Marine, firefighter, businessman ... coach? How he'll rebuild YAIAA's smallest football team
Jake Johnson realizes someone's high school experience is a small slice of their life.
That's how he looks back on his own days playing football for a northern Maryland powerhouse. But he thinks the lessons learned during that time can still affect the rest of someone's life.
That's one of his goals with his latest venture.
Johnson was approved as the new head football coach at Fairfield Area High School last month. He takes over for Jason Thurston, who resigned in November after five seasons. According to school board documents, Johnson's annual stipend will be $3,168.
A first-time varsity head coach, Johnson is taking over a program that has struggled to build participation numbers and consistently win games since it was started in 2004. The smallest school in the YAIAA, Fairfield has only had two winning seasons and had just 18 players during a 2-8 campaign this year. The Knights canceled their Week 3 game against Hamburg when injuries limited them to just 14 available players.
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Johnson isn't shying away from those challenges.
"We are the dark horse and everyone will bet against us until they aren't anymore," he said. "We have to embrace that. We have to set a standard and an expectation and hold them accountable.
"This might be just a game, but the lessons will carry on. We need to make that vision resonate."
The 40-year-old Johnson has been a youth coach in Fairfield for the past eight years, but he doesn't have a typical coaching background. He played football for six-time Maryland state champion Linganore High School in Frederick County. After graduating in 2000, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and did multiple combat tours in Iraq.
He then worked as a firefighter (eventually becoming a lieutenant) for 12 years in Arlington, Virginia. Familiar with Adams County from his childhood in nearby Frederick County, he and his wife moved to Fairfield, and he opened a gym in Gettysburg in 2013. He also started a software company, which he then sold before starting his current real estate investment company.
"He has so many leadership qualities, and he's organized and detailed," Fairfield athletic director Andy Kuhn said. "We got a lot of recommendations on him, and there were no negatives said about him. He knows what he wants to see not just next year but in five to seven years."
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Johnson helped run Fairfield's strength and conditioning program when Darwin Seiler was the team's head coach. He spent two years on Thurston's staff but stepped down because "the timing wasn't right."
But he had been coaching youth football in the small town since his 13-year-old son started playing in kindergarten. That gave him additional motivation to apply for the head coaching position this fall.
Johnson said one of his first goals is creating a winning culture that will motivate kids in Fairfield to play football. And while he experienced that type of environment during his own high school football career, he said much of his personal motivation comes from his time in the Marines and as a firefighter.
He said he learned three major lessons from his time in the military: How to have proper perspective, because life is short, how to continuously work to get "one percent better" and how to be part of the "ultimate team."
"I learned how to be unselfish and put others before yourself," he said. "And to not rely on emotion. If I can read a little bit today, I'll get a little bit smarter. If I work out today, I'll get a little bit stronger. I want to teach that perspective."
Johnson hopes his perspective will help rebuild a program that has seen its always-small participation numbers drop from the low 30s to under 20 in recent seasons. Johnson said one issue Fairfield has had is that freshmen have needed to start on varsity out of necessity. Some of those players become discouraged after struggling against older and bigger players and don't come out for the team the following season, he said.
He said the goal is to build the roster to the point that younger players can contribute without being relied on to carry the team. He knows that won't be easy. He said the Green Knights will have to rely on speed and quickness since they'll usually lack size and depth compared to their opponents.
Still, Kuhn said Johnson's efforts have already paid off. He said the coach has been holding 5:30 a.m. workouts before school and that "20 to 30" players have been attending.
"And we don't have a big weight room," Kuhn said. "I wasn't sure the kids would be committed enough (for early workouts) but the numbers keep growing. It's got me excited. I want to change the narrative that it will be an easy victory when you play Fairfield. We might not win every game, but it will be a battle."
While it went just 13-34 the past five seasons, Fairfield has usually been one of the more resilient teams in the league. The Knights nearly upset Littlestown (13-6) and York Catholic (17-10) last season despite being outmanned.
Johnson said the key to continuing that trend will be building strong relationships with his players.
"They need to know we care about them," he said. "It's their success, not mine. We can call the best plays, but they have to implement them and buy in. But that investment will come if they know we care about them and love them. I want to find out what inspires them to play and create a culture that kids want to be a part of."
Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Fairfield High school hires Jake Johnson to rebuild football program
