Pete Riordan News Conference as Penn New Head FB Coach
Posted on March 20, 2024A few hours after being introduced to his team as the Kingsmen’s new Head Football Coach, Pete Riordan was introduced to the South Bend sports media in his first news conference. News outlets in attendance were WHME-TV, WSBT, WNDU, ABC 57, and the South Bend Tribune. Students from PNN (Penn News Network) and The Pennant were also present and participated. Click here to see the full news conference. Click here to see a full photo gallery below.
Here are some highlights of the news conference. Penn High School Athletic Director Jeff Hart introduced Coach Pete, who made a few short remarks before opening up the discussion with reporter questions.
mike check mike check one two three four five seven eight 12 three three in 50 I think we're waiting on P I'm doing okay [Music] start literally I like I was about to wake up and I was thinking I I check my email it is do yeah I'm just going to put this right there make sure it's actually going okay good all right good afternoon uh thanks to everyone for being here uh today it's an exciting day certainly for those of us who love the phm community Penn High
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School and the pen athletic family as you know early this morning we introduced our seventh head football coach at Penn Pete Reen to the football team coach Reen's hiring came after a thorough patient head coaching search uh It ultimately gave us great confidence that he's the right man at the right time time to lead and Mentor the young men who make up the long black line his 20 years of experience coaching and teaching at both pen and Ben Davis learning from Hall of Fame coaches like coach yman and Coach gizman who are here
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today as well as coach kersner uh have helped him be prepared for this moment I'm excited to support and work with him as he takes over this role uh in our school and Community please help me welcome coach Pete [Applause] re thanks jef I appreciate it uh I'd like to start by thanking uh superintendent Dr Jerry ther uh the Chief Operating Officer Dr Aron Linsky uh the phm school board trustees uh Mr Garrett being here as well uh the Penn High School school administration led by Dr Gallaher uh and
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the athletic department led by Jeff Hart for this incredible opportunity uh it's an opportunity for which I'm very grateful uh and humbled um very special thanks to Coach Corey coach geesman uh along with the numerous pen assistant football coaches that helped me get to this point I've been extremely fortunate to learn from some of the best coaches in the State uh many of whom are in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for them uh this includes both current and past
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coaches um been super lucky to be part of his wonderful staffs um I also want to thank the coaches that were here this morning uh for the announcement uh which was a lot of fun to do with the boys and and uh you know real excited for that uh finally I must thank my wife uh Nicole and our daughters Natalie and Claire uh for their Insight their support uh their encouragement this is an opportunity that comes with very high expectations and lots responsibilities um it's an awesome Challenge and I'm ready to meet
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I'm fully aware what I'm getting into and and this job is bigger than one person and I'm going to need a lot of support um both Coach Corey and coach and Coach geesman were able to assemble outstanding coaching staffs while they were the head coach and I hope that do the same uh pen football is a very very special program to lots of people uh that fact is not lost on me I've been fortunate enough to experience that for you know 20 some years now uh both before and after my time at Ben Davis um
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my goal is to continue to grow the successes of the program uh push myself and the staff to continue to evolve and adapt to the changing game of football and to continue to develop uh our players both on and off the field while while continuing to play with the same passion and toughness that makes us Kingsmen uh and the long black line such a special special program this point and open up for questions I guess I'll start aute nice to meet you coach congratulations on the hiring just thank you um what was it
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like kind of going through the head coaching interview process I'm sure you know was a lot of ups and downs emotionally like what was kind of that process but like the last couple months well it's been a little bit of a whirlwind it's been a very busy uh you know very busy six seven weeks here uh ever since coach Cory stepped down and uh talking to him and other coaches that I respect both you know here in the program as well as coaches I've worked for uh when I was in Indianapolis and
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got a lot of encouragement a lot of encouragement from the assistant coaches and players and and you know my family as well uh so all that put together this is you know for me it was the right time and the right opportunity and and I'm excited to you know to take advantage of this have you ever know explored other potential head coaching opportunities before this or were you just maybe you know kind of patiently waiting you know for maybe this opportunity to come up uh be perfectly honest I hadn't really
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thought about it in terms of other coach other coaching positions before um I've got a we've had a great great job here at Penn um you coach gesman and Coach Cory have always empowered their assistant coaches to uh you know in a sense be the head coach of their positions so from that standpoint I think it's one of the reasons why we have so have had such stability and hopefully we'll continue that as we move forward and then just maybe one funny one is it is it like if you become defensive
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coordinator at P you just automatically become the head coach at some I'm not quite sure that's how it works um but you know you know if I can you know if that continues with the same track record afterwards then then you know it's it's a it's a good stepping stone for sure coach what excites you most about taking this job uh what excites me most is the opportunity to continue working with with the players uh we have a great great set of players uh the pen Community is awesome um tremendous
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support from the athletic department from you know the building Administration as well as you know the SC here with Dr ther and Dr Linsky and I know the school board as well so um all those things together to make it make it wonderful opportunity and make pen a really a special place to be and uh there's really nowhere else I'd rather be what is something that you've learned from your time with Coach Cory uh you want to incorporate into your coaching style as you take over uh there's one
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thing you know I think almost everybody would say about Coach Cory is the amount of passion he brings to uh coaching um you know and just how excited he gets and and that that excitement is contagious um so if there's one thing in particular you know aside from all the X's and O's I mean obviously brilliant uh you know coach in his own right and um you know learned so much from that point of view but really it's how he handles people um and what he brings to the table on a daily basis is really
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what I think you know not just myself but all the coaches you know probably have taken from him we not that um you had you had the opportunity to to be named as the head coach you had um opportunity to speak to the players first andare make them aware of the news what was their reaction and what did that mean to you well me a lot to be able to tell them first I think it's important that they heard it from me and not from you know being leaked out and and I really appreciate I had told the you know the assistant coaches yesterday
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and I I really appreciated them you know keeping under wraps for you know so we could have this surprise announcement um because I think it's important for them to hear from us and or from me um and again their reaction and very positive and you know I think it speaks volumes to the amount of relationships we've been able to build with them um even though you know Cory you know stepped down you know six seven weeks ago you know pretty much the entire coaching staff has been there for our morning you
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know you know speed and development workouts and the waight room and you know coach Matt case is done a great job facilitating that and and we've been there to support him prob too ear but as new coach you have your new your own tradition you know kind of own little uh you know tradition that you put in no I don't say any New Traditions I mean one of the things makes pen unique is you know there's a long-standing traditions and and you know of how how we do things and and kind of our
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approach to stuff um you know as our staff you know solidifies and and moves forward we'll always tweak and adapt things but you know we're not going to we're not going to make changes to what you know what pen really is you've been a part of this staff now for a while what's it mean to be able to continue to be a part of this it's a huge honor uh it's an absolutely huge honor and the relationships with with the people in this room that I've you know have been able to cultivate over the years and you
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know when I left you know for a brief amount of time and you know came back and you jumped right back in without missing a beat I think that spoke volumes to what what it's really like and having that opportunity to move forward now is is pretty special and you mention stability while yeah they've been here for a while I think we said uh 51 years I believe is is what I the the official number but um I think you know if you look at what they did and you know this is something certainly not
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lost on me is is letting their coaches coach empowering them to make decisions be the head coach of the position give input um put their own stamp on their position groups those things are those are you know those are huge things uh not only does it help with the stability um but it's it being such a big program the head coach needs to be able to do that and Trust his assistance to do that uh and you know I very much you know plan on continue to do the same thing coach kind of you back off what I asked
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earlier what was the setting was the the moment like and what was the message to the players when you announced to them that you wereing so the setting we we did in the locker room uh in the geesman athletic center and um our strength coach you know called the meetings you know under the the pretense we're going to talk about um you know you know when we come back from spring break I think most of the players kind of thought something was up um I let them speak to that but um you know that was that was the setting um
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and for me it was it was you know it was a special moment to be able to walk in um be embraced by the team um you know have everybody cheering and going nuts and um you know have Coach Cory introduce me like that was you know was a special moment you're um I me you're from this area originally right you played St Joe's football team like what you only spent about three years in Indianapolis it seemed like you wanted to get back up here as soon as possible almost uh what is it just about this area in general
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that makes you you know want to come back and you know grow have a family here and things like that so my wife and I are both from here uh I my wife went to pen and uh you know and you know we both have families that are here and and being back and close to that you know in addition to that you know just you know the experience we that I had at Penn prior to moving to Indianapolis um you know when I came on as a volunteer assistant and you know way back when uh I was embraced by the pen football
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family um you know the yans the geesman and you know um you know Cory's m and and dad who I who I volunteered with I mean it was it was a special place and um you know that was evident right away and and you know so those types of things are to be honest they really really hard to replicate I enjoy my time in Indianapolis I had a chance to coach at at a great school with really good coaches but um you know the community that we have here in Penn is is is it's just different it's outstanding how
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would you describe your football philosophy uh football philosophy overall um I think what you need to do is you know at least from my point of view uh is be simple uh be sound but not predictable uh and do what you do with passion you know and in toughness uh and that's something that I've learned you know not only here but I also saw that play play out when I was in Indianapolis as well you mentioned that the influences coach Gman coach yman you also played for Frank at St Joe how did
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he influence you um coach's you know was my first head coach and and you know obviously in high school and um you know he taught me the the love and respect the game of football and really what it can what it can do for a high school player uh and those things I'm will always be appreciative you know from from his point you know from him um you know coach M and I still stay in touch um saw him a couple months ago and um was great to see him and you know still you know you know have a great
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relationship with them as a result when did you first know you wanted to be a coach probably my sophomore year high school um you know to be honest with you I was sitting in in in film room with him you know breaking things down as a sophomore safety and you know you knowy look at this a split cuts down so he's going to run it out and just you know some some of the B really basic stuff like that uh really open my you know got me interested in coaching and you know that that that bug never left and then how would you measure
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success well obviously here at pen that the standards are incredibly high in terms of you know wins and losses but it's it's beyond that um you know in today's world you you know wins losses you know again can't ignore those the same time uh it's about developing your players um getting them to you know kind of you know push beyond their level of comfort um push them to be more successful uh to develop into great young men uh who eventually are going to be fathers husbands um in in you know
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that's the that's that Mark um and I really you know I was flattered today to get a ton of messages from former players um both here and Ben Davis that you know congratulations and and that kind of speaks volumes to what we're trying to do would you like to set the tone for week one by trash talking Val thanks for that opportunity Chuck U obviously Valor is a is a great program and they they do a good job so uh I'm gonna I'm G to pass on that one week well I got a message from coach KRA
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this morning congratulating me so um you know like I said there's a lot of mutual respect among you know great programs and and good coaches so um you know look forward to playing you know those guys and and you know always having a you know a great crowd for for the Backyard Brawl then Coach what is your overall goal with pen football the overall goal for pen football is is to continue this the success that we've had build upon that uh without losing sight of of the traditions and things that make you know
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pen you know pen coach now that you're now the head coach do you on staying on the defensive side of the ball oring over the off I've gotten that question a lot um no to start with I'll stay on the defense side of the ball to get things going um you know the first order of business naturally for me would be to slidify our staff and you know make sure everyone's going to come back with my experience on defense we'll we'll start there but um you know got some ideas in place to
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hopefully you know be able to go back and forth a little more often um I think that's important for for players on both sides of the ball to know that the head coach you know views them as important not just one side of the ball or the other I think that's a real important thing Cory didn't leave you a starting quarterback is there somebody in the room that you'd like to have play there might be a few there might be somebody over there um you know we we have we do have you know offensively
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we've got a lot of talent back and a a lot of you know people with just a little bit of speed Kell um but you know that that's you know we had great senior leadership last year from you know Nolan mcco the quarterback position um Kell Watson obviously um you know was our backup quarterback in one sense but also was too good not to have on the field um so you know we're going to you look to utilize Kell's um you know attributes the best we can and then you know something we'll get
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into a little bit later you're [Laughter] welcome well I mean we can do them up there unless you guys and then coach and if you want to ask them any questions and then Kell and Denny if you want them to come up to the Podi just call [Applause] them Jeff I'm just I'm just curious like what did what were you looking for maybe most in this search and you know as as a group to with Pat like who was what was maybe the main criteria looking for sure uh for us anytime in the athletic department we uh look for a head coach
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regardless of the sport uh we have a couple non-negotiables we need that person to be of highest character uh we need them um to be competitive uh we need them to uh have a teacher's heart uh whether they're a teacher or not and so those are the basics right out of the gate um Pete obviously um exudes all those things but also as you saw up here today I think uh he spoke and he showed you guys what we saw immediately humble uh incredibly hardworking uh uh puts the praise on other people and and just goes about his
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work and and uh sees the bigger picture of course winning and losing are always important as we all know but at the end of the day only one team's win one team in state and so we want our coaches to be positive leaders uh of young people and uh they can leave a program uh having a positive experience like his high school coach left him with and so uh that that's what we're looking for and uh at the end of the day after six weeks of uh thorough search uh we we set it on the fact that Pete re's our guy
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this is of course a very high-profile job um you know well how many rough number do you know how many people may applied and then how many C Jam interview kind of some the logistics of the search sure so uh when I say thorough search it was thorough so we uh we started soon after uh coach yman uh um stepped down and uh we went about the pro process I won't get into the specific names and and numbers of people but it was a lot it was dozens uh of people reached out to us and uh we uh we talked to uh current players former
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players former coaches uh admin uh I talked to leaders at other uh schools that have had great success in football and other sports uh I talked to some people at the ihca to get an idea of what what they thought and how they viewed pen football from the outside uh and then we went about our process and making sure that we were aligned with the stakeholders uh in our school community and so once we did that uh we narrowed the search um considerably and we talked to several people and and uh eventually again we came back to to Pete
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and uh could not be more excited about it one of the things that made him an attractive cidate for this job the fact that he already knows the players he already knows the system and he already knows you know the school the school district absolutely of course that that's important uh but also there's more things that that beyond that um again uh he's a winner I mean he he didn't mention it today but uh he uh he's was a a freshman basketball coach the year we went to the state finals uh
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he was a a JV baseball coach uh one of the years we won State and baseball and his pictures up in the Press Box there and so he's been part of some great programs not only at pen obviously at Ben Davis and had great mentors along the way himself so he knows what it means to Mentor young coaches young people uh he's been uh coaching for 20 years and and um I uh I take great pride in um in making sure that we have great coaches for our kids uh in our school community and uh I I really feel good
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about this so anything else question yeah you didn't have on the staff long but uh Pete Reen as an assistant coach you remember about when you first started well all our coaches have to uh got to take responsibility and uh he he did a great job I mean I knew was a future thing impressed me he went to Ben Davis as an assistant coach and it wasn't too long before he's a coordinator he came back to Penn doing a great job as assistant coach and then he became coordinator so I mean he just
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you know likes responsibility and responds well to it what are your thoughts on Pete what you brought to your staff and and what impressed you about well super super organized uh driven uh there's no project that you that you wouldn't give Pete that wouldn't get done and done it extremely well great great communicator with with our players and coaches and staff um understands the big picture understands a small picture and how you get to the places you want to go and understands what needs to be done to get there and
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and works with all the people involved to to to get by and so uh he's he's he he's been very very successful every place he's been you can tell the guys that that AR on our staff have either been Champions or coach Champions and and he he's he's done both Co just the third coach here in the last 50 years you know what does that say about you know the P history and what you guys have been able to produce as so was that question 51 years how how we pulled off 51 years without having a
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loss yeah yeah 48 5050 or 48 winners and four 5050 but we lost a game back they say and this is rumor but they said back around what 1987 or something they lost the game but no there's H there's no pressure that way though I mean the only pressure you have is to have the kids enjoy the program play as hard as they can and I he'll have absolutely no problem with that what point know having on your staff thinkself a really bright future well you know what there's there's a lot of different levels and a
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lot of different things that make up a great coach and it's not all the same thing for we have different guys on the staff that are really really experts at what we ask them to do and I think that was always one of the Mastery of geese and trying to organize a great staff and get a great staff and they weren't it wasn't cookie cutter it was they could do certain things extremely extremely well my thing with Pete is no matter what that task was that I gave him he responded extremely extremely well and
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got it done at a high level and and was able to communicate it very very well and and articulated with our with our players and with our other coaches on the staff how difficult was this process after retiring where they're looking to hire the new coach because both of you have extensive coaching trees and I'm sure you had many people that you knew apply for the job so when you were asked about different people how difficult was it to kind of discern between different folks and Give opinions well we had a lot of former
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players you know what I mean that have played here and have have been very very successful under you know ge's program and our program you know what I mean and and and done extremely well uh a lot of friends in the community it's a great job it's a great place it's a great great place to work it's a great place to raise your family and it's a great place to coach football so naturally there was a huge interest and I know Chris and I both fielded a lot of phone calls that way and and uh had a lot of
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close friends and a lot of guys that have done a lot of lot of damage for us and in pin football over the years and and uh I was so glad to talk with them and and uh uh answer any questions they had in the process what do you think gee yeah I I think the same thing it's uh a lot of people were the job that's a compliment to the program that uh Cory's had here at Penn and uh seems like you couldn't miss but I think they hired the best man here he's good I mean there's the final four were
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all great coaches and but I mean peached stood out it's and he knew he it was a plus that he'd been here he knows what the expectations are knows what type kids we have so great choice don't okay gee P going be in the middle here let's go right going to front here if we can you guys want to step I'll step in front and I'll hold yeah midd you on sides both sides picture here hold there you go pin up baby congratulations again third okay there you go there you go there you go gra grab the ball G with
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that on there there you go no [Music] pressure we okay um we'll let G sit down I think a couple of the reporters had questions for the kids and then um we'll do another round of photos when it's all done with families and stuff [Music] down to so this is Vinnie Freeman he's our lone return starter on defense no pressure come on Chuck oh boy Chuck and I in the same wavelengths already okay exced whatc uh what excites me the most is is uh the stability that we get coming back to the program uh with Coach Pete um
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every day you know what he's going to be like coming in he's going to be a great leader but also he's going to expect us to work hard so uh just having him and knowing every day what we're getting into it's a great uh it's great um I've learned a lot especially um this past year is my first year um going back to the DB position but uh he's helped me a lot with um all the football exes and know stuff but also he's helped me grow um as a person off the field which is what I think I
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admire about Coach Pete the most how did you do that um he connects to us on a way um in a way that's not just playing football um he knows how to um get us to excel through um things that are different from just playing the game um especially with him being a teacher he really shows us um how important it is to make sure your grades are good and uh yeah is there a phrase or a MTO of his that kind of sticks with you that you kind of really sticks out to you um I don't know if this was um his personal
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phrase but uh this morning we broke on we are pen um was like we are uh pen on three and then family on six um that was um really monu I don't know but uh I like that uh he says we are family because um you can't be a great team without having um all of our guys being family how was he able to help you with the backpedal last year when he was on a scooter um you know just teach me all my stuff he's a big critic but uh at the end of the day you know it's still help have you had him in a class yet no
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I have not do you want him in a class uh probably not uh but yeah I've heard he's a great teacher though how you know when you talk to your teammates if you guys talk about this um in your own little court group you know what's what what are the conversations that you are having about the coaching U about the coaching change about the new hire about the upcoming season how excited are you to have Coach I'm very excited again um you know a big thing when I talked to Miss Williams um a big thing I told her
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was that I want a coach who again like I said connect to can connect to us um on the field but also can be a person that we can just go to any time of the day or text any time um and just you'll know um what to expect and uh that's what it is with Coach Pete um I can go into his room and uh his classroom any day and uh and any time and he'll know uh what the the right thing to say what was the moment like for you in the locker room when you found out Pete was the new head coach it was awesome uh
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again when he told us um when coach yman told us uh it was just great to know that um we were going to have a little some changes but also we were going to know what to expect uh with Coach Pete so coach step down was there any fear that she might get something she probably wasn't Prem with uh there wasn't any fear I knew that um Everybody in the athletic office was going to have the players backs and know what was going to be best for the team any other questions for vne he'll be available for one onone
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later Watson returning wide receiver senior lead quarter School in the 4x1 I think sure yeah four fourth of the state in 100 so Kellen having a defensive guy take over his head coach uh but obviously when who wants you to play quarterback based on what we've heard today uh what have your interactions with Coach Reen been like being more of an offensive player um well to be honest Coach B I didn't really get to really coach get coached under him last year with him spending majority of his time down to the
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defensive end but but from hearing that he was also a quarterback and everything in high school I think that he can bring a good offensive mind to the table while being a head coach what was the reaction that you had today when you heard the announcement this morning um I act reaction was pretty big because I knew that the athletic department made a good decision and that just coach Pete was our guy and he's going to bring a lot to the table for us this year and successful yeah um so see like I think
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it was just a good I good uh sort uh just good like option and everything with not like if someone from the outside was in then we would have to restart like everything that was like my fear of everything restarted and everything but with Coach P I think it's going to be a smooth transition and everything because he knows what to expect and everything what Penn standard and everything is here and I think what he brings to the table is going to be a smooth transition [Applause] yeah what we're going to do um some photos
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and then we'll do one on ones I think we're going to try and do some photos with the boys before they probably need to head back to [Music] class e e
Also taking reporter questions were retiring Coach Cory Yeoman and Hall of Famer Chris Geesman.
mike check mike check one two three four five seven eight 12 three three in 50 I think we're waiting on P I'm doing okay [Music] start literally I like I was about to wake up and I was thinking I I check my email it is do yeah I'm just going to put this right there make sure it's actually going okay good all right good afternoon uh thanks to everyone for being here uh today it's an exciting day certainly for those of us who love the phm community Penn High
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School and the pen athletic family as you know early this morning we introduced our seventh head football coach at Penn Pete Reen to the football team coach Reen's hiring came after a thorough patient head coaching search uh It ultimately gave us great confidence that he's the right man at the right time time to lead and Mentor the young men who make up the long black line his 20 years of experience coaching and teaching at both pen and Ben Davis learning from Hall of Fame coaches like coach yman and Coach gizman who are here
00:13:42
today as well as coach kersner uh have helped him be prepared for this moment I'm excited to support and work with him as he takes over this role uh in our school and Community please help me welcome coach Pete [Applause] re thanks jef I appreciate it uh I'd like to start by thanking uh superintendent Dr Jerry ther uh the Chief Operating Officer Dr Aron Linsky uh the phm school board trustees uh Mr Garrett being here as well uh the Penn High School school administration led by Dr Gallaher uh and
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the athletic department led by Jeff Hart for this incredible opportunity uh it's an opportunity for which I'm very grateful uh and humbled um very special thanks to Coach Corey coach geesman uh along with the numerous pen assistant football coaches that helped me get to this point I've been extremely fortunate to learn from some of the best coaches in the State uh many of whom are in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for them uh this includes both current and past
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coaches um been super lucky to be part of his wonderful staffs um I also want to thank the coaches that were here this morning uh for the announcement uh which was a lot of fun to do with the boys and and uh you know real excited for that uh finally I must thank my wife uh Nicole and our daughters Natalie and Claire uh for their Insight their support uh their encouragement this is an opportunity that comes with very high expectations and lots responsibilities um it's an awesome Challenge and I'm ready to meet
00:15:15
I'm fully aware what I'm getting into and and this job is bigger than one person and I'm going to need a lot of support um both Coach Corey and coach and Coach geesman were able to assemble outstanding coaching staffs while they were the head coach and I hope that do the same uh pen football is a very very special program to lots of people uh that fact is not lost on me I've been fortunate enough to experience that for you know 20 some years now uh both before and after my time at Ben Davis um
00:15:44
my goal is to continue to grow the successes of the program uh push myself and the staff to continue to evolve and adapt to the changing game of football and to continue to develop uh our players both on and off the field while while continuing to play with the same passion and toughness that makes us Kingsmen uh and the long black line such a special special program this point and open up for questions I guess I'll start aute nice to meet you coach congratulations on the hiring just thank you um what was it
00:16:21
like kind of going through the head coaching interview process I'm sure you know was a lot of ups and downs emotionally like what was kind of that process but like the last couple months well it's been a little bit of a whirlwind it's been a very busy uh you know very busy six seven weeks here uh ever since coach Cory stepped down and uh talking to him and other coaches that I respect both you know here in the program as well as coaches I've worked for uh when I was in Indianapolis and
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got a lot of encouragement a lot of encouragement from the assistant coaches and players and and you know my family as well uh so all that put together this is you know for me it was the right time and the right opportunity and and I'm excited to you know to take advantage of this have you ever know explored other potential head coaching opportunities before this or were you just maybe you know kind of patiently waiting you know for maybe this opportunity to come up uh be perfectly honest I hadn't really
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thought about it in terms of other coach other coaching positions before um I've got a we've had a great great job here at Penn um you coach gesman and Coach Cory have always empowered their assistant coaches to uh you know in a sense be the head coach of their positions so from that standpoint I think it's one of the reasons why we have so have had such stability and hopefully we'll continue that as we move forward and then just maybe one funny one is it is it like if you become defensive
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coordinator at P you just automatically become the head coach at some I'm not quite sure that's how it works um but you know you know if I can you know if that continues with the same track record afterwards then then you know it's it's a it's a good stepping stone for sure coach what excites you most about taking this job uh what excites me most is the opportunity to continue working with with the players uh we have a great great set of players uh the pen Community is awesome um tremendous
00:17:59
support from the athletic department from you know the building Administration as well as you know the SC here with Dr ther and Dr Linsky and I know the school board as well so um all those things together to make it make it wonderful opportunity and make pen a really a special place to be and uh there's really nowhere else I'd rather be what is something that you've learned from your time with Coach Cory uh you want to incorporate into your coaching style as you take over uh there's one
00:18:26
thing you know I think almost everybody would say about Coach Cory is the amount of passion he brings to uh coaching um you know and just how excited he gets and and that that excitement is contagious um so if there's one thing in particular you know aside from all the X's and O's I mean obviously brilliant uh you know coach in his own right and um you know learned so much from that point of view but really it's how he handles people um and what he brings to the table on a daily basis is really
00:18:51
what I think you know not just myself but all the coaches you know probably have taken from him we not that um you had you had the opportunity to to be named as the head coach you had um opportunity to speak to the players first andare make them aware of the news what was their reaction and what did that mean to you well me a lot to be able to tell them first I think it's important that they heard it from me and not from you know being leaked out and and I really appreciate I had told the you know the assistant coaches yesterday
00:19:18
and I I really appreciated them you know keeping under wraps for you know so we could have this surprise announcement um because I think it's important for them to hear from us and or from me um and again their reaction and very positive and you know I think it speaks volumes to the amount of relationships we've been able to build with them um even though you know Cory you know stepped down you know six seven weeks ago you know pretty much the entire coaching staff has been there for our morning you
00:19:42
know you know speed and development workouts and the waight room and you know coach Matt case is done a great job facilitating that and and we've been there to support him prob too ear but as new coach you have your new your own tradition you know kind of own little uh you know tradition that you put in no I don't say any New Traditions I mean one of the things makes pen unique is you know there's a long-standing traditions and and you know of how how we do things and and kind of our
00:20:08
approach to stuff um you know as our staff you know solidifies and and moves forward we'll always tweak and adapt things but you know we're not going to we're not going to make changes to what you know what pen really is you've been a part of this staff now for a while what's it mean to be able to continue to be a part of this it's a huge honor uh it's an absolutely huge honor and the relationships with with the people in this room that I've you know have been able to cultivate over the years and you
00:20:31
know when I left you know for a brief amount of time and you know came back and you jumped right back in without missing a beat I think that spoke volumes to what what it's really like and having that opportunity to move forward now is is pretty special and you mention stability while yeah they've been here for a while I think we said uh 51 years I believe is is what I the the official number but um I think you know if you look at what they did and you know this is something certainly not
00:21:00
lost on me is is letting their coaches coach empowering them to make decisions be the head coach of the position give input um put their own stamp on their position groups those things are those are you know those are huge things uh not only does it help with the stability um but it's it being such a big program the head coach needs to be able to do that and Trust his assistance to do that uh and you know I very much you know plan on continue to do the same thing coach kind of you back off what I asked
00:21:27
earlier what was the setting was the the moment like and what was the message to the players when you announced to them that you wereing so the setting we we did in the locker room uh in the geesman athletic center and um our strength coach you know called the meetings you know under the the pretense we're going to talk about um you know you know when we come back from spring break I think most of the players kind of thought something was up um I let them speak to that but um you know that was that was the setting um
00:21:55
and for me it was it was you know it was a special moment to be able to walk in um be embraced by the team um you know have everybody cheering and going nuts and um you know have Coach Cory introduce me like that was you know was a special moment you're um I me you're from this area originally right you played St Joe's football team like what you only spent about three years in Indianapolis it seemed like you wanted to get back up here as soon as possible almost uh what is it just about this area in general
00:22:26
that makes you you know want to come back and you know grow have a family here and things like that so my wife and I are both from here uh I my wife went to pen and uh you know and you know we both have families that are here and and being back and close to that you know in addition to that you know just you know the experience we that I had at Penn prior to moving to Indianapolis um you know when I came on as a volunteer assistant and you know way back when uh I was embraced by the pen football
00:22:53
family um you know the yans the geesman and you know um you know Cory's m and and dad who I who I volunteered with I mean it was it was a special place and um you know that was evident right away and and you know so those types of things are to be honest they really really hard to replicate I enjoy my time in Indianapolis I had a chance to coach at at a great school with really good coaches but um you know the community that we have here in Penn is is is it's just different it's outstanding how
00:23:19
would you describe your football philosophy uh football philosophy overall um I think what you need to do is you know at least from my point of view uh is be simple uh be sound but not predictable uh and do what you do with passion you know and in toughness uh and that's something that I've learned you know not only here but I also saw that play play out when I was in Indianapolis as well you mentioned that the influences coach Gman coach yman you also played for Frank at St Joe how did
00:23:50
he influence you um coach's you know was my first head coach and and you know obviously in high school and um you know he taught me the the love and respect the game of football and really what it can what it can do for a high school player uh and those things I'm will always be appreciative you know from from his point you know from him um you know coach M and I still stay in touch um saw him a couple months ago and um was great to see him and you know still you know you know have a great
00:24:18
relationship with them as a result when did you first know you wanted to be a coach probably my sophomore year high school um you know to be honest with you I was sitting in in in film room with him you know breaking things down as a sophomore safety and you know you knowy look at this a split cuts down so he's going to run it out and just you know some some of the B really basic stuff like that uh really open my you know got me interested in coaching and you know that that that bug never left and then how would you measure
00:24:46
success well obviously here at pen that the standards are incredibly high in terms of you know wins and losses but it's it's beyond that um you know in today's world you you know wins losses you know again can't ignore those the same time uh it's about developing your players um getting them to you know kind of you know push beyond their level of comfort um push them to be more successful uh to develop into great young men uh who eventually are going to be fathers husbands um in in you know
00:25:15
that's the that's that Mark um and I really you know I was flattered today to get a ton of messages from former players um both here and Ben Davis that you know congratulations and and that kind of speaks volumes to what we're trying to do would you like to set the tone for week one by trash talking Val thanks for that opportunity Chuck U obviously Valor is a is a great program and they they do a good job so uh I'm gonna I'm G to pass on that one week well I got a message from coach KRA
00:25:47
this morning congratulating me so um you know like I said there's a lot of mutual respect among you know great programs and and good coaches so um you know look forward to playing you know those guys and and you know always having a you know a great crowd for for the Backyard Brawl then Coach what is your overall goal with pen football the overall goal for pen football is is to continue this the success that we've had build upon that uh without losing sight of of the traditions and things that make you know
00:26:13
pen you know pen coach now that you're now the head coach do you on staying on the defensive side of the ball oring over the off I've gotten that question a lot um no to start with I'll stay on the defense side of the ball to get things going um you know the first order of business naturally for me would be to slidify our staff and you know make sure everyone's going to come back with my experience on defense we'll we'll start there but um you know got some ideas in place to
00:26:39
hopefully you know be able to go back and forth a little more often um I think that's important for for players on both sides of the ball to know that the head coach you know views them as important not just one side of the ball or the other I think that's a real important thing Cory didn't leave you a starting quarterback is there somebody in the room that you'd like to have play there might be a few there might be somebody over there um you know we we have we do have you know offensively
00:27:05
we've got a lot of talent back and a a lot of you know people with just a little bit of speed Kell um but you know that that's you know we had great senior leadership last year from you know Nolan mcco the quarterback position um Kell Watson obviously um you know was our backup quarterback in one sense but also was too good not to have on the field um so you know we're going to you look to utilize Kell's um you know attributes the best we can and then you know something we'll get
00:27:30
into a little bit later you're [Laughter] welcome well I mean we can do them up there unless you guys and then coach and if you want to ask them any questions and then Kell and Denny if you want them to come up to the Podi just call [Applause] them Jeff I'm just I'm just curious like what did what were you looking for maybe most in this search and you know as as a group to with Pat like who was what was maybe the main criteria looking for sure uh for us anytime in the athletic department we uh look for a head coach
00:28:33
regardless of the sport uh we have a couple non-negotiables we need that person to be of highest character uh we need them um to be competitive uh we need them to uh have a teacher's heart uh whether they're a teacher or not and so those are the basics right out of the gate um Pete obviously um exudes all those things but also as you saw up here today I think uh he spoke and he showed you guys what we saw immediately humble uh incredibly hardworking uh uh puts the praise on other people and and just goes about his
00:29:07
work and and uh sees the bigger picture of course winning and losing are always important as we all know but at the end of the day only one team's win one team in state and so we want our coaches to be positive leaders uh of young people and uh they can leave a program uh having a positive experience like his high school coach left him with and so uh that that's what we're looking for and uh at the end of the day after six weeks of uh thorough search uh we we set it on the fact that Pete re's our guy
00:29:36
this is of course a very high-profile job um you know well how many rough number do you know how many people may applied and then how many C Jam interview kind of some the logistics of the search sure so uh when I say thorough search it was thorough so we uh we started soon after uh coach yman uh um stepped down and uh we went about the pro process I won't get into the specific names and and numbers of people but it was a lot it was dozens uh of people reached out to us and uh we uh we talked to uh current players former
00:30:10
players former coaches uh admin uh I talked to leaders at other uh schools that have had great success in football and other sports uh I talked to some people at the ihca to get an idea of what what they thought and how they viewed pen football from the outside uh and then we went about our process and making sure that we were aligned with the stakeholders uh in our school community and so once we did that uh we narrowed the search um considerably and we talked to several people and and uh eventually again we came back to to Pete
00:30:42
and uh could not be more excited about it one of the things that made him an attractive cidate for this job the fact that he already knows the players he already knows the system and he already knows you know the school the school district absolutely of course that that's important uh but also there's more things that that beyond that um again uh he's a winner I mean he he didn't mention it today but uh he uh he's was a a freshman basketball coach the year we went to the state finals uh
00:31:10
he was a a JV baseball coach uh one of the years we won State and baseball and his pictures up in the Press Box there and so he's been part of some great programs not only at pen obviously at Ben Davis and had great mentors along the way himself so he knows what it means to Mentor young coaches young people uh he's been uh coaching for 20 years and and um I uh I take great pride in um in making sure that we have great coaches for our kids uh in our school community and uh I I really feel good
00:31:41
about this so anything else question yeah you didn't have on the staff long but uh Pete Reen as an assistant coach you remember about when you first started well all our coaches have to uh got to take responsibility and uh he he did a great job I mean I knew was a future thing impressed me he went to Ben Davis as an assistant coach and it wasn't too long before he's a coordinator he came back to Penn doing a great job as assistant coach and then he became coordinator so I mean he just
00:32:58
you know likes responsibility and responds well to it what are your thoughts on Pete what you brought to your staff and and what impressed you about well super super organized uh driven uh there's no project that you that you wouldn't give Pete that wouldn't get done and done it extremely well great great communicator with with our players and coaches and staff um understands the big picture understands a small picture and how you get to the places you want to go and understands what needs to be done to get there and
00:33:28
and works with all the people involved to to to get by and so uh he's he's he he's been very very successful every place he's been you can tell the guys that that AR on our staff have either been Champions or coach Champions and and he he's he's done both Co just the third coach here in the last 50 years you know what does that say about you know the P history and what you guys have been able to produce as so was that question 51 years how how we pulled off 51 years without having a
00:34:00
loss yeah yeah 48 5050 or 48 winners and four 5050 but we lost a game back they say and this is rumor but they said back around what 1987 or something they lost the game but no there's H there's no pressure that way though I mean the only pressure you have is to have the kids enjoy the program play as hard as they can and I he'll have absolutely no problem with that what point know having on your staff thinkself a really bright future well you know what there's there's a lot of different levels and a
00:34:44
lot of different things that make up a great coach and it's not all the same thing for we have different guys on the staff that are really really experts at what we ask them to do and I think that was always one of the Mastery of geese and trying to organize a great staff and get a great staff and they weren't it wasn't cookie cutter it was they could do certain things extremely extremely well my thing with Pete is no matter what that task was that I gave him he responded extremely extremely well and
00:35:10
got it done at a high level and and was able to communicate it very very well and and articulated with our with our players and with our other coaches on the staff how difficult was this process after retiring where they're looking to hire the new coach because both of you have extensive coaching trees and I'm sure you had many people that you knew apply for the job so when you were asked about different people how difficult was it to kind of discern between different folks and Give opinions well we had a lot of former
00:35:45
players you know what I mean that have played here and have have been very very successful under you know ge's program and our program you know what I mean and and and done extremely well uh a lot of friends in the community it's a great job it's a great place it's a great great place to work it's a great place to raise your family and it's a great place to coach football so naturally there was a huge interest and I know Chris and I both fielded a lot of phone calls that way and and uh had a lot of
00:36:09
close friends and a lot of guys that have done a lot of lot of damage for us and in pin football over the years and and uh I was so glad to talk with them and and uh uh answer any questions they had in the process what do you think gee yeah I I think the same thing it's uh a lot of people were the job that's a compliment to the program that uh Cory's had here at Penn and uh seems like you couldn't miss but I think they hired the best man here he's good I mean there's the final four were
00:36:43
all great coaches and but I mean peached stood out it's and he knew he it was a plus that he'd been here he knows what the expectations are knows what type kids we have so great choice don't okay gee P going be in the middle here let's go right going to front here if we can you guys want to step I'll step in front and I'll hold yeah midd you on sides both sides picture here hold there you go pin up baby congratulations again third okay there you go there you go there you go gra grab the ball G with
00:38:47
that on there there you go no [Music] pressure we okay um we'll let G sit down I think a couple of the reporters had questions for the kids and then um we'll do another round of photos when it's all done with families and stuff [Music] down to so this is Vinnie Freeman he's our lone return starter on defense no pressure come on Chuck oh boy Chuck and I in the same wavelengths already okay exced whatc uh what excites me the most is is uh the stability that we get coming back to the program uh with Coach Pete um
00:40:33
every day you know what he's going to be like coming in he's going to be a great leader but also he's going to expect us to work hard so uh just having him and knowing every day what we're getting into it's a great uh it's great um I've learned a lot especially um this past year is my first year um going back to the DB position but uh he's helped me a lot with um all the football exes and know stuff but also he's helped me grow um as a person off the field which is what I think I
00:41:05
admire about Coach Pete the most how did you do that um he connects to us on a way um in a way that's not just playing football um he knows how to um get us to excel through um things that are different from just playing the game um especially with him being a teacher he really shows us um how important it is to make sure your grades are good and uh yeah is there a phrase or a MTO of his that kind of sticks with you that you kind of really sticks out to you um I don't know if this was um his personal
00:41:43
phrase but uh this morning we broke on we are pen um was like we are uh pen on three and then family on six um that was um really monu I don't know but uh I like that uh he says we are family because um you can't be a great team without having um all of our guys being family how was he able to help you with the backpedal last year when he was on a scooter um you know just teach me all my stuff he's a big critic but uh at the end of the day you know it's still help have you had him in a class yet no
00:42:26
I have not do you want him in a class uh probably not uh but yeah I've heard he's a great teacher though how you know when you talk to your teammates if you guys talk about this um in your own little court group you know what's what what are the conversations that you are having about the coaching U about the coaching change about the new hire about the upcoming season how excited are you to have Coach I'm very excited again um you know a big thing when I talked to Miss Williams um a big thing I told her
00:43:02
was that I want a coach who again like I said connect to can connect to us um on the field but also can be a person that we can just go to any time of the day or text any time um and just you'll know um what to expect and uh that's what it is with Coach Pete um I can go into his room and uh his classroom any day and uh and any time and he'll know uh what the the right thing to say what was the moment like for you in the locker room when you found out Pete was the new head coach it was awesome uh
00:43:36
again when he told us um when coach yman told us uh it was just great to know that um we were going to have a little some changes but also we were going to know what to expect uh with Coach Pete so coach step down was there any fear that she might get something she probably wasn't Prem with uh there wasn't any fear I knew that um Everybody in the athletic office was going to have the players backs and know what was going to be best for the team any other questions for vne he'll be available for one onone
00:44:17
later Watson returning wide receiver senior lead quarter School in the 4x1 I think sure yeah four fourth of the state in 100 so Kellen having a defensive guy take over his head coach uh but obviously when who wants you to play quarterback based on what we've heard today uh what have your interactions with Coach Reen been like being more of an offensive player um well to be honest Coach B I didn't really get to really coach get coached under him last year with him spending majority of his time down to the
00:45:00
defensive end but but from hearing that he was also a quarterback and everything in high school I think that he can bring a good offensive mind to the table while being a head coach what was the reaction that you had today when you heard the announcement this morning um I act reaction was pretty big because I knew that the athletic department made a good decision and that just coach Pete was our guy and he's going to bring a lot to the table for us this year and successful yeah um so see like I think
00:45:37
it was just a good I good uh sort uh just good like option and everything with not like if someone from the outside was in then we would have to restart like everything that was like my fear of everything restarted and everything but with Coach P I think it's going to be a smooth transition and everything because he knows what to expect and everything what Penn standard and everything is here and I think what he brings to the table is going to be a smooth transition [Applause] yeah what we're going to do um some photos
00:46:33
and then we'll do one on ones I think we're going to try and do some photos with the boys before they probably need to head back to [Music] class e e
Returning Penn players Vinny Freeman and Kellen Watson also spoke to how excited they are to have Coach Pete take over. In the clip below Freeman talks about the sense of family that Coach Pete invoked at this morning’s team meeting.
mike check mike check one two three four five seven eight 12 three three in 50 I think we're waiting on P I'm doing okay [Music] start literally I like I was about to wake up and I was thinking I I check my email it is do yeah I'm just going to put this right there make sure it's actually going okay good all right good afternoon uh thanks to everyone for being here uh today it's an exciting day certainly for those of us who love the phm community Penn High
00:13:12
School and the pen athletic family as you know early this morning we introduced our seventh head football coach at Penn Pete Reen to the football team coach Reen's hiring came after a thorough patient head coaching search uh It ultimately gave us great confidence that he's the right man at the right time time to lead and Mentor the young men who make up the long black line his 20 years of experience coaching and teaching at both pen and Ben Davis learning from Hall of Fame coaches like coach yman and Coach gizman who are here
00:13:42
today as well as coach kersner uh have helped him be prepared for this moment I'm excited to support and work with him as he takes over this role uh in our school and Community please help me welcome coach Pete [Applause] re thanks jef I appreciate it uh I'd like to start by thanking uh superintendent Dr Jerry ther uh the Chief Operating Officer Dr Aron Linsky uh the phm school board trustees uh Mr Garrett being here as well uh the Penn High School school administration led by Dr Gallaher uh and
00:14:17
the athletic department led by Jeff Hart for this incredible opportunity uh it's an opportunity for which I'm very grateful uh and humbled um very special thanks to Coach Corey coach geesman uh along with the numerous pen assistant football coaches that helped me get to this point I've been extremely fortunate to learn from some of the best coaches in the State uh many of whom are in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for them uh this includes both current and past
00:14:45
coaches um been super lucky to be part of his wonderful staffs um I also want to thank the coaches that were here this morning uh for the announcement uh which was a lot of fun to do with the boys and and uh you know real excited for that uh finally I must thank my wife uh Nicole and our daughters Natalie and Claire uh for their Insight their support uh their encouragement this is an opportunity that comes with very high expectations and lots responsibilities um it's an awesome Challenge and I'm ready to meet
00:15:15
I'm fully aware what I'm getting into and and this job is bigger than one person and I'm going to need a lot of support um both Coach Corey and coach and Coach geesman were able to assemble outstanding coaching staffs while they were the head coach and I hope that do the same uh pen football is a very very special program to lots of people uh that fact is not lost on me I've been fortunate enough to experience that for you know 20 some years now uh both before and after my time at Ben Davis um
00:15:44
my goal is to continue to grow the successes of the program uh push myself and the staff to continue to evolve and adapt to the changing game of football and to continue to develop uh our players both on and off the field while while continuing to play with the same passion and toughness that makes us Kingsmen uh and the long black line such a special special program this point and open up for questions I guess I'll start aute nice to meet you coach congratulations on the hiring just thank you um what was it
00:16:21
like kind of going through the head coaching interview process I'm sure you know was a lot of ups and downs emotionally like what was kind of that process but like the last couple months well it's been a little bit of a whirlwind it's been a very busy uh you know very busy six seven weeks here uh ever since coach Cory stepped down and uh talking to him and other coaches that I respect both you know here in the program as well as coaches I've worked for uh when I was in Indianapolis and
00:16:44
got a lot of encouragement a lot of encouragement from the assistant coaches and players and and you know my family as well uh so all that put together this is you know for me it was the right time and the right opportunity and and I'm excited to you know to take advantage of this have you ever know explored other potential head coaching opportunities before this or were you just maybe you know kind of patiently waiting you know for maybe this opportunity to come up uh be perfectly honest I hadn't really
00:17:08
thought about it in terms of other coach other coaching positions before um I've got a we've had a great great job here at Penn um you coach gesman and Coach Cory have always empowered their assistant coaches to uh you know in a sense be the head coach of their positions so from that standpoint I think it's one of the reasons why we have so have had such stability and hopefully we'll continue that as we move forward and then just maybe one funny one is it is it like if you become defensive
00:17:33
coordinator at P you just automatically become the head coach at some I'm not quite sure that's how it works um but you know you know if I can you know if that continues with the same track record afterwards then then you know it's it's a it's a good stepping stone for sure coach what excites you most about taking this job uh what excites me most is the opportunity to continue working with with the players uh we have a great great set of players uh the pen Community is awesome um tremendous
00:17:59
support from the athletic department from you know the building Administration as well as you know the SC here with Dr ther and Dr Linsky and I know the school board as well so um all those things together to make it make it wonderful opportunity and make pen a really a special place to be and uh there's really nowhere else I'd rather be what is something that you've learned from your time with Coach Cory uh you want to incorporate into your coaching style as you take over uh there's one
00:18:26
thing you know I think almost everybody would say about Coach Cory is the amount of passion he brings to uh coaching um you know and just how excited he gets and and that that excitement is contagious um so if there's one thing in particular you know aside from all the X's and O's I mean obviously brilliant uh you know coach in his own right and um you know learned so much from that point of view but really it's how he handles people um and what he brings to the table on a daily basis is really
00:18:51
what I think you know not just myself but all the coaches you know probably have taken from him we not that um you had you had the opportunity to to be named as the head coach you had um opportunity to speak to the players first andare make them aware of the news what was their reaction and what did that mean to you well me a lot to be able to tell them first I think it's important that they heard it from me and not from you know being leaked out and and I really appreciate I had told the you know the assistant coaches yesterday
00:19:18
and I I really appreciated them you know keeping under wraps for you know so we could have this surprise announcement um because I think it's important for them to hear from us and or from me um and again their reaction and very positive and you know I think it speaks volumes to the amount of relationships we've been able to build with them um even though you know Cory you know stepped down you know six seven weeks ago you know pretty much the entire coaching staff has been there for our morning you
00:19:42
know you know speed and development workouts and the waight room and you know coach Matt case is done a great job facilitating that and and we've been there to support him prob too ear but as new coach you have your new your own tradition you know kind of own little uh you know tradition that you put in no I don't say any New Traditions I mean one of the things makes pen unique is you know there's a long-standing traditions and and you know of how how we do things and and kind of our
00:20:08
approach to stuff um you know as our staff you know solidifies and and moves forward we'll always tweak and adapt things but you know we're not going to we're not going to make changes to what you know what pen really is you've been a part of this staff now for a while what's it mean to be able to continue to be a part of this it's a huge honor uh it's an absolutely huge honor and the relationships with with the people in this room that I've you know have been able to cultivate over the years and you
00:20:31
know when I left you know for a brief amount of time and you know came back and you jumped right back in without missing a beat I think that spoke volumes to what what it's really like and having that opportunity to move forward now is is pretty special and you mention stability while yeah they've been here for a while I think we said uh 51 years I believe is is what I the the official number but um I think you know if you look at what they did and you know this is something certainly not
00:21:00
lost on me is is letting their coaches coach empowering them to make decisions be the head coach of the position give input um put their own stamp on their position groups those things are those are you know those are huge things uh not only does it help with the stability um but it's it being such a big program the head coach needs to be able to do that and Trust his assistance to do that uh and you know I very much you know plan on continue to do the same thing coach kind of you back off what I asked
00:21:27
earlier what was the setting was the the moment like and what was the message to the players when you announced to them that you wereing so the setting we we did in the locker room uh in the geesman athletic center and um our strength coach you know called the meetings you know under the the pretense we're going to talk about um you know you know when we come back from spring break I think most of the players kind of thought something was up um I let them speak to that but um you know that was that was the setting um
00:21:55
and for me it was it was you know it was a special moment to be able to walk in um be embraced by the team um you know have everybody cheering and going nuts and um you know have Coach Cory introduce me like that was you know was a special moment you're um I me you're from this area originally right you played St Joe's football team like what you only spent about three years in Indianapolis it seemed like you wanted to get back up here as soon as possible almost uh what is it just about this area in general
00:22:26
that makes you you know want to come back and you know grow have a family here and things like that so my wife and I are both from here uh I my wife went to pen and uh you know and you know we both have families that are here and and being back and close to that you know in addition to that you know just you know the experience we that I had at Penn prior to moving to Indianapolis um you know when I came on as a volunteer assistant and you know way back when uh I was embraced by the pen football
00:22:53
family um you know the yans the geesman and you know um you know Cory's m and and dad who I who I volunteered with I mean it was it was a special place and um you know that was evident right away and and you know so those types of things are to be honest they really really hard to replicate I enjoy my time in Indianapolis I had a chance to coach at at a great school with really good coaches but um you know the community that we have here in Penn is is is it's just different it's outstanding how
00:23:19
would you describe your football philosophy uh football philosophy overall um I think what you need to do is you know at least from my point of view uh is be simple uh be sound but not predictable uh and do what you do with passion you know and in toughness uh and that's something that I've learned you know not only here but I also saw that play play out when I was in Indianapolis as well you mentioned that the influences coach Gman coach yman you also played for Frank at St Joe how did
00:23:50
he influence you um coach's you know was my first head coach and and you know obviously in high school and um you know he taught me the the love and respect the game of football and really what it can what it can do for a high school player uh and those things I'm will always be appreciative you know from from his point you know from him um you know coach M and I still stay in touch um saw him a couple months ago and um was great to see him and you know still you know you know have a great
00:24:18
relationship with them as a result when did you first know you wanted to be a coach probably my sophomore year high school um you know to be honest with you I was sitting in in in film room with him you know breaking things down as a sophomore safety and you know you knowy look at this a split cuts down so he's going to run it out and just you know some some of the B really basic stuff like that uh really open my you know got me interested in coaching and you know that that that bug never left and then how would you measure
00:24:46
success well obviously here at pen that the standards are incredibly high in terms of you know wins and losses but it's it's beyond that um you know in today's world you you know wins losses you know again can't ignore those the same time uh it's about developing your players um getting them to you know kind of you know push beyond their level of comfort um push them to be more successful uh to develop into great young men uh who eventually are going to be fathers husbands um in in you know
00:25:15
that's the that's that Mark um and I really you know I was flattered today to get a ton of messages from former players um both here and Ben Davis that you know congratulations and and that kind of speaks volumes to what we're trying to do would you like to set the tone for week one by trash talking Val thanks for that opportunity Chuck U obviously Valor is a is a great program and they they do a good job so uh I'm gonna I'm G to pass on that one week well I got a message from coach KRA
00:25:47
this morning congratulating me so um you know like I said there's a lot of mutual respect among you know great programs and and good coaches so um you know look forward to playing you know those guys and and you know always having a you know a great crowd for for the Backyard Brawl then Coach what is your overall goal with pen football the overall goal for pen football is is to continue this the success that we've had build upon that uh without losing sight of of the traditions and things that make you know
00:26:13
pen you know pen coach now that you're now the head coach do you on staying on the defensive side of the ball oring over the off I've gotten that question a lot um no to start with I'll stay on the defense side of the ball to get things going um you know the first order of business naturally for me would be to slidify our staff and you know make sure everyone's going to come back with my experience on defense we'll we'll start there but um you know got some ideas in place to
00:26:39
hopefully you know be able to go back and forth a little more often um I think that's important for for players on both sides of the ball to know that the head coach you know views them as important not just one side of the ball or the other I think that's a real important thing Cory didn't leave you a starting quarterback is there somebody in the room that you'd like to have play there might be a few there might be somebody over there um you know we we have we do have you know offensively
00:27:05
we've got a lot of talent back and a a lot of you know people with just a little bit of speed Kell um but you know that that's you know we had great senior leadership last year from you know Nolan mcco the quarterback position um Kell Watson obviously um you know was our backup quarterback in one sense but also was too good not to have on the field um so you know we're going to you look to utilize Kell's um you know attributes the best we can and then you know something we'll get
00:27:30
into a little bit later you're [Laughter] welcome well I mean we can do them up there unless you guys and then coach and if you want to ask them any questions and then Kell and Denny if you want them to come up to the Podi just call [Applause] them Jeff I'm just I'm just curious like what did what were you looking for maybe most in this search and you know as as a group to with Pat like who was what was maybe the main criteria looking for sure uh for us anytime in the athletic department we uh look for a head coach
00:28:33
regardless of the sport uh we have a couple non-negotiables we need that person to be of highest character uh we need them um to be competitive uh we need them to uh have a teacher's heart uh whether they're a teacher or not and so those are the basics right out of the gate um Pete obviously um exudes all those things but also as you saw up here today I think uh he spoke and he showed you guys what we saw immediately humble uh incredibly hardworking uh uh puts the praise on other people and and just goes about his
00:29:07
work and and uh sees the bigger picture of course winning and losing are always important as we all know but at the end of the day only one team's win one team in state and so we want our coaches to be positive leaders uh of young people and uh they can leave a program uh having a positive experience like his high school coach left him with and so uh that that's what we're looking for and uh at the end of the day after six weeks of uh thorough search uh we we set it on the fact that Pete re's our guy
00:29:36
this is of course a very high-profile job um you know well how many rough number do you know how many people may applied and then how many C Jam interview kind of some the logistics of the search sure so uh when I say thorough search it was thorough so we uh we started soon after uh coach yman uh um stepped down and uh we went about the pro process I won't get into the specific names and and numbers of people but it was a lot it was dozens uh of people reached out to us and uh we uh we talked to uh current players former
00:30:10
players former coaches uh admin uh I talked to leaders at other uh schools that have had great success in football and other sports uh I talked to some people at the ihca to get an idea of what what they thought and how they viewed pen football from the outside uh and then we went about our process and making sure that we were aligned with the stakeholders uh in our school community and so once we did that uh we narrowed the search um considerably and we talked to several people and and uh eventually again we came back to to Pete
00:30:42
and uh could not be more excited about it one of the things that made him an attractive cidate for this job the fact that he already knows the players he already knows the system and he already knows you know the school the school district absolutely of course that that's important uh but also there's more things that that beyond that um again uh he's a winner I mean he he didn't mention it today but uh he uh he's was a a freshman basketball coach the year we went to the state finals uh
00:31:10
he was a a JV baseball coach uh one of the years we won State and baseball and his pictures up in the Press Box there and so he's been part of some great programs not only at pen obviously at Ben Davis and had great mentors along the way himself so he knows what it means to Mentor young coaches young people uh he's been uh coaching for 20 years and and um I uh I take great pride in um in making sure that we have great coaches for our kids uh in our school community and uh I I really feel good
00:31:41
about this so anything else question yeah you didn't have on the staff long but uh Pete Reen as an assistant coach you remember about when you first started well all our coaches have to uh got to take responsibility and uh he he did a great job I mean I knew was a future thing impressed me he went to Ben Davis as an assistant coach and it wasn't too long before he's a coordinator he came back to Penn doing a great job as assistant coach and then he became coordinator so I mean he just
00:32:58
you know likes responsibility and responds well to it what are your thoughts on Pete what you brought to your staff and and what impressed you about well super super organized uh driven uh there's no project that you that you wouldn't give Pete that wouldn't get done and done it extremely well great great communicator with with our players and coaches and staff um understands the big picture understands a small picture and how you get to the places you want to go and understands what needs to be done to get there and
00:33:28
and works with all the people involved to to to get by and so uh he's he's he he's been very very successful every place he's been you can tell the guys that that AR on our staff have either been Champions or coach Champions and and he he's he's done both Co just the third coach here in the last 50 years you know what does that say about you know the P history and what you guys have been able to produce as so was that question 51 years how how we pulled off 51 years without having a
00:34:00
loss yeah yeah 48 5050 or 48 winners and four 5050 but we lost a game back they say and this is rumor but they said back around what 1987 or something they lost the game but no there's H there's no pressure that way though I mean the only pressure you have is to have the kids enjoy the program play as hard as they can and I he'll have absolutely no problem with that what point know having on your staff thinkself a really bright future well you know what there's there's a lot of different levels and a
00:34:44
lot of different things that make up a great coach and it's not all the same thing for we have different guys on the staff that are really really experts at what we ask them to do and I think that was always one of the Mastery of geese and trying to organize a great staff and get a great staff and they weren't it wasn't cookie cutter it was they could do certain things extremely extremely well my thing with Pete is no matter what that task was that I gave him he responded extremely extremely well and
00:35:10
got it done at a high level and and was able to communicate it very very well and and articulated with our with our players and with our other coaches on the staff how difficult was this process after retiring where they're looking to hire the new coach because both of you have extensive coaching trees and I'm sure you had many people that you knew apply for the job so when you were asked about different people how difficult was it to kind of discern between different folks and Give opinions well we had a lot of former
00:35:45
players you know what I mean that have played here and have have been very very successful under you know ge's program and our program you know what I mean and and and done extremely well uh a lot of friends in the community it's a great job it's a great place it's a great great place to work it's a great place to raise your family and it's a great place to coach football so naturally there was a huge interest and I know Chris and I both fielded a lot of phone calls that way and and uh had a lot of
00:36:09
close friends and a lot of guys that have done a lot of lot of damage for us and in pin football over the years and and uh I was so glad to talk with them and and uh uh answer any questions they had in the process what do you think gee yeah I I think the same thing it's uh a lot of people were the job that's a compliment to the program that uh Cory's had here at Penn and uh seems like you couldn't miss but I think they hired the best man here he's good I mean there's the final four were
00:36:43
all great coaches and but I mean peached stood out it's and he knew he it was a plus that he'd been here he knows what the expectations are knows what type kids we have so great choice don't okay gee P going be in the middle here let's go right going to front here if we can you guys want to step I'll step in front and I'll hold yeah midd you on sides both sides picture here hold there you go pin up baby congratulations again third okay there you go there you go there you go gra grab the ball G with
00:38:47
that on there there you go no [Music] pressure we okay um we'll let G sit down I think a couple of the reporters had questions for the kids and then um we'll do another round of photos when it's all done with families and stuff [Music] down to so this is Vinnie Freeman he's our lone return starter on defense no pressure come on Chuck oh boy Chuck and I in the same wavelengths already okay exced whatc uh what excites me the most is is uh the stability that we get coming back to the program uh with Coach Pete um
00:40:33
every day you know what he's going to be like coming in he's going to be a great leader but also he's going to expect us to work hard so uh just having him and knowing every day what we're getting into it's a great uh it's great um I've learned a lot especially um this past year is my first year um going back to the DB position but uh he's helped me a lot with um all the football exes and know stuff but also he's helped me grow um as a person off the field which is what I think I
00:41:05
admire about Coach Pete the most how did you do that um he connects to us on a way um in a way that's not just playing football um he knows how to um get us to excel through um things that are different from just playing the game um especially with him being a teacher he really shows us um how important it is to make sure your grades are good and uh yeah is there a phrase or a MTO of his that kind of sticks with you that you kind of really sticks out to you um I don't know if this was um his personal
00:41:43
phrase but uh this morning we broke on we are pen um was like we are uh pen on three and then family on six um that was um really monu I don't know but uh I like that uh he says we are family because um you can't be a great team without having um all of our guys being family how was he able to help you with the backpedal last year when he was on a scooter um you know just teach me all my stuff he's a big critic but uh at the end of the day you know it's still help have you had him in a class yet no
00:42:26
I have not do you want him in a class uh probably not uh but yeah I've heard he's a great teacher though how you know when you talk to your teammates if you guys talk about this um in your own little court group you know what's what what are the conversations that you are having about the coaching U about the coaching change about the new hire about the upcoming season how excited are you to have Coach I'm very excited again um you know a big thing when I talked to Miss Williams um a big thing I told her
00:43:02
was that I want a coach who again like I said connect to can connect to us um on the field but also can be a person that we can just go to any time of the day or text any time um and just you'll know um what to expect and uh that's what it is with Coach Pete um I can go into his room and uh his classroom any day and uh and any time and he'll know uh what the the right thing to say what was the moment like for you in the locker room when you found out Pete was the new head coach it was awesome uh
00:43:36
again when he told us um when coach yman told us uh it was just great to know that um we were going to have a little some changes but also we were going to know what to expect uh with Coach Pete so coach step down was there any fear that she might get something she probably wasn't Prem with uh there wasn't any fear I knew that um Everybody in the athletic office was going to have the players backs and know what was going to be best for the team any other questions for vne he'll be available for one onone
00:44:17
later Watson returning wide receiver senior lead quarter School in the 4x1 I think sure yeah four fourth of the state in 100 so Kellen having a defensive guy take over his head coach uh but obviously when who wants you to play quarterback based on what we've heard today uh what have your interactions with Coach Reen been like being more of an offensive player um well to be honest Coach B I didn't really get to really coach get coached under him last year with him spending majority of his time down to the
00:45:00
defensive end but but from hearing that he was also a quarterback and everything in high school I think that he can bring a good offensive mind to the table while being a head coach what was the reaction that you had today when you heard the announcement this morning um I act reaction was pretty big because I knew that the athletic department made a good decision and that just coach Pete was our guy and he's going to bring a lot to the table for us this year and successful yeah um so see like I think
00:45:37
it was just a good I good uh sort uh just good like option and everything with not like if someone from the outside was in then we would have to restart like everything that was like my fear of everything restarted and everything but with Coach P I think it's going to be a smooth transition and everything because he knows what to expect and everything what Penn standard and everything is here and I think what he brings to the table is going to be a smooth transition [Applause] yeah what we're going to do um some photos
00:46:33
and then we'll do one on ones I think we're going to try and do some photos with the boys before they probably need to head back to [Music] class e e
Watson is also on the Penn Track & Field Team; as a member of the 4×100 team, Watson was one of the players that broke the school record. Watson was last year’s backup quarterback!
mike check mike check one two three four five seven eight 12 three three in 50 I think we're waiting on P I'm doing okay [Music] start literally I like I was about to wake up and I was thinking I I check my email it is do yeah I'm just going to put this right there make sure it's actually going okay good all right good afternoon uh thanks to everyone for being here uh today it's an exciting day certainly for those of us who love the phm community Penn High
00:13:12
School and the pen athletic family as you know early this morning we introduced our seventh head football coach at Penn Pete Reen to the football team coach Reen's hiring came after a thorough patient head coaching search uh It ultimately gave us great confidence that he's the right man at the right time time to lead and Mentor the young men who make up the long black line his 20 years of experience coaching and teaching at both pen and Ben Davis learning from Hall of Fame coaches like coach yman and Coach gizman who are here
00:13:42
today as well as coach kersner uh have helped him be prepared for this moment I'm excited to support and work with him as he takes over this role uh in our school and Community please help me welcome coach Pete [Applause] re thanks jef I appreciate it uh I'd like to start by thanking uh superintendent Dr Jerry ther uh the Chief Operating Officer Dr Aron Linsky uh the phm school board trustees uh Mr Garrett being here as well uh the Penn High School school administration led by Dr Gallaher uh and
00:14:17
the athletic department led by Jeff Hart for this incredible opportunity uh it's an opportunity for which I'm very grateful uh and humbled um very special thanks to Coach Corey coach geesman uh along with the numerous pen assistant football coaches that helped me get to this point I've been extremely fortunate to learn from some of the best coaches in the State uh many of whom are in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for them uh this includes both current and past
00:14:45
coaches um been super lucky to be part of his wonderful staffs um I also want to thank the coaches that were here this morning uh for the announcement uh which was a lot of fun to do with the boys and and uh you know real excited for that uh finally I must thank my wife uh Nicole and our daughters Natalie and Claire uh for their Insight their support uh their encouragement this is an opportunity that comes with very high expectations and lots responsibilities um it's an awesome Challenge and I'm ready to meet
00:15:15
I'm fully aware what I'm getting into and and this job is bigger than one person and I'm going to need a lot of support um both Coach Corey and coach and Coach geesman were able to assemble outstanding coaching staffs while they were the head coach and I hope that do the same uh pen football is a very very special program to lots of people uh that fact is not lost on me I've been fortunate enough to experience that for you know 20 some years now uh both before and after my time at Ben Davis um
00:15:44
my goal is to continue to grow the successes of the program uh push myself and the staff to continue to evolve and adapt to the changing game of football and to continue to develop uh our players both on and off the field while while continuing to play with the same passion and toughness that makes us Kingsmen uh and the long black line such a special special program this point and open up for questions I guess I'll start aute nice to meet you coach congratulations on the hiring just thank you um what was it
00:16:21
like kind of going through the head coaching interview process I'm sure you know was a lot of ups and downs emotionally like what was kind of that process but like the last couple months well it's been a little bit of a whirlwind it's been a very busy uh you know very busy six seven weeks here uh ever since coach Cory stepped down and uh talking to him and other coaches that I respect both you know here in the program as well as coaches I've worked for uh when I was in Indianapolis and
00:16:44
got a lot of encouragement a lot of encouragement from the assistant coaches and players and and you know my family as well uh so all that put together this is you know for me it was the right time and the right opportunity and and I'm excited to you know to take advantage of this have you ever know explored other potential head coaching opportunities before this or were you just maybe you know kind of patiently waiting you know for maybe this opportunity to come up uh be perfectly honest I hadn't really
00:17:08
thought about it in terms of other coach other coaching positions before um I've got a we've had a great great job here at Penn um you coach gesman and Coach Cory have always empowered their assistant coaches to uh you know in a sense be the head coach of their positions so from that standpoint I think it's one of the reasons why we have so have had such stability and hopefully we'll continue that as we move forward and then just maybe one funny one is it is it like if you become defensive
00:17:33
coordinator at P you just automatically become the head coach at some I'm not quite sure that's how it works um but you know you know if I can you know if that continues with the same track record afterwards then then you know it's it's a it's a good stepping stone for sure coach what excites you most about taking this job uh what excites me most is the opportunity to continue working with with the players uh we have a great great set of players uh the pen Community is awesome um tremendous
00:17:59
support from the athletic department from you know the building Administration as well as you know the SC here with Dr ther and Dr Linsky and I know the school board as well so um all those things together to make it make it wonderful opportunity and make pen a really a special place to be and uh there's really nowhere else I'd rather be what is something that you've learned from your time with Coach Cory uh you want to incorporate into your coaching style as you take over uh there's one
00:18:26
thing you know I think almost everybody would say about Coach Cory is the amount of passion he brings to uh coaching um you know and just how excited he gets and and that that excitement is contagious um so if there's one thing in particular you know aside from all the X's and O's I mean obviously brilliant uh you know coach in his own right and um you know learned so much from that point of view but really it's how he handles people um and what he brings to the table on a daily basis is really
00:18:51
what I think you know not just myself but all the coaches you know probably have taken from him we not that um you had you had the opportunity to to be named as the head coach you had um opportunity to speak to the players first andare make them aware of the news what was their reaction and what did that mean to you well me a lot to be able to tell them first I think it's important that they heard it from me and not from you know being leaked out and and I really appreciate I had told the you know the assistant coaches yesterday
00:19:18
and I I really appreciated them you know keeping under wraps for you know so we could have this surprise announcement um because I think it's important for them to hear from us and or from me um and again their reaction and very positive and you know I think it speaks volumes to the amount of relationships we've been able to build with them um even though you know Cory you know stepped down you know six seven weeks ago you know pretty much the entire coaching staff has been there for our morning you
00:19:42
know you know speed and development workouts and the waight room and you know coach Matt case is done a great job facilitating that and and we've been there to support him prob too ear but as new coach you have your new your own tradition you know kind of own little uh you know tradition that you put in no I don't say any New Traditions I mean one of the things makes pen unique is you know there's a long-standing traditions and and you know of how how we do things and and kind of our
00:20:08
approach to stuff um you know as our staff you know solidifies and and moves forward we'll always tweak and adapt things but you know we're not going to we're not going to make changes to what you know what pen really is you've been a part of this staff now for a while what's it mean to be able to continue to be a part of this it's a huge honor uh it's an absolutely huge honor and the relationships with with the people in this room that I've you know have been able to cultivate over the years and you
00:20:31
know when I left you know for a brief amount of time and you know came back and you jumped right back in without missing a beat I think that spoke volumes to what what it's really like and having that opportunity to move forward now is is pretty special and you mention stability while yeah they've been here for a while I think we said uh 51 years I believe is is what I the the official number but um I think you know if you look at what they did and you know this is something certainly not
00:21:00
lost on me is is letting their coaches coach empowering them to make decisions be the head coach of the position give input um put their own stamp on their position groups those things are those are you know those are huge things uh not only does it help with the stability um but it's it being such a big program the head coach needs to be able to do that and Trust his assistance to do that uh and you know I very much you know plan on continue to do the same thing coach kind of you back off what I asked
00:21:27
earlier what was the setting was the the moment like and what was the message to the players when you announced to them that you wereing so the setting we we did in the locker room uh in the geesman athletic center and um our strength coach you know called the meetings you know under the the pretense we're going to talk about um you know you know when we come back from spring break I think most of the players kind of thought something was up um I let them speak to that but um you know that was that was the setting um
00:21:55
and for me it was it was you know it was a special moment to be able to walk in um be embraced by the team um you know have everybody cheering and going nuts and um you know have Coach Cory introduce me like that was you know was a special moment you're um I me you're from this area originally right you played St Joe's football team like what you only spent about three years in Indianapolis it seemed like you wanted to get back up here as soon as possible almost uh what is it just about this area in general
00:22:26
that makes you you know want to come back and you know grow have a family here and things like that so my wife and I are both from here uh I my wife went to pen and uh you know and you know we both have families that are here and and being back and close to that you know in addition to that you know just you know the experience we that I had at Penn prior to moving to Indianapolis um you know when I came on as a volunteer assistant and you know way back when uh I was embraced by the pen football
00:22:53
family um you know the yans the geesman and you know um you know Cory's m and and dad who I who I volunteered with I mean it was it was a special place and um you know that was evident right away and and you know so those types of things are to be honest they really really hard to replicate I enjoy my time in Indianapolis I had a chance to coach at at a great school with really good coaches but um you know the community that we have here in Penn is is is it's just different it's outstanding how
00:23:19
would you describe your football philosophy uh football philosophy overall um I think what you need to do is you know at least from my point of view uh is be simple uh be sound but not predictable uh and do what you do with passion you know and in toughness uh and that's something that I've learned you know not only here but I also saw that play play out when I was in Indianapolis as well you mentioned that the influences coach Gman coach yman you also played for Frank at St Joe how did
00:23:50
he influence you um coach's you know was my first head coach and and you know obviously in high school and um you know he taught me the the love and respect the game of football and really what it can what it can do for a high school player uh and those things I'm will always be appreciative you know from from his point you know from him um you know coach M and I still stay in touch um saw him a couple months ago and um was great to see him and you know still you know you know have a great
00:24:18
relationship with them as a result when did you first know you wanted to be a coach probably my sophomore year high school um you know to be honest with you I was sitting in in in film room with him you know breaking things down as a sophomore safety and you know you knowy look at this a split cuts down so he's going to run it out and just you know some some of the B really basic stuff like that uh really open my you know got me interested in coaching and you know that that that bug never left and then how would you measure
00:24:46
success well obviously here at pen that the standards are incredibly high in terms of you know wins and losses but it's it's beyond that um you know in today's world you you know wins losses you know again can't ignore those the same time uh it's about developing your players um getting them to you know kind of you know push beyond their level of comfort um push them to be more successful uh to develop into great young men uh who eventually are going to be fathers husbands um in in you know
00:25:15
that's the that's that Mark um and I really you know I was flattered today to get a ton of messages from former players um both here and Ben Davis that you know congratulations and and that kind of speaks volumes to what we're trying to do would you like to set the tone for week one by trash talking Val thanks for that opportunity Chuck U obviously Valor is a is a great program and they they do a good job so uh I'm gonna I'm G to pass on that one week well I got a message from coach KRA
00:25:47
this morning congratulating me so um you know like I said there's a lot of mutual respect among you know great programs and and good coaches so um you know look forward to playing you know those guys and and you know always having a you know a great crowd for for the Backyard Brawl then Coach what is your overall goal with pen football the overall goal for pen football is is to continue this the success that we've had build upon that uh without losing sight of of the traditions and things that make you know
00:26:13
pen you know pen coach now that you're now the head coach do you on staying on the defensive side of the ball oring over the off I've gotten that question a lot um no to start with I'll stay on the defense side of the ball to get things going um you know the first order of business naturally for me would be to slidify our staff and you know make sure everyone's going to come back with my experience on defense we'll we'll start there but um you know got some ideas in place to
00:26:39
hopefully you know be able to go back and forth a little more often um I think that's important for for players on both sides of the ball to know that the head coach you know views them as important not just one side of the ball or the other I think that's a real important thing Cory didn't leave you a starting quarterback is there somebody in the room that you'd like to have play there might be a few there might be somebody over there um you know we we have we do have you know offensively
00:27:05
we've got a lot of talent back and a a lot of you know people with just a little bit of speed Kell um but you know that that's you know we had great senior leadership last year from you know Nolan mcco the quarterback position um Kell Watson obviously um you know was our backup quarterback in one sense but also was too good not to have on the field um so you know we're going to you look to utilize Kell's um you know attributes the best we can and then you know something we'll get
00:27:30
into a little bit later you're [Laughter] welcome well I mean we can do them up there unless you guys and then coach and if you want to ask them any questions and then Kell and Denny if you want them to come up to the Podi just call [Applause] them Jeff I'm just I'm just curious like what did what were you looking for maybe most in this search and you know as as a group to with Pat like who was what was maybe the main criteria looking for sure uh for us anytime in the athletic department we uh look for a head coach
00:28:33
regardless of the sport uh we have a couple non-negotiables we need that person to be of highest character uh we need them um to be competitive uh we need them to uh have a teacher's heart uh whether they're a teacher or not and so those are the basics right out of the gate um Pete obviously um exudes all those things but also as you saw up here today I think uh he spoke and he showed you guys what we saw immediately humble uh incredibly hardworking uh uh puts the praise on other people and and just goes about his
00:29:07
work and and uh sees the bigger picture of course winning and losing are always important as we all know but at the end of the day only one team's win one team in state and so we want our coaches to be positive leaders uh of young people and uh they can leave a program uh having a positive experience like his high school coach left him with and so uh that that's what we're looking for and uh at the end of the day after six weeks of uh thorough search uh we we set it on the fact that Pete re's our guy
00:29:36
this is of course a very high-profile job um you know well how many rough number do you know how many people may applied and then how many C Jam interview kind of some the logistics of the search sure so uh when I say thorough search it was thorough so we uh we started soon after uh coach yman uh um stepped down and uh we went about the pro process I won't get into the specific names and and numbers of people but it was a lot it was dozens uh of people reached out to us and uh we uh we talked to uh current players former
00:30:10
players former coaches uh admin uh I talked to leaders at other uh schools that have had great success in football and other sports uh I talked to some people at the ihca to get an idea of what what they thought and how they viewed pen football from the outside uh and then we went about our process and making sure that we were aligned with the stakeholders uh in our school community and so once we did that uh we narrowed the search um considerably and we talked to several people and and uh eventually again we came back to to Pete
00:30:42
and uh could not be more excited about it one of the things that made him an attractive cidate for this job the fact that he already knows the players he already knows the system and he already knows you know the school the school district absolutely of course that that's important uh but also there's more things that that beyond that um again uh he's a winner I mean he he didn't mention it today but uh he uh he's was a a freshman basketball coach the year we went to the state finals uh
00:31:10
he was a a JV baseball coach uh one of the years we won State and baseball and his pictures up in the Press Box there and so he's been part of some great programs not only at pen obviously at Ben Davis and had great mentors along the way himself so he knows what it means to Mentor young coaches young people uh he's been uh coaching for 20 years and and um I uh I take great pride in um in making sure that we have great coaches for our kids uh in our school community and uh I I really feel good
00:31:41
about this so anything else question yeah you didn't have on the staff long but uh Pete Reen as an assistant coach you remember about when you first started well all our coaches have to uh got to take responsibility and uh he he did a great job I mean I knew was a future thing impressed me he went to Ben Davis as an assistant coach and it wasn't too long before he's a coordinator he came back to Penn doing a great job as assistant coach and then he became coordinator so I mean he just
00:32:58
you know likes responsibility and responds well to it what are your thoughts on Pete what you brought to your staff and and what impressed you about well super super organized uh driven uh there's no project that you that you wouldn't give Pete that wouldn't get done and done it extremely well great great communicator with with our players and coaches and staff um understands the big picture understands a small picture and how you get to the places you want to go and understands what needs to be done to get there and
00:33:28
and works with all the people involved to to to get by and so uh he's he's he he's been very very successful every place he's been you can tell the guys that that AR on our staff have either been Champions or coach Champions and and he he's he's done both Co just the third coach here in the last 50 years you know what does that say about you know the P history and what you guys have been able to produce as so was that question 51 years how how we pulled off 51 years without having a
00:34:00
loss yeah yeah 48 5050 or 48 winners and four 5050 but we lost a game back they say and this is rumor but they said back around what 1987 or something they lost the game but no there's H there's no pressure that way though I mean the only pressure you have is to have the kids enjoy the program play as hard as they can and I he'll have absolutely no problem with that what point know having on your staff thinkself a really bright future well you know what there's there's a lot of different levels and a
00:34:44
lot of different things that make up a great coach and it's not all the same thing for we have different guys on the staff that are really really experts at what we ask them to do and I think that was always one of the Mastery of geese and trying to organize a great staff and get a great staff and they weren't it wasn't cookie cutter it was they could do certain things extremely extremely well my thing with Pete is no matter what that task was that I gave him he responded extremely extremely well and
00:35:10
got it done at a high level and and was able to communicate it very very well and and articulated with our with our players and with our other coaches on the staff how difficult was this process after retiring where they're looking to hire the new coach because both of you have extensive coaching trees and I'm sure you had many people that you knew apply for the job so when you were asked about different people how difficult was it to kind of discern between different folks and Give opinions well we had a lot of former
00:35:45
players you know what I mean that have played here and have have been very very successful under you know ge's program and our program you know what I mean and and and done extremely well uh a lot of friends in the community it's a great job it's a great place it's a great great place to work it's a great place to raise your family and it's a great place to coach football so naturally there was a huge interest and I know Chris and I both fielded a lot of phone calls that way and and uh had a lot of
00:36:09
close friends and a lot of guys that have done a lot of lot of damage for us and in pin football over the years and and uh I was so glad to talk with them and and uh uh answer any questions they had in the process what do you think gee yeah I I think the same thing it's uh a lot of people were the job that's a compliment to the program that uh Cory's had here at Penn and uh seems like you couldn't miss but I think they hired the best man here he's good I mean there's the final four were
00:36:43
all great coaches and but I mean peached stood out it's and he knew he it was a plus that he'd been here he knows what the expectations are knows what type kids we have so great choice don't okay gee P going be in the middle here let's go right going to front here if we can you guys want to step I'll step in front and I'll hold yeah midd you on sides both sides picture here hold there you go pin up baby congratulations again third okay there you go there you go there you go gra grab the ball G with
00:38:47
that on there there you go no [Music] pressure we okay um we'll let G sit down I think a couple of the reporters had questions for the kids and then um we'll do another round of photos when it's all done with families and stuff [Music] down to so this is Vinnie Freeman he's our lone return starter on defense no pressure come on Chuck oh boy Chuck and I in the same wavelengths already okay exced whatc uh what excites me the most is is uh the stability that we get coming back to the program uh with Coach Pete um
00:40:33
every day you know what he's going to be like coming in he's going to be a great leader but also he's going to expect us to work hard so uh just having him and knowing every day what we're getting into it's a great uh it's great um I've learned a lot especially um this past year is my first year um going back to the DB position but uh he's helped me a lot with um all the football exes and know stuff but also he's helped me grow um as a person off the field which is what I think I
00:41:05
admire about Coach Pete the most how did you do that um he connects to us on a way um in a way that's not just playing football um he knows how to um get us to excel through um things that are different from just playing the game um especially with him being a teacher he really shows us um how important it is to make sure your grades are good and uh yeah is there a phrase or a MTO of his that kind of sticks with you that you kind of really sticks out to you um I don't know if this was um his personal
00:41:43
phrase but uh this morning we broke on we are pen um was like we are uh pen on three and then family on six um that was um really monu I don't know but uh I like that uh he says we are family because um you can't be a great team without having um all of our guys being family how was he able to help you with the backpedal last year when he was on a scooter um you know just teach me all my stuff he's a big critic but uh at the end of the day you know it's still help have you had him in a class yet no
00:42:26
I have not do you want him in a class uh probably not uh but yeah I've heard he's a great teacher though how you know when you talk to your teammates if you guys talk about this um in your own little court group you know what's what what are the conversations that you are having about the coaching U about the coaching change about the new hire about the upcoming season how excited are you to have Coach I'm very excited again um you know a big thing when I talked to Miss Williams um a big thing I told her
00:43:02
was that I want a coach who again like I said connect to can connect to us um on the field but also can be a person that we can just go to any time of the day or text any time um and just you'll know um what to expect and uh that's what it is with Coach Pete um I can go into his room and uh his classroom any day and uh and any time and he'll know uh what the the right thing to say what was the moment like for you in the locker room when you found out Pete was the new head coach it was awesome uh
00:43:36
again when he told us um when coach yman told us uh it was just great to know that um we were going to have a little some changes but also we were going to know what to expect uh with Coach Pete so coach step down was there any fear that she might get something she probably wasn't Prem with uh there wasn't any fear I knew that um Everybody in the athletic office was going to have the players backs and know what was going to be best for the team any other questions for vne he'll be available for one onone
00:44:17
later Watson returning wide receiver senior lead quarter School in the 4x1 I think sure yeah four fourth of the state in 100 so Kellen having a defensive guy take over his head coach uh but obviously when who wants you to play quarterback based on what we've heard today uh what have your interactions with Coach Reen been like being more of an offensive player um well to be honest Coach B I didn't really get to really coach get coached under him last year with him spending majority of his time down to the
00:45:00
defensive end but but from hearing that he was also a quarterback and everything in high school I think that he can bring a good offensive mind to the table while being a head coach what was the reaction that you had today when you heard the announcement this morning um I act reaction was pretty big because I knew that the athletic department made a good decision and that just coach Pete was our guy and he's going to bring a lot to the table for us this year and successful yeah um so see like I think
00:45:37
it was just a good I good uh sort uh just good like option and everything with not like if someone from the outside was in then we would have to restart like everything that was like my fear of everything restarted and everything but with Coach P I think it's going to be a smooth transition and everything because he knows what to expect and everything what Penn standard and everything is here and I think what he brings to the table is going to be a smooth transition [Applause] yeah what we're going to do um some photos
00:46:33
and then we'll do one on ones I think we're going to try and do some photos with the boys before they probably need to head back to [Music] class e e
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Last Modified April 15, 2026