2024 Interview with TJ Carper Zanesville High School Head Football Coach

 

TJ Carper

Zanesville High School

Head Football Coach

We will start with the 2023 season and then work toward the new job.

Heading into the 2023 season, the Vikings were coming off a 6–5 season. What were your goals for the team after the last practice heading into your week-one game?

We wanted to focus on ourselves. It didn’t matter about anything anyone else was doing. If we could fix what we needed to fix and get better at the smaller things, I felt that we had a really good chance to make history in 2023.

Who was the player that stuck out the most after all of the practices were finished leading into that week-one game?

Garrett Brown! He is a great kid with a great work ethic. He’s a go-getter with qualities that you want your leaders to have. He did everything the right way! 

The Vikings started the season with a loss and ended the season with a loss, winning nine games in between. Of the two losses (Unioto and Gallia Acdemy), which of those teams was the better?

Honestly, they were both teams that did a lot of good things on both sides of the ball. The only factor in each of those games was that they did their job better than we did, and it showed on the scoreboard at the end of the game. I have a ton of respect for each of those programs!

Would you let the readers know the players from the 2023 team that will be moving on to college ball?

Ashton Allman: Campbell University
Owen Hire: Ohio University
Brady Woltz: Wittenberg University
Ian Mohler: Wittenberg University
James Swaim: Ohio Dominican University

What will you miss the most about Vinton County?

The people, the community!!! I can call Vinton County my home! The people here are amazing and hard-working and will do anything for you! The community was so great to me and my family, and I couldn’t be more thankful for them, making my experience in McArthur one that I’ll never forget!

How hard was it to decide to take the new job at Zanesville?

HARD!!! Very hard!!! You look at what I’ve been able to accomplish here at Vinton County over the past 3 years and think I’m crazy for leaving. But I see an opportunity for myself to challenge myself; I see an opportunity for Vinton County to grow exponentially now that a solid foundation has been set; I see an opportunity for me to turn a program around that once was winning but has been struggling; and I see an opportunity to be a blessing to the community of Zanesville.

Zanesville has fallen on some very hard times as of late. What are your plans to get things moving in the right direction?

My plan is to come in and focus on doing the little things right. Building these kids up, changing the mentality behind winning off the field first, and then transitioning that mentality to the field, Reestablishing things that may have been lost along the way! Accountability, commitment, and toughness These are the only ways you’re going to win at Zanesville. 

Once you have openings on the schedule, will you try to add old rivals Marietta and/or Lancaster back on the schedule?

Of course, tradition and rivalry bring excitement to your program. It gets the community involved, and the older generation can relive their glory days, when those rivalries felt like the highlight of their careers. I love to hear stories of those drag-out knockout games!

How important will it be for all of the teams in the program to run the offense and defense you are going to run at the varsity level?

It’s important to a certain degree. I believe in doing whatever you need to do in order for their program to be successful. But then again, there are some things that should be implemented in all programs if they can fit what their kids can do. Things like philosophy, discipline, and culture should be the same across the board. Things like schemes can be adjusted to fit the individual traits of the kids, though.

How important will it be for all of the teams in the system to play a full schedule?

Very important! Playing a full schedule allows your kids to develop in game-like situations. There’s no better rep than in-game reps. Cognitively, they get better. The game slows down. It’s not a controlled environment like practice is. This comes up in games that aren’t always mimicked in practice, and kids will have to learn to adapt and survive.

What was the first thing you said to the team when you talked to them?

I spoke to them about doing the things necessary to be great in their lives. Accountability, commitment, toughness, and sacrifice If they can’t do these things in their lives, it’s hard to do these things when it comes to playing the game of football.

New coach, new team. What will the new team's motto be?

Be the standard! They need to understand that they have greatness within them, but it’s going to take them holding themselves accountable every day to bring it out!

What was the last book you read along with the author?

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Will you be watching any of the new UFL games this spring?

Of course. I think it’s great for these guys to have an opportunity to showcase their abilities and potentially make a move to the NFL.

What is your favorite sports movie?

We are Marshall!!!! Go Herd 💚🤍

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