West Side football team celebrates their win over Tri-West.

There’s a new guy in charge of the West Lafayette Red Devils football team, but he is not really that new at all. Coach Fry had been working under the now retired football coach for 7 years until he finally got his shot as the team’s head coach, and, according to the team, so far it has been a smooth transition.

Although there is a brand new head coach for the West Side varsity football team, not a lot has changed.

“Our defense is exactly the same as last year, but our offense plays very up tempo, which means that our offense is not on the field as much” said Fry. “It is a great experience. Not much has changed since I was the assistant for 7 years. We still have the same staff, so it is not all that different around here.”

So far in this early season, the Red Devils have beat the #2 team in the state, Tri-West and defeated 2A Lewis Cass. Fry credits this to what he learned from working under Overley.

“There is so much more to football than just the sport by itself, winning or losing. You need to treat the players right and teach them good sportsmanship,” said Fry. “Also, I learned to hire good assistant coaches to help out and let them coach the team too. If they are good enough to hire, then they’re good enough to coach.”

The transition between coaches has been almost non-existent because the players already know and respect their new leader. Coach Fry has been with many of the football players since the beginning of their high school careers, and some even before that. So far with Coach Fry running the show, things have been running according to plan.