Terry Arduser knew what I wanted to chat with him about, so when he returned my call these were the first words from his mouth:

“I’m the guy who likes to hit his head against the wall.”

That’s the sort of self-deprecation a high school football coach employs when he agrees to lead a team that hasn’t won a game in more than two years and stood 0-22 going into Friday night’s season opener.

So why does a guy who retired from coaching 10 years ago step back into a job where the pickings figure to be so slim?

“It was the kids,” he says. “The kids put me over the edge.”

The 62-year-old Arduser, a social studies teacher Madelia High School, last coached in 2000, when the team was Madelia-Truman and played standard 11-man football.

Arduser had plenty of success, with the squad making state tournament appearances in 1993 and 1994.

But much has changed. The Blackhawks are paired no more with Truman, they’ve played nine-man football the past five years, and wins have become as rare as steak tartare.

Arduser had been perfectly content to teach two more years then ride off into his personal sunset with his coaching days long behind.

But then the kids started bending his ear when the previous coach announced plans to resign, and some parents lobbied hard for Arduser to unpack his whistle.

He says he talked to the players, feeling them out not so much about football as about deeper matters of character and commitment.

Losing can breed losers, and Arduser wanted to know if they had the right stuff to persevere as the football program began its climb back to competitiveness.

He liked what he heard and likes the athletes he sees in the pipeline.

He approached Athletic Director Paul Carpenter about his interest and soon it was a done deal.

“He thought it would be a fun project for him — and it is a project,” Carpenter says. “But the cupboard is not bare.”

Even though Arduser is a decade removed from coaching, he has no qualms about how high school athletes may have changed. He doesn’t think they have.

Moreover, he thinks they’ve become even more dedicated due to increased emphasis on summer instructional camps and weight training.

Arduser said before the game Friday that even though game scores have been a tad ugly the past couple of years, he has expectations of a few wins this season.

“We’ll compete, be competitive and see what happens,” said the lifelong Madelia resident.

“I have a lot of pride about Madelia. Maybe that’s one reason why I took this job.”

Also let this be known: Arduser has ambled down this road before.

When he began coaching at Madelia in the early 1980s the football team was reeling from a 30-plus game losing streak.

All of which leaves Arduser undaunted.

“At 62, I kind of think I know what I’m doing.”

I kind of think he’s right.

Last night the Blackhawks took on conference power Westbrook-Walnut Grove and took that monkey off their backs.

Beat ’em 20-14.



Brian Ojanpa is a Free Press staff writer. Call him at 344-6316 or email bojanpa@mankatofreepress.com.