Jeff Pikna was named the next head coach of the Aplington-Parkersburg football program last week.
After a stint as the head coach at BCLUW, Pikna says one of his top priorities is making sure the team represents the school and community in the best way possible.
“Historically, I’m super into the old school way,” Pikna says. “It’s very much hard work. It’s very together. It’s always for the name on the front. We don’t have time to deal with anybody that wants to do it for the name on the back. I’m a huge believer that it’s not the amount of guys you have. It’s the quality of guys you have. Huge on morals, values, bringing that to a program, setting that standard, creating a like-minded staff that all agree and focus and speak the same language and talk about the same things, being on the same page.”
The Falcons won just five games combined in the last two seasons, and Pikna looks forward to the opportunity to help guide the program back to prominence.
“It’s the perfect situation for the most part, only way to go is up. I really thoroughly seek out challenges like that. But I want to bring guys on the staff that feel the exact same way. Some people look at it as kind of a hindering time. It’s a massive opportunity for the community, the school, the players and whatever coaches are brought on staff to kind of write their own script. The two wins, three wins thing, none of that bothers me. I’ve seen it before, I know what it’s like to be there. So yeah, to me, I don’t look at those things. I don’t worry about counting wins and losses right now. We’re just focused on the opportunity to make the Falcons the best that they could possibly be. And that’s all that’s on our mind.”
Pikna says a rebuild will start by attention to detail and being disciplined as a team.
“We take it very seriously. Every game, every week, every practice, it’s its own world. That is your world for that time, and we treat it as such. It’s going to be a very serious, very intense atmosphere to start. But like anything else, you get through those first couple months, you do it the right way, you work really hard. We’re not going to do any shortcuts. We’re going to do it the right way, the correct way. We’re going to do it our way. The on the field stuff will take care of itself, but we’re going to be focusing on getting there and showing these young men who they can be as men first, players second. And like I said, eventually the stuff on the field will take care of itself, but it will be done the right way.”
