Change of plans

After turn of events at Blackwell, new Elk City defensive coordinator back in Western Oklahoma

Tyler Palmateer
Daily Elk Citian 

Put plainly, the situation at Blackwell High School had soured for Jeff Metcalf.

The new defensive coordinator for the Elk City High School football team took the same position at BHS this past February, but administration changes there threw the Guymon native for a loop.

“I just got a bad feeling from everything,” Metcalf said. “I didn’t talk to the head coach much. He didn’t return my calls. His story was always different than the athletic director’s.”

The smoke soon revealed the fire, as Metcalf was told BHS head coach, Josh Nation, had resigned from his position. The school’s administration then put Metcalf’s name in the hat for that job, but went a different direction, hiring Jacob Bible, who would act as defensive coordinator and co-offensive coordinator.

“I had no problem [with being passed over for the head coach job]. I met with [Bible] and he said he would call the defense,” Metcalf recalled.  “Then he said he was going to be co-offensive coordinator and would give part of the coordinator job to someone else. It just didn’t turn out to be the job I was offered. I told him no thanks.”

That conversation took place the Saturday before Easter, meaning Metcalf was on the clock when it came to finding a job for the 2025 season. He sent out a mass email to schools which he had previously applied that included Cache, Carnegie, and Elk City.

The following Monday, ECHS head coach Jason Scheck called Metcalf and asked about the situation. The two conducted an interview the following week and Scheck liked what he heard.

Metcalf mentioned to Scheck about his scheduled interviews at Cache and Carnegie, prompting Scheck to ask him if he would still consider those schools if offered the Elk City coordinator position.

“I said, ‘No, I wouldn’t.’ I left the interview, and five minutes down the road [Scheck] called and asked if i was interested [in taking the Elk City job]. I said, ‘Yes.’”

This spring, Scheck admitted he always had a strong interest in hiring Metcalf, but Blackwell had beat him to the punch and hired the defensive coordinator in February.

Scheck said other candidates for the ECHS coordinator job came into interviews with a “my way or the highway” mindset, but not Metcalf.

“We do certain things and as long as I coach [at Elk City], I’ll ask coaches to do things that certain way,” Scheck said. “Other people [in the interview process] made it apparent to me that they feel this is how they do it, and this is  how they’ll always do it.

“[Metcalf’s] eagerness to do what’s best for the program is what stood out to me.”

HIS PHILOSOPHY
Metcalf’s coaching career began in 2004 as a linebacker coach at Northeast High School in Oklahoma City. He worked his way to defensive coordinator there, then took an assistant coaching position at Cashion High School and soon became defensive coordinator.

With some younger starters at Elk City this season, Metcalf may have a luxury he wasn’t afforded at Cashion — a chance to mold a fierce defensive unit.

The CHS offense featured Cayden Cochran, who now quarterbacks at Division II power Valdosta State, and Jeremy Seaton, the backup tight-end at Oklahoma State. Metcalf helped build Cashion’s defense from the ground up, but that didn’t take away from the fact that the team would always be offense-heavy.

“It’s hard to say [how the defense was characterized at Cashion]. Everyone played offense and defense, but you had kids who may have grown up all about offense. it was hard to convince them [to buy into a defensive mentality]. We just tried to stay aggressive.”

In the past, Metcalf coached in districts where I-formation ruled the day, yet he has always run a 4-2-5 defense, which can be a powerful tool against the spread. Such a scheme will come in handy in District 4A-1, where teams tend to be pass-happy.

The common thread, Metcalf said, is that his teams will not “sit around waiting for something to happen.”

“I understand the kind of defense we’re going to run, you’re going to allow a couple big plays a game or cheap touchdowns,” Metcalf said. “That’s all fine, as long as we stop the run and be aggressive. To me, everything else will fall into place.”

Metcalf said his Cashion teams blitzed one player “75 to 80 percent” of the time. It’s not rolling the dice, he said, but simply emphasizes putting pressure on teams and not letting them settle into their offense.

“If a team gets something big on us doing something they’re not comfortable doing, then hats off to them. But we’re going to do what we do and come after people.”

Under such a scheme, there will be a lot of zone blitzes, limiting man pressures. Metcalf said he isn’t keen on isolating his defensive backs, which will come in handy since the Elks very well may start two sophomores at those positions.

In fact, how does a new coach bring along young players at not just those positions, but an entire defense that lost plenty of key starters from last year’s team?

“In practice, we’ll constantly have to do situations they’ll see come game time, so they’re not out there just clueless. We’ll make sure we’re not overloading them on information and schemes.”

Specifically regarding the youth of the Elk’s cornerbacks, Metcalf said it will be a matter of dealing with mistakes as they come. However, based on what he has seen from the team’s video reel at team camp in Kansas, Metcalf said there is reason to believe  there will also be game-changing plays.

“If you put some young defensive backs out there, you have to deal with the mistakes that they allow. Just from watching spring ball and team camp, the couple mistakes they do give up, they’ll probably make a couple big plays too. You just have to deal with that.”

WEST IS THE BEST
Metcalf always kept a desire in his pocket to coach Western Oklahoma football. As an offensive lineman and linebacker at Guymon High School, his roots reside here, and there is an awareness of the reputation the district carries.

“To me, it’s appealing to go to a place that week in and week out, you don’t know what will happen. One or two of the teams in this district is always there to make a deep run into the playoffs or state finals.”

Growing up, Elk City, Weatherford, and Clinton were always visible to Metcalf. From his vantage point in the panhandle region, the success of those programs was always apparent.

“Just seeing something that they were building was a big appeal,” Metcalf said. “Nothing is ever a sure win or a sure thing here. I think that’s fun, trying to beat those teams. You can be a real good team in this district and not make the playoffs.”

Now that Metcalf has settled into a home in Elk City and is readying for 2025 practices next week, he can look back with assurance and see positives in the situation that wasn’t to be at Blackwell.

The ECHS coordinator job was the first position Metcalf applied for after Christmas break this past year, but Scheck contacted his future colleague a little too late.

“[The ECHS job] was the first I applied for after Christmas break, but by the time I heard back from them, I had given my word to another school. I didn’t want to be the guy who gives his word for one thing, then turns around and bails.

“Now that I’m here, I believe it’s a good thing and a blessing that it didn’t work out at Blackwell.”