Pat Squires, middle, is the new Dayton football coach.
DAYTON — When Pat Squires came to Dayton, he brought with him a new offense and a great attitude.
Squires, Dayton’s first-year head football coach, is completing his first full week of practice, and he likes what he sees of his new team.
Squires is running a spread offense compared to the triple-option ran last year during an 0-10 season.
“I’m very happy with our progress,” Squires said. “The kids were apprehensive at first; some of the returning players especially. The players have bought into what we’re doing and they are very enthusiastic.
“They have adjusted to the offense. Everybody likes change. When they (fans) see this offense in action, they will be excited. Every snap four to five players have a chance to be involved (catching a pass).”
Senior quarterback Dylan Torgerson is excited about the change.
“It’s been amazing,” he said. “We look a lot better. The line looks a lot better and the skill players are better.
“Coach Squires is more involved. He gets the team hyped up. He’s a great coach.”
Squires currently has 32 players on his roster, 18 seniors. He picked up seven seniors who weren’t in the program last year. The other 14 players are either sophomores or juniors.
The one big change this year will be Dayton will field a freshman team and not a JV team.
“In the past (here) 80 percent of the players on the JV team were freshmen,” Squires said. “It’s not fair to have freshmen playing against sophomores and (even some) juniors. They get hurt and then they don’t come back.
“We are hoping to have three teams next year. That is the only way you can build a program is to have three teams. We lost several freshmen that would have been sophomores this year.”
One thing about Squires is his enthusiasm, and he seems to have a good rapport with his new players. He loves the game and he loves the kids, which is why he took over a struggling program that hasn’t had a winning season since Rick Walker’s team went 6-4 in 2009.
“I bought a house here in Dayton,” said Squires, who commutes back to Fallon every day for work. “My plan is to be here for 10 years unless they fire me before that.”
That sounds like a coach who wants to build a program from the ground up.
If you’re a football player at DHS or a would-be player coming up from the junior ranks that’s nice to hear.