Familiar face Jeff Mitchell sticks with it, takes over as Bemidji's new head coach
· Yahoo Sports
May 12—BEMIDJI — Jeff Mitchell and Rick Toward have worked hand-in-hand to grow Bemidji's youth soccer community for the better part of 25 years. It was a partnership that worked on and off the field.
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Toward was the good cop. Mitchell was the bad cop, at least that's how he put it.
"Most of the time, I was yelling about something both of us didn't like, but one of us had to stay in the game," Mitchell quipped. "That role is going to be reversed. I have to be more laid back and less vocal."
On April 1, Toward
announced his departure
from the Bemidji High School boys soccer head coaching position, a role he's held since 1995. He jumped at the opportunity to move to Uruguay for a 180-degree shift in his teaching career as he inches towards retirement.
There had only been three head coaches in program history until Mitchell was promoted to the helm on May 8.
Toward is never too late to credit Mitchell for his coaching prowess, especially in the tactical aspects of soccer. However, as similar as the two think when it comes to fielding a soccer team, their backgrounds differ.
Toward is a Minnesota-raised high school teacher who has spent the majority of his life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. He's been the measured, but stern, voice on the sidelines of BHS and the Bemidji Youth Soccer Association (BYSA) for over 30 years.
Mitchell, an Oklahoma native, lived in the south
until he moved to Bemidji in 1999.
Through his family's ties to soccer, he got involved in his new community. His dad, Barry, and son, Logan, are heavily involved in Bemidji Youth Soccer, leading to the Mitchell name becoming synonymous with the association.
Over the years, Mitchell found a groove with Toward as his top assistant coach.
"I've always been the bad cop in the bad cop, good cop scenario," he said with a laugh. "That just happened due to my personality and Rick's personality on the sidelines. I've watched three or four games outside the fence in Grand Rapids and Duluth because I've been kicked out. That has to change. I can't be the bad cop anymore. I can't be vocal and work a ref like I have in the past while Rick bites his tongue."
Aside from some operating tweaks, Mitchell expects the Jacks to look similar — if not the same — under his leadership. He's been the varsity assistant coach for 14 years and has coached in the program for roughly 25 years. Mitchell is still the acting club administrator for BYSA.
"The administrative side of stuff is something I've done for the youth program for a long, long time," Mitchell said. "It's not that I'm unfamiliar with it. I just enjoyed not doing it during the high school season. But I deal with all of that for eight or nine months outside of the high school season. That's the biggest change for me."
Mitchell and Toward's emphasis on developing the youth program has led to more advantageous results at the high school level. For Mitchell, the tactical mind of the duo in charge of figuring out which players will thrive in certain areas of the field, it's given him more flexibility when youth players mature into varsity shoes.
"Xs and Os, the style of play, there's nothing that's really going to see any huge differences from the last 14 years Rick and I have been together on the varsity field and the last 25 years I've been with the program," Mitchell said. "When the high school players get to us, they've played in a 4-4-2, they've played in a 4-3-3 and they've played in a 3-5-2. That's by design. We can rotate through a 4-4-2 and a 3-5-2 pretty consistently."
The big question, though, still lingers.
Toward's initial plan was to coach until his youngest son, Al, graduated in 2025. He then intended to stretch his career at the helm by three additional years until the opportunity to teach in Uruguay popped up.
"Well, it wasn't the game plan Rick and I discussed," Mitchell said with a laugh, noting he intended to follow the same timeline. "He got this great opportunity he's always wanted to do, and I'm more than happy he and Sherry get to do this. It's pretty awesome that it's the time in his life when he can make it work. It's not an easy thing to do when you have kids, or even to get accepted if you can do it. But he did, and that's great for them."
While supportive of Toward's decision, it forced Mitchell to think about his own situation.
"You can say it's selfish, but Rick and I both had the same feeling that we can't just let somebody walk in off the street and run it into the ground," Mitchell said. "We're too attached to this program and soccer in Bemidji just to let anybody come in and run it. We joke that he'll have to get me a guest room in Uruguay if that happens. I can't sit here and watch this program deteriorate."
At the annual BHS boys soccer team's year-end banquet in 2024, Toward was pointed in his aspirations for a rising group of sophomores. It's a group of players that the coaching staff, Mitchell in particular, grew close to.
"I coached that whole group in the summer, and they're just great kids," he said. "As human beings, they're fun to be around. I also think, as soccer players, there's something there that could be special. If we can get it all to fall into place, we've got something."
For now, Mitchell's exit strategy remains fluid. Ideally, he'd like to see that same class of players graduate under his leadership. From there, it's up to a younger voice in the community to prove they're capable of taking the reins.
"There are quality people here who could take this over. It's just about making it work," Mitchell said. "It's the kids that keep me coming back. I was talking to Logan Larsen about this, and it doesn't really matter if you're coaching the girls or the boys. You get attached to these kids. You go through the highs and the lows with them.
"If we find somebody who comes along who will do a good job, whether it's two years, five years or 10 years, that's outstanding. If nobody shows up, I don't know if I'll make it to my late 80s like my dad, but I'll keep doing it because I love it and I love the people."