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[Southsider2k12]

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/613986...ick-around.html

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

New football coach at Michigan City. Really excited about the gig. Sees unlimited potential in the “sleeping giant.” Plans to stick around and really build something at Ames Field.

Sound familiar?

Craig Buzea said all that in 2007 when he stunned Portage by leaving for the downtrodden Wolves. After three years and some significant progress, he left for Homewood-Flossmoor, and the program once again was in tatters.

Eric Schreiber said all that last summer when he took over for Buzea. One season and one win later, he left to take the top job at Hammond High.

Enter Michael Karpinski, Michigan City’s new head coach, who was approved last week by the school board. He’s really excited about the gig. He sees unlimited potential in the “sleeping giant.” He plans to stick around and really build something at Ames Field.

And he means it. Honest.

“I’m excited to add some stability,” he said. “I’m not planning on going anywhere. By no means am I looking at this as a stepping stone. I’m looking to build something here. I understand people have heard that before, but you don’t understand — my wife will kill me if we move again.”

Indeed, Karpinski’s no nomad. He’s no football mercenary. Heck, he only went after this job because he lost his teaching job at Franklin Central during a reduction-in-force that gutted the school district. The 43-year-old spent the last eight years coaching at Franklin Central — a former powerhouse that won four state championships between 1980 and 1990, but has fallen on hard times lately. After six years as an assistant, he was the head coach the past two years, going 7-13 with a pair of close losses in sectional openers.

Before that, Karpinski coached for six years at the University of Indianapolis, where he wound up after playing cornerback at Hillsdale College. Hillsdale is about 90 miles from his hometown of Hastings, Mich., where he was a high school quarterback.

Moving to Michigan City brings him much closer to home — and gives him a teaching job and an exciting opportunity.

“I just feel real blessed to be right here,” he said.

The Wolves can only hope he sticks around and helps the moribund program (no conference or sectional titles since Rogers and Elston were consolidated in 1995) realize the potential it briefly showed under Buzea.

After just four practices, Karpinski has been particularly impressed with the enthusiasm the players have for the game, for him and for his new system.

It’s easy to assume that the Wolves would be jaded and cynical while dealing with yet another new coach making the same old promises.

But Karpinski was thrilled to find that they’re not like that at all.

“I sure haven’t noticed it,” he said. “They sure haven’t shown it if that’s the case. They’ve been working their tails off and have done everything I’ve asked of them. I’ve come in with a lot of enthusiasm, and they seem to have responded.”

Karpinski made a good impression with his first practice. Rather than the usual morning workout, he brought his team to Ames Field — probably the coolest football stadium in the region — under the lights on Monday night. And while it took more than a half hour just to teach the kids how to warm up and break the huddle — “baby steps,” Karpinski said — things quickly came together.

He introduced the players to his offense — a traditional power-I. Not as complicated as Buzea’s multiple-set spread offense, not as one-dimensional as Schreiber’s option.

“It’s basic football,” Karpinski said. “In today’s game, it seems like a lot of coaches try to get too cute. We’re going to come out and run the football, be physical, and we’re really going to stress blocking and tackling — shoot, that’s usually what it comes down to. We’re going to play power football, fire off the ball and really be physical out there.”

Karpinski insisted he’s not daunted by the enormity of the task, trying to wake up the sleeping giant. But he’s got his work cut out for him. The football program always has taken a backseat to basketball. And the relentless losing has made it even tougher to convince kids to come out for the team. Karpinski said he’s ready for all of that.

He also said he’s not intimidated by the meatgrinder that is the Duneland Conference, a brutal schedule that makes rebuilding difficult — and painful. He knows the drill; at Franklin Central, he played state powers Lawrence Central, Pike and Columbus North every year.

“I just know it’s an unbelievable conference, and I’m excited,” Karpinski said. “I’m ready for the challenge.”

Heard that before, too, right? Every coach has said that. But the hard truth is nobody in the 16-year history of Michigan City High School has proven to be up to that challenge. Not for any extended period of time, at least.

Will Karpinski be any different? He sure seems to think so. But, of course, it’s too early for anyone to tell.

He won’t really get a feel for how well his new players can handle his system until they put on the pads in August. And the Wolves won’t really get a feel for Karpinski until they sweat their way through those two-a-days.

But Karpinski feels good about what he has. And while he knows these kids and this community have been burned before, he hopes the feeling is mutual.

“Kids are the same all over,” he said. “I think these kids are really looking for someone to step up and lead and fight for them. And I’m that guy.”

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/20...92306419074.txt

Does Karpinski hold the key?

By Drew White
Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 9:39 AM CDT
The scores just kind of stick out like a sore thumb.

Warren Central 64, Merrillville 13.

Carmel 49, Valparaiso 0.

In the past two weeks, the two schools that represent the last two Duneland Conference championships – Merrillville in 2009 and Valpo in 2010 – have challenged two of the best schools that Central Indiana has to offer and both DAC schools have been, to put it lightly, thoroughly decimated.

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Warren Central and Carmel obviously know how to play football well. Warren Central has won the IHSAA Class 5A state title five times in the past decade and Carmel has reached the Class 5A title game four times in the past ten years, winning in 2007.

Seeing scores of 63-13 and 49-0, with the top two teams in the DAC representing the 13 and the goose egg, the casual football fan would ask – What is it that makes Warren Central and Carmel that much better than the Pirates and the Vikings?

Perhaps Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is putting something in the water down there that makes football players bigger, faster, and stronger than the players in The Region?

Honestly, I don’t have an answer, but I’m kind of hoping that someone in Michigan City might ultimately hold the solution to the puzzle.

When Michael Karpinski was named head coach of the Wolves over the summer, the Michigan City football skeptics were quick to jump to conclusions regarding the new leader of the pack.

Doing the preliminary research on Karpinski, we learned about his connection to the Michigan City community – he is the son of former Elston High School head coach and original Rogers High School football head coach Bill Karpinski.

His most recent position, as head coach of the Franklin Central football team, was preceded by time as an assistant coach at the University of Indianapolis.

Michael Karpinski had been RIFed (teacher-speak for laid off) and he was initially told that his time as the gridiron leader at Franklin Central was over. Ultimately, it turns out he had an opportunity to return as head coach of the Flashes, but he has made it known that he chose Michigan City over Franklin Central.

One of my initial thoughts had to do with why Karpinski, who was already firmly entrenched by more than a decade of living in Indiana’s state capital, would choose to take over a City program located in the northwest part of the state.

I looked at his record in two years at Franklin Central and was under whelmed by his 7-13 mark.

But the more I thought about it, the more I told myself that the Wolves had gotten the right guy.

Why?

If you are looking to improve a program, wouldn’t you like to have a guy with head coaching experience in the area of the state that has clearly established dominance?

While some will ask Karpinski why he came north, I think we as Wolves fans would be remiss if we didn’t count our blessings that he was willing to come to Michigan City, a community he called home at an age too young to remember much about it besides a hill and railroad tracks located close to the former Karpinski homestead.

When you look at how teams from the Duneland have performed in recent years when pitted against schools from the Indianapolis area, I think it is safe to argue that 7-13 in Central Indiana might just equate to 11-9 or 12-8 in the DAC.

Look back just two years and you’ll find that Karpinski’s inaugural season included a sectional nailbiter in which his Flashes lost by only one point to the eventual state champion – Warren Central.

Whether Karpinski had superior athletes at Franklin Central to those he now coaches, only he could tell you. From what he has told me, he likes the hand he’s been dealt with the Wolves.

To leave the Indianapolis area and a head coaching position in the land of Class 5A state champions, there has to be something more to it. Karpinski wants to be in Michigan City.

While the Wolves still need to figure out a way of contending in the DAC, I don’t think it hurts to have someone experienced in battling the Warren Centrals of the state.

Maybe Karpinski can show Michigan City and the rest of the Duneland Conference what needs to be done to win state titles.



Contact sports writer Drew White at dwhite@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 447.