The Manitowoc Lincoln Shipbuilders Football program is steeped in a rich history and tradition, featuring several quality coaches and players.
They include Ron Rubick (whom their home field is named after), who led the Ships to a then state-record 48-game winning streak in the mid-eighties and three consecutive state championships.
Don Davey was a member of those teams who went on to play for The Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay and Jacksonville in the National Football League.
There have been glimpses of success since, but not consistently.
Lincoln now turns to Evan Smith, an assistant under former Greg Enz and a member of The Super Bowl 45-winning Green Bay Packers, to begin the path back toward the glory years of the eighties.
Smith said on this week’s episode of his On the Line Podcast that the last several months since being hired have been a bit of a whirlwind, but he says he’s enjoyed every second of preparing for the season.
“At the point we are right now, we are very confident. The players are pretty well versed in what we’re trying to do,” he revealed. ‘We were watching film from the scrimmage and like I was told in the guys, it’s not like we’re way off. Like we’re missing by inches, you know, not feet.”
Smith has installed a pro-style offense that will utilize their speed and a defense built on utilizing their athleticism to swarm to the ball and make plays.
He says it’s still a work in progress.
“Once you get the system in place, it’s easier to give kids and put them in spots knowing that this isn’t going to change over the next handful of years,” Smith said. “It isn’t like next year we run a different offense. Absolutely not. Like, this is what we’re running.”
Once established, the former Packer Super Bowl-winning coach says consistent success will follow.
“Now you start seeing where you can put kids within that system. Now you start realizing you can start developing pipelines with positions,” he said. “Like right now, we’ve got a nice little tight-end pipeline coming up. A lot of thought kids around here and it’s going to help their game both ways around football, basketball, all that kind of stuff.”
Tonight’s opponent, the De Pere Redbirds, were 5 and 6 a year ago, losing in Level 2 of the playoffs to Fond Du Lac, while the Shipbuilders finished 2 and 5 in the FRCC South and 3 and 6 overall.
Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on 107.9 WOMT and at WOMTRadio.com.
As a part of the opening night festivities, a stone plaque honoring the late John Dixon will be dedicated and installed at the field.
Dixon, who led the Ships for 14 years, passed away in 2014 after a brief illness.
