The Concordian

Media Credit: Chris Slater Coach Kellar takes the mic as his players stand by his side. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Chris Slater Football players line the sidewalk as the pep rallly begins. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Chris Slater Cheerleaders performing stunts during the pep rally. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Chris Slater The marching band gets the beat started as they march down the hill toward the valley. [Click to enlarge]

Concord University’s new football coach, Mike Kellar, brings a tradition of winning to a school that has not historically seen much. Kellar began his coaching career in 1994 at Fairmont State. Since then, he has coached in Michigan and Pittsburgh before accepting the head coaching job at Concord.

“I’d been a coordinator, I’d been coaching 15 years - 14 of which, basically I’d been calling the plays - and working with quarterbacks, receivers, and getting to run the offense and I felt that it was time for me, the next step in my career was to be a coach,” Kellar said.

There were several reasons Kellar decided to apply for Concord’s job.

“I was attracted to Concord because I thought it had the possibility of winning. I thought that with the right administration and the right traditions and all that, that it could be a place that could turn into a winner.”

Kellar was also attracted to the southern tradition of football.

“I thought, geographically, it was in a good place for recruiting the Southern kids. Plus, I think that the southern part of West Virginia is some of the best football in the state,” Kellar said.

Born and raised in Shinnstone, WV, Kellar feels a closeness to the Athens area and immediately felt at home his first time in the area.

“I loved my time at Cal, which was right off of Pittsburgh, and the people there were great, but West Virginia - it’s a different feel, it’s more what I was used to.”

During his first few days at the job, Kellar tried not to make any general assumptions about the previous program under former Head Coach Greg Quick. He said he tried to come in with a clear head and go about putting his fingerprints on the program and implementing his ways of practicing and recruiting, among other things.

“I didn’t really care - and I told the kids this - I really wasn’t concerned about what their record was in the past had been, or what bad things or good things had happened in the past,” Kellar said. “We wanted to start fresh and try to build the program the way that me and my staff thought a program should be built.”

One thing Kellar told that team was that he was not going to change things for the sake of change.

“If I felt that it needed changed, I would. If I felt that something was working or was good I would keep it as-is. But, I really didn’t investigate it enough to really see - I didn’t ask the players what they did in the past or any of the former coaches what they had done. We just tried to come in and start fresh.”

When Kellar became coach, he had two main priorities - improve the development of the athletes already on the team and step up the recruiting process for future players.

“Our number-one priority was with the kids here, implement our weight, our strength conditioning program to improve, basically the player development of what we already had here. That was our first priority with the kids here in house. Off campus, the number one priority was to recruit a higher-quality of student athlete.”

Kellar wanted to get the best players to fit in to the Concord system.

“They had to fit into what we like to do on offense, defense, kicking game, as well as some of the demands we’re going to make on them academically as well.”

Kellar does not lead the team alone. He has a roster of assistant coaches:

Bryan Hill, Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator. Garin Justice, Offensive Line Coach and Strength and Conditioning Coach. Chris Bowers, Secondary Coach and Recruiting Coordinator. Jason Woodland, Wide Receiver Coach and Special Teams Coordinator. Paul Price, Linebackers Coach. Drew Toth, Corners Coach. David Starino, Running Backs Coach. Mike Gravier, Tight Ends Coach.

Aside from leading a successful team, one of Kellar’s goals for the coming years is to try and improve school spirit at Concord for the football team.

“That’s one of the next things - phase wise - that we’ve got to get to, we’ve got to get some of the alums back on board, we’ve got to get the students here on board. It should be a prideful thing.”

Kellar notes that it will be a long process, but he sees the big picture.

“It’s not going to be overnight, we’re not going to win them all this year. We’re gonna try, but on the same token - when a student comes to Concord and comes back to their high school and someone asks where they’re going to school, I don’t want them to say, ‘Concord’ and be ashamed of their football team. I want them to say ‘Concord,’ and be proud of their football team.”

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