I hope this finds everyone doing well and having enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe it's already December!
As briefly mentioned in a prior post, the Hobart College Statesmen football team welcomed a new assistant coach recently. I reached out to Coach Fleischacker to get to know him better.
Our "interview" (my questions in bold, his responses in regular text) is below:
Your bio says you attended and got your undergraduate degree at Penn State. Are you a PA native? Where did you grow up and play HS (and/or college) football?
First off, it is awesome to be answering questions from a Hobart Alum that does great things for all players and programs at the Division 3 level by promoting our brand of college football. I am originally from Cream Ridge, NJ; a small, rural central jersey town. I grew up on a horse farm with my family; I graduated and played high school football at Allentown (NJ) High School. I was a DB and a kicker. I went to college at Penn State with aspirations of walking on as a kicker (did not happen), but I was hired as a scouting intern under Bill O’Brien’s staff as a freshman in college. Once Coach O’Brien took the Head Coaching job with Houston and James Franklin took over, I made it a point to start helping the Graduate Assistants on the defensive side of the ball. The Defensive Staff quickly took me in as one of their own and I started working specifically with the linebackers for the next two seasons until graduation.
Who were some of the coaches that really inspired you and have you adopted any of their philosophies?
Brent Pry has been the biggest mentor in my career, and I am forever grateful for everything he has taught me and the guidance he continues to offer. That entire Penn State staff under Coach Franklin instilled in me early-on the importance of strong relationships between the players and coaches and enjoying coming to work everyday while holding everyone in the program to a high standard.
Nate Woody who gave me my opportunity at Appalachian State taught me one of the greatest lessons in coaching I have ever heard. “If you keep it simple, and your players can execute the defense you’re asking them to at a really high level; well, then you give yourself a good chance.” That is something that I continue to find to be true in any defensive scheme I have been part of over the past few years.
Lastly, Will Windham, who was one of the Defensive GA’s at Penn State when I was a student assistant, must have told me this one sentence 1,000x during my first season. “Attention to detail.” He showed me the work ethic it takes to be successful as a college football coach and I’m extremely grateful for everything he has done for my young career.
What led you to want to become a student assistant coach during your time at Penn State?
When I went to college, I remember I told my parents and grandparents I was going to get on that field at Beaver Stadium somehow. Naively, I thought that would be with a helmet on, turned out to be a headset instead.
I was majoring in Accounting and spending 10+ hours of my day as an unpaid student-assistant with the program. I quickly figured out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and that was not going to be working with taxes. The thought that I could ‘come to work’ everyday and coach the game of football, game plan against opponents and recruit student-athletes was a dream that now had some light shed on it.
The life of a young coach requires a lot of movement. What were some of the similarities and differences you saw between PSU, Appalachian State and Mercer?
I quickly saw the similarities between App State and Penn State from a football culture standpoint. There were high standards from the outside-community but even higher standards internally. There was a history of excellence in both programs. That history may have been at different levels (FBS vs. FCS) but we (App State) were in the middle of showing everyone that we could have success at the FBS level after making the transition from the FCS level a few years prior. They have continued to show that their culture drives the success as the winning has not stopped in Boone, NC.
We had very different Head Coaches at App State and PSU from a leadership standpoint. Coach Satterfield (who was also the Offensive Coordinator) really let Coach Woody (Defensive Coordinator) be the Head Coach of the defense. The dynamic worked extremely well for us as a staff and as a team. Coach Franklin took more of a CEO approach. He is one of the best motivators I’ve ever been around and made sure he knew what was going on in every aspect of his program, but he would always allow his coaches to do their job and take care of their own position group. Both are great football coaches that have each respectively had an enormous amount of success.
It was a completely different situation at Mercer as Coach Bobby Lamb created and built the Mercer Football Program from the ground up over the past 7 years. Seeing everything that had gone into building Mercer’s program, showed me how long it took those cultures to establish themselves at Penn State and Appalachian State. Being at a smaller school like Mercer, I realized how much more involved I would be with other aspects of the team such as academics, equipment, and recruiting and operations, since there was less support staff than the previous two stops. This was something I embraced as an opportunity to continue to grow as a young coach and bring as much value as possible. This turned out to be something that made me closer with my players off the field as we work together more often on issues that could arise off the field.
How would you compare D3FB to upper division FB based on your first-hand experience?
College football is college football. The fact that we give guys an opportunity to get a world-class degree and compete for championships on a yearly basis is what it is all about in my opinion. The biggest difference from a program standpoint is the size of the staff. I would sit in a football staff meeting of 30+ people every morning at Penn State. It was organized, efficient, and a very productive way to start every day to get the entire program on the same page. Here at Hobart and even last year at Mercer, it is not even comparable and that is okay! One of the first things Greg Hadley told me when I got here is that at Hobart we have always done “more with less.”
At the end of the day, we are putting 11 guys on the field to go against 11 guys from somewhere else. It is about competing and coming together as a team and as a family. The values that all the players and coaches learn from the experiences and adversity of a season is the same no matter what level you are playing at. We tell high school players all the time, find the best fit for you and your family-- academically, athletically, socially, etc.
Most of us "old guys" remember the days when Hobart FB had a more traditional "Mike, Frank, Will and Sam" LB set up. How has the growth of the spread changed this "old school" set up given using less DL, more DBs/OLB hybrids, packages, etc.?
A spread offense does make you want to get as many athletes as possible out on the field to put us in the best situation we can be to get everything stopped and covered. For us specifically at linebacker (Inside & Outside), we want players that understand their role in the framework of the defense and can execute at a fast & high level. We spend so much time on teaching techniques and fundamentals that we try to make the process of installing new packages or defenses for certain situations a little easier by using existing techniques in a different spot on the field.
I firmly believe that a successful defense will always start and stop upfront and having the ability to stop the run no matter what offensive scheme the opponent is running. I saw three different option-style offenses last season, a handful of spread offenses and a couple more pro-style 21/12 personnel type teams. We have to be ready for it all. That starts with a strong knowledge of our techniques and fundamentals.
What drew you to the Hobart job? How do you like living in Geneva?
Prior to being hired here at Hobart, I was coaching linebackers at Muhlenberg in more of a part-time capacity that only ended up lasting about 3 months and was all virtual due to the pandemic. Nate Milne [Hobart '03] and Kory David [Statesmen DC for the 2015 and 2016 seasons] had both talked to me about their respective times here at Hobart and they have nothing but great things to say about the program, Coach DeWall, the surrounding area and everything in between. The more research I did and the more people I talked to, I got the sense that this was a place where a high level of importance is put on having success in the classroom and on the field. The more I talked to Coach DeWall, Coach Hadley, Coach Green and the rest of the staff the more it felt like this program is headed in the right direction and it was definitely something I wanted to come and help be a part of.
So far, I am loving living in Geneva! You cannot beat living on the lake. I have done some exploring so far around Geneva and the Finger Lakes and have been impressed! I am definitely looking forward to doing more of it hopefully in the near future as we get through this COVID-winter.
What has this past year - given the uncertainties due to COVID, lack of NCAA guidance on return to play plans, etc. - been like for you as a coach?
It has been challenging on a lot of different fronts. When the pandemic hit, I was in the middle of looking for a new job, which was not the greatest of timing. But I tell my guys all the time that we have to attack any adversity that comes our way and come out of it stronger on the other end. Fast forward through the whole process and everything worked out for the best and I landed in a situation that I am truly thankful to be in.
As COVID relates to the on-the-field play, our players did an unbelievable job this fall term of having a positive attitude and a great work ethic through it all. We were able to get in a lot of great full-padded work on the field and we were able to compete in all three phases of the game and most importantly get reps under our belts. Our staff came up with a great plan to safely get the most out of this term on the field and I think the sacrifices we all had to make as players and coaches to get all of this completed will pay off in the end when we look back on this time.
This was not the fall any of us had anticipated but all we can do is continue to push forward and wait until we are told we can compete again. Hobart will be ready.
Is there anything else you'd like past, current and future Statesmen players, families and alums to know about you that I haven't already asked?
I am incredibly excited to be here. I’m excited for where this program is going. I understand the great tradition and standards that come with being a part of the Hobart Statesmen Football Program. I am ready to give everything I have to this school and the community and I will always do whatever I can to help each of my players become the best version of themselves by the time they graduate from HWS.
