From the Sidelines

By now I’m sure you have all heard the news that Jason Rimkus has been named the new head coach at Interlake High School.

I heard from a source this morning that Rimkus has been picked and quickly shuttled my attention from a feature and a column to that news. Once I’d confirmed he’d been picked, I posted the story online and tried to get more information from Interlake.

After speaking with both Interlake AD Kuehn as well as Rimkus, I had plenty of info that didn’t make the article. Here’s some extras from those conversations.

Art Kuehn, Interlake athletic director

On why Rimkus was selected: He’s a quality person, first of all. He comes from a quality program and has been around quality programs his whole life. He has a great mentor in Tom Bainter from football.

It was difficult because it came down to two finalists; one person with some head coaching experience and Jason, who didn’t have any. Jason has enthusisiam and he has a plan.

Jason Rimkus, new Interlake football coach

On his relationship with Bainter: I’ve known Tom for close to ten years now. There’s a lot of things I’ve learned from him. Most of it is how to be a good man, how to treat others and how to treat people. Football is a secondary thing, that’s how it should be in high school. The experience is the No. 1 thing. Tom treats everyone like their No. 1 and that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned. I’m a Tom Bainter disciple.

On his familiarity with the team: I notice their quarterback comes back. They run quite a difference offense so there might be some changes there. Coach Cross did a great job here, going 7-4 and going to the playoffs.

On why he chose to apply for the position at Interlake: I had met Art [Kuehn] before and he’s such a great person. He’s a big, big part of it. To be able to work with him day in and day out is really important. I know Luke Huard and coach Cross and they were both stand up guys and had nothing but grea things to say about the school. There was not one negative thing that they said. To me, it comes down to the people, who the people are that I’m working with. Everytime I spoke to someone from Interlake, it was just a blast.

What schemes will they run: I can tell you one thing that will happen is that there will be 11 guys running to the football. The best thing I think coaches can do is evaluate your talent to fit the scheme. I can’t be too specific yet but we will practice and we will play with a speed and an effort that is top in the league. I hope the community will appreciate that.

On playing in KingCo: That’s another intriguing part. If you coach in the Pac-10 or SEC, that’s where you want to be. You want to be playing the top teams every year. You can be tested so many times. I’m excited looking forward to it.

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One other note: I was trying to reach Kuehn when I first heard about the hire but he was unavailable because the AD’s were meeting for Eastside Catholic’s proposal to join KingCo 3A/2A. Kuehn said it will be awhile until that’s decided for sure, but having the Crusaders in the league would certainly add another dimension to the conference.