New FMS football coach stresses character, discipline as keys to success
Players don’t remember Xs and Os years after they hang up the spikes and close their lockers for the last time.
“The playbook isn’t the foundation of a program,” said Dan Baranik, announced last week as the new head football coach at Fishburne Military School. “Ten years from now, the players who came through here are not going to remember the playbook. They’re going to say, You know what, Coach Baranik cared about us.”
Baranik has 20 years of coaching experience at the college level, including stops at Maryland in the ACC and a five-year stint as the recruiting coordinator at Army under Hall of Fame coach Bobby Ross. His most recent job was at Division III Guilford, where he served as offensive coordinator in 2010.
At Fishburne, Baranik will serve as head football coach and will also coach the golf team in addition to heading up the guidance department.
“Talking with the staff here, there’s a clear mission here, and that mission is to help kids, and that excites me,” Baranik said. “This wasn’t an opportunity that I was seeking necessarily. I just missed that sense of loyalty and duty, honor, country, that you get at a military school.
“Way back when I started in this coaching profession, it was to help kids,” Baranik said. “It wasn’t about me, it wasn’t about my resume. That’s what’s exciting to me about this opportunity. It’s not about going to build some big football program. It’s about coming to Fishburne and working with a great group of kids and seeing them grow as young men.”
Baranik’s resume also includes a five-year run coaching the prep team at Army, which he think will be a help for him as he makes the transition from the college game back to the prep game.
“When I went there, my first year we had 16 recruited players, and the rest of the guys were prior-service guys coming back and kids sitting in class who had never played football before and had been told that they had to participate in a fall sport. I had that experience, and I know that ebb and flow,” Baranik said.
Fishburne Athletics Director Mike Anson thinks Baranik is a “good fit” for the school and for the athletics program at FMS. “One thing that impressed me about Dan was that he sees sports as an extension of the academic environment. The emphasis is on character, respect, sportsmanship, work ethics and those things. The wins and losses are secondary in importance to the other factors that we’re emphasizing here,” Anson said.
Baranik sees the key to building a successful program as “finding people of character” and motivating them to take ownership of the program.
“This is their program. I might be here 40 years. You’re here two or three years. This is your opportunity, your chance. So if you want to do well, we’re going to give you the tools and resources. You’ve got to put the key in the ignition and say, Let’s go. My job coming in is to get people of character, motivate those people, show them what’s out there, the opportunities they have to achieve, and then follow through and hold people accountable,” Baranik said.
But don’t let that make you think that Baranik isn’t focused on wins and losses.
“We’re lining up, they’re going to turn the scoreboard on, and our guys are playing to win. And that’s important as well. Learning to prepare and being prepared so that when we step on the field and playing as a band of brothers, we can be successful. That’s going to be our mantra,” Baranik said.
