Frankfort football is looking for a spark after finishing a combined 4-35 over the previous four seasons.
The Hot Dogs brought in a new coach, Justin Kinzie, and with him comes a change to the team’s scheme and culture.
“Everyone had a certain way of doing things,” Kinzie said. “Coming in and getting the guys used to a completely new way of doing things and a completely new kind of schedule was the biggest challenge. It’s been a process, but I think the buy-in has been awesome. The guys have been working hard and showing up.”
Kinzie comes to Frankfort from Brandywine High School in Michigan, but he is no stranger to Indiana high school football. Kinzie spent two years as the head coach at South Bend Riley and several years as an assistant coach in the South Bend area.
One of the tallest tasks for Kinzie in his first year will be replacing the production of Lalo Castillo. The do-it-all running back finished with over 2000 all-purpose yards and was also a big part of the Hot Dogs’ secondary.
“Losing Lalo, we lose a huge chunk of our production,” Kinzie said. “It’s going to be really impossible to replace him as an individual, so what we’re doing with the new system is trying to replace him in aggregate, if I can quote Moneyball here.”
The Hot Dogs have a strong group of returning starters, including Dennis and Derron Barkley, Logan Light, Dominick Hoskins and Benny Chuca.
It’s a season of change for Frankfort. Along with a new coach, the Hot Dogs will also be competing in the brand-new Monon Athletic Conference.
After competing in the Sagamore Conference since 1967, the Hot Dogs join Southmont, North Montgomery and Western Boone in making the switch. Those four are joined by Crawfordsville, North Putnam, Greencastle and Cascade to form the eight-team conference.
“The MAC is going to be a pretty darn good football conference,” Kinzie said. “There’s a lot of parity, obviously there’s going to be teams like Webo(Western Boone), North Putnam and Cascade who are really solid football programs. I know that we’re the 4A school in conference with 2A and 3A teams, but these are really stout football programs.”
Frankfort opens up with two county games against Clinton Central and Clinton Prairie before moving into MAC play in week three. The Hot Dogs and Bulldogs will be featured as the Hoosierland TV Game of the Week for week one.
To listen to the full interview with Coach Justin Kinzie, click below.