The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
He’s ready for his coaching debut
Brush assistant preparing to be head coach in future
Some might look at this year’s News-Herald Senior Bowl as “just an all-star game.”
Don’t tell that to Paul Guhde, head coach of the White team.
To Guhde, the Senior Bowl is an opportunity he’s waited a lifetime to experience. And God-willing, it won’t be his last as a head coach.
The Senior Bowl, presented by Hooley House, is the first headcoaching experience for the 25year old former Kirtland Hornet.
For the past three seasons, Guhde has been an assistant coach for the Brush Arcs.
When former head coach Jeff Fink was hired to be John Carroll’s offensive coordinator, it was Guhde who stepped into the spotlight as the Senior Bowl’s White team head coach for his first head-coaching position.
And he can’t wait for the game to arrive on June 15 at Mayfield’s Wildcat Stadium.
“It’s been awesome,” said Guhde after his team’s second practice on June 11. “As I’ve gone through three years of coaching, all I’ve asked for is more responsibility, with the ultimate goal being a head coach of a high school program.
“Absolutely, I know it’s ‘just an all-star game,’ but I don’t look at it like that. I’m treating this like I’m the head football coach of a football program for one week. I want to compete, get better and teach every day. And the most important thing is to have a good time, because football is supposed to be fun.”
Guhde looks back fondly on his football roots, starting with the days when his father Paul Guhde Sr. was his coach in the Kirtland youth leagues. He came up through the Hornets’ program under local legend Tiger LaVerde, played at Baldwin-Wallace and was then taken under the wing of Jeff Fink for three years at Brush.
He has coached the offensive line at Brush, as well as
serving the past two years as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for Fink.
This week’s Senior Bowl experience is giving him the full gamut of what it’s like to be a head coach, and he is thirsting for more as he goes.
“I’m looking forward to organizing things and making sure that I can handle the task of being a head coach in the future,” Guhde said. “It’s one week. I’m learning different sides of the ball. I’m working defense and special teams. I’m organizing practices. It’s been a great experience so far, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the week of practice.”
In his three years at Brush, Guhde helped the Arcs go from 1-9 in 2015 to 4-6 in 2016 to a blazing 9-3 finish in 2017, a season in which the Arcs advanced to the second round of the Division II playoffs.
He credited Fink for pushing his learning process and including him in the decision-making process more and more.
“He was really good at mentoring me,” Guhde said. “It looks like I’ll have a similar role this year at Brush.”
With Fink having moved on to coach at John Carroll, Guhde will be coaching under new Brush head coach Eddie Hall.
“Coach Fink allowed me to do a lot, especially last year in my third year,” Guhde said. “He gave me a lot of decision-making opportunities, like how to structure things. I was very excited and eager for this Senior Bowl opportunity. I definitely wanted the challenge and was excited for it.”
The Senior Bowl rules ask teams to throw the ball at least 60 percent of the time and play straight-man, Cover Zero in the secondary. It calls for fast-paced, passing offenses — which is right in Guhde’s wheelhouse.
It’s somewhat surprising, considering Guhde’s roots at run-oriented Kirtland.
“My junior year at Kirtland, we threw the ball a lot. That might have been the last time Kirtland threw the ball more than 25 times in a season,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve had a lot of experience with the spread system at Baldwin-Wallace and with Coach Fink. I tried to soak in everything I could.”
Guhde said his mentors, from his father to LaVerde to Fink, are all very instrumental in his life. He said he has been blessed with mentors who are great football minds but who are even better people.
As the Senior Bowl approaches, Guhde said he has no timetable for a full-time head coaching opportunity. He said he loves the people and atmosphere at Brush.
In the meantime, he’ll continue his learning process for an eventual head coaching position by leading the White team in the Senior Bowl.
“There’s no rush,” he said. “I absolutely love being at Brush. There is no timetable. I’m looking for the right situation. I want to be somewhere where football is important, but that the most important thing is academics. When that situation arises, I’ll attack it.”