CARDINAL
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Triad High School’s football coaching staff will have a slightly different look during the 2018 season.
Head coach Joe Cardinal confirmed to the Journal-Tribune that he has two openings on his staff for next year.
Defensive coordinator Todd Blankenship and wide receivers-safeties coach Aaron Clooney have left for other opportunities.
Cardinal said including two new assistant coaches next year will hopefully help a team that has posted back-to-back 1-9 seasons over 2016 and 2017.
“I think we need a couple new sets of eyes from coaches who can bring new backgrounds and experiences to the program,” he said. “We need some different mindsets added to the staff in order that we can all learn to become better.”
Cardinal had told the newspaper right before Thanksgiving that the coaching staff could be undergoing a change or two.
He said he has also spent a great deal of time studying 2017 game film in order to see what areas need to be fixed.
“I’ve been watching a lot of film since December,” said Cardinal, who added that adjustments must be made on both sides of the ball.
“As a coaching staff and team going forward, we have to pay more attention to detail,” he said. “We did a lot of things well at the start of the season that we didn’t do well at the end.”
Cardinal said revisions have to be made up front on the defensive side of the ball.
“Toward the end of the year, we had linemen going the wrong direction on plays and our linebackers were playing too close to the line,” he said. “We’ve got to fix that.
“We also had a lot of confusion on our pass routes,” said the coach. “Our offensive line also fired off too high.”
While his team made more than its share of mistakes, Cardinal was also pretty critical during his self-evaluation.
“Everything I’ve seen on film is correctible,” he said. “However, as I watched, I got angry at myself. A lot of our mistakes fall back on me and I’ve got to do a better job.”
Cardinal said there is no real timeline for hiring the new assistants.
“I’d like to have one hired as soon as possible,” he said. “However, we want to get the two best coaches we can find and if that doesn’t happen until June, that’s OK.”
Cardinal did not say what spots the new coaches will fill.
“If we can find a coordinator, that’s great,” he said. “If not, we’ll reshuffle the staff in order to make it all work.”
Cardinal said the Cardinals may employ more multiple offensive formations next season.
He also hopes the defense finds its niche.
“We want to have a defensive identity as a team that flies to the football and creates turnovers,” said Cardinal. “We want to really attack an opponent’s offense.”