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Jim Womochil has been working for Paul Rhoads at Iowa State University since December. But the 1985 Vinton graduate and former Viking and UNI Panther football player is giving up the college coaching opportunity to return to his hometown.
Womochil will replace Patrick Farley as the VS head football coach, and will also teach social studies, history and psychology at VSHS.
After earning All-Conference honors at Vinton as a defensive back and defensive back for the Vikings, Womochil played defensive back for UNI.
Mike Timmermans was the Viking head football coach when Womochil was a player.
"He was the epitome of toughness," Timmermans recalls. "He was the kind of player who made it fun to be a coach."
Womochil, recalls his coach, was very talented, but had even more "grit" than talent.
"He loved the game," says Timmermans. "If he can convey that love of the game to our players we will take a big step forward."
Womochil has coached high school football for more than 20 years. He spent a year as a defensive coordinator at Marshalltown before working a decade at Williamsburg and another 10 years at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. He took four Williamsburg teams into post-season play, as well as the 2008 Jefferson team.
He resigned the Jefferson job after the 2011 season to join the ISU program.
"It was an outstanding experience," he said today, from Ames, where he has been involved in the operations department of the ISU program. "Coach Rhoads has told me that I could continue on through the fall if I wanted to."
But instead, Womochil will return to his hometown, where his parents, Gene and Ann, own a large farming operation.
"This was a family decision," he said.
There are a lot of good things happening in the Vinton-Shellsburg football community, says Womochil.
"The touchdown Club is great; I hope it continues. And our youth program is very good," he said.
Womochil is impressed with Coach Farley's approach to teaching tough football playing. He said he has ideas for making some changes to both the offensive and defensive schemes, and he said he hopes to work with the youth program to make it even better.
After being in Cedar Rapids, with several high school teams competing for and essentially recruiting players, Womochil said it will be great to be back to a small town where there is one team that everyone is proud to support.
Womochil, a member of the Viking Hall of Fame, has two children who have been involved in sports. His daughter, Devon, recently competed with a shuttle hurdle relay team that set a MVC record. His son Jordan competes in four sports and will be a freshman next year.
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Editor's Note: Good point, but going from a college to a high school program is noteworthy, too.