Courtois To Guide WCHS Soccer Program
WARSAW – The future of the very successful Warsaw boys soccer program has been turned over to a very familiar and very qualified face.
Frank Courtois, who has been coaching in the program for more than the past decade, was approved Monday night as the new boys soccer coach by the Warsaw School Board.
Courtois, who has been the Tiger junior varsity coach, replaces Scott Bauer. Bauer, who guided the Tigers to a Class 2-A state runner-up finish in 2012, resigned following the season in the fall after taking a leave of absence from the team late in the regular season.
The passionate and energetic Courtois, who served as interim coach for the last three regular-season matches and the sectional this past season, is excited about the future.
“I want to thank Dr. Hoffert (Warsaw Superintendent), Mr. Akers (WCHS principal) and Mr. Anson (WCHS Athletic Director) for believing in me and trusting me do what I love to do,” said Courtois. “I also want to thank Scott Bauer for giving me the opportunity to coach when I wanted to quit. I also want to thank God for giving me an opportunity like this, along with my family and our coaching staff (James Hornaday and Adam Churchill) and my supervisors and co-workers at the Sheriff’s Department.”
“This is an opportunity and a chance for me to implement my ideas. Our team is going to be a family. That’s how I look at this. My vision is using soccer as a vehicle to reach kids and make an impact on them. We have an opportunity to impact others through soccer. I’ve been around this program the last 11 years with coach Bauer. I look at these kids as my kids and I love them.”
WCHS Athletic Director Dave Anson knows the program is in good hands.
“Our boys soccer program has been one of the top programs in the state for some time, and Coach Courtois has been an instrumental part of that success,” said Anson. “The Warsaw soccer community supports, cares deeply about, and has high expectations for our soccer program. Coach Courtois is very well respected by many both in and out of the soccer community, and we are excited for the program and expect the program to continue to have success under his leadership.”
The 50-year old Courtois, who hails from Haiti, is planning to revisit the past of the program. The Tigers had won six straight sectional and regional championships and were also a state finalist in 2010 before struggling this past season to an 8-5-5 mark and losing in the sectional to Plymouth.
“My plan is for us to go back to the way things used to be in our offseason training,” said Courtois. “We will go back to the past in terms of playing and conditioning in the offseason. That is what made this program very successful.
“It’s going to take a commitment from all of us, coaches, players and parents to get the program back on top. We have the talent. It’s the work we do in the offseason that will make us successful again during the season.”
Courtois, who works as a corrections officer for the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, also thinks his program would benefit by bridging the Warsaw Wave and KCSL programs and training.
Courtois also believes that the program will bounce back after a tough 2014 season.
“i think this past season was just a bump in the road,” said Courtois. “We need to learn from it and move forward.
“We have the talent here. We just need to go back to our training. That’s how we will be good again in the future.”