Whiting set to be new Minster coach

A familiar last name to fans who know their Midwest Athletic Conference football history will be taking the reins at Minster this upcoming season.

Pending approval by the board of education, Seth Whiting will be the next football coach for the Wildcats, the school announced today in a press release.

"It's a great opportunity. I'm excited to get over there to work," said Whiting via telephone on Wednesday evening. "As far as conferences to coach in in the state of Ohio, it don't get much better than the MAC."

Whiting spent the past five seasons at Division II Alliance, guiding the Aviators to a 30-23 record with four state playoff appearances. This past season, Alliance went 2-8 but won two of its final three games. Before Alliance, Whiting was at Northwestern High School near Springfield, going 21-19 in four seasons.

Whiting is anxious to get to Minster to start, but has to wait until the end of the school year to fulfill his teaching contract. The fact that Minster is over three hours away from Northeast Ohio has him antsy.

"It's rough to take a job like this and be 3 1/2 hours away, not being able to walk in the door and start right away," said Whiting.

Whiting takes over for Geron Stokes, who guided the Wildcats to two state titles and a runner-up finish in eight seasons, becoming the leader in career victories in going 71-31. Stokes stepped down in March after taking the head coaching position at Dublin Coffman.

Whiting knows the prestige of playing in the MAC well from watching his dad Vic Whiting turn Delphos St. John's into a state powerhouse in the 1990s

In 11 seasons as Blue Jays coach, the elder Whiting won Division VI state championships in 1997 and 1998 and was 94-28 overall and 48-22 in the MAC with three MAC titles before moving on to Canal Fulton Northwest, where the younger Whiting played for his father.

"I have a lot of great memories," said Whiting. "Getting to grow up and be around the sport all the time, being with my dad and watching the program progress. … I remember being on the sidelines and just having the excitement of those games every Friday night. Every night was a rough one. I don't think that's like that everywhere where week in and week out, you're playing somebody who has the chance of making a playoff run every year.

"My fondest memories were from the St. Henry-St. John's games, whether a playoff game or a regular season game. Those were fun games being a spectator on the sidelines."

Unsurprisingly, Whiting preaches a physical, quick style of football, although what kind of offense or defense will depend what he finds on his team when he finally heads west.

"Very physical and fast, as far as (what) my teams traditionally look like," said Whiting. "Those are what I'm going to push when I get there. The previous coaching staff has done an excellent job in the weight room. Those kids are getting after it. One of my first questions was what's going on in the weight room and they said the kids have been rolling. I'm excited for that."