Former defensive coordinator for Johns Hopkins University will replace previous coach Mike Schmitz
Travis Marmon
Sports Editor
The College’s Athletic Department announced Frank Colaprete as the new head football coach last Thursday. Colaprete, who was the defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins University from 2010-12, will take over the Fighting Scots football program following the resignation of Mike Schmitz.
Thanks in large part to his defense, Johns Hopkins was a consistent playoff team during Colaprete’s time there. The Blue Jays ranked in the top 25 in every major defensive category in 2011, and the top 40 in total defense, scoring defense and sacks in 2012. Colaprete also coached at Johns Hopkins from 2001-06 before moving up to the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level as an assistant at Georgetown University. He has NCAC experience as an Allegheny College assistant from 1999-2001. This is his first head coaching position.
The College’s search committee — consisting of Athletic Director Keith Beckett, members of the coaching staff, members of the administration and a faculty member — chose Colaprete from a pool of over 200 candidates, which was eventually narrowed down to four finalists. Beckett explained that Colaprete most fit the criteria that Wooster was looking for, namely “an individual that was going to help us propel upward in the NCAC in the athletic venue, as well as incorporate the balance of academics.”
Beckett says that Colaprete will bring “an element of change and a fresh start. He has a variety of ideas and a level of excitement that we’re optimistic that he will deliver. It’s going to be a new approach. Different in regard to practice structure, different in regard to approach for game-planning, etc.”
One change that Wooster fans can expect immediately is an increase in national recruiting. While Colaprete, a northeast Ohio native, says he will recruit heavily in the states that the team has an established presence in — Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York — his connections on the east coast will lead to a larger talent pool.
“We will continue to recruit nationally,” he says, “since this college has a lot of diversity as far as the states it comes from. There will be a similar footprint of the College and the team.”
“He’s kind of the best of both worlds,” Beckett says. “He was an undergraduate many years ago at John Carroll, and he’s from the Youngstown area. So he has that connection with the local region that you would consider for football, but…he’s really been able to make connections in the New England area, which we haven’t been able to tap as heavily in football as we would like. He still has the ties and connections locally, but he is connected and folks know him at those schools out east.”
Colaprete says that as a coach, he prides himself most on “getting young men to reach their full potential, on and off the field.” He did not go into immense detail about his offensive and defensive schemes, but indicated his intentions to change up the team.
“On both sides of the ball we’re going to be multiple,” he said. “Diverse, but simple. School is hard enough — we don’t need another class to get on the team. We’re gonna be multiple, diverse and entertaining.” Colaprete’s defensive background should also help improve a team that was 125th in the nation in total defense and 113th in scoring defense last season.
Colaprete says that he is “extremely excited” to coach the Scots. While he had head coaching offers from several other schools, “the College of Wooster is exactly what I was looking for. A top academic school with a proud winning tradition, and it’s something me and my family were looking for…it’s incredible to be able to come home [to northeast Ohio].”