FOOTBALL: Greene County hires Mitchell Moore as next football coach
By BRANDON HURLEY
Sports Editor
JEFFERSON –
An Iowa native with five years of Division I coaching experience will take over the reins of the Greene County football team next fall.
Mitchell Moore, who recently held the position of director of high school relations and assistant director of scouting at Iowa State University replaces former coach and current GCHS activities director, Dean Lansman, who spent the last six years at the helm.
This is the UW-Wisconsin graduate’s first head coaching stint.
“There are a number of reasons [why this is a good fit]. Number one, it’s an opportunity for me to be a head coach and raise my family in a great community with great support. It’s an opportunity to stay close to family, I grew up in the Ballard [school district] and my wife is from State Center,” Moore said. “For the last 10-12 years of my life, I’ve been jumping from job to job and moving up the professional ladder in football. This is an opportunity for me to go somewhere, stay and develop a culture and consistency that’s my own.”
Moore now awaits official school board approval at the 6:30 p.m. March 22 monthly meeting, superintendent Tim Christensen said.
The former Bomber worked his way up through the ISU coaching ranks, signing on as a graduate assistant in 2013 then moving up to assistant director for football recruiting and player personnel a year later. He’s also spent time on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater staff as a wide receivers coach.
“I feel (Moore) has the skills, knowledge, and abilities to build our football program and develop outstanding young men,” Christensen said Tuesday.
Lansman, resigned his head coaching position Jan. 18 after 15 years with the program. The East Greene graduate compiled a 24-34 record with four playoff appearances in six seasons as head coach. His best campaign came in 2011, in which he guided the formerly-known Jefferson-Scranton/Paton-Churdan Rams to a 6-4 record and a berth in the 2A playoffs. J-S/P-C lost to fourth-ranked Spirit Lake in the opening round
Moore is a native of Huxley, graduating from Ballard High School. He played wide receiver at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, graduating in 2008. The father of one helped his team to the NCAA Division III national title, earning him the Forrest Perkins Award.
After college graduation, Moore took a position as wide receivers coach for the Warhawks and spent the next three years with the program, helping UW-Whitewater to another national title in 2011. Moore then took a job as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Southeastern Oklahoma state for a year following the 2011 season. The 2012 Southeastern Oklahoma State team averaged 26 points per game and threw for 1,831 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The new Greene County head man was hired on to help run the Cyclone offense back in 2013. Moore was one of the few holdovers from the Paul Rhoads’ regime (2008-2015), who was fired following the 2015 season.
During the 2013 season, a year in which the Cyclones went 3-9, ISU finished 14th in the nation in red zone efficiency (90 percent) and totaled the 10th most points in school history with 298. The Cyclones rang up 575 yards of offense in their 52-44 overtime victory against West Virginia in the regular season finale, the ninth-best single game total in ISU history.
Moore was promoted to director of high school relations by new ISU head coach Matt Campbell in 2016.
“The expecation of me and my staff is to put a product on the field that plays extremely hard. Defensively, we are going to run to the football with all 11 men. Offensively, we are going to play fast and be efficient,” the coach said. “The byproduct of all that is we need to win football games. It’s going to be a process. I don’t think we are going to win every game next year, but we are certainly going to go in with the expectation that we are going to win.”
The 2016 Greene County football team went 1-8 and averaged 12.6 points per game, totaling 1,882 yards and 15 touchdowns. Their lone victory came in a 38-0 shutout of Perry on senior night. The Rams will play the 2017 season as a member of Class 3A, district two along with the Bluejays, state runner-up Webster City, Boone, DC-G, Gilbert and Iowa Falls-Alden. The Rams’ top receiver (Nick Schroeder) and running back (Trey Tucker) graduate in May while their top tackler, Joe Towers, and quarterback, Clint Dennhardt, return for their senior and junior years respectively.
Moore realizes there needs to be an overhaul within the program to get it back to the winning ways of old.
“My expectation is to develop a culutre that is hard to break, with kids buying into our system, youth through varsity and we are all on the same page,” Moore said. “If [we] can do that, in time, the wins will start piling up.”
The Greene County school district will pay Moore $6,740 a year for his coaching duties.
Moore will also split his time helping out with the Jefferson Fieldhouse, building strong development programs across all sports.
“I’m going to consult with all of our youth in Greene County and develop a place where they can go and train there,” Moore said. “To have an avenue for the kids to train, so they don’t have to go to Des Moines, Carroll or Ames for sports performance training. We’d like to get it so there’s one vision and it’s a place where they can go for all sports.”
For now, Moore and his wife, Kelsi and son, Carter live in Ames. They plan to make a move to Jefferson in the future. The father of one was hooked by the passion of the Greene County community.
“There was an incredible group of [people] that showed me what kind of people there are in Jefferson and Greene County, how dedicated they are to their children and their kids,” the coach said. “That was probably the biggest thing for me. I have a young son that I want to raise in a great community with great morals and great ethics and understands how to work hard and get an education. All those things attracted me.”
- Log in to post comments