Hoisington High School first-year head football coach Jason Ingram has already began making the transition from being an assistant football coach to head coach.
Ingram, who spent 13 years as an assistant coach at Great Bend High School, has already ran a football camp for the Cardinals.
“We had team camps a couple of weeks ago,” Ingram said. “They did really well. There were a lot of new things for them. They were really accepting of the new philosophies. Everything went really well.”
Ingram has had a lot of experience coaching.
“I was in Great Bend for 13 years under Bo Black and maybe a year before that I was under Coach (Rusty) Wrinkle,” Ingram said. “I have been coaching little league stuff since I was in high school and college.
“I have been the freshman baseball coach for seven years in Great Bend and the last two or three years, I’ve been the football junior varsity coach.”
Ingram, who has wanted an opportunity to be a head coach, saw the job opening as a chance to take the next step.
“Ever since I started coaching, I wanted to be a head coach,” Ingram said. “The job in Hoisington opened up and it seemed like a good fit. It was already close to where me and my family has been for the last 13 years.
“It was a great opportunity.”
Even though it was a great opportunity, there are also a lot of responsibilities as a head coach.
“The times are already different,” Ingram said. “There are a lot of little time commitments that you aren’t aware as an assistant coach.”
Ingram, who will also be an assistant coach for the Cardinals baseball team, said that the biggest change is coming out of the shadows into the forefront of the team.
“It is really different being in the eye all of a sudden,” Ingram said. “Everybody notices you. that isn’t the case when you’re an assistant coach. There has been a lot of people in the community that have come out to support us, just like you hope for when you take a job like this.
“There is a new athletic director (Joel Mason) and he’s been very supportive, and the superintendent (Bill Lowry) is a wonderful person to be around.”