Tim Cederblad resigned at Benet Academy July 1 to take the head coaching job at West Aurora.
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One day later, longtime Redwing assistant Gary Goforth was asked to take over, but since it was the beginning of a three-day holiday weekend, he couldn`t sign the papers to make it official until July 5. He couldn`t wait to sign on the dotted line.
”You may fall flat on your face, but you always want to see what you can do on your own,” said Goforth, the former defensive coordinator who became an assistant at Benet shortly after graduating from Augustana College in 1978.
”The major difference is organizing practices. Now I have to be concerned with everything in practice, not just the defense. It`s a matter of time usage, being able to give an overview of everything.”
Goforth found he overextended his clipboard for the opening day of practice. Otherwise, everything went like clockwork.
”It was interesting to see it went a lot smoother than I thought,” he said. ”I did find that I wrote a lot more than I could cover in practice today, but everything really went smoothly. The kids really pulled through. They worked as hard as possible in this heat.”
Last year, Benet missed the playoffs for the first time since 1983. But Cederblad didn`t leave the cupboard bare. The Redwings return seven defensive starters and five starters on offense from a 5-4 finisher.