High School Football Week 3 – Kickapoo Chiefs

High School Football Week 3

I cannot believe that we are already in Week 3 of the high school football season. Absolutely nuts how fast this has come upon us, for the senior parents, time needs to slow. By now coaches across Southwest Missouri know what their teams are, and they are working to develop their strengths even more while minimizing their weaknesses. It is a fun time of the year for high school football, the season is getting settled in. This week I am highlighting one of the largest schools in our area. In transparency, I coached a couple of years in this program and had the time of my life. I learned more about football in the first 15 minutes of being in the coach’s locker room than I could have ever imagined. One thing I loved most about my time coaching at the high school level was the love given to me by the coaching staff. These men mean the world to me! 

Kickapoo Chiefs

The Kickapoo Chiefs are coming off a phenomenal season last year, but they want more! Coach Nate Thomas and the team are ready to have the sour taste they have from last year’s season ending the way that it did removed from their mouth, and the only way to do that is to get out there and work. That is just what they are doing whether it is the work in the weight room, changing practice schedules, and development of players and coaching staff; everything is for that purpose. There is no doubt that in the 2024-25 season, they will Spear Down. 

One of the biggest differences in the Kickapoo football program has been their dedication to the work being performed in the weight room. On Friday nights when the lights are brightest, the work that programs put into the weight room will shine and translate to the field of play. It is evident that Kickapoo continues to invest in the weight room because of the translation to the field on Friday nights. Coach Thomas continues to elevate his weight program throughout the year and gives shout outs to Kickapoo athletes on his X account every time a new school record is broken, which is every max day! 

One area that Coach Thomas specifically brought up during our conversation that I found to be extremely important when heading a football program, was the coaching staff. Having great coaches on staff is a benefit to the players and the other coaches. Just as they say on the gridiron that iron sharpens iron, this is the same within the coaching staff as well. Coaches feed off each other in many ways, just as players do. Another great point to note that Coach Thomas mentioned is that he develops coaches in his program, so they can take over if he is unavailable and he has the confidence that they are moving the needle forward within the program just as he intended for it to. They speak the same language to the players, they stick to the same schedules, the coaching staff is an extension of him and the program and this makes transitions within the program less impactful if something were to occur. This is a great way to have a succession plan in place or develop an assistant coach to be able to take over a program whenever they are ready. Or overcome a global pandemic, just saying. 

Kickapoo has been blessed to have the number of players that they have year after year. A few years back, they had to reach out to other football programs to secure equipment to make sure that everyone on the team had what they needed, they simply ran out of equipment to issue to players because of how many players were in the program. This is a great problem to have especially in today’s football programs where traditionally numbers of players are trending downward. For the last three years Kickapoo has had a senior class with over 20 players and eclipsing over 30 this year, 21 (2022-23), 26 (2023-2024), and 31 (2024-25). What this creates are players that have been in the program for three years waiting their turn to step into the varsity games and prove that the wait was worth it, the hunger is real! Last season, 11 of the seniors went on to play at the next level. These are outstanding numbers for a football program and certainly something that is bucking the trend in high school football. 

A unique challenge that having a large number of players on a football team is keeping younger classmen who are not getting the varsity time engaged in the program. In a world of instant gratification, this is a challenge for the coaching staff. However, Coach Thomas and staff have leaned into this challenge by making the junior varsity games meaningful. It is an all-hands-on deck approach of treating the junior varsity games just like the varsity games and creating a culture of competitiveness each and every down during the game. This engagement allows for players to gain experience leading up to their Friday night debut. Also, there was a program shift in how practices were being handled, as Coach Thomas puts it, no player works harder than a junior varsity player. Their week consists of a game on Friday night, a game on Monday night (sometimes back late in the evening and some cases early Tuesday morning), and practice Tuesday night until 6p or 7p against varsity players, repeat on Wednesday, and final game prep on Thursday. Tuesdays and Wednesday are typically the junior varsity team is running scout team, meaning they are running the opposing team’s plays for the week, and getting beat up in the process. So, I would agree, it is tough being a junior varsity player, but oh so important in the development of a varsity player. With this, Kickapoo has shifted their Tuesday practices to be less of a contact day and more work on hand shields or bags. This lessens the impact on the players coming off a junior varsity game. Smooth move, Coach! 

This year the Kickapoo Chiefs have adopted the mantra of Spear Down. This is reference to the Chyenne warriors of when they would battle, and it was getting to the end, they would throw their spear into the ground behind them and would refuse to give up the ground up behind them. It is great to see Kickapoo lean into this culture of their heritage at their school. No doubt we will see the Kickapoo Chiefs Spear Down and protect what is theirs this season. 

Coach Thomas will forever be a coach that I will look up to, he does it the right way. Kickapoo football has continued to elevate their program year after year, I am not highlighting wins and losses, it is the development of the people in and around the program. They continue to turn out large numbers of players and can keep the players engaged in the process, and in today’s day and age, this is no easy feat. I continue to look forward to seeing how Coach Thomas, the coaching staff, and the players continue to elevate the program and find their success’ on and off the field. 

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