Twin-State League heads into its fourth season with three new head coaches
By: Ashley Frye
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The Twin-State League is a tight-knit group of four teams, and after the conference’s third year of existence, three of the four head coaches resigned in the offseason. Leaving Point Pleasant, Warren and Marietta to adjust to the changes that a new head coach brings
In Vincent, Coach Jason Gandee succeeds Jimmy Peyton, and Gandee is no stranger to the Warriors or Southeast Ohio Football.
Gandee- played high school ball at Belpre, college ball at Marietta College and has been on Warren’s coaching staff for the past seven years. And Gandee has made it clear that he has no intention of going anywhere: “I do live here, I’m not going to be a head coach anywhere else, I have no interest in that, I’ve talked to our kids about that, so that adds to the stability of the program,” Gandee said.
Gandee has worked under three head coaches in his seven years with the Warriors, and Warren has had 12 head coaches since 2000, so when hiring Gandee, they wanted someone who was going to give them longevity, and Gandee is that guy.
When it comes to leading this season’s team, Gandee is all about building a strong foundation, making sure his guys know the grind is what makes a great team.
“We just talked about grit in our team meeting today, and the best people I’ve known and the leaders in my life, mentors to me, have grit,” he said. “So, I’m trying to relay that to them, things aren’t always going to go your way, you’re not always going to be happy, not always going to feel like practicing, but you have to decide to just do that, to dig your heels in and decide to overcome it.”
Just down the road in Marietta, unlike Gandee, the Tigers’ new head coach is not only new to the TSL but to Ohio Football.
Mike Kupfner has been a part of the Parkersburg coaching staff since 2015. He spent time as both a defensive coordinator and a wide receivers coach before taking the job as Marietta’s new head coach, succeeding eleven-year head coach Jason Schob.
With Kupfner’s experience on both sides of the ball, he comes to Marietta determined to prove himself,
“Obviously, I’m a first-year head coach, but I’m not looking to come in and take a step back,” Kupfner said. “I think they had a really good season last year, but we’re striving to win every Friday night, that’s the culture we’re establishing, when we step on the field, we expect to win.”
And while the TSL has been a very competitive conference the past three seasons, the competition doesn’t scare Kupfner, but rather it excites him
“We got to embrace competition, that’s what makes Friday nights awesome, for us we want to compete, any time we step onto a field, anything we do we want to compete, and the TSL is a great conference for us to do that,” Kupfner stated.
Over in West Virginia, James Higginbotham succeeds long-time Point Pleasant head coach David Darst; Darst steps away from this role after 18 seasons with the Knights.
With three new head coaches across 4 teams, the TSL is bound to surprise fans more than ever this year.