Football 2/1/2022 3:02:00 PM Lucien Kisch

Good drafts blueprint to shape Lords' future

GAMBIER, Ohio -- As a student at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, Ian Good fell in love with the game of football. Part of that love was playing football for the Hornets, but he also enjoyed learning about the sport and thinking about how to coach it. During that time, Good began entertaining ideas of following in the footsteps of his own head coach, Jamie Zorbo, and taking charge of a team of his own in the not-so-distant future.

That day has now come for Good, who was named the new head coach for the Kenyon College Lords football team following the departure of previous bench boss James Rosenbury.

"Being a head coach, especially at a place like Kenyon, a Division III institution with high academic standards, has always been a dream of mine," he said. "This is an amazing opportunity to work at a prestigious school that values athletics, and to be able to build something within a department that has so many other successful programs."

Good is no stranger to Kenyon, having been involved with the team for the past five years. He entered the Lords program as both a linebacker and special teams coach and received a promotion to defensive coordinator before the 2019 season. Though this is Good's first head coaching gig, his prior experience, particularly in leading Kenyon's defense over the past three years, has made him ready for his new role.

"I feel extremely prepared to create a culture that can both honor our past accomplishments, and, at the same time, lead us in a new direction," Good said.

Good's comfort at Kenyon and with the Lords program is expected to be a boon for the team and should make for an easy transition.

"With a coach stepping away and a new staff having to be assembled, some consistency is really necessary," he said. "So, with my promotion to this role, I think there's this familiar face here that [our student-athletes] are comfortable with, that they trust."

As the Lords former defensive coordinator, Good does not expect there to be a sea change schematically on that side of the ball and hopes to bring in a coaching staff that can continue to carry out his vision. On the other side of the ball, Good has never been in charge of an offense, but he frequently utilizes his connections to pick the brains of other coaches. Additionally, he is in the process of hiring a new offensive coordinator.

As he continues to learn and lead, one thing that Good emphasizes within his coaching philosophy is that he does not want there to be a major divide between the defensive and offensive units.

"I think being together is a really big proponent of building team chemistry and team culture and avoiding that divide," Good said. "We are truly one team. We are truly a family."

As an internal hire, Good certainly provided a level of consistency, but he also has a few changes he hopes to bring to the team. One of those is starting a ten-week leadership program that a group of his players will be undertaking during this offseason. The goal of the program is to create a strong leadership core for the fall season.

Good also hopes to help his players off the field by further strengthening academic support. He hopes to help, in whatever way he can, everyone on the team attain at least a 3.0 grade point average by the time they graduate.

"Kenyon's a challenging school and earning a 3.0 or better, is quite an accomplishment," Good noted. "If I can assist and support them in reaching that mark, then together we create an atmosphere in which we can consistently celebrate accomplishments on the field and in the classroom."

In the meantime, Good has a few key tasks on hand for this spring. The first is rounding out the rest of his coaching staff with some new hires, helping to beef up the Lords' support system. He hopes to have those hires finalized by the time spring practices begin. Those practices will also be critical for Good and the Lords, as the team will begin to gain better familiarity with his coaching style. Additionally, Good will be focused on finishing up recruiting for the Kenyon class of 2026 and begin diving into next year's crop of potential recruits in the hopes of shaping a sustainably successful future for the program.

Ultimately, Good considers himself a process-oriented coach, preaching that from process, results will come. During his time at Kenyon, the football program compiled a 6-34 record, proving that they have significant work to do before competing for a conference title.

"Everybody wants instant results," he said, "and I think we need to temper those [expectations] and be realistic and understand that it's not going to happen overnight. I think one really important thing to realize is that being a losing program over the years, we're going to have to flip that and teach these guys how to win and have a winning mindset… and that takes time."

Now as head coach, Good hopes that he can be the one to ultimately guide Kenyon to the point where it can be a team competing for the conference title. He has set up his roots in Gambier, along with his wife and son, and hopes they can continue to be a part of the family atmosphere that he plans to cultivate with his team.

The future for Lords football is bright and Good could not be more excited about being at the helm of it. As he pointed out, "At this stage in my career, this is a dream job."

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