Wikel hands SMCC football job to coaching mentor

SANDUSKY — One was the pupil. One was the mentor.When Ryan Wikel became the head varsity football coach at St. Mary Central Catholic in 2010, it was a no brainer who one of his first calls for assistants was going to be to: former Panthers coach Toby Notestine.Notestine coached SMCC from 2003-07 and hired Wikel, a 1999 graduate, to his staff out of college. In the years since the two have grown to be close friends outside of the coaching world where Notestine was instrumental in showing the much younger Wikel the ropes."He promised me he'd come back to help me out when I became a head coach," said Wikel of the 65-year-old retired Sandusky City Schools teacher, who has served as a fifth grade teacher at Sandusky Central Catholic School. "We think the same."So when Wikel was recently shifted from his athletic director spot to serve as Interim Principal for the SCCS Middle School and St. Mary Central Catholic High School, little thinking had to be done as to who he wanted to turn the reins of the Panther football program over to."Toby is going to be my new Dean of Students, and with him on staff, I just see it as a smooth transition," Wikel said. "We were mid practice when all of this was going through and we had a commitment to the kids to get the season going. We felt the best way to do that was to give the head coaching position to coach Notestine, who has the experience with the kids, and would still allow me to work with them when I can."We also have the addition of Tony Legando (former longtime Huron head coach) this year, too," he added. "We knew between the two of them, we have two guys there that can run a pretty solid program, not to mention so could the other coaches on the staff. The kids are in good hands."Notestine, a 1971 SMCC graduate, was an assistant coach under Larry Cook at Sandusky High School for 20 years, then went to Fremont Ross as an assistant for one season. Notestine and Legando were part of the same coaching staff for the Blue Streaks at one point — and for SMCC in the mid 1970s.Mike Opfer, the head coach of the Panthers from 1997-2002, asked Notestine if he was interested in serving as an assistant coach, which brought him back to his alma mater to stay.Notestine took over for Opfer in 2003. With Notestine at the helm, the Panthers went 32-24 in five years with a 3-3 playoff mark — making the playoffs three straight years from 2003-05."It's very bittersweet for me. I've reached that point in my career, when you've done this for this long, you truly enjoy guys that work for you," Notestine said. "I still enjoy being around the kids, but I truly enjoyed these last nine years watching Ryan coach."The announcement from Geoff Palmer, head of school, and president, came on the opening day of the team's Virtue Camp at Kelley's Island."It was a very emotional day for me Wednesday when I took over for Ryan as the interim coach," Notestine said. "I'm excited to help to continue to move the program in the right direction that Ryan has set for us. And the best thing is, the kids get it. This is a great opportunity for Ryan."Wikel also served as the school's athletic director, which will now be in the hands of Mike Roth, a 1970 SMCC graduate. Roth comes over from Perkins."I've been working with Mike for about six months already with various behind the scenes stuff," Wikel said. "I think we have a great team of administrators in place with alums all the way through now. There's just something about really knowing a place and not having to get to know it. We can hit the ground running right off the bat."While coaching at his alma mater was a huge accomplishment in his career, being an educator first, Wikel couldn't say no to the chance to run a school building."This was a big goal of mine. When you get into administration, being a building principal is always something I said was a goal," Wikel said. "With that, time commitments move a little bit from the athletic realm where I was to curriculum and making sure our schools are pushing our students, and that our staff is together. There's just a shift in responsibilities."Talking with Geoff Palmer (Head of School/President), we thought it was best to get a little separation between the two roles," he added.Notestine, an active member with the 411th MP Company of the Ohio Military Reserve in Norwalk, knows a leader when he sees one."Ryan has got that kind of personality and the abilities to connect to the whole student body, not just the football players," Notestine said. "He's the kind of guy who can make big impacts off the field as well."Wikel won't be too far away though."He'll still be with us for two days a week and on game nights," Notestine said.SMCC head coach Ryan Wikel gets ready to throw a pass after the fall sports picture day on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017.SMCC falls sports photo day at Zierholf Field on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017.Army veteran Toby Notestine salutes the grave of a fellow veteran during Saturday's Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Ohio Veterans Home. Toby Notestine