COMFORT – Jay Rieken has been a picture of patience and persistence and those character traits have paid off for the longtime Comfort coach.
Rieken has been with the Comfort football program for 16 years and served under six different head coaches. He applied for the head football job whenever one of them left but was never promoted – until now.
When Brandon Easterly resigned after five years with the program last spring, Rieken applied and this time got the job.
His time had finally come and now Rieken is the new head football coach and athletic director.
The longtime Bobcats coach said he’s excited to be the guy now but was never sure it was going to happen.
“It’s home, I’ve been here so long and everybody has treated me well. All these players are pretty much my kids; I’ve seen them all grow up,” he said. “I kind of determined that I was never going to get (a head coaching job) and all of a sudden the opportunity arose.”
Rieken was reminded of how long he’s been with the school at the recent summer football camp.
“I was talking to three dads who I coached who had kids at the camp,” he said. “It’s been a great place for me, it’s more than a stop in my coaching career.”
A look at the team
Rieken served as the offensive line coach and the offensive coordinator over the last several year’s so he’s familiar with their schemes and formations. He said the focus this year is going to be the running game.
“We’re going to run the ball; I’m a big fat lineman and I’ve coached the offensive line every year. We have to win the battle up front,” he said. “I’m more of a grinder up front and I just want us to be tough.”
One of the benefits of serving under six different head coaches is that Rieken said he’s been exposed to a lot of different ideas and offensive schemes and has kept the things he’s liked.
“You don’t invent anything, you just borrow from everything we’ve done in the past,” he said. ”You take what you like with all the coaches before you and put 2 and 2 together and make it marry together.”
A look at the district Comfort is in District 15-3A DII along with Nixon- Smiley, Natalia, Karnes City, Dilley, Poth and South San West Campus.
Last year, the Bobcats finished fourth at 3-3 and earned a playoff spot. The Cats were defeated in the first round by Taft, 38-14, but Comfort is predicted to move up a few places by Dave Campbell Texas Football magazine and finish second this year.
Poth is ranked in the top 25 after they played in the state finals last year and was defeated by Gunter, 42-7.
Rieken said he knows Poth is predicted to win the district but is hoping they can upset the Pirates when they play them on Oct. 27.
“Poth by far is the No. 1 pick, I hate to admit it because why can’t it be us? That’s what one of the coaches asked, ‘why can’t it be us?” Rieken noted.
Putting his stamp on the program
One of the things that Rieken did this year was to implement the old school two-a-day practices. A lot of teams just have one long practice but Rieken wants them to be on the field twice a day until the season starts.
“ It’s like the 1980s with two-a-days, but we want to be smart about it,” he said. “We want to let them know that it’s going to be a little different. We want to take advantage of what the UIL will allow us to do.”
One thing that Comfort football has been known for historically is a hardnosed brand of football and Rieken wants to bring that back.
“We used to get that a lot, but we haven’t heard that a lot lately,” he said. “People used to tell us, ‘you got after us,’ and I want to get that back.”
The new coach said the strength of the team is how well they get along with each other.
“I think we have some football players who don’t have egos,” he said. “These kids love each other and there’s good camaraderie.”
Texas Football magazine lists Micah Nye, Fabian Neri, Topper Sterling, Mason West, Israel Lopez, Noah Bohnert and Carter Pape as players to watch, while Santos Hernandez, Eli Hernandez, Terick Rodriguez and Juan Zarate are listed as prospects.
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