LAPLACE, La. — The Wayne Stein era at St. Charles Catholic is officially underway as the new head football coach is already making changes to help the Comets make a run at their third straight Division III title game.
Last season, starting quarterback and leading rusher Zack Vicknair led the Comets to a 7-3 record.
His strength lies in the physicality he runs the ball with.
That’s why this fall, he moves to running back while junior Ayden Authement takes over as QB1.
“I’m excited I get to hit people the whole game. At Quarterback I had some chances, but I had to give the ball away and I had to throw the ball away. Now if I get the ball, I get to just hit people the whole game,” says St. Charles Catholic Senior Zack Vicknair.
“For Zack’s sake we think it gives him the opportunity to get recruited. He wasn’t going to get recruited as a quarterback. We think as a running back, safety it gives colleges the opportunity to look at him in a real position. You still may see him throw the football a little bit, but more than anything it wasn’t our lack of confidence in Zack. It was more of our confidence in how versatile he could be, and that Ayden could add another dynamic to the offense,” says St. Charles Catholic Head Football Coach Wayne Stein.
Stein has long served as defensive coordinator at St. Charles Catholic and says that he will be heavily involved but the bulk of the play calling falls on new defensive coordinator, Jason Brown.
Brown is part of an experienced and reliable coaching staff, something he’s glad to have in year one.
“I think the biggest thing that helps me sleep at night with all of the new tasks that I’m taking on is my staff. Ty Monica is the offensive coordinator. He’s been here for the last 20 years. We lost Coach (Frank) Monica which is a big piece, but the glue of our staff is still here and we’re confident that because of that we can continue the winning tradition,” says Stein.
Even though he is retired from the head coaching profession, Frank Monica can still be seen on the sidelines at St. Charles Catholic from time to time.
Both Stein and Vicknair agree that Monica will serve as the greatest resource and motivation for the Comets heading into the 2021 football season.
“I like when he comes around because you almost want to impress him. He doesn’t come around all of the time, so whenever he does you want to impress him to make him think that he left us on a good note,” says Vicknair.
“I want him around, maybe more. I think he’s trying to respect me where he tries to stay away. I try to reiterate to him that I want him around. He built our program. Kind of like Zack said, we want to make him proud. He just had high expectations for everybody, and I hope that’s something I can continue. Obviously, I’d like to continue the winning but the discipline and the way that we do things is way more important than that and I think that’s truly the legacy that he left. The winning will take care of itself,” says Stein.
