At 57, Russ Schmidt should be far on the back nine of his career in education, cruising his way to retirement.
Instead, he’s stepping into the tee box and letting ’er rip.
I’ve done numerous stories over the past year of teachers and administrators younger than Schmidt who’ve cashed in on 30 or more years of service in education to pursue other interests. More power to them. I’ve been obsessing a little about my own retirement the last couple of years as I’ve watched about half of the Leader staff either fully or partially retire.
That’s as it should be. Work hard, build up a nest egg and enjoy the Golden Years.
Not Schmidt. Not yet. And if you care about extracurricular activities at De Soto High, Schmidt needs your commitment and support. The De Soto Board of Education voted unanimously in February to hire Schmidt as activities director and assistant principal. There were 14 applicants and six people were interviewed, but the school board believes Schmidt is the person to move the Dragons in the right direction after watching rivals Festus and Hillsboro gobble up conference, district and state championships.
The AD job opened up when Jon Roop was promoted to principal at
De Soto High. Schmidt spent the last two months of the school year shadowing Roop and learning everything from where the soft drinks are stored to taking a census of how many athletes, band members and coaches there are at the school. Scheduling, working with vendors, AD workshops, training for officials and MSHSAA compliance are just a few items that will be on Schmidt’s daily to-do list.
“That has proven to be the best thing I could have done,” Schmidt said about his time with Roop. “I told my wife, you can’t place a dollar amount on this.”
Not long after Schmidt was hired to be AD, he also took over as head football coach after Keith Woodland resigned from the position in January. Woodland had been the Dragons’ head coach for two years, going 1-19.
Schmidt had been head coach of Festus football for 14 years when he was dismissed in 2019 under cloudy circumstances. As I’ve pointed out before, that decision turned out to benefit both parties. Schmidt took an assistant job at Hillsboro and helped the football Hawks win a district title last year; now he has much greater responsibility at De Soto. Meanwhile, Festus keeps producing bigger, faster and stronger athletes under the tutelage of Schmidt’s successor, head coach A. J. Ofodile. Schmidt said he had the same plans for strength and conditioning but never got to implement them.
Mike Sobol, recently hired to teach physical education at De Soto, will be the Dragons’ strength and conditioning coach as well as an assistant in football, wrestling and track and field. He’ll have the task of making the Dragons more physical than ever and as Schmidt sees it, that’s already starting to happen.
“In four weeks, I’ve already seen a vast improvement from our kids,” Schmidt aid. “We’ve got kids from all the sports. This was the plan in 2020 that I didn’t get a chance to do. I’ve sat on this for four years and I had a great mentor with (Hillsboro football head coach Bill Sucharski) and told him about my plans, and I’m excited.
“I know it will take time to change and I am really excited about the direction we’re headed and the support of the parents. I felt appreciated at Festus, but I really feel that now.”
Schmidt was candid about the need for an upgrade in the athletic culture at De Soto. He said it starts with the outdated facilities, everything from the playing field in the football/soccer stadium to the stands, scoreboard and locker rooms, which are a steep climb from the stadium. Schmidt was still coaching at Festus when the school spent millions to renovate Tiger Stadium. Shiny new buildings, fields and equipment make a lasting impression on athletes, coaches and fans.
“What makes a kid want to play football, facilities-wise?” Schmidt said. “What are we doing to make these kids want to play football?”
It’s not like De Soto hasn’t ever been competitive in anything. In the last several years, the Dragons have produced individual state champions in boys and girls wrestling and track and field, and won state medals in cross country. But the football team went from .500 most seasons, competitive in its conference, to losing 79-0 to Hillsboro and 56-7 to Festus in 2022.
An almost military-type approach to motivating young people worked for Schmidt at Festus. I always got the impression his style was effective. He said he addressed more than 100 potential De Soto football players in front of administrators and asked them if they believed they could live up to “The Dragon Way,” as emblazoned on the backs of their t-shirts. The response, he said, was encouraging.
Serving as both AD and head football coach is grindingly hard. Just ask Alex Rouggly, who held both jobs at Jefferson for a year before moving up the hall to the principal’s office. Or ask Bob Thompson, the last one to double up at De Soto, which he did, with modest success, from 2010 to 2013.
Schmidt said he’s not doing both jobs for just one year.
“It’s all about time management,” he said. “I’ll be administrator on duty from the sidelines on Friday nights, but I have support in the stands from other administrators. The other nights of the week, I’ll be in the saddle doing my job. I hang my hat on organization. I think the coaches and kids can see that.
“I feel like I have a lot of coaching left in me. I want to get us to a place where we have continuity and success. Once we get there, I can take a step back. By no means am I pulling the plug after three years.”
I did this because of the challenge. I was asked, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Why not?’ We need to give these kids something.”