NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Jole Krassman, the new head coach of the Monsignor McCoy Colts, poses out front of his new workplace Thursday afternoon.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Jole Krassman didn’t think he would ever get the chance to be a head coach of a football team. He now gets to live out that dream starting this high school season.
The 37-year-old is the new coach of the Monsignor McCoy Colts when the Rangeland Football Conference season gets underway later this month.
“It is really cool, I’m very excited about it. I’ve been wanting this dream for actually a long time and I didn’t think it would come in this way, shape or form – but I’m really excited,” Krassman said.
The Medicine Hat product came up through the Parkside Pythons program and played at Crescent Heights before getting a scholarship to play football at Dickinson State University in North Dakota. He also played some junior football in Chilliwack before picking up a clipboard and coaching at Crescent Heights and Hat High at different times.
Some career paths took him away from the sport for some time but he is back and excited to teach physical education at McCoy while coaching the sport he loves.
“Football is the ultimate team sport. In Canadian football, you have 12 athletes striving for perfection, five to seven seconds, and it’s the ultimate team game,” Krassman said. “Everybody has to rely on everybody else. It’s not an individual sport, you have to work as a team. It gives you so many great skills for lifelong friendships, building communication skills, working with people from socio-economic backgrounds. I have a lot of passion for the game and I just want to give back to the kids because there were coaches that basically gave it to me, and put me on the straight and narrow and took me places, because football can take you places if you commit yourself.”
Having played or coached at both Crescent Heights and Hat High, Krassman knows well the inner-city rivalry between the three teams but said he is just focused on helping the kids on all teams get better.
“It’s all about growth in Medicine Hat, about growth in football. I’d like to see us bring back jamboree together and collaborate with the different teams within the city,” Krassman said. “Because ultimately, our goal is every program wants to send kids to the next level and I think if we can collaborate as the mentors of these groups and set up games and set up intrasquad things, it’s only going to promote football in Medicine Hat, build it up and push kids forward to that next level.”
Krassman is looking for help on his coaching staff for this upcoming season and is asking if anyone in the community has some football experience or is passionate about the sport and wants to learn while helping kids to reach out to him at jole.krassman@mhcbe.ab.ca. They can also call McCoy’s receptionist to be forwarded to Krassman.
Krassman said he loves the pre-game meals the Colts organize with their booster club for their players and will keep the tradition going as he believes it brings the kids together.
“The best conversations you have are going to be there because this is where you kind of learn to let your guard down, you let people into your personal life, you’re eating together, socializing and you get to see these young athletes in a different realm,” Krassman said.
He said he’s also looking forward to embracing being the Catholic school in town and showing the face of Christ.
“I want to really bring that into our team philosophy as well and give these students basically a moral compass and to kind of guide them that way,” Krassman said.
Krassman said he is excited and proud about the opportunity to coach on the newly named Rick Boksteyn Field in honour of the late local McCoy/Crescent Heights football coach. Boksteyn was Krassman’s godfather, which he said means his first time coaching in the annual Boksteyn Bowl matchup between the Colts and Vikings will mean even more to him.
“That is going to be huge game just because – I called him uncle Rick – knowing uncle Rick is going to be there in spirit and just having him with us, I think if we can have that with the kids and instil that in. We’re going to come out and we’re going to be ready to play,” Krassman said.
