Back on the gridiron, Mitch Hendricks pulls from past experiences to lead Bemidji's offense

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Sep. 8—If Mitch Hendricks had it his way, he'd be out on the water or in a deer stand rather than on the sidelines coaching football.

He got a close-up view into the life of a high school head football coach growing up. His father, Troy, was the head coach for Bemidji High School football for 18 years.

He saw the amount of work and stress it takes to run a program, so he was completely fine being away from the game of football. Only a special opportunity could've disrupted that plan.

"I always told myself I wouldn't coach, because I'm a diehard outdoorsman. Every single second of free time, that's what I do," Hendricks said. "I told myself the only thing I would ever do (is) — I would not be the head coach, I would not be a quarterback's coach — I would be an offensive coordinator."

So when new Bemidji High School football head coach Kyle McMartin called him to offer him the offensive coordinator position, it seemed right up his alley. He would be in charge of running the offense and creating plays, no other responsibilities required.

But he hesitated. Hendricks initially told McMartin no, but the more he thought about it, the more the job appealed to him. Two days after McMartin offered him the position, Hendricks took the job.

Now he's working with three-year quarterback Owen Vandermeer and the rest of the Lumberjack offense that's historically used to running the ball in the triple option. Hendricks has plenty of experience in that system as a three-year starter himself for the Jacks from 2009 to 2011.

Once he moved on to college to play for Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, he ran a no-huddle spread offense.

Hendricks is given free rein as Bemidji's new OC, so his philosophy going into the season was simple: why not combine the two offenses he knows from Gustavus and BHS?

So far, he's been having fun doing so, and he's getting rave reviews from his players.

"He's super smart," Vandermeer said. "His play calling is way different than what we've had in years prior. We're going to build off that and just see where it takes us."

It may seem impossible to some, but there are people in Bemidji who have never heard of Mitch Hendricks or his football pedigree, including some of his own players.

As a three-year starter, he led BHS to three straight state tournament appearances.

As a two-year starter for Gustavus in NCAA Division III, he led the Gusties to two straight winning seasons, including a 7-3 record in his last year in 2015.

Senior offensive lineman Carter Kramer didn't know Hendricks had such an extensive football history.

"I can see where all of his hypeness comes from now," he said.

His impressive resume, of course, didn't come easy. In his sophomore season, his father returned for his second stint as BHS football head coach. He was also the activities director.

When Mitch was named the starter that year, it wasn't because of nepotism. Troy had high expectations for Mitch, and work never stopped when practice ended.

"We were not allowed to slip up at all, I'll tell you that," Hendricks said. "I would call myself a mentally tough kid. That was most likely because of how they raised me growing up. Then playing under him, there was absolutely nothing that was going to be given or guaranteed.

Hendricks recalls extra coaching sessions with his dad in the driveway long after practices ended.

"… I remember him taking chalk out on our concrete slab in front of the garage, drawing where the tackle was, where the tight end was, where the guard was and where the center was," Hendricks continued," "and he was my running back, and we would work on the run plays."

All the hard work paid off with three straight Section 7-4A titles. By graduation, Hendricks was recruited to St. John's near St. Cloud to play quarterback for the Johnnies.

Things didn't click for Hendricks, however, and he soon transferred to Gustavus, where he found a home under head coach Peter Haugen.

While the offense was much different than what Hendricks ran at BHS, he found success with the Gusties. By the end of his two years as starter, he threw for 6,451 yards, 68 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.

"We were throwing the ball a lot, and with that, great stats come with it," he said. "We (had a) football team that was competing for conference championships, but we just fell short on those."

Once he graduated in 2016 with a major in business management, he moved back to Bemidji and started small businesses with friend Connor McNallan, ranging from real estate to home building.

Since then, football hasn't been on his mind much. That was until McMartin picked up the phone.

Hendricks has been a signal caller on complete opposite sides of the offensive spectrum.

During his three years as starter for BHS, he commanded the triple option offense, known for its superfluous running plays. In his time at Gustavus, he ran a no-huddle spread offense, which gave him gaudy passing stats by the end of his career.

Since he became an expert in both styles of offense, he wanted to blend the two together going into training camp in August.

"Our offense now at the high school is, what I feel, a perfect blend of both of those," Hendricks said. "It's stuff I learned in high school from (Bryan) Stoffel and from my dad, and stuff that I learned in college. I tried to blend it together and also match it up with your personnel, because you got to change a little bit every year."

As he introduced the new offense to the players, there was a learning curve during training camp, as it tends to be with new concepts. But the Jacks took the changes in stride.

"It was a lot of learning for the kids, it was a lot of learning for me," Hendricks said. "But I would say we did really well. We're really focusing on our team having a top level of intensity all the time and just building consistency with our kids. But as far as the Xs and Os, I think we handled it really well.

"Kids are just smart these days. They picked up on stuff that I don't think we would have had a lot of luck picking up on when we were playing. They're naturally smarter, they're naturally more athletic."

Hendricks' players describe him as an encouraging coach with a high motor. He's also hands-on, not afraid to insert himself into a drill to show players how it should be run.

"I'm a player's coach, for sure," he said. "And if they can do it, I can do it. So if I can't show them how to do it, what am I doing?"

The results of Hendricks' new offense have already been showing. While Bemidji was on the losing end of its season opener against Elk River last week, Vandermeer went 11-for-15 with 109 yards passing, a stat line that would've been rare from a Jacks QB in the past.

The Lumberjacks were one win away from a Section 8-5A title last season. Hendricks and Vandermeer's relationship will prove to be critical as BHS looks to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2018.

"Owen's an exceptional athlete," Hendricks said. "I mean, you can't put a better build, athleticism, arm strength and brain on a kid. … From a quarterback standpoint, he's as good as it gets."

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