Zeinert ready to hit the ground running with Yoe

A few weeks ago, the list of candidates for the next Yoe offensive coordinator was narrowed down from nearly 80 to 1 when it was announced that Altair Rice athletic director and head football coach Gary Zeinert was hired to take over the role.  

Zeinert has spent the last five seasons as the head man at Altair Rice, where he compiled a 27-29 overall record and three playoff appearances. Zeinert was also the head coach at Charlotte for two years and has been in the coaching business for 22 years. For Zeinert, it’s now all about taking that next step. 

“As a coach, Cameron checks off all the boxes,” said Zeinert.  “I have been part of teams that have won district championships, part of teams that have won playoff games, and part of teams that have made deep runs, but I’ve never won a state championship and that has kind of been a goal of mine. I feel like coming to Cameron Yoe gives me the opportunity to do that.”

In addition to the chance to compete for the gold medal, Zeinert also said that community pride and working for a well-liked athletic director played a role in his decision to apply.  

“Secondly, I want to be somewhere where football is very important to the school and the community,” Zeinert said.  “I have done my research and I know that Cameron has a lot of school spirit and there is also a lot of community support and that was attractive to me. Thirdly, Tommy Brashear is very well-respected in the coaching community. That is the kind of guy that you want to work for and the type of person you want to coach your son. It was a no-brainer to go after it.”

Zeinert has two sons, Garrison, who is 17, and Zane, which is 14. Garrison, which was a second team all-district receiver this past season, will remain in Altair Rice for this senior season. Zane, which plays quarterback and linebacker, will be coming with his dad to Cameron for his freshman year.  

Yoe athletic director Tommy Brashear did note that there were plenty of quality candidates for the position.  

“It was around 78-79 applicants. At first, you have to weed out if they don’t have a teaching field.  If some aren’t quite as experienced and try to move up quicker, you set those aside.  Then you narrow it down from there and look at the ones that have the experience or more experience than you’re looking for.”

After going through all applications, Brashear said he settled on six to interview.  Of the six, he felt that all would fit in well with the program but it was Zeinert that stood out amongst the field.  

One of the big reasons could be the fact that Zeinert has experience with the spread, which is the only formation that Cameron operates out of.  

“I guess you could say I’m a spread coach,” said Zeinert.  “I like to spread it out and get the ball in a bunch people’s hand. You want to make the defense defend the entire field.  I know Coach Brashear has a lot of the same philosophies that I do.  I think the entire coaching staff is going to work well together.”

Brashear has been calling a majority of the plays for Cameron since he has taken over the role as head coach.  He now plans on relinquishing some of that play-calling duty to someone who has been there and done that.  

“I’ve been calling the plays on offense, and I wanted to find someone that could do that a majority of the time,” Brashear said.  “I want him to learn our terminology, and I would like him to call plays some and that will free me up to be more involved in all aspects of the game.  It will help me speak with the officials, my coordinators or my position coaches.  I enjoy calling plays and I won’t be completely out of it, but I want him to take the reigns and kind of go with it.”

Zeinert said his planned start date with Cameron will be April 16, a few weeks before the start of the 7-on-7 season. He has already watched some of the kids work out during athletic periods, and was really pleased with what he saw. 

“I’ve watched the kids work out twice during the athletic period and what really caught my eye was just how hard the kids work,” said Zeinert.  “Not only that, you see a lot of them try to step up as leaders and you see those leadership skills developing. You see the fact that the coaches are coaching kids and the concern that they have with the players. You also see the concern and care that kids have for each other.  It’s definitely a team atmosphere and family-type atmosphere.”

In general, it just feels like a good fit for all sides. 

“I had a real good feel for him when I met him the first time. All of his references spoke highly of him,” said Brashear.  “It felt right to me and he seemed really excited.”

“I am incredibly fired up about this opportunity,” added Zeinert. “I am going to work my tail off to help Coach Brashear and the Cameron Yoe football team reach all of their goals.”