Jacob O'Neill (Boys Wrestling)
1) How long have you been a coach at WC?
“I am completing my fourth year.”
2) What is your favorite part about coaching?
“[I love] the people and the connection I have with them.”
3) What would you say is your coaching style? How would you describe it? (How do you run practice, what are your expectations, etc.)
“My coaching style is one that meets the needs of individuals. I want to get the best out of each and every one of our student athletes.”
4) What about your style and your sport do you think is unique compared to other sports?
“I feel like our bond is a little tighter because of the emotional turmoil that is involved in the sport.”
5) What is it like seeing your players progress over time?
“It is absolutely the best and everything that I strive for as a coach.”
6) What types of goals do you set for your team?
“[We want to] get better every day.”
Sean O'Brien (Boys Cross Country)
1) How long have you been a coach at WC?
“This is my eighth year as the head coach for boys cross country and 10th year coaching overall at WC.”
2) What is your favorite part about coaching?
“[My favorite part is] the family atmosphere that gets created each season and seeing how much the team improves from one year to the next. I also love seeing how much they grow as young men from freshman to senior year.”
3) What would you say is your coaching style? How would you describe it? (How do you run practice, what are your expectations, etc.)
“I try to be encouraging and focus on improvement from week to week. Everyone starts at a different point, so just focusing on being the best you can be each day is the best way to achieve your goals. Everyone on the team knows that it's important to be at practice each day so we don't have too many absences overall as a result.”
4) What about your style and your sport do you think is unique compared to other sports?
“Cross country is a sport for everyone. Whether you are a state qualifier or just trying to get in better shape, you can find a place here. It's certainly unique because everyone can literally see how much they are improving throughout the season based on their times.”
5) What is it like seeing your players progress over time?
“It's honestly the best feeling. We make it a point to recognize everyone on the team when they run a PR or run a good race. I think that is a big reason why our team feels so much like a family or brotherhood. All of these guys want to see each other succeed.”
6) What types of goals do you set for your team?
“Focus on being the best you can be each day, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Stacy Mitchell (Girls Basketball)
1. How long have you been a coach at WC?
“[I’ve been a coach for] 16 years, six years as the boys basketball varsity assistant and 10 years as the head coach of Girls Basketball.”
2. What is your favorite part about coaching?
“I enjoy practice and skill development the most. Teaching the game of basketball is fun to me.”
3. What would you say is your coaching style? How would you describe it? (How do you run practice, what are your expectations, etc.)
“I believe in the overall well-being of our players. Our aim is to develop not just basketball skills but also life skills such as teamwork and character.”
4) What about your style and your sport do you think is unique compared to other sports?
“Basketball is the ultimate skill sport. In order to be good in basketball, there has to be good skill, and that is acquired through consistent skill development, team continuity and practice.”
5. What is it like seeing your players progress over time?
“It's very rewarding to see players develop both on and off the court. There is a strong sense of pride when you see your players develop into the best version of themselves.”
6. What types of goals do you set for your team?
“Academically, we want all of our players to take full advantage of everything Warren Central and the Walker Career Center has to offer. Socially, we want our players to represent their families and our community in a way that would make both our community and their families proud.”
Jason Tillage (Swimming)
1. How long have you been a coach at WC?
“I’ve coached diving from the beginning of my career. I was coaching diving as an assistant head coach for both here at Warren and New Palestine. Then I became a head coach over in New Palestine, and then I started coaching down in Florida as a head coach. And then I got here in July of 2024.”
2. What is your favorite part about coaching?
“For me, it’s all about just seeing people improve. I’ve always said good coaching is a part of the sport, and I honestly believe that. Once a good coach learns the sport, I believe that when they have the athlete's best interests in mind, they can coach them and do what they need to do to help them either prepare for that sport or even life outside of the sport. That's what coaching is. I’m teaching them to be better people later on down the road.”
3. What would you say is your coaching style? How would you describe it? (How do you run practice, what are your expectations, etc.)
“I truly am a holistic style coach. I love coaching the mindset of things. And once someone has the correct mindset, I believe they can then be coached to do anything they need to do, whether it's life, whether it’s in the pool, whether it's on the track, the baseball field or the football field. [My style is] one that’s like control what you can control. It’s just the power of positivity, just things like that, just having an open mind, a positive mindset when you go into things.”
4) What about your style and your sport do you think is unique compared to other sports?
“Well, first and foremost, every sport here is unique, right? You have to take the athletes you have, and you have to make it work and put your spin on it, right? My style of holistic works for the pool because it is really broad. We got diving, we got swimming, we got different strokes and working techniques. You’re racing yourself, but you’re also racing others.”
5. What is it like seeing your players progress over time?
“That is the best, probably one of the best parts about coaching. It’s just seeing the improvement that I’m seeing. When I got here, we only had a few kids who had seen the water before, and we did a lot of recruiting. We got a lot of kids on the team, and just watching them improve, not only inside the water, but outside the water, in the classroom, they just become that much better as students, as well as athletes.”
6. What types of goals do you set for your team?
“We want to win. We want to do that. We don’t want to just be the stepping stone in MIC. We don’t want to be the stepping stone in sectional. We don’t want to be the stepping stone in county. We want to build a great swim program here into a powerhouse that can be dealt with later on down the road by other teams like North Central or Carmel.”
Gary Roberts (Girls Lacrosse)
1) How long have you been a coach at WC?
“I have been coaching various sports at Creston and Warren Central for 37 years.”
2) What is your favorite part about coaching?
“I love the teaching part of it. Games and competing are awesome, but practice is where I like to be most.”
3) What would you say is your coaching style? How would you describe it? (How do you run practice, what are your expectations, etc.)
“There should be a good deal of focus, but it should also be fun for players and coaches.”
4) What about your style and your sport do you think is unique compared to other sports?
“Soccer and lacrosse are fairly free-flowing sports. Practice needs structure, but I think there needs to be a lot of playing the game and flexibility.”
5) What is it like seeing your players progress over time?
“That's the best part of the whole thing.”
6) What types of goals do you set for your team?
“My fundamental goal is that our team and players are significantly better at the end than they were at the beginning.”
Steve Crumlin (Golf)
1) How long have you been a coach at WC?
“This is my third year as varsity coach here at WC.”
2) What is your favorite part about coaching?
“My favorite part is building the kids’ swing and then watching as their game improves.”
3) What would you say is your coaching style? How would you describe it? (How do you run practice, what are your expectations, etc.)
“I am patient in the beginning with inexperienced golfers. But I have expectations that they apply to what I teach. My coaching gets more technical, and the expectations on thinking about how to save strokes rise. I’m highly involved with every part of their game as they progress. Practices combine practicing on the range and playing at Maple Creek. The idea is to bring good swing mechanics to the course from the range.”
4) What about your style and your sport do you think is unique compared to other sports?
“To be a good golfer, you need mental toughness. 18-hole matches take four to five hours. They need to take mental breaks between shots. You can’t continuously concentrate for that long.”
5) What is it like seeing your players progress over time?
“[Seeing the players progress over time] is absolutely the best part of my job. When they hit it well, the feeling of accomplishment is visible.”
6) What types of goals do you set for your team?
“I don’t set score goals. I set goals on each hole they will play, and that is tricky. I encourage patience, positivity and how to react when things don’t go their way.”