Mossholder takes over Y-C football

Brennon Mossholder is staking out unfamiliar territory.
Mossholder, a 2010 graduate of Clackamas High School, played football and baseball for the Cavaliers before embarking on a college baseball career, first at Clackamas Community College and then at NCAA Division II Concordia University in Portland. After graduation, Mossholder returned to assist Clackamas High’s perennially successful football and baseball programs.
“No matter how successful I was there, I was never going to be a head coach there,” Mossholder told the News-Register. “I thought it was a good opportunity for me professionally to make that step. I love Clackamas, I could have stayed there forever, but I think change is good.”
That next step is taking over the football program at Yamhill-Carlton High School, Mossholder’s first head coaching position at the varsity level.
Mossholder succeeds Jerry Sutton, who was fired by the school after four seasons. The Tigers went 5-29 overall from 2012-15, including an 0-8 season (0-5 Class 4A Oregon West Conference) this past fall. Yamhill-Carlton listed 26 players on its 2015 varsity football roster and could not field a junior varsity team. Y-C has not made a state playoff appearance since the 2007 season.
Mossholder is aware of the recent past; he brings it up, unprompted, in an interview with the News-Register. He also sees a path toward a brighter future.
“Let’s be honest: Nobody wants to go 0-and-whatever they went and not be able to field a JV team,” he said. “I understand that maybe winning a state championship isn’t a goal next year and the players realize that as well. Our goal is become a better football player and teammate every day. My philosophy is that what we’re going to learn as a team and as an individual is to compete. Compete in practice, compete in the weight room, compete in games, compete to be the best people we can be.”
Y-C brought in three players from the 2015 team – sophomore Colton Saddoris and juniors Michael Paolo and Hunter Horne – into Mossholder’s interview to vet him, he said, and he has met with present and interested football players on campus. He will see more of them: Mossholder will hold a part-time teaching position at Yamhill-Carlton High School, in addition to his duties as a football coach.
Mossholder said he has two stipends available from the Yamhill-Carlton School District to use on assistant coaches. Mossholder, who turns 25 in September, is looking for in his assistant coaches “guys that are like me, high-energy, going to build kids up.”
“We don’t want anybody to beat the kids down. We’re not going to beat them down,” he added.
Mossholder plans to get his first look at the Tigers in an athletic setting the week of June 6, in a belated spring practice period.
“We’ll see how these kids move and play and run,” he said. “The first, biggest priority is just getting as many kids out as we can. We just need more bodies.”