WHITEHALL — Jack Schugars often refers to the three “F’s” when it comes to his Hall of Fame coaching career: Faith, family and football.
“Fantastic” is a word you could use to describe his visit on Season 3 Episode 5 of the CatchMark Sports Podcast Monday afternoon (Jan. 23).
Schugars, the legendary Oakridge football coach, who still assists with two-time defending Division II national champion Ferris State University and his son’s Traverse City Central squad, offered much insight during his visit with podcast co-hosts Scott DeCamp, Ken Byard and Cody Kater.
In 32 years as Oakridge’s head coach (he coached high school football for 42 years total), Schugars guided the Eagles to 19 West Michigan Conference titles, 20 playoff appearances, five state finals appearances and three state titles (1997, 2005, 2008).
Schugars “retired” in 2011, but that was not it for him in the coaching world. For several years running now, he’s been pulling double duty as special teams coach at Ferris State and as an assistant for son Eric Schugars’ varsity team at Traverse City Central, which appeared in the 2021 Division 2 state finals.
That’s a lot of trips from Big Rapids to Traverse City and back, but Schugars wouldn’t have it any other way. And he has no intention of slowing down.
Watch the podcast with Schugars in the video at the top of this story.
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