Ladue-Frontenac Blessed With Outstanding Football Coaches

I’ve been thinking about the local football coaches.

Suffice it to say, if I had a son playing football right now, I’d want him to play for John Burroughs’ Gus Frerotte. Oh, wait a minute. I’d want him to play for Josh Smith at MICDS. Wait, once more. I’d like him to play for Ladue’s Mike Tarpey.

This area is truly blessed with outstanding young coaches. Any of the three would be great with me. One couldn’t go wrong with any of the three choices.

Football at any level, from peewees to the pros is a teaching experience, especially on the prep level.

Coaches are like sculptors, shaping and molding little pieces of clay. The high school coach is the one at the nerve center to bring a program together. First, they have to teach the freshmen which way is the front of a pair of shoulder pads.

Small wonder all of the local teams are enjoying great success this fall. Ladue, after losing to mighty Parkway Central and SLUH has run off three wins in a row. MICDS is unbeaten in five outings, including a showdown match with powerful Jefferson City Helias. The only blemish on the 4-1 Burroughs record is the loss to rival MICDS.

The aforementioned three have come to their respective schools by nontraditional routes. It used to be a guy hung a whistle around his neck and rose through the physical education ranks from assistant to head coach. Not so much anymore.

Smith played football and coached as an assistant at Washington University in St. Louis. His place at MICDS is as a mathematics instructor.

Tarpey arrived at the Ladue School system to teach business and economics. Now he’s an assistant principal. Ferrotte had a much-documented career as a professional quarterback, including quality seasons with Washington, Detroit, Miami, Minnesota and the St. Louis Rams.

It hasn’t been easy for any of the three. They follow in the footsteps of former legends of the game. Ed Velten and Jerry Maher combined for nearly 50 years of coaching at Ladue. Ron Holman put in a good 39 years at Country Day School before retiring, and Jim Lemen and Todd Small had nearly 50 years combined at Burroughs. Each had strong winning traditions.

The kids react to these coaches. They each have different styles. While Smith and Tarpey are quiet and analytical, Ferrotte tends to be more active and, sometimes, a bit animated.

Each is getting their messages across. Each is enjoying the season at hand. Ferrotte says he simply loves his job and gets his kicks out of seeing teenagers execute the plays so well.

For some reason, these centrally-located schools have held winning traditions almost forever. Lemen notched eight Show-Me Bowl state titles before retiring. He joked he had more state titles than wins over MICDS.

What I enjoy is the fact that administrations at these three schools are bona fide backers of their programs and their coaches. They understand the hard work and long hours that go into the job. I hope the parents feel the same way, too.

Like I said, if I had a son playing football, I’d prefer these days that it would be for Gus Ferotte, Josh Smith or Mike Tarpey.