David Crail came to River Falls High School in 2017 and almost immediately changed the trajectory of the Wildcats’ football program.
In just his second year as head coach, River Falls — previously a cellar dweller — won nine games. The following year, it won eight. The Wildcats made two consecutive playoff appearances — something that is earned in Wisconsin via a winning conference record — after going a decade without experiencing a postseason.
Things were set up for Crail to lead River Falls to successful seasons for years to come. Then activities director Rollie Hall announced his intentions to retire, creating an opening. Crail always believed such an administrative post was in his future, though not necessarily now.
But his family had grown to love River Falls and he knew if he wanted to have that job in this town, he had to make the leap now. Crail was named athletic director this spring. He quickly determined it wasn’t in anyone’s best interest to try to serve as both coach and AD.
“I didn’t press it because I know the football staff that we had,” Crail said. “I knew walking away that that program was going to be in really good hands and do really good things.”
Ryan Scherz was in a similar position to Crail in that he had aspirations to one day become a head coach, but he was happy serving as the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and had no intention of pursuing other head coaching opportunities elsewhere.
“I wanted to be here,” Scherz said.
So when Wildcats’ coaching gig opened up, Scherz was interested. Who better to take over the rising program than a man who played such an integral role in building it? Scherz was essentially the head coach of the offense. He had served on Crail’s coaching staff for more than a decade. Most importantly, Crail knew Scherz was exactly the kind of man he would want running things.
It’s Scherz who will lead the Wildcats (0-1) into their rivalry matchup against Hudson (0-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in River Falls.
“Ryan has earned it,” Crail said. “I know how he operates, the care that he puts into the program, how much he cares for the kids that we’ve both coached for the last 13 years. So that made it easier (to step down), because I know that we shared the same values in how we want the program to succeed and the type of kids that we want coming out of our program. … You throw on the fact that, from a football Xs and Os standpoint, he’s extremely intelligent and knows the game very well. But that all takes a backseat to the fact that he genuinely cares about the kids who are a part of his program. Put those two things together, and hopefully it’ll lead to a lot of success.”
Scherz is equipped with most of the assistant coaches who were on staff last season. Scherz has made a point to lean on them early this season.
Continuity is king, and River Falls has managed to maintain much of it amid a coaching change. Wildcats senior lineman Tanner Zepczyk said the transition has been “really smooth,” adding that Scherz and Crail have many of the same concepts and values, though Scherz can be a bit more vocal. Scherz called it “the perfect situation.”
“We have a lot of respect for Coach Scherz and everything he’s done here, especially since Crail has been here. We were all excited (when he got the job),” Wildcats senior quarterback Vito Massa said. “It kind of felt like we were keeping the same team together. Crail was moving up, and Scherz was filling in. It was exciting, because we know Scherz is going to take advantage of the opportunity, and we all kind of rallied behind him.”
Scherz noted he had added responsibilities on his plate in his new role, but he has Crail, a good friend of his and now invaluable resource, to lean on whenever he has questions.
As head coach, Scherz is enjoying deepened connections established with players across the roster. Any pressure he feels in the top job has less to do with winning games than his yearning to reward the belief others have instilled in him by putting his best foot forward.
There isn’t much he wanted to change within the program. After all, he and Crail did build it together.
“I think my goal is to take a really good foundation that we laid over the last four or five years,” Scherz said, “and then, hopefully, really take it to the next level.”
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River Falls football hopes for continued success with familiar face stepping in as head coach - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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