Calvin football coach Trent Figg aims to find recruits from 'tremendous West Michigan'
GRAND RAPIDS - As Trent Figg was being announced as the first football coach in Calvin University history, a small Nerf football squirted out of the hands of one of his three young sons and landed at the base of the stage.
Apparently football runs in the family.
Figg, 36, was introduced to the media and Calvin University alumni on Wednesday afternoon as he has been tasked with creating a football program from scratch.
“I’m extremely excited to be here,” he said. “I do not take this lightly. … this is such a special place here at Calvin.”
Figg was the senior offensive analyst at the University of Oregon this past season as the Ducks were 10-3 and won the Holiday Bowl. As a player, Figg was a defensive back at William Jewell College in Chillicothe, Mo.
One of the first questions Figg was asked when he arrived in Grand Rapids was about Calvin’s rivalry with Hope College.
“It’s been very clear to me that November 29, 2024, we’re gonna play Hope,” he said. “We’re going to be ready for that game.”
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But that game is a long ways away since Calvin doesn’t have a coaching staff or a single player.
“We want to identify the right recruits to come into this program,” Figg said. “Kids that fit Calvin. Kids that are tough. Kids that are competitive. Because that’s who we are going to be on the field.”
So where does he plan to recruit?
“We’re going to start right here in Grand Rapids,” he said. “There is tremendous football right here in Grand Rapids and West Michigan. So we’re going to build a base right here in West Michigan. Then we’ll expand to the entire state of Michigan and then we’ll go as far as we can to get the right people for this program.”
Calvin will build its own football stadium on campus. The former soccer field has already been bulldozed in preparation.
“It’s been designed really well,” Figg said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a fan-friendly stadium, which I love. It will be very tight. You’ll be able to hear the crowd … you’ll be up close and personal with the players. So I love that it is a small-college intimate setting.”
Figg and his wife, Tori, have sons Titus, 8, Thomas, 5, and Tobias, 3.
“There’s a crew that I really want to thank from the bottom of my heart,” Figg said, before pausing to collect himself. He would talk through his tears. “That’s my wife Tori and Titus, Tobias and Thomas. People talk all the time about how much coaches sacrifice at their jobs. Your families are the ones that sacrifice. Grand Rapids and Calvin University … this is home for us (now).”
Figg said he plans to have about 50 players by the fall of 2023 when they will have scrimmages in preparation for Calvin’s inaugural season in 2024.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Calvin football coach Trent Figg aims to find recruits from 'tremendous West Michigan'
