Oak Hills High School’s football program welcomes Dan Scholz back as the Head Varsity Coach, replacing Justin Roden. Coach Scholz has an extensive history of coaching football and is known for building a well-disciplined team. He hopes to impact his students beyond football and in their personal lives.
Scholz is in his second stint as the head Coach at Oak Hills. From 2012 to 2014, he led the highlanders to an overall record of 12-18. With over 30 years of experience, and 8 of them being a head coach, he is well overqualified for this position. He began assistant coaching for freshmen at Rocky River High School (1990 to 1994). Then at Dublin Sciotia, as well as the strength coach (1995 to 1999), then at Coelrein (2000 to 2007), Winton Woods (2016 to 2020), and most recently at Princeton (2021 to 2024). Scholz was the Head Coach at New Richmond (2007 to 2011). There, he led the Lions to the playoffs and the SBAAC league championships in 2010-2011, and it was then, Scholz was voted coach of the year.
People may agree that the performance of a football team largely depends on the coach and the work ethic of the players. The typical day of our defensive Football players during the season will include practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, including watching film from 7:15 am to 7:50 am, along with 7th bell strength training and ice baths once a week. While Coach Scholz admits that his players’ performance can be a coaching error on their part, He attempts to build his players’ work ethic by setting standards and accountability.
At times, Scholz may seem aggressive, loud, and blunt; he does this to build confidence within his players and to hype them up before games. Perrion Brindidge, our Outside Linebacker, agrees that Coach Scholz is aggressive but effective in his methods.
When asked what his goal was for his players, Scholz replied, “Our players have two jobs, theres 2 things they have to do one, they have to be where they are supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to do to their best ability, thats number one and number two, they have to love each other”. He also states, “My job is to correct, it’s my job to be the one who says the hard stuff, their job is to care”.
Scholz hopes that his teaching mechanisms and the things he says to his players will go beyond the field and will apply to their own lives outside of school. Outside the wins and losses, Scholz measures the success of his players by the outcome of their lives, not their performance. He believes there is no way to determine a player’s success until 20, maybe 30 years ahead of now; It has nothing to do with their stats or scores but what they did with their life.
“With a proven track record of developing competitive teams and a coaching philosophy rooted in discipline, toughness, and accountability, Coach Scholz brings the kind of leadership that will elevate our program and inspire our student-athletes on and off the field,” Oak Hills athletic director Ben Hageman said in a release. Overall, Scholz is a well-respected member of the Oakhills community, and we are excited to see what he can do for our football players!
