After three Consecutive losing seasons and three head coaches in four years, Norwich Free Academy football is making a change, introducing Head Coach Dylan Schroth.
Culture is a big part of any sports team, and the NFA Wildcats are the perfect example of that. Since the COVID pandemic, players and others around campus have felt like the culture of the football team has been negative. But that all changed on May 10th, 2024 when Dylan Schroth, who previously coached at Ellington High School, was appointed as the new coach at NFA.
“Last year I felt like we (were) just down. We had a really bad season and all the players just wanted to get the season over with,” Senior captain Taegan Calouro said.
This year I feel like all the juniors that became seniors, all the sophomores who became juniors; I feel like they are ready to make stuff happen this year and just be better than last year” Calouro said.
It’s easy (for players) to be inside the program and say “Yeah, the culture is great,” but when someone from the outside looking in says things like that, it validates the idea that things are moving in the right direction.
That’s the case at NFA, as Head of School Dr. Nathan Quesnel notes “Yeah, (I am) unbelievably proud (of the program’s improved culture), and… you’re one of those kids (Quesnel is speaking to Journalist Jha’Meer Quinn-Haskins, who is a member of the NFA Football team.)
“Watching your development over the past year has been one of the best stories… seeing your transformation, your maturity, your willingness to step into leadership, your sense of where we are, your context of where we are… I’ve seen that with alot of our guys and I know we are at the beginning (of the 2024 season, and Schroth’s tenure as Head Coach) so I look at this thing, you let it play out two years, three years, four years, five years (into the future) and I think there will be big things ahead of us,” Quesnel said, regarding seeing players not only grow as players, but as men.
Schroth has said that he will build his (team’s) culture around two words: “hard work.” The team has been successful in this case, but not perfect, and the team is always working hard to improve. Schroth believes that a lot of the guys have taken (a commitment to hard work) very seriously. He emphasizes doing the hard things on purpose, meaning that the workout at 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM is the same workout, but it is a lot easier to wake up and go at 10:00. It’s way harder to force yourself out of bed at 6:00 AM.
Schroth does this because summer workouts at 6:00 AM are hard, so – by comparison – game days and life challenges can be easy.
Schroth went on to say “I think some guys still need to buy in and commit themselves fully, if they want to (improve to) the level of the teams we just played against,” which included state powers Fairfield Ludlowe, Bunnell, and West Haven.
“I think as a team – some guys watch enough film (and) some guys don’t. We all have to buy in because iron sharpens iron,” Schroth said.
Changing a culture isn’t easy: Nick Saban didn’t rebuild Alabama overnight, nor did Bill Belichick (rebuild quickly) when it comes to the Patriots. However coach Dylan Schroth is moving the NFA Wildcats in the right direction. By letting the players lead and making them work hard, Schroth is implementing the new “Wildcat Way.”
(Editor’s Note: The NFA Red & White generally would not run a story where the Journalist becomes part of the story, as became the case here when Dr. Quesnel gave praise to Reporter Jha’Meer Quinn-Haskins. We made an exception in this case because, as a member of the NFA Football team, Quinn-Haskins is a relevant figure in the story of the team’s culture. Additionally, Quesnel’s observation about Quinn-Haskins’ growth in the areas of maturity, leadership, and dedication is accurate, and therefore a poignant example of the improving culture (within the NFA Football program) being addressed in this story.)