At Glendale, uncertainty has given way to stability. Less than a year after losing longtime head football coach Mike Mauk just days before Week 1, a native son has returned to take the reigns.
“The first day we did weights I changed clothes and I was like, ‘Man, it smells the same as 1999,'” said new Glendale Head Coach Frank Tristan.
25 years after he graduated from Glendale, Tristan is back. In that time, he’s built up a resume that includes head coaching stops in high school and at the Division II college level. He most recently led Willard as they improved from a one-win season to a five-win season.
“We have a home in this area,” Tristan said. “And a lot of the guys I went to high school with still live in the area. Springfield’s a big place but there’s still a community inside of Springfield that’s the Glendale community. So it’s good to be back home.”
After nearly a decade of a run-and-gun style utilizing five wide receivers on every play, Tristan approached senior wideout Jayln Lockett to let him know he would be their new starting running back.
“[Coach] was like, ‘We’re bringing in a running back,’ and we’re all just sitting there like, ‘What?'” Jayln said. “Because we’ve never seen a running back before at Glendale.”
“We went to the UCM [football] camp this [recently] and it was the first time they took a handoff in several years,” Tristan said. “So that was eye-opening.”
The first-year coach is bringing a little ground and pound as one of the newest members of the Central Ozark Conference. It’s a new league for Glendale, but nothing new for Tristan after his time at Willard.
“I like the way they’ve split it up,” Tristan said. “I think everybody in the conference is coached well. And then the facilities are cool. I think this is going to rival the big conference that’s in Kansas City.”
“I’m very excited,” Jayln said. “I get to play some friends I’ve never played and some teams we’ve never played.”
Jayln and his teammates know to be the best in their new conference they’ll have to beat the best. “I’m looking forward to playing Nixa in our last game,” he said. “I’m calling them out right now.”
When they get there, they’ll be led by a new coach with the same old Falcon blood.
