through the looking glass - people of the city
Skelton to embark on silver anniversary season
By DARREN STEINKE Q
uinn Skelton has become a fixture in the Medicine Hat football scene.
When fall rolls around, you can expect to see Skelton on the sideline of the Methanex
Bowl donning a headset and coaching his Medicine Hat High School Mohawks. This fall will be the 25th season Skelton guides the Mohawks as head coach.
“It has gone extremely fast,” said Skelton, who turns 51 in June. “I still get excited looking forward to spring football.
“The kids we’re working with right now they are all excited about fall of 2014. Sometimes it seems like a very long 25 years, and other times it has kind of flown by.”
In 1990, Skelton took over the reins as the team’s head coach from Roger Pozzo, who guided the Mohawks for 16 seasons himself. Skelton also played fullback and linebacker for Pozzo and graduated from Hat High in
1981.
After his high school days were done, Skelton hoped to continue playing at the university or junior level in Canada, but a back injury working construction dashed those hopes.
Between his high school graduation and return to Hat High as the Mohawks head coach, Skelton played competitive rugby and completed his degree in physical education at the University of Lethbridge.
Pozzo, who led the Mohawks to a tier three provincial title in 1988, announced in November in 1989 that he would not be returning to guide the Mohawks for a 17th season.
In the summer of 1990, Skelton interviewed with the superintendent of Medicine Hat School Division 76 for a position at Hat High, while his young family was still in Lethbridge. Skelton thought he might be a coordinator or an assistant coach at first with the football team.
“They asked if I would be interested in
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coaching, and I said absolutely I would be, but to step in as head coach would be a large step,” said Skelton. “They said, oh, don’t worry about that just worry about the teaching commitment.”
Skelton was thrown into the fire that first season.
“Honestly, that first year was a survival year, it really was just getting through the year,” said Skelton. “Then after that, we started putting together some real quality characters that were around the school and the area.”
The Mohawks made it to the Rangeland Football Conference final in 1990 only to fall to the Brooks Buffaloes. That would be a common story line in Skelton’s first years guiding the Mohawks as the Buffaloes won eight straight RFC titles.
From the start, Skelton had a focus of surrounding himself with coordinators and assistant coaches from the community who had been involved with the team.
Brian Semenok was part of Skelton’s first staff and has remained with the Mohawks outside of a hiatus for about three seasons. For most of the 1990s and 2000s, Hat High’s coaching staff consisted of a core group including Skelton, Semenok, Glenn Brunet and Ryan Herman.
They were key in helping Hat High reach the tier two provincial final three straight years from 2000 to 2002. Hat High won it all in 2001 downing the host Foothills Falcons in Okotoks 34-21.
“The boys really just took it to Okotoks that day,” said Skelton. “It was in snowy conditions.
“We ran power and passed the ball effectively, and we played very, very physical. We just took their hearts out of that game. It was a great team win.”
The Mohawks also went on a run winning the RFC title for seven straight years from 2000 to 2006.
During his time as head coach, Skelton estimates that 70 of his players went on to play at the university level of the Canadian Junior Football League.
Dan Federkeil went on to be an offensive lineman for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts from 2006 to 2009 and currently plays for the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders. Nathan Coehoorn is a wide receiver for the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos.
Skelton also coaches rugby each spring, and the 2014-15 school year will mark his 25th season as the head coach of the Mohawks senior boys’ rugby team. Skelton guided the rugby Mohawks to 10-0 perfect season in 2011, which culminated with an 11-10 provincial championship game victory over the Strathcona Composite High School Lords from Edmonton.
A number of accolades have come his way including being named the NFL Canada youth football coach of the year in 2008.
Skelton said he couldn’t have survived in coaching as long as he did without the support of his family, or the work of the administrative staff at Hat High or long list of assistant coaches that have been part of the Mohawks program.
The bench boss has enjoyed seeing his players move on and take on all sorts of positive roles in the community. He hopes to continue to have a positive on players for years down the road.
“I think coaching is the purest form of teaching,” said Skelton. “I really have trouble imagining teaching without coaching.
“I see myself doing what I am doing until I think I have run my course. I am not going away any time soon.” ■
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Medicine Hat High School Mohawks coach Quinn Skelton hands the ball off to Sean McConnell during a drill at football practice at Medicine Hat High School.
41139476•03/25/14
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