Brian Lee, a former standout linebacker at Start High School, will be the next head football coach for the Waite Indians in the City League. He succeeds Kirk Heidelberg, who resigned after one season having guided Waite to a 3-7 overall record.
Lee, 24, was a third-team Division I All-Ohio linebacker as a senior at Start in 2011 before spending two years at Siena Heights University. He has seven total seasons coaching football, including at the junior high level. He was an assistant at Start for four years (2013-16) under his former Spartans head coach, Tyson Harder.
“This is my dream job,” Lee said. “This is an opportunity for me to do for the kids what I didn’t get as far as college opportunities.
“The biggest thing with these [Waite] kids is that the coaches leave them, so their morale is really down. I’ve got to bring their energy up and get them believing in each other, make them trust me.”
Lee will be the Indians’ third head coach in three seasons. Heidelberg succeeded Dan Chipka, who took the head coaching position at St. Francis de Sales before the 2017 season. He believes he can help foster change in the program at the East Toledo school.
“Waite hasn’t won a City championship since [1963], and that really bothers me,” Lee said. “They have the best stadium in northwest Ohio, and they don’t even fill it. That bothers me.
“I really want to show these kids that we can do this. That we can believe in each other. With the group of kids we have now, we can make a run for the City championship this year.
“Why not us? Why do we have to sit back and watch others do good things, and we have the same talent? Our time is now. We shouldn’t have to wait for our time.”
Lee’s full-time job is as a bus driver for Toledo Public Schools, but he plans on pouring a great deal of his time into building a winner at Waite.
“We had many excellent candidates for the head football coach position,” Waite athletic director Cris Lorton said. “It was a tough decision, and one that was not taken lightly. Brian Lee's vision, motivation, and pure level of excitement is something the Waite community deserves. We have a great amount if talent in the ’05 [43605 zip code], we want to keep them here.
“Brian will work well with his staff, the junior football league, the East Toledo Family Center, and our awesome Waite High School staff to create that small-town Friday night football frenzy. Together, we can build a place where all student athletes want to be and succeed.”
Contact Steve Junga at sjunga@theblade.com, 419-724-6461, or on Twitter @JungaBlade.
First Published April 18, 2018, 4:00 p.m.
