Head coach Ken Hofer has used the single-wing offense with devastating results en route to back-to-back Division 5 titles; Pratt still a presence despite stepping away from coaching.
By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
The single-wing offense is a unique weapon that Menominee High School has used for two-straight Division 5 Michigan state football championships and a 28-game winning streak.
Despite heavy losses, the Upper Peninsula school and coach Ken Hofer is going to be gunning for a third-straight 14-0 season. Last season, Menominee beat Jackson Lumen Christi 21-7 in the title game.
“It's a group of young people who aren't afraid to make a commitment and then go out getting the job done. That's what it comes down to,” Hofer said, adding that duplicating last season what his team did in 2006 was a pleasant surprise of sorts. “We had a lot of apprehension. Fortunately, we had a group of offensive linemen come through for us. That made a significant difference. We had to move some people around like taking our backup tailback and making him a defensive tackle, and taking a tight end and making him an outside linebacker.
“Our offensive line grew in stature as the season went along.”
The season starts on Aug. 28 and 29 around the state and Hofer is cautiously optimistic.
“I would say this is a team that has a good turnout of young people, 46 of them juniors and seniors,” Hofer said. “We don't have a lot of experience on defense. We don't have one experienced offensive back. We have a lot of work to do in developing an offensive structure in the backfield. Defensively, we're almost starting from scratch.”
The single-wing has been Hofer's offense since 1966. He's been coaching for 41 years at the school.
“I enjoy the challenge of it. It makes me feel a great deal younger when you're with young people,” Hofer said. “You think young and as a result, it makes for a very nice experience.
"In my estimation (this team) has one of the most difficult schedules we've ever had,” Hofer said. “We play two Wisconsin schools who are among the top five in Wisconsin, and that's Homestead and Marshfield. We have our own conference with Kingsford and Escanaba, which are two very good teams. The other schools are also very competitive.”
Menominee also has another Wisconsin team on the schedule, with neighboring Marinette in the well known M&M game.
“They're on the way back and look to have a very good team this year,” Hofer said. “When I look at our schedule and the size of our school, we have our work cut out for us and it will take a great effort among our young people to be successful.”
Key players for Menominee will be tight ends Jacob Pedersen and Justin Salzman.
More Football
It's been two seasons since legendary Michigan football and basketball coach Jack Pratt decided to end his football coaching career after 50-plus seasons. But with a state championship in hand while age 77 at Flint Powers, Pratt still enjoys plenty of memories.
Pratt retired at the end of the 2005-2006 school year as coach and teacher in government, history and sociology. He also coached basketball, baseball and track at Grand Blanc. He also coached basketball at Goodrich and basketball and football at Flint Powers for 52 years. He's 80 years old right now but is still a clear authority on the game.
“We won three state titles in basketball at Flint St. Matthews in 1961, 1966 and 1967,” Pratt said. “All the years I coached were highlighted years regardless of the scores or the outcome. It's a great profession and one that's very gratifying.”
At age 78, Pratt decided to call it a coaching career.
“There were a lot of circumstances in making a decision,” he said. “I picked up Parkinson's as a problem which made it difficult to be a coach. So I decided to pass the coaching on to someone else.”
It doesn't surprise Pratt that he kept coaching until he was almost 80.
“I think when a person loves what they do, age isn't a factor. It's whether you're able to do the job and if you're gratified with the job that you're doing,” he said. “Coaching is a job in which you get gratified simply because you see the growth in the young people you're involved with and you see them turn into somebody better because you had a chance to be involved in their lives.”
Asked what his favorite sport to coach was, Pratt replied, “every time you walk out as a coach that's the best sport and when you go to another, that's the best sport. People have asked me many times what's my favorite, I guess I've always told them my favorite is what I'm coaching at that time.”
Pratt doesn't hesitate to say he misses coaching.
“If you love something all your life and you have to give it up, I wonder what anybody's answer to that would be other that I'm not happy that I had to stop coaching," Pratt said. "I still love the job. I have great admiration for the profession. I appreciate the opportunities you have to be an important part of somebody else's life.”
Pratt still attends high school football games. He added that he didn't change his coaching techniques much whether he was in his 30s or 70s.
“As far as I know, the game of football, basketball and baseball has the same rules whether I was in my 20s or my 50s,” he said. “You play under the same rules. The commodity you work with is the same, it's a young person who loves what they're doing and they're willing to make a sacrifice. When a young man becomes a believer and you're a part of that. If doesn't matter if you're 20, 80 or 100.”
Coaching is somewhat of a family tradition for Pratt, who has six sons.
“All of them coached or worked with me at some time,” he said. “My wife (Mary Ellen) is really the head coach. I just kind of follow her orders."
