and speed (opposed to simply being a bruising team or a speed team). Teams can definitely have postseason success running more "traditional" offensive systems, but the results of the Leo's last 10 postseasons are suggesting that what they're doing isn't enough. 

If anyone says that Leo's offensive system worked, that's fine. It won a ton of regular season games. But if you say that, you're also saying that Leo maximized their postseason potential the last 10 years and I'm not sure that's the case.

I do think Coach Sauder was a fantastic coach and his win totals reflect that. I just think that Leo may have left some meat on the bone the last 10 years and their offensive system may have been a part of that.

Edited May 18, 2022 by FlyingHigh

[Coach_Harding]

I speak of this from actual experience.  Leo staff talked to us here at Tarboro High School in Tarboro, NC.  We have been running the T (we refer to it as the Tarboro T) since the 1950's.  It is ingrained in our town.  Our rec legs, middle schools, JV and Varsity all run the same offense.

You can say what you what you want about the offense. But since 2008 we have played for Ten State Championships winning Seven of them.  We have average over that time 35 points per game.  So don't question the offense.  If you preach the right thing and coach at the highest levels.  Any offense can and will work.  Teach what you know and get people to believe.  That's what it is about.

Just our opinion.  We don't plan change our offense and we will still intended to compete for State Championships. 

Tarboro Football

[FlyingHigh]

40 minutes ago, Coach_Harding said:

I speak of this from actual experience.  Leo staff talked to us here at Tarboro High School in Tarboro, NC.  We have been running the T (we refer to it as the Tarboro T) since the 1950's.  It is ingrained in our town.  Our rec legs, middle schools, JV and Varsity all run the same offense.

You can say what you what you want about the offense. But since 2008 we have played for Ten State Championships winning Seven of them.  We have average over that time 35 points per game.  So don't question the offense.  If you preach the right thing and coach at the highest levels.  Any offense can and will work.  Teach what you know and get people to believe.  That's what it is about.

Just our opinion.  We don't plan change our offense and we will still intended to compete for State Championships. 

Tarboro Football

I agree with this 100%. If your teams at Taboro had a ton of talent and you weren't winning state championships (or sectional for that matter), you might have some thoughts about what you can do differently, though. "We've always done things this way" is fine if you're still churning out championships. Trust me, I'm not pounding the table for every program to move to the spread. I'm a fan of Adams Central and we run the ball 90% of the time out of the wing-t. We've also gone to semistate 4 out of the last 6 seasons and made a trip to LOS in 21. If we went 10 years without a sectional championship and we were averaging 11 pts/game in post season losses, I hope the staff would consider changes that can be made to get over the hump.

What works for one program won't necessarily work for another. Staffs of talented rosters need to maximize their potential. Running the same system for 20 years is fantastic as long as it produces postseason championships, assuming that's how you define success. I think Leo is at the point where regular season success and NE8 championships just aren't enough to deem a season a success.

[Coach_Harding]

10 minutes ago, FlyingHigh said:

I agree with this 100%. If your teams at Taboro had a ton of talent and you weren't winning state championships (or sectional for that matter), you might have some thoughts about what you can do differently, though. "We've always done things this way" is fine if you're still churning out championships. Trust me, I'm not pounding the table for every program to move to the spread. I'm a fan of Adams Central and we run the ball 90% of the time out of the wing-t. We've also gone to semistate 4 out of the last 6 seasons and made a trip to LOS in 21. If we went 10 years without a sectional championship and we were averaging 11 pts/game in post season losses, I hope the staff would consider changes that can be made to get over the hump.

What works for one program won't necessarily work for another. Staffs of talented rosters need to maximize their potential. Running the same system for 20 years is fantastic as long as it produces postseason championships, assuming that's how you define success. I think Leo is at the point where regular season success and NE8 championships just aren't enough to deem a season a success.

And I agree with you on that.  Trust me we don't just stay in our base T all the time, we run twins, pro, over, unbalanced etc...  But for us it is about basing our culture and doing what works for us.  We've had years in the past when success wasn't met.  My point is it's not always the offense you are running but more of the belief that you put into it.  You can be the smartest spread guy in the world and still go 0-10.  We still after all the success.  How can we improve.  Our goal is to continue to win, so what can we do day to day to get better?  It's more about those things.  Putting kids in places to be successful and making sure they believe that they can be successful.

[Robert]

On 5/19/2022 at 1:17 PM, Coach_Harding said:

I speak of this from actual experience.  Leo staff talked to us here at Tarboro High School in Tarboro, NC.  We have been running the T (we refer to it as the Tarboro T) since the 1950's.  It is ingrained in our town.  Our rec legs, middle schools, JV and Varsity all run the same offense.

You can say what you what you want about the offense. But since 2008 we have played for Ten State Championships winning Seven of them.  We have average over that time 35 points per game.  So don't question the offense.  If you preach the right thing and coach at the highest levels.  Any offense can and will work.  Teach what you know and get people to believe.  That's what it is about.

Just our opinion.  We don't plan change our offense and we will still intended to compete for State Championships. 

Tarboro Football

Dr. Brown is from Tarboro...imagine that.    HAHAHAH!

Edited May 20, 2022 by Robert

[Coach_Harding]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:32 PM, Robert said:

Dr. Brown is from Tarboro...imagine that.    HAHAHAH!

I don’t get what’s funny?  

[SAC_Insider]

Per Bob Shank, Northrop Ad

"Interviews will being the week of 31st, Hoping to name a coach the the first week of June, with a name to the board June 13th." 

This is very fast for FWCS who is known for taking things slow. Glad to see they are moving this along.