Ferdinand takes reins of Stevens football

MOVING UP: Ferdinand has been assistant coach at Rapid City Stevens since 1990.

By Jeff Budlong, Journal staff | Saturday, May 17, 2008

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RAPID CITY — The Rapid City Stevens football program didn’t have to look too far to find its next head coach.  Stevens High School teacher and longtime assistant football coach Paul Ferdinand was approved for the head coaching position by the school board Thursday night.

“I am very excited about the opportunity and wanted to be the head coach,” he said. “I think we can do some good things, and have a program that the kids can be proud of.”

Ferdinand, 46, has been an assistant for the Raiders’ program since 1990 when he worked as a volunteer before becoming a member of the staff a year later. He was the head football coach in Oelrichs in 1984-85 and has also worked as a co-head coach and head basketball coach before moving to Rapid City with his family.

“One of the big things is his connection here at Stevens,” said high school principal John Julius. “The parents know him, the kids know him and he has been an assistant for years with the program.”

Ferdinand is taking over for Paul Miller who was the head coach the past two seasons. The Raiders started last year with a 2-1 record before closing out the season with seven consecutive losses.

The hiring of Ferdinand will not be the final coaching change for the Raiders as they prepare for the opening of the 2008 season which begins Aug. 30 against Watertown.

“We still need to hire four assistant coaches before the start of the season, so we have some work left to do,” said Ferdinand, who received the recommendation to become the head coach a week ago, but it was not made official until the board approved the move.

Ferdinand said he is hoping to have a meeting with the parents and players early next week, and he wants to take his team to the Chadron State College team camp on June 4.

The Raiders have fallen on hard times in recent years going 4-16 over the past two seasons, but Ferdinand plans to build the program from the youth level up.

“One of my main focuses is that we really want the kids to buy into the system so we can get things done,” he said. “We need to get younger kids involved so they grow up dreaming of becoming a Raider football player.

“It is a process and right now, very few kids are going to Raider games. We are losing kids to St. Thomas More right now, and you can’t blame them because they have a very successful program, but we need to change that.”

Ferdinand plans on tweaking his team’s offensive and defensive game plan, but many of the changes will depend on the number of players he can get to join the team.

“Last year, we did not have many juniors or seniors out for the team and it is hard to compete in ‘AA’ football playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Ferdinand said. “We will have base plays, but a lot of what else we are able to do will depend on the players we can get to come out for the team. I am a coach that believes you do what your team is capable of doing.”

Last year, the Raiders had 26 juniors and seniors on the team, while the top four teams in AA football had a number in the 40s.

Ferdinand said he plans to be proactive in getting kids to take another look at the football program and coming out for the team.

“Paul is motivated and excited,” Julius said. “He is concentrating on offseason work that will help the team during the season. From weightlifting to speed and agility and he wants to go to team camps and host camps to prepare for the season.”

Ferdinand said while recent years have not been successful for Stevens, he believes you don’t have to look too far into the past to find the kind of success the team wants.

“We have not been to the dome since 1994, but we have been to the semifinals several times, and I think people forget about that sometimes,” he said.