EARL WATT

   • Leader & Times

When Marc Svaty was an assistant for the Liberal Redskins, he worked with some coaches that have become some of the most successful names in Redskin history — Cornelsen, Werner, Schroeder.

Since then, he has taken what he learned to develop his own programs and has now returned to Liberal to take the helm of the Angry Red program.

“It is a great day to be a Redskin,” Svaty said after completing the first fun run in 105-degree heat on Kansas Avenue Thursday. “It’s great to be back in Liberal. It’s been a whirlwind. We got here in May, we’ve been to a  team camp in Hays, seven on seven in Garden City — we have a competitive group coming back. We have done about as much as you could fit in with our kids.”

Svaty started by adding his assistants.

“We’ve put together a new football staff,” he said. “We have a lot of teachers and coaches in other sports. I’m looking forward to this opportunity to be back in Liberal, Kansas.”

His list of previous coaches has been an asset as well.

“I got a lot out of my mentors,” Svaty said. “I had Coach Cornelsen from ‘99 to ‘01. Coach Anderson from Pratt. I learned a lot about football from him. Cornelsen came back in 2003. We were 9-2 that year which was my frist year as a defensive coordinator. I talked with Coach Werner yesterday. He was ’04 and ’05. And Tom Schroeder is now the superintendent in Texhoma, and he had a successful career in Hugoton. I’ve been in Halstead for seven years, two years in Parsons, and then went back to my home town Fredonia for 10 years before coming back to the ‘LK.’”

Svaty is prepared to grind it out this season, but isn’t afraid to go to the air, either.

“We told our kids, we are going to do the things we did my first time here —  running the football. The kids asked, ‘Are we going to throw the football?’ If we can throw it and catch it, then that opens up the opportunity. They’ve proven we can throw and catch, and there are kids we can get the ball to, and we will throw the ball.”

Svaty said his offense is similar to the offense Liberal ran last year.

“Offensively, we look similar to last year’s team,” he said. “We will probably be in the flex bone a little more than the wishbone with a little more option game. We will still be in those sets when we want to go outside zone and get the ball to our receivers in the passing game.”

Svaty started on the defensive side, but said you have to understand both sides.

“You have to know offense to know defense,” he said. “You have to know defense to know offense. We will be set on both sides of the football.”

Liberal opens the season Sept. 4 when the Redskins host Wichita Southeast.