From Coach's Kid to Coach Himself, Varpness Takes Over at SLP

Vince Varpness has always had coaching in his blood. His father was a long-time coach, and the younger Varpness dreamed of following in dad's footsteps since an early age. After a number of assistant coaching stops, Varpness now has his , as is he taking over for Andy Ewald at .

St. Louis Park Patch recently sat down with Varpness to discuss his goals for the season, the people he looks up to and his life off the field.

St. Louis Park Patch: What are your immediate goals for St. Louis Park football? And what do you say to the players on Day One?

Vince Varpness: My immediate goals are to sit down with all the coaches and players themselves, meet with them individually, and to get to know them as individuals. Kind of find out what their personal goals are.

St. Louis Park Patch: The team struggled last year, going 2-7. How do you think a new coach addresses this, and what are your expectations for the team?

Varpness: I expect to have a winning season.  The good thing is when I analyzed things coming into it, I saw there is a lot of young talent that got the chance to play (last year). And we’ve got a lot of youth coming up. I think the future is bright.

St. Louis Park Patch: What kind of football would you, ideally, like to play on both offense and defense? Explain your strategy.

Varpness: Offensively, we call it a “multiple-I” set. We’ll go under the shotgun, will do some one-back (formations), some two-back. We’ll go under center. We like to mix it up. From year to year, it varies depending on the personnel we have, but basically, it’s an inside and outside zone (blocking) type of (offense). We want to control the ball, with an emphasis on running and play-action and quick passes … Defensively, we’re more of a 3-4 type scheme. We like to rotate the safeties down into the box, give (the opponents) eight in the box. We do a lot of disguising with our coverage and our fronts as well to keep teams off balance. We like to mix up our blitzing — we’re not a blitz-all-the-time team, or an all-the-time-zone or all-the-time man team. We mix it up.

St. Louis Park Patch: You mentioned the coaches. Do you know who is coming back from last year's St. Louis Park staff and who might not be coming back?

Varpness: That’s the thing I’m in the process of. I’ve got three to four quality assistants I’m looking to bring in, but I’m also looking to keep some guys around, too. So. I’m going to meet with each of them to see what different positions they could coach and where they’re willing to fit into the program. I’m definitely going to keep some guys around. That’s for sure.

St. Louis Park Patch: You’ve never been a head coach before. Are you nervous about your first opportunity?

Varpness: No, not really. I grew up a coach’s kid, so I’ve been preparing for this since as far back as I can remember. This is good timing for me, as far as my progression in the coaching world, so this seems like a good fit.

St. Louis Park Patch: Have you always thought that you would like to be a head coach?

Varpness: It’s been the top priority ever since I can remember.

St. Louis Park Patch: How prepared do you think some of your assistant coaching jobs along the way have made you for this opportunity?

Varpness: I’m fortunate enough where I’ve been in a lot of different situations. I’ve intentionally placed myself in those assistant jobs from a standpoint of being able to coach on offense and defense over my career. My plan as I was looking at jobs during my assistant years was looking at how will this help me further my development. I played several positions in high school and college, and I’ve coached several on both sides of the ball.

St. Louis Park Patch: What positions did you play and what was your playing career like?

Varpness: I played receiver and corner at Worthington High School (Minn.). Then I played for my father at Worthington Community College at strong safety and receiver. Then I went up to Bemidji State and played outside linebacker up there. I liked to hit people [chuckling].

St. Louis Park Patch: What was it like playing for dad?

Varpness: It was a great experience. It was fun. I was basically on the sidelines with him my whole life, so I knew exactly what I was getting into.

St. Louis Park Patch: What’s your career highlight so far, either as a coach or a player?

Varpness: Boy, there are so many of them, it’s hard to pin down just one. My experience at the University of Minnesota (as a graduate assistant coach) was great. We went to three bowl games in four years (under head coach Glen Mason). We beat Penn State when they were No. 2. We beat Ohio State when they were No. 5 in the country. At Minnesota West (Community and Technical College, where Varpness was an assistant coach), we won back-to-back conference championships, so that was a great run. But I guess my biggest, most exciting thing was when I was at Minnesota West, we had a couple of kids get recruited and go on and play for the University of Kansas. That was fun to be able to go see them play down there.

St. Louis Park Patch: Who do you look up to as a coach, either current or retired?

Varpness: My father, without question. I was lucky enough to grow up under him as he was an older coach, in his last 15 years or so. It was a good experience, because I think coaches go through progressions as they grow in their field. He was about more than just wins and losses. He was about developing young kids into being leaders of the community. I think I got a lot of that from him, and I think it helped me mature as a coach.

St. Louis Park Patch: Is there an NFL coach on the sidelines currently that you really like?

Varpness: I’m not a big NFL guy. I don’t try to mold myself after anyone by any means. I’m a big college football fan, though. I like Lou Holtz [Editor's Note: Holtz coached at several schools, including the University of Minnesota, and is now retired], and Joker Phillips, the head coach at Kentucky. He was a guy I worked with (at Minnesota). Greg Hudson (now linebackers coach at Florida State) as well. But the top two guys, I’d say, are my father and Lou Holtz.

St. Louis Park Patch: Do you have a favorite player, either current or retired?

Varpness: I like the old-school, tough guys, like Dick Butkus. Those were the guys I looked up to. I wasn’t a kid that had a whole lot of speed or size, but I could hit.

St. Louis Park Patch: Is that the kind of mentality you want your St. Louis Park players to have, that old-school, tough mindset?

Varpness: Yeah. I think you can win without far superior talent if you concentrate on playing hard and never giving up … If you’re giving maximum effort all the time, you always have a chance. I’m a firm believer in that.

St. Louis Park Patch: Tell Patch a little about yourself off the field. What do you do for work?

Varpness: I’m an insurance agent for MetLife in Bloomington.

St. Louis Park Patch: Are there any similarities between your work life and being a football coach? Anything you can apply from one to the other?

Varpness: It’s all about working with people. Developing relationships with people (in either setting) is exactly the same. 

St. Louis Park Patch: Are you married? Have any kids?

Varpness: I’m married. Coming up on five years now. My wife is a teacher at Bloomington-Jefferson High School. No kids yet, though.

St. Louis Park Patch: Do you have a Super Bowl pick?

Varpness: I’m a Pittsburgh fan, I guess you could say.

St. Louis Park Patch: Do you see the St. Louis Park job as one you’d like to have for a while?

Varpness: Oh yeah, definitely. I plan to stick it though and get this program turned around. I’m not one of those guys looking to climb the ladder and move halfway across the country. I’m solidified with my family here in Minnesota.

St. Louis Park Patch: Lastly, if you had to describe a Vince Varpness football team with one adjective, what would it be?

Varpness: Determined