Washausen Takes Over Rogers Heritage | Varsity Vibe

Rogers Heritage Football is heading into a new era. New head coach Max Washausen takes over a War Eagles program hungry for success. 

Setting a culture and implementing a formula for winning, Washausen joins Alyssa Orange to share how the transition has gone, and why he believes Heritage has the tools to be successful in the 7A West. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah, I think it was kind of a perfect fit, um, so to speak. Um, when I met with the Heritage Administration, um, we're all on the same page. Um, we all kind of agree that we need to be different at Heritage. Uh, we need to do different things. And uh kind of my background as far as my coaching background, um, I felt like it fit every one of the needs of the school and the football program. And uh we've kind of all agreed on that. That's what's been so exciting about this first couple months is uh we're all aligned and and we're ready to uh build a program.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

And it's kind of full circle for you. You were a student assistant at Heritage way back in the day. How much has changed since then?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah, you know, a lot has changed, but a lot has been the same. Uh I was a graduate assistant, I was going to the University of Arkansas in uh 2008. Um, the school just opened up. Um, and so I got to see that process on how to kind of build a program that way, you know, just kind of starting from scratch. Um, that very first year in 2008, there wasn't a senior class. So uh the school played a football season without a senior class. I got to be a part of that. Um, you know, uh I got to hire back uh a coach, uh Jason Upton, that was the O-line coach uh back then, and I I hired him on this year as well. And so as part of hiring my staff, I got to hire somebody that I worked with back then.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah, that's that's great. And so when you stepped in and when you and when you got the news, uh do you remember that phone call and kind of you know what that feeling was like knowing you were about to take over this program?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

It w I it was super exciting. Yeah, I can go back to the exact moment. Um, and and it was just, you know, I knew it was gonna be a lot of work, but I was ready, I'm ready for the challenge. Um, and I was excited for the opportunity. And so just pure excitement and just uh eagerness to get going.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Okay, let's talk about the challenge. You know, it's the seven A West that continues to get better. It's a con division that adds Shiloh. Um and and for you guys, like you talk about, you know, it's gonna be a process. Everyone wants this, you know, microwave atmosphere that we live in right now, that everyone wants to be good and they want to be good in a hurry. Uh, but for you, really laying that foundation, how important was it to establish a culture and a foundation to build upon uh um once you get to once you got there?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yeah, it was huge. Um, I think uh we have been talking about what it takes to be successful, you know, yeah, doing all those things, what it takes to be successful, and those will lead to wins. So I haven't been talking about winning at all. I've been talking about all the little intangibles, uh doing the right things, doing your best, uh treating people the way you want to be treated, uh getting a little bit better every single day, um, being different, being uncommon. I mean, those are just kind of things that we have talked about as a group, uh coaching staff, players, administration, um, and and the kids are actually very hungry to be successful, and they've really bought into those things that I think we all know that we have to do those things to kind of change the path of how everything's been going.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yeah, I was gonna ask you about the buy-in, about the culture. Where have you seen these guys really embrace your message?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, and I'm gonna start with the senior class. Um, there's about 20 of them, and they're all in. They they just want to be successful. And I mean, I think that starts with I got to take over right after spring break, uh, putting in the new offensive philosophy, um, asking them to come in on early mornings during the school year when we finish up the school year, have them come in at 6 30, put in extra work, um, coming in this summer, doing the things that need uh the camps we're going to. I think they've just really embraced it.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

When you look at the camps and stuff, I I I know that's so much um self-guided with these kids and with the players. Um, and and do you feel like there's a level of excitement to really, you know, put in the extra work because of this new era?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Yes, absolutely. Um, I got to take them to uh Pittsburgh State University uh first week of June. Um it's a camp that I've gone to um at other schools, and it it's it's an all-day event. Um, it's a it's a padded camp, uppers camp, um with uh at Pittsburgh State University, uh with schools from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, going against some of the best competition there is. And like I said, it's an all-day thing. You're getting tons of reps at a university level, and the kids loved it. They were excited about it. Um, and it's an experience they'll remember forever.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, and it's a team bonding experience as well. So you come from Prairie Grove, uh, and and everything that I've read, just you know, as the offensive coordinator, great offensive mind, help put up offensive numbers. Uh, if I were to ask you kind of how you how you would describe your offensive philosophy, how would you do that?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, it's it's a multi-formation wing T offense. Um, it's really built off of multi-formations, shifting, motioning, um, maybe looking a certain way, but then shifting and running is something else. So um it's very multiple. Um, you know, everybody thinks of the run game, which we are, we're trying to get really good at the run game, but we're able to play action pass off of it, shift in motion, give the defense lots of different looks. Um throughout my career, I've I've coached both sides of the ball. And so I know as a defensive coach, um, if the picture is different every time, you know, I'm always talking about alignment, assignment, and play play hard on defense. Well, a lot of those things, the the picture's gonna be different. It's hard to see your the alignment's gonna be different. Their assignment, they're not gonna be keyed up exactly what they're supposed to be looking at because it's gonna move. And so from that point, um, we're gonna get really good at a core amount of run plays and a core amount of pass plays, and we're gonna do it at a 40 or 50 different looks.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Um what do you think the yeah?

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

I was gonna say, what do you think the biggest thing there to take that offense uh you know from Prairie Grove River in the in the 4A to now in the 7A West? Maybe the biggest difference because of the division level and the conference level.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Yeah, so the biggest difference, I mean, you're gonna see that at the 7A level, um, every school is gonna have 11 guys that only play defense, 11 guys that only play offense. So that means the defensive side of the ball is gonna have more time to scout you up, get uh technique ready to go, and get a plan ready for you compared to at the smaller levels, guys are playing both ways. Um, you know, so you're limited in your practice time of getting maybe, you know, at the 4A, 5A level. The defense maybe a kid that's gonna get 20 minutes of defensive practice time because he's playing offense and playing special teams compared to at the 7A level, they're gonna get two hours a day to get get ready for that week against us. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

You know, take me back now. When did you know that you wanted to coach football?

SPEAKER_00 10:45

When I when I was a senior, uh well, when I was in high school. When I was in high school, um I played for, got to coach with uh Hall of Fame coach Danny Apsher at Prairie Grove. Um and so I knew when I was in high school, honestly, I knew I wanted to be a uh uh head coach at the high school level about the time I was in high school.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah, yeah, and so to to follow that dream and and to now see it come to fruition uh at heritage, what are you most excited about?

SPEAKER_00 11:17

The the challenge and to be building something from the ground up, you know, that's what we've been to telling the kids. We're gonna be builders, um, we can do something special and we can kind of put our name on it, you know. Um I think you know, what we're trying to accomplish, we've been telling them, you know, it's a difficult task, but not everybody can do it, but we're up to the challenge.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Yeah. What's next? What's what are next steps as you guys get closer to August and the fall and the season starting?

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah, so when we get back from Dead Period, um we have some uh seven on sevens set up, um, a couple more team camps, and then of course fall camp starts um in August, and then we open up with a scrimmage against Harrison um on the 18th, and then our first non-conference game is on the 28th. So it's gonna be here before you know it.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

It always it always is. It it it always it's already July, believe it or not. So in about seven days, so uh it's right around the corner. But coach, congratulations. I know you wear that H on your chest with pride, and I know that uh heritage is gonna have a lot of things to prove this upcoming season. I'm excited to see what you guys do with it. Yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Varsity Vibe. I really enjoyed that conversation with Coach Washausen, and I hope that you did too. And I always encourage you to go follow us along on our social media platforms that is Instagram, X, TikTok, and Facebook. Got such great content over there for you. Even though it's the summer, things are still happening, and we want to make sure that you stay in the know with it all. And speaking of that, sign up for our newsletter at varsityvibearkansas.com. That comes to your inbox twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, and also helps keep you in the know with everything happening in high school athletics around the state. Also, subscribe to our YouTube page and wherever you get your podcasts. Again, thank you so much for joining us. I'm your host, Alyssa Orange, and I will see you next time.

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