Wapakoneta lands Frye as new head football coach

WAPAKONETA — As coaching hires go, it doesn’t get much more interesting.

Wapakoneta High School’s new football coach, Doug Frye, was the coach of the Redskins’ biggest rival, St. Marys, for more than a decade before he took last season off from coaching.

Frye’s hiring was announced Tuesday and will be approved next week by the Wapakoneta board of education.

Frye had an 89-35 record in 11 seasons at St. Marys, including a Division III state runner-up year in 2004.

“It is a little interesting. All we saw was the brilliant resume and we think he can win for us,” Wapakoneta Athletic Director Brad Rex said.

Frye resigned at St. Marys after a 9-3 season in 2008, saying he wanted to spend more time watching his sons play college football at St. Francis University in Fort Wayne.

At that time, he wasn’t sure how long he would be out of coaching. As it turned out, it wasn’t long.

“It was indefinite at that point,” he said, looking back to last year. “I decided I would get back in only if the right opportunity came along and I think it did.

“Obviously, as I first got out there were some withdrawal symptoms from coaching. After the boys’ season ended, I talked to my wife, the boys and my daughter and as a family we decided that if the right opportunity arose, I would re-enter the coaching profession,” he said.

Wapakoneta’s coaching job came open when Doug Zimmer resigned after last season. The Redskins were 9-21 in his three seasons. Three years ago, they went 10-2 and reached the playoffs with Kevin Fell as coach.

Frye will be hired as a special education teacher at Wapakoneta for next school year, but will finish out this year at St. Marys. He also pursued two other coaching openings this winter before focusing on the Wapakoneta job.

His St. Marys teams won nine of 11 times against Wapakoneta. Those teams stayed close to the conservative, run-dominated philosophies the Roughriders have believed in for more than 50 years.

With a move of around 10 miles to the east, is it possible he might open up the playbook a little?

“We’re going to run the Wapakoneta offense, we’re going to run the Wapakoneta defense and we’re going to run the Wapakoneta special teams. That’s all I’m going to tell you right now. I don’t really know what that’s going to be for sure right now,” Frye said.

His first time on the visiting sidelines at St. Marys’ Skip Baughman Stadium will be Oct. 1, the sixth week of the high school football season.