Kruger helps raise hopes, expectations for NRHEG football
FIRST AT LAST — NRHEG head football coach Marc Kruger, right, embraces Jacob Schuller after the Panthers’ section championship victory over WEM at Janesville last October. The Panthers’ 2018 and continuing motto: “Count on Me.” (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)
By JIM LUTGENS
Publisher
Last year, expectations were not exactly high for the NRHEG High School football team.
And they did not get any higher when the Panthers hired first-year head coach Marc Kruger, a product of Albert Lea High School, where they rarely win football games.
So what did Kruger’s Panthers do? They surprised everyone, winning their first-ever section championship while finishing 9-3 and reaching the state semifinals.
“It was a perfect season,” said Kruger. “The last game for every team is real bad, but we were able to look back at it pretty quickly and realize how well we did.”
How did the Panthers win so many games when Kruger won so little at Albert Lea?
“In Albert Lea, we had our own issues,” he said. “The kids would never buy in to what they were doing. Kids from Albert Lea would go on to play in college, and everyone wondered, why can’t Albert Lea be better? The kids never bought in.”
This did not happen here last year, according to Kruger. The NRHEG kids bought into the system and the Panthers won. It also didn’t hurt that they had 10 talented seniors, three of whom are on college football rosters.
“I was lucky to have those seniors,” said Kruger. “They believed in me and they believed in the system we brought in.”
Kruger says his system is not that complicated, at least not for the Panthers.
“Offensively, the whole point is to run as many formations as possible, to give as many looks as possible,” said Kruger. “For us, it’s pretty simple, except for the formations. We still run the same plays. We just do it out of a lot of different looks. If a team prepares for us, they have to prepare for 16 formations. The more formations, I feel, the better.”
Another part of his coaching philosophy is not show to a team everything the first time they play.
And, of course, he wants his players to have a good experience and have fun.
Kruger, 26, is buying a house in New Richland after living with his mom, Mindy, in Albert Lea.
The biggest influence for Kruger, both in football and in life, has been his grandfather, 80-something Rod Zimmerman of Hollandale. He instilled a love of the game and followed last season closely.
“He was at every home football game and some of the away games last year,” said Kruger. “He knew the team as well as anyone else who watched the games. He was like another coach.”
Kruger agrees that the expectations and the culture of NRHEG football have changed in the last year.
“Our expectation is a section championship now,” he said. “That’s how we’re feeling about ourselves as a football team.”
Kruger received a good deal of correspondence last year, people telling him how much fun the season was, how they enjoyed it and enjoyed seeing the players grow.
“That, to me, was one of the most enjoyable parts of last year, seeing the players grow,” said Kruger.
Kruger can’t help but smile when asked about last year. It was a bit of a whirlwind stepping into his first head coaching position.
“I spent two years as an assistant coach at Deer River under (former United South Central coach) Brent Schimek,” he said. “He told me, ‘You can’t do it until you get out there and do it.’”
A lot of NRHEG folks are glad he’s doing it here.