TAMPA – Believe it or not, things are starting to flight high-and-straight in the Egypt Lake-Leto neighborhood in spite of the wins and losses–and it’s in large part to the culture change that’s taking place under the Falcons’ Head Coach, Matt Kitchie. Leto Football is 2-45 since Kitchie’s arrival in 2010, but this season feels like the wins and losses are just secondary as Kitchie is thrilled about the future of Falcon Football.
Kitchie tweeted at the beginning of September – “65 kids at Leto Football practice and paperwork done. New high since I’ve been here! Only five seniors!”. Wide Receiver/Cornerback Jamie Reid (5-11/170) is his best player with 441 All-Purpose Yards and 5TD’s–18 tackles, 2 PD’s, caused fumble this season and is one of those seniors.
Kitchie took some of his valuable time to respond to some questions we had for him and gave us a little bit of background on why he’s stuck through the darkness and will make sure he’s around for the light to shine. Here now is Leto Head Coach, Matt Kitchie–in his own words.
BCP: What was your outlook for the program when you submitted your resume’ and when did reality hit that the job may be more difficult than anticipated?
MK: When I applied for the Leto Head Coach position the team had just come off a 0-10 season and graduated 23 players. The head coach left in the middle of April. I was hired a week prior to Spring Football and it was the year Spring Break was late, so I had no access or ability to hire assistants and–oh, I forgot we were playing Plant in 18 days! Reality hit on Day 1 of spring when I was the only coach eligible to be on the field. I also could see right away that the talent level was very low and the football knowledge was non-existent. We had 18 kids for that first spring!
BCP: What hurdle are you still trying to overcome and steps taking to overcome that hurdle?
MK: The biggest hurdle every year at Leto is numbers. Keeping kids in the program is very hard. No matter what efforts we struggle to keep numbers. We have several issues. Grades! Our kids have many distractions–jobs to help support family–plus lots of trips to other countries! The list goes on and on. We also have a cultural issue in that most of our students do not grow up playing football. Baseball or soccer are the two sports played as recreation at home.
BCP: Best part about Leto football that outsiders don’t know?
MK: Two huge parts of Leto! Number one! Our kids are great! For the most part they work hard and give all they have! They appriciate all we do for them! Second, our Admin is really supportive! Wins and Losses are not how we are judged as a coaches. Grades, discipline and Attendance are how we are evaluated! They go above and Beyound to make sure I have what I need to be successful at Leto!
Leto’s season will end at the end of this month since their BYE week is November 6th–final five games are:
10/2 – at Sickles*
10/9 – Blake
10/16 – at Freedom*
10/23 – Wharton*
10/30 – Gaither*