Once Jason Broaddus fell into coaching football, he fell in love with it.
“Immediately,” Broaddus said. “I always kind of liked being around school as a student, so it was just kind of a natural fit for me.”
Once he found his calling, It only seemed natural that some day Broaddus would return to coach at his alma mater, Rossville, where he earned All-State honors in 1992. Indeed, after coaching stops at three other schools, Broaddus joined the Bulldogs staff five years ago.
Now he’ll get a shot at leading the program. On Wednesday, Broaddus was named Rossville’s head coach, filling the void left when Steve Buhler accepted the Washburn Rural job last month.
“It was something I always had in the back of my mind, but wasn’t necessarily a set goal,” Broaddus said of returning to coach at Rossville. “It’s a place I love and if the opportunity was right, I wasn’t going to hesitate to come back home. When I came back, I had it in my mind that I wanted to be the head coach here sometime down the road. I’m pumped up, I’m overwhelmed and just honored and proud to be the next football coach at Rossville.”
Despite not having head football coaching experience, Rossville athletic director Derek Dick said Broaddus also was a natural fit for the job.
“He’s obviously familiar with the kids, the community and the league,” Dick said. “We had a couple other really good interview candidates as well, but we just felt like with him being an in-house guy, he was ready. The only thing we felt he lacked was head coaching experience and you have to get that at some point. He’s paid his dues ... and we felt he’s definitely got the knowledge and just needed a shot.”
Broaddus happened upon coaching almost by accident. After two years playing at Hutchinson Community College, Broaddus was set to spend his final two playing years at Missouri-Rolla. After two weeks at the school, he left and enrolled at Emporia State.
While there, he reunited with his former Rossville coach, Mark Luedtke, who was head coach at Emporia High School. Broaddus spent three years as an assistant for the Spartans before taking an assistant job at Baldwin.
Broaddus spent six years at Baldwin, serving as both offensive and defensive coordinator at different times. He then moved to Shawnee Heights for three years before returning home to Rossville.
While serving as an assistant for the football team, the past two years as offensive coordinator, Broaddus also was head track coach. He led Rossville’s girls to three straight Class 3A state titles and that experience groomed him for the football job he’s ready to tackle.
“Experience in terms of organizing and being in charge is a benefit, no matter what the sport is,” Broaddus said. “There’s a lot more pressure that goes along with being the head coach at Rossville, and that’s to be expected. The pressure wasn’t really on track, so that aspect will be different.
“But I’ve been influenced by a long line of good coaches at Rossville, going all the way back to playing for Hal Taliaferro and Mark Luedtke and Tony Trimble, who was an assistant. Then I coached for Luedtke and more recently with Coach Buhler. That’s every head coach at Rossville since 1978 that I’ve learned something from and taken something from.”
The pressure Broaddus alluded to centers around one big one — beating Silver Lake. The War on 24 rivalry is one of the best in the state and for the better part of the past two decades, the Eagles have held the upper hand.
Broaddus acknowledged the challenge.
“That is certainly the judging factor,” Broaddus said. “Competing for and winning league and state titles, that’s our goal and Silver Lake’s an obstacle for winning both. Not only are they our rival — if we were both 0-9, it would still be an important game — but we’re both good teams and they’re an obstacle for us to win championships. It’s our highest priority to work towards and achieve that goal.”
