TRAVERSE CITY -- Matt Prisk stepped down at Traverse City West the day before deer hunting season. Tom Passinault has TC Central hunting for its first playoff win since 1991.
Oh, how things have changed in Traverse City high school football in just a year.
Prisk has led the Titans since their 1997 inception, and the team hasn't had a losing season in that span. Passinault revived a TC Central program that hasn't won a playoff game in 16 years.
The Trojans went from 0-9 to 5-4 in just a year after coming to TC from Grand Rapids Catholic Central.
"The big challenge was building a winning attitude," Passinault said. "That started with the cohesiveness of the coaching staff and that commitment the coaches showed filtered on down to the kids. It was a very rewarding season."
The Trojans had three straight winning seasons under Kelly Clark before just about everything seemed to go wrong in a winless 2006 season. Clark stepped down after the 0-9 campaign.
Passinault stepped in after a successful run at Catholic Central that saw him lead the Cougars to seven city titles and 11 playoff appearances in 13 years.
The Trojans more than tripled their offensive output from the year before and surrendered 90 fewer points.
While Prisk left the Titans program to spend more time with his family, Passinault moved away from some of his. Several of his relatives are employees at Catholic Central, including the school principal.
"There's never, ever going to be the right time to leave because of the kids we have here," Prisk said when he resigned. "For me, and what I wanted to do with my family, this is the right time."
Prisk was 71-35 in 11 years at the helm of a West program that never had a losing season under his tutelage and went to the playoffs the last half dozen years. Prisk's teams won seven Big North Conference titles.
Central and West ended the season tied for the Big North Conference championship with identical 4-1 marks as the Titans averaged scoring over 30 points a game in league play and the Trojans surrendered only 11.5 a game.
"We had some good accomplishments," Passinault said of the conference title, "but that's something tangible the kids will remember forever."
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