Albert Lea Tribune Coach of the Year

2007 – Dan Stork, NRHEG

2006 – Bill Byrnes, Lake Mills

2005 – Chad Mattson, A-C

2004 – Dave Capitani, Northwood-Kensett

2003 – Al Christensen and Andy Baumgartner, G-E

2002 – Dave Capitani, Northwood-Kensett

2001 – Brent Schimek, USC

2000 – Brent Schimek, USC

1999 – Bill Byrnes, Lake Mills

1998 – Mark Anderson and Gary Nelson, A-C

1997 – Dave Capitani, Northwood-Kensett

1996 – Dave Capitani, Northwood-Kensett

1995 – Chris Chalmers, Albert Lea

1994 – Mike Hansen, Lake Mills

1993 – Dave Capitani, Northwood-Kensett

1992 – Jeff Erdman, NRHEG

1991 – Roger Goerish, USC

Not much changes year-to-year with the Northwood-Kensett football team, but that’s just fine because every year the Vikings can expect to field a competitive team.

Northwood-Kensett went from a 6-3 team last season that missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season to a state semifinalist this season.

Guiding the team to an 11-2 record this season was head coach Dave Capitani and he is the 2008 Albert Lea Tribune Football Coach of the Year.

The Vikings were the No. 6-ranked team in Class A for much of the season despite not being ranked at the beginning of the season. Many did not consider Northwood-Kensett a team that would contend for a state title, because of its recent history. The Vikings were within a two-point conversion in two of the three years from going to the playoffs and last year, injuries slowed a talented team. But this season everything came together for Northwood-Kensett in an impressive year as the Vikings made the state semifinals for the third time in school history.

Northwood-Kensett lost their second game of the season to No. 2-ranked Emmetsburg, a Class 1A school, but did not have another loss until the semifinals against North Tama.

The Vikings got to the semifinals because of what Capitani has been able to instill at Northwood-Kensett. There’s consistency and continuity with the program and the emphasis is placed on the team as a whole.

The Vikings may not have standout players on the roster every season, but Capitani has been able to take the pieces he has and build them into winners on a yearly basis.

Some have said that Northwood-Kensett runs an antiquated offense, but the system has proven to work over the course of Capitani’s 20 years as head coach. Capitani has led nine teams to the state playoffs and had a streak of six consecutive playoff seasons from 1996 to 2001. In the past 12 years the Vikings have missed the playoffs just four times.

Capitani is a throwback to the days of football’s yesteryears. While high school teams are running spread offenses modeled after college programs and implementing blocking schemes similar to the NFL, Capitani is fine with his wishbone offense.

“I think the kids buy into what we do,” Capitani said. “In Class A high school football, that’s how we’re going to be consistently the best football team. You’re not always going to have a 6-foot-3 inch, agile quarterback.”

For Capitani building a team begins with finding four players that can run the ball and after that it’s playing good defense and controlling the clock. Capitani has found that instead of building the team around the talent, it’s much easier to have the players learn the system and run it to perfection.

“Anybody can X and O the game, but it’s so much more than that,” Capitani said.

It’s about building a team and Capitani is one of the best at constructing a team. He has displayed the ability to take average kids and turn them into strong football players.

Northwood-Kensett assistant coach Daryl Love has been with Capitani for the past 17 years and he has seen how Capitani has been able to draw the most out of his players.

“He gets a lot out of a lot of the average kids,” Love said. “Those are the kids that are changing our fortunes around. It’s the average Joes he can get to commit and play beyond their capabilty, which is what is really turns the tide.”

Love was there in the lean years when Capitani won four games in his first three years.

“Early on it was hard to get kids to work to the level he wanted,” Love said.

Capitani earned his first playoff berth in 1996 and each team has maintained the level of play to get back to the playoffs even when the team didn’t make the playoffs the previous three years.

“I really didn’t see any change in our kids over those three years,” Capitani said. “We take a lot of pride in what we’re about here.”

The football culture at the school has changed over the years as well. When Capitani first started coaching there wasn’t much tradition within Northwood-Kensett. Capitani worked hard to change that and now the team expects to win every game it plays. Those expectations don’t diminish even after a strong senior class has graduated.

“There are many years I don’t think there’s any way we’ll be competitive and we just reload,” Love said. “I tip my cap to Dave.”

Love credits Capitani’s ability to motivate as a reason for turning kids into strong performers on the field.

“We haven’t had a lot of standout, studs over the years,” Love said. “He does an unbelievable job inspiring the kids, they hinge on what he says.They want to go out there and prove that they can do what he asks of them.”

Capitani gives a lot credit to his staff of assistant coaches for the team’s success as well. Marty Cotter has been on the staff for 15 years and Steve Hartman has coached the defensive line for 10 years.

Capitani has a fiery passion for the game even after 20 years as head coach. He demands that the team pay attention to detail because it’s often doing the little things right that leads to wins.

“We want to do the little things well,” Capitani said. “It’s a lot of repetition, that is going to be the backbone to your success.”

The Vikings lose 12 seniors from this year’s squad including the team’s leading rusher Phil Fierova, quarterback Jordan Reindl, and fullback Ryan Mueller, but fans shouldn’t expect much to change.

“I don’t foresee Cap coming out in a shotgun formation anytime soon,” Love said.