Published: May 13, 2008 09:55 am         

Kingsley turns to Leonard

TC West assistant takes his first job as a head coach

KINGSLEY -- The coaching carousel didn't spin as much as rotate.

Former Traverse City West football coach Jason Leonard was introduced as the new Kingsley varsity head coach Monday night. Leonard succeeds Tim Wooer, who earlier this year took the job with the Titans after Matt Prisk retired as a coach.

Kingsley athletic director Mark Olmstead refused to answer questions about whether former TC St. Francis head coach Josh Sellers had initially accepted the job, then withdrew.

Sellers did not return a phone call requesting comment.

Leonard said he was excited about his first head coaching position, whether he was the No. 1 choice or not.

"I'm just glad to be here," Leonard said after the Kingsley Board of Education unanimously voted to offer him the vacancy. "I don't care what happened."

Leonard said he was impressed when senior Jordan Prahl greeted him at the front door and gave him a tour of the school when Leonard arrived for his interview.

"I said, 'This is a no brainer,' " Leonard said.

Leonard accepted the football coaching job, but a teaching position hasn't been discussed. Leonard teaches physical education and health at West, the same subject that Wooer taught at his alma mater.

Regardless, Leonard said the school and the community quickly won him over. Leonard said his house in Traverse City is already up for sale.

"It was something we checked out as a family, my wife and I," Leonard said of his wife, Kate. They have two boys, 4-year-old Aden and 2-year-old Baron. "It was somewhere we knew we could live and grow. It was also a place where we felt we could take the plunge into being a head coach."

Leonard said his two stops as an assistant coach -- TC West and Mount Pleasant -- prepared him for his first job as varsity coach. He said he learned from Prisk as a JV head coach and varsity assistant.

"I immediately slid into his hip pocket and tried to learn as much as I could about football, what it takes to be a successful program and build a successful program," Leonard said.

Leonard said Wooer also helped him while he was going through the interview process.

"Coach Wooer has been pretty excited about sharing his experiences at Kingsley with me," Leonard said. "We've sat down on more than one occasion (to talk about) about the players that are coming back and the staff that would be here.

"He's given me a pretty good idea of the type of kids that are here. To be honest, we've got some great kids here and I'm excited about the opportunity to be here."

Leonard said he's attended a few Kingsley sporting events this spring to see some of the players that will be returning. He's ready to meet more as soon as possible.

"I'm just ready to work hard and enjoy the game of football," Leonard said.

Olmstead said Leonard's zest was one of the things that made him stand out from the initial 20-25 applicants for the position.

"It was two things," Olmstead said. "No 1 was his initial enthusiasm he showed for being here and being a part of our program.

"The second part, that kind of closed the deal, was his ability to connect with kids."

School board president Tim Lueck, a graduate of Kingsley, thanked Leonard for his "patience in the process."

Wooer was 68-29 in nine seasons at Kingsley. The Stags made the playoffs in eight of those seasons -- the only times the school has advanced to the postseason -- culminating with the Division 6 state title in 2005.