Despite qualifying for the playoffs for a second-straight year, things quickly turned difficult for the Bruce Trojans last week as they fell to East Union 42-26, ending their season with a 4-8 record.
Bruce head coach Clint Faust did not coach in the game, so defensive coordinator Luke Kiihnl took over as interim head coach.
School district officials said they were unable to comment on Faust’s status at this time due to it being a personnel matter.
Kiihnl didn’t comment on the situation with Faust either, but did talk about his first experience spearheading a program.
“Just tried to do a good job of getting the kids motivated to come out and play hard and just try to treat it like a normal deal,” Kiihnl said. “For them, it should be a normal deal. Hopefully all the stress was on me and the other coaches and not on them. I think they did a great job of playing hard.”
Bruce led the game into the third quarter, but the lead slipped away in the later minutes of the contest. Despite this, Kiihnl felt that the Trojans had a strong game plan and played with a strong level of intensity against the Urchins.
“I thought we put together a pretty good game plan against them offensively,” Kiihnl said. “I thought Dee played a heck of a game running the football. Looking back, I kind of wish we would have gone to some different stuff offensively and defensively, some adjustments maybe we could have made. The kids came out and played hard, and they fought their tails off, but I think we kind of ran out of gas at the end.”
As far as this offseason is concerned, Bruce is in an interesting spot. With questions about the coaching situation, Kiihnl and the rest of the coaching staff are left to establish a workout plan and keep the roster on track for next season.
“There’s some stuff that’s kind of still in the air, but I’m going to tell [the players], ‘Control what you can control,’” Kiihnl said. “We can control our attitude, work ethic, how we come to do things, and, at the end of the day, that’s all that we can control. If you come work hard and do what you’re supposed to do, I think it’ll all fall in place at the end.”
Kiihnl will be driven this offseason by a desire to see the Trojans succeed, regardless of who is the head coach next season.
“Regardless of what happens, these kids still play next year,” Kiihnl said. “I want them to be successful. It’s not about me [or] these other coaches; it’s about them.”