Frederick named G-K’s new football coach

Updated: July 21, 2011 1:02PM

Genoa-Kingston’s football players are spending the month of July getting acclimated to the new pecking order within the program’s coaching staff.

This marks Travis Frederick’s first time running the team’s summer camp as the head coach of the Cogs after being hired for the job in late May. Frederick spent the past 10 years on G-K’s coaching staff, most recently as the defensive coordinator under former coach Bill McCarty.

Frederick won’t have to go far for advice from his former boss as McCarty agreed to stay on as offensive coordinator after resigning his head coaching post in March.

“I’m sort of switching roles and now I get the big whistle,” Frederick said.

Frederick’s ties to G-K run deep. In addition to his decade of coaching experience at the school, he also played guard and linebacker for the Cogs prior to graduating in 1993.

G-K faces new challenges this year as it moves into the Big Northern Conference East Division, which is made up of schools with larger enrollments than those the Cogs squared off with in the BNC West in recent years. Nonetheless, Frederick is up to the challenge.

“I’m an old Cog myself, so I’m pretty proud to coach these guys and this team,” Frederick said. “One of the biggest priorities is probably getting our numbers up in the program. We’ll be awfully thin this year, but I think we should be competitive.”

The Cogs finished 6-4 last year under McCarty, who compiled a 33-26 record in his six years at the helm. McCarty helped G-K end a 14-year playoff drought in 2007 and also led the Cogs to the postseason in 2008 and 2010.

Defensive lineman Luke Schumacher is back for his senior season and will help anchor what Frederick expects to be a stout defensive unit. On the other side of the ball, the Cogs will have plenty of work to do after losing several key offensive contributors to graduation.

While the changing of the guard signals a new era at G-K, Frederick has an experienced voice to turn to in McCarty, who was 143-88 during a 23-year head coaching career that included stops at Sciota Northwestern, Aledo and Riverdale. In addition to still calling the offense, McCarty remains a dean on the administrative staff at G-K.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty good situation where Bill’s had all the head coaching experience and he’ll kind of groom Travis a little bit and kind of help him with certain situations,” G-K athletic director Dirk Campbell said. “It’s not like we’re just throwing (Frederick) into the pond without a life preserver. I think they’re both excited about the relationship so it should work out well.”

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