Fallon coach Brooke Hill, far right, assesses a game situation during a Greenwave football game. From left are coaches Matt Hyde, Pat Squires, Tom McCormick, Ryan McCormick and Hill.
The same drive that made Brooke Hill one of the top high school quarterbacks in the late 1980s has also made the Fallon native a fierce competitor as the Greenwave’s football coach in the Division 1-A.
The 42 year-old Hill never won a state championship as a junior or senior while competing for Churchill County High School, but the football team came close in 1988 and 1999, and the baseball team lost in the championship in 1990.
Those lessons learned as a teenager characterize the man and coach he is today, and just like a quarter of century ago, Hill is once again on the edge of winning a state football championship as a coach.
“I had some pretty good coaches in high school, and had a good experience then,” Hill said. “I’ve been around a lot of good people.”
One of those “first” and “good” people was Chris Klenakis, a Churchill County High School graduate who took over the Fallon program in 1987 and improved the team to where it was clawing for a state title three years later.
Klenakis, though, left Fallon in 1990 to become an assistant football coach at the University of Nevada, but since the Wolf Pack days, he ahs coached at Southern Mississippi, Arkansas and now Louisville.
Hill, who began coaching in 1996, later joined the Fallon staff in 2002. After stints with Darin Gary and Ray Holladay, Hill became the head coach in 2009. To this day, Hill said he learned much about the game and defense from Holladay.
“We went to Coach K (Klenakis) and had clinics with him. He sat down with our staff for an entire day in Reno and helped us with the intricacies of the pistol (offense),” Hill recounted. “That has been a key with our offense, and we really haven’t changed it at all.”
The Coach K coaching tips did not stop with that 2009 clinic. For the past seven seasons, Hill and Klenakis talk weekly about the week in review. Additionally, Hill has worked with other staffs this year including Reed High School, which also plays for a shot at the Northern Division 1 title.
Hill has been an innovator by taking formations that were making their debut in 2002 and fine-tuning them to work for the Greenwave. Additionally, Hill felt any team’s success depended on consistency, and he assembled a staff that has spent many years on the practice fields and sidelines with him
“It’s been a real key … the consistency of keeping the coaches and they have helped us over the years,” Hill said,
Lalo Outuafi, who coaches the offense, has been with him the longest. Ross Hill, his brother, Pat Squires, Jim Wisdom, Matt Hyde, Brian Itskin Tom McCormick, Brad Barton, Ryan McCormick and Trevor de Braga have been there to lend their assistance and expertise.
Hill and former teammate Tom McCormick played football and baseball together.
“He is very good with his players,” McCormick said. “Brooke has been able to evolve and progress and hasn’t stayed with the old school.”
McCormick remembers Hill as a competitor who never backed down from anyone.
Hill said the game is not about him. He said a head coach couldn’t do this sport without having a strong staff who are a key to the game.
“It was rejuvenating bringing in the young guys, (Ryan) McCormick and de Braga,” he pointed out. “It brought in a lot of energy and young guys who played for us and knew how the things that we did, but they also had successful college careers.”
De Braga said as a coach, he sees Hill’s passion for the game, his love for football and how much he puts into his planning.
For Hill, though, the game is for the players.
“You’re 42, and players 16, 17 and 18 years old look up to you not only as a coach but also like their second father,” Hill said, pausing. “You have to have a passion for kids in education and in coaching, you want them to succeed, hopefully given enough throughout the years that you could pass on a life’s lesson.
“I have kids of my own, but I do definitely think they (players) are another part of our big family.”
Junior running back Brock Uptain said Hill is approachable, and he has a good staff.
“On the field, he likes to get things done,” Uptain added.
Conner Nelson, who has played with Uptain for years beginning with the FYFL program, said he could talk to Hill during his freshman and sophomore years. Although Nelson was not on varsity, he said anyone could lean on Hill’s shoulder like a father figure.
“He’s the best coach in the Northern D1-A,” defensive player Johnny Mayor said.
“He’s a father figure because we can go to him for anything. He expects so much more. He pushes us to the next level and makes sure we’re prepared.
To hear Hill, his staff and players, the closeness of the Greenwave football family has one goal in mind on Saturday: To bring home the state football trophy, 37 years in the making.