Good Sports: Will Daffron expecting a big change in Red Devil football fortunes

Chaffee head coach Will Daffron, right, addresses defensive players between plays during a preseason jamboree game against Kelly High School on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, at St. Vincent High School in Perryvillle.

Southeast Missourian

Good Sports is a column featured weekly in the Southeast Missourian and on semoball.com. It is primarily designed to showcase people who have impacted the sporting life of Southeast Missouri, so that readers may get to know them more fully. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Today: Will Daffron, 27, head football coach, Chaffee Red Devils. Daffron coached in Malden, Mo. as an assistant in 2016 and in his hometown of Piggott, Arkansas for two years in 2017-18 as defensive coordinator. In his inaugural season leading Chaffee, the injury-plagued Red Devils posted a 1-9 record in 2019, including six shutout losses.

You left your hometown to come north to southeast Missouri. Why?

I had a very good job in Piggott, which is a little bigger than Chaffee but not much. I’m only about 90 minutes from where I grew up. I was itching to get out on my own and lead a program. I saw the opening advertised and decided to go for it. I knew Chaffee had a rough year in 2018 (finished 2-8) and I knew the roster was small. This was going to be a challenge and all of this attracted me to the job.

A rough season for you right out of the box, though.

We started off well (in 2019) with a 52-8 win over Crystal City but then the bottom fell out. We just kept losing players. We lost a tight end/free safety in week 1, a tight end/defensive end in week 3 and lost our quarterback, Tyler Essner, in week 5. We didn’t have a lot of healthy bodies throw out there.

A season to put in the rear-view mirror, yes?

No, not at all, to the contrary. I’ve even taken a schedule from last year and put it up everywhere. The message is – “This is not going to happen again.” Stressful doesn’t even begin to cover last year. No fewer than six players needed surgery by the end of the season. I had 15 healthy kids. We’re taking last year’s suffering and building on it.

How bad did it get in ’19?

Last season, our numbers were so depleted we couldn’t even scrimmage without pulling in team managers and coaching staff as players.

What a difference a year makes, yes?

We’ve had a great turnout for the new season coming up and have 35 kids so far. We’re almost overwhelmed having so many options. I give credit to my kids from ’19, who said to others they should come and give football a shot. Get to know Coach Daffron. I’ve been fortunate to build relationships with kids who played other sports.

Chaffee's Will Daffron will coach the Red Devil offense in 2020 and will delegate leadership of the defense and special teams to assistants. Submitted

You are one of the youngest head coaches in the area. Is that a factor in recruiting?

I don’t think so. It’s about your personality and how you treat kids, how you act. Kids see through lies and insincerity. They must believe you love them and want them to get better. Also, you can’t have favorites. If a player crosses the line, you must handle it on the spot.

You’re from out of town. When it comes to discipline, since you don’t go way back with these boys or their families, does it help to be relatively new?

In some ways. I pretty much rip all of them equally. I have two all-Conference running backs coming back in Drew Swinford and Bryce Horrell and I’m extremely demanding of those guys. Both got hurt last season – Horrell tore up his shoulder and Swinford had a fracture in one of his feet. Both are full of fire and passion. I have to say good things about Nick Crouse too. He plays both ways – fullback and linebacker and he had a season-ending injury in week one in ’19.

In the film “Friday Night Lights,” a Texas high school football coach gets a lot of advice on what guys to play and what schemes to run from the community.

I’ve read the book on which the film is based. Very familiar to me. Most folks don’t come up to me and make suggestions. A parent who knows me well? Yes, sometimes, and if we have the relationship, I’ll listen.

The pandemic has thrown normal preparations out the window.

Yes, and I’ve had a chance to talk to a lot of coaches in Missouri and Arkansas through the Hudl software program about schemes and what have you. Here’s the thing: other coaches don’t know your situation and your kids. They’re not here so you have to put that in perspective when listening to advice.

You played, yes?

I was a 6-foot nose guard, a defensive lineman, for Piggott High, also sometimes a linebacker. I played on the O-line too.

When I interviewed you last year, you said you like to “pound the rock.”

I was raised to believe in the Power-I, in smashmouth football. If you ask me the question now, I’d say I’m still rush-oriented, but Chaffee will establish the ground game in order to set up play-action passing. Not going to tell you much more than that, however. I hope you understand.

You’ll coach the same way this year as in 2019?

No, I shouldn’t have taken on so much last season. I ran all three phases in ’19. This year, I’ll run the offense. Coach Nick Hermann will coach defense and he’s planning on multiple sets depending on what we see from the opponent. Coach Jackson Rushin will be our leader on special teams. I’m learning to delegate.

You’ve been in Chaffee now for awhile, the city built for the train.

The old Frisco Railroad, yes. The support here is unbelievable and incredible. Not just for football but for Red Devil athletics period. There’s nothing more special than small schools and how the town rallies around the players.

After a rough start on the gridiron last season, any regrets about leaving your hometown?

No, coming (to Chaffee) was a gut, a heart decision. The Lord led me here.