Batteries recharged: Marauders coach rejuvenated by new position

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FORTVILLE — On Nov. 25, Ben Davis football coach Mike Kirschner reached the pinnacle of Indiana football.

His Giants team completed one of the most dominant seasons in state history, capping off a 14-0 year with a 63-14 victory against Penn in the Class 6A championship game.

It was a perfect end to his Ben Davis career. Kirschner resigned his position after 18 years at the school — 11 as a head coach — after the 2017 season ended. It was a move he’d planned since before the season started.

He was looking for a change. He found what he was looking for quickly.

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Not long after hoisting the 6A trophy, Kirschner was on the move. After seeing a job opening for a football coach at Mt. Vernon in late December, he called to let the school know he was interested. He got a call back that night and was at the school the next day.

He started at the school in the second week of February.

“My reason for leaving was real simple,” Kirschner said. “We’d had a really good run the last four years — three sectionals, three regionals, two semistates, two states — and I felt like I needed a change for me, just to rejuvenate my own batteries. I felt the kids needed to hear from somebody different.”

Kirschner experienced a lot of success at Ben Davis, making it to the state finals four times in his career, winning each time.

Two of his trips were as the Giants’ head coach, championship victories in 2014 and ’17.

Two were as an assistant coach, with his son, Jon, a starter on the team.

The new Marauders coach made the move from a football powerhouse to a team that last won a sectional in 2012 for a variety of reasons. The move, thus far, has accomplished what he hoped.

“I tell people I feel like I’ve gone back 20 years in time,” Kirschner said. “Everybody is focused on Mt. Vernon High School, and not the travel teams, who gets the scholarship, who gets the notoriety, which is what we’ve become in the world of sports. Here it’s all about what specializes us, and what makes us better.”

He said he doesn’t have to worry about many of the things he did at Ben Davis, where he dealt with poverty, violence and other off-the-field issues that affected his student athletes.

He doesn’t have to worry about where his players are going home to, or if they have food on their tables.

He helped his players get through life’s challenges and made an impact on that community. Now he’s ready to do the same at Mt. Vernon.

“Coach K is a great leader on and off the field and is a great man,” said Broc Thompson, a senior wide receiver for the 2017 state-champion Giants. “He has done so much for the community over here on the westside and it was an honor playing under him. He brings a lot of wisdom and knowledge to any program he goes to. He is a fierce competitor and brings the best out in his players.”

Time for change

It’s a different environment at Mt. Vernon in more ways than one, allowing Kirschner to feel more relaxed and spend his time differently than he has for the past decade.

One notable example is the scouting report Kirschner put together recently. He went through every team on the schedule, creating a nine-page report that he sent to his staff.

At Ben Davis, he said he would have scrambled to find a free moment to even start working on a report of that magnitude. At Mt. Vernon, he was able to complete the scouting and analysis in two days.

He had 240 players at Ben Davis. There were so many athletes in his football program he had to run two different weight room sessions per day.

Mt. Vernon currently has just shy of 80 students on the team. The numbers are jumping quickly — the team finished 2017 with around 50 players. There is an air of excitement around the Marauders football team with their new coach and a highly-experienced coaching staff.

“You spend 20 minutes in a room with that guy and you want to run through a brick wall. I wanted to suit up and play football again,” Mt. Vernon Athletics Director Brandon Ecker said. “He has a tremendous knack for building culture. What an addition; a guy who is up for NFL high school coach of the year, fresh off a 6A state championship.”

The excitement is showing from his new players on the field and in the weight room.

Kirschner has been around a lot of success between his coaching jobs at Warren Central, Cascade and Ben Davis, but he sees something that stands out in the Marauders.

“I’ve been several places and been around some great kids with great work ethics, but as a whole, this is the hardest working group of kids I’ve seen in my 35 years,” Kirschner said. “I’m not exaggerating. Love their work ethic, love their attitude, love their coachability.”

Making an impact

While Kirschner appreciates the championships won and the success on the field, he is especially proud of something entirely different that he accomplished while at Ben Davis.

Kirschner and his staff helped his players get into college at an impressive rate. He talks about that fact passionately, and calls it the “neatest thing” about his time at the Indianapolis school.

At the end of the 2017 season, Kirchner’s Ben Davis program had 72 former students playing college football in 20 different states. Out of the 53 seniors on his 2017 championship team, more than 20 are going to college to play football, including some at schools known more for their academics than their sports.

The national average for a student to graduate and play college football across all levels is below 7 percent.

In Kirschner’s 11 years as the head coach at Ben Davis, he saw 41.6 percent of his players go on to play college football.

Those are staggering numbers, something Kirschner is incredibly proud of. It’s not just about sports — it’s about providing opportunities for the future.

“We were able to get kids, a lot of them in poverty, out of maybe where they lived with a chance to go to college and change their life forever,” Kirschner said. “To me, that’s how we won.”

All in the family

Football runs in Kirschner’s family.

At the top of his 2018 scouting list, one filled with unfamiliar faces, is a name Kirschner knows well. His Marauders will open the season against his son, Jon Kirschner, the new, first-year head coach at Hamilton Heights.

That’s not the only connection to football the family shares. Mike Kirschner, 57, who lives in Pittsboro with his wife, has three children now, all married.

Jon teaches and is the coach at Hamilton Heights. His oldest daughter, Monica, is a professor at Marian University and is married to Indiana University’s safeties coach Kasey Teegardin. His youngest daughter, Katie, is an elementary school teacher with a 9-month-old.

All in all, Kirschner has three kids and two grandkids, and, with his new position at Mt. Vernon, a lot more time to spend with them.

It isn’t just his family that is important to Kirschner, though. A big part of his coaching philosophy is getting families involved.

He is currently planning a multitude of events with that goal in mind, including a father/son flag football game, a cookout with the families of the team’s players, and a “Mom’s 101” night, where mothers of Mt. Vernon student-athletes can enjoy a big dinner and watch film to learn about football.

Winning football games is one goal, and Kirschner said he didn’t come to Mt. Vernon to be average. He knows it may take years to achieve his goals for the program, but he’s ready for the challenge.

One goal he’s working on, always, is helping his players build toward the future. He sees the work ethic and the commitment from his team. He sees his new players buying in, and being around that kind of atmosphere has rejuvenated him.

He sees pieces in place for the Marauders to win, both on and off the field.

“With all that being said it doesn’t mean I’m going to get it to work on Friday nights,” Kirschner said. “But if you’re doing those things, you’re building a foundation for later in life that teaches discipline, work ethic and commitment, which will help you succeed at being a better husband, a better father and a better employee.

“That’s ultimately what we’re after.”