New Football Coaching Lineup Ready for 2017 Season
by Angela Bell
“Accountability. Authenticity. Toughness.”
Since being named new head coach for the Concordia Bulldogs football team last December, Patrick Daberkow has driven those three simple words into the heads of his players and staff.
Daberkow has served the Bulldogs as defensive coordinator for seven years, and as a secondary coach for three years before that, but he has an even longer history with the team. He played as a defensive back for Concordia for four years before graduating in 2006.
“Build men through accountability, authenticity and toughness,” Daberkow said. “Football will get that out of them. As coaches, we’re there to point out the correlations between football and life applications— that’s our job.”
Assisting Daberkow with play calling on both sides of the line are offensive coordinator Thomas Byrd and defensive coordinator Corby Osten.
Coach Byrd joined the Bulldogs this year. Born and raised in San Pablo, Calif., Byrd went on to play four years of ball at Boise State under renowned coach Chris Peterson.
“(My philosophy is to) develop young men and encourage players to build and grow in their relationships with Christ,” Byrd said.
Coach Osten, a Concordia graduate, has moved up from his former position as defensive line and special teams coach.
Two other key individuals on the Bulldog staff are Wes Coomes and Courtney Meyer. Coomes is the new Junior Varsity head coach as well as the special teams and recruiting coordinator. Meyer served as the Bulldog head coach for 19 years and has been an assistant coach since 2008, as well as coaching the kickers, punters and long snappers.
Position coaches will be Reggie Corbin for the quarterbacks, former Concordia star quarterback Von Thomas for the running backs, Karl Miller for the defensive backs, Chris Shipley for the linebackers and Harold Pester for the defensive line.
Two new graduate assistants, Ron Jackson Jr. and Tyson Powers, will also join in creating the best possible Bulldog team for the 2017 season.
The Bulldogs had a 7-3 record on their 2016 season, and are holding themselves both accountable for those losses and for the future.
“If you talk to the players, we let games go. We had the talent to rank higher,” Osten said.
“(The) pressure is self-imposed. We expect a lot from ourselves and we think we’re a good group,” Daberkow said.
