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MSU-N Coaching Search: Kramer brings unique experiences

Former Oklahoma and NFL player Kyle Kramer is familiar with Havre and MSU-N

Kelly Kramer was a late addition to the list of finalists for the vacant head football coaching job at Montana State University-Northern. But make no mistake, Kramer feels he is more than ready for the job.

Friday afternoon, Kramer, a former tight end for the famed University of Oklahoma Sooners, spoke to the Havre and Northern community about just how ready he is to be a head coach — and more specifically, the head coach of the Lights.

“I’m excited to be here,” said Kramer, who is currently the tight ends coach at MidAmerica Nazarene, an NAIA school in Kansas. “Northern already has a lot of really good things in place. There is a strong foundation here. I just think I can bring a new focus, a new energy, and do even more good things.”

Kramer’s journey to Friday’s interview was much different than the other three finalists who have interviewed for the position that was vacated when Mark Samson resigned back in August. He’s a little older than the other three finalists, but his coaching resume’ doesn’t have nearly as many stops. He said he’s actively coached for 10 years now, but only the last three have been at the collegiate level.

Before that, he played one season for the New Orleans Saints, then got into the business world. But he never left football. He said he worked many camps that were involved with NFL, and eventually started running his own football camp at the Pro Bowl each year, before eventually getting into the coaching world when he moved to Kansas.

Also, Kramer probably has the most experience with Havre and the Northern community, which isn’t something that was widely known when he was announced as a finalist.

“I’ve been up here for the (Legends for Lights) pheasant hunt as an NFL celebrity four or five times,” Kramer said. “So there’s a familiarity here. This is a great town; there is great support for this program here. I love coaching, it’s what I love to do. I especially love coaching college football. I want to be a head coach. And Northern is a great opportunity to continue doing that.”

Kramer spoke genuinely about his interest in the Northern football program, and he spoke at length about being able to bring a unique perspective and unique experience to the position. His time at a major college football powerhouse like Oklahoma, as well as his experiences outside of football have certainly aided him in his coaching journey.

“Preparation, that’s a common theme from me,” he said. “And that’s something I learned at Oklahoma. Preparation leads to success. I believe you have to be prepared for mistakes and failures because you’re going to have those in football. But if you’re prepared, you can really overcome anything. At OU, I had my struggles. I had an injury that set me back, and that taught me how to adapt and overcome adversity. It really taught me how to be a leader.

“I learned to be a leader in the business world, too,” he continued. “And that’s something else I can bring to this. As a business leader, you have to be involved in all aspects, and it’s no different as a head football coach. It’s nice to be able to just concentrate on the football part, but you also have to be involved in everything. The other athletic programs, the campus, the students, the community, the administration, that’s all part of it. And I have that experience of being involved in all aspects, not just the football part.”

But Kramer does have plenty of experience on the football side, too. On the field, he says he believes in a power running attack on offense. He says that being able to be physical and run the football is paramount. He says he’s a proponent of the 4-3 defense, with a strong presence along the defensive line. He says that scheme is best to keep offenses off balance.

On the recruiting side of the game, Kramer understands the need to recruit the state of Montana, but he added that he is a strong believer in the California junior college system, and he would also bring ties to Texas high school football, as that’s what he grew up in.

“We have to be strong recruiting locally,” he said. “And by locally, I mean the state of Montana. We have to get the AA and A kids to want to come here. I also believe in the California JC system. There’s a lot of really good football players in that system, and they all can’t go to Division I schools. There’s also tons of really good football players in Texas. That’s where I grew up, and there are a lot of good players there who just need the opportunity to go on to the next level, and I think we can get players like that to come here.”

Kramer is also intrigued by the current Northern roster, and he noted that getting the current players to buy in as quickly as possible would be a high priority if he were to become Northern’s third head coach in the last 16 years. He’s also perfectly excited about the program as a whole. He liked what he saw in his tour of the facilities, and especially Northern’s home, Blue Pony Stadium.

“There are a lot of really good athletes here,” he said. “There are a lot of big bodies on this team. There’s a strong base of players already here. And that’s the great thing about bringing in a new head coach. Everybody gets a fresh start. So with the current players, we want them to know right away that their being committed is appreciated. And that we want them all to be on board with what we’re doing and where want to go. We want them to want to be a part of the family.

“The facilities are good,” he continued. “I loved the stadium. Love the car thing. That’s really cool. But at this level of football, you’re looking for kids who want to be here because of the program, because they want to play football and because they want to get a good education here. So the facilities really shouldn’t matter to those kids anyway.”

Again, Kramer brings a different perspective to coaching football. He’s had plenty of influences along the way, some that many other head coaches don’t have. And while he says that he would like the opportunity to be at Northern for as long as he possibly can, there’s one thing that he and his teams need to do. There’s one thing that will ignite and keep the community and the fan base interested and supportive of a Northern football program that already has plenty of support, but is coming out of one of the most difficult seasons in school history.

“Win,” Kramer, who has a wife, Kim, and daughters, Haylee and Rylee, said. “Right now, you have hype and tons of hope, and when you build a program, you want to turn that into expectations. Winning gets everybody to buy in, the players, the fans, the students, the community, everybody. And when you do that enough, things like conference championships and national championships become the expectation. And that’s what we want to do here. We want to turn the hype and the hope into expectation.

“Obviously in coaching, you’re looking to advance your career,” he continued. “And for me, I want to advance my career in coaching until I find an end. That could be 20 years here, or it could be five years and then move on. I really don’t know. I just know that I want to come to this program, this school and this community and see what kind of a difference I can make.”

Note: Kramer is the fourth and final candidate to interview for the vacant head coaching position at MSU-Northern. Following Friday’s forum, Northern Athletic Director Christian Oberquell said that there is no set time table for when the new head coach will be announced, just that he would like it to be done as soon as possible. He said he would definitely want the new head coach here for when classes resume in January.

 

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