A new era began Friday night as Kurt Schlicher coached his first game as the head coach of the Crawfordsville Athenians.
Schlicher became the latest head coach of the storied Crawfordsville football program which began at least its 107th season of football. The actual number of years of playing is really more like 110 or 111 but some of the earliest records are somewhat sketchy. County historians who have been at this a lot more than me (like Bill Boone and Bob Whalen) have tracked it back as far as 1894. However, whether or not there were teams from 1894 through 1900 is somewhat debatable.
We do know that starting in 1900 Crawfordsville fielded a team every year until 1910. Football ceased when a former player, Ralph Wilson, died as a result of injuries he sustained while playing for Wabash during a game in St. Louis in 1910. Crawfordsville canceled its last four games of the season in 1910 and did not play another football game until 1923. Since that time the school has fielded a team for the past 77 years.
The Athenians have now played 953 games (that we can account for) since the program began.
Friday’s opener for Coach Schlicher might not have gone the way he would have liked, but losing the opening game of his career is not uncommon for past Crawfordsville coaches.
Schlicher became the 26th head coach to lead a team onto the field and out of the previous 25 head coaches only five came away with victories in their first game.
Who were those five?
— Carl DeBard was the first as he won his opener 21-0 over Thorntown in 1932.
— Dick Guyer was the next coach to do so, 17 years later in 1949, as his team beat Mooresville 19-0.
— Jerry Huntsman won his coaching debut in 1956 beating Noblesville 14-12.
— Rick Schavietello beat 29-7 in his first game in 1977.
— Derry Zachary’s team beat Gary Mann 6-0 in his first game in 1998.
Since 2000, Crawfordsville football teams have managed to win seven of its 19 season openers, but only three out of the last 13 seasons (2012, 2014, and 2015).
Out of the 25 previous head coaches only nine have coached for four years or more. Only seven have coached for five years or more. In the school’s history only two coaches have managed to stay around for more than 10 years.
Who were those two? Schavetello and Glenn Knecht.
Schavietello coached from 21 years and holds the school record for the longest tenure and the most wins. In fact, his 123 wins is second to just North Montgomery’s Charley German’s 172 for the most in the county. Schavietello compiled a 123-89 record which was good for a 58.0 winning percentage. However it should be noted that nine of his first 10 seasons ended in a winning records and 14 of his first 16 season resulted in his teams having a winning record.
Knecht checks in with 17 years of coaching experience and an even 100 wins. His career record of 100-60-7 was good for a winning percentage of 62.5 percent. The school record belongs to DeBard (for coaches with more than five years) as he completed his career at 22-13-5 or a winning percentage of 63.0 percent.
