Sports

Kern resigns as Service football coach

With 11 days to go before their season-opening football game, the Service Cougars are looking for a new head coach.

Kevin Kern, who was heading into his third season as head coach and 14th season as a member of the coaching staff, resigned Tuesday.

He said a combination of things, including a family medical emergency, factored into his decision, which he said kept him up all night Monday.

"It was a really, really tough decision for me," Kern said. "I was gonna step down and stay on as defensive line coach, which is what I love anyhow, but if I can't commit 120 percent, it's not me.

"I was up all night."

Anchorage high schools began football practice last week in preparation of the Aug. 14-15 opening weekend. Service is slated to play Wasilla on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the school's still-new stadium.

In Kern's two seasons as head coach, the Cougars were 13-7. Service was state runner-up in 2013 and made it to the first round of last year's playoffs.

ADVERTISEMENT

"He was torn up about leaving at this (juncture)," Service activities principal James Hancock said Tuesday afternoon.

Hancock said a search for Kern's replacement has already started.

"If you know any good candidates, I'd sure like to talk to them," he said.

In the meantime, a handful of assistant coaches with considerable experience will run the team.

That group includes offensive coordinator Jason Caldarera, the school's former head coach who hired Kern 14 seasons ago. Caldarera retired as the head football coach in 2012 but never ventured far away. He became the coach of the school's flag football team, which gave him a chance to coach his daughter Keira, and rejoined the boys team as the offensive coordinator.

Besides a family medical emergency that could require him to travel to Florida with little notice, Kern said the demands of his job with Denali Media "make it harder to juggle" everything.

Plus, it's been an emotional few weeks for the Service football program. A player who graduated this spring was critically injured in a car accident late last month and another former Cougar died at age 24 in mid-July.

"I'm as competitive as the next guy but I want these kids to succeed in life too, and that was my main goal," Kern said. "The last few weeks with kids in accidents and dying, it all piled up. With the family stuff and the work stuff, it added up."

Hancock said Kern will be missed and will be welcomed back should he decide to return in the future.

"We wish him well and pray for good health for his family," Hancock said.

Hancock hopes to find a new head coach quickly, certainly by the time the season opens.

He said the football job is just one that recently became open.

"Cross-country assistant, C team volleyball. I have a diving coach I need to find. Assistant boys basketball coach. All have come open in the last two weeks," Hancock said.

One of the coaches moved out of state, he said. Another moved to the Valley. Others left for other reasons.

"People are falling left and right," Hancock said. "I'm begging for coaches."

ADVERTISEMENT