By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
On Thursday night Russell Norton was approved by the USD 501 school board as Topeka West's new head football coach.
In a scant three days the veteran coach will hit the ground running as the Chargers begin summer workouts.
Russell Norton
"We start on Monday and it's about getting to know the kids and learning who they are and then establishing the standards,'' Norton said. "I think that's the No. 1 thing, to make sure that we establish the standards of what Topeka West Charger football is going to look like.
"The program under my leadership is going to be about relationships and the only way you can have great relationships is by having great communication. I'm going to ask them what they're looking for and I'm going to tell them what I'm looking for and then we're going to create a dialogue to where we can learn one another and develop relationships on and off the field.''
Norton. who will turn 42 in the coming days, takes over for Ryan Kelly, who resigned his coaching job in mid-May to accept a position on Washburn University's coaching staff.
"There were quite a few things that interested me about this job,'' said Norton, who is also the general manager of the Topeka Tropics indoor football team.. "When I met with Mr. (Jeff) Buckendorff (West principal) and interviewed, I had a few other offers and turned those down because I felt like Topeka West was the best situation.
"Looking at some of the talent that was coming back I felt there was definitely some talent there and I think our brand of ball will fit in with Topeka West and we'll see what happens.''
Norton grew up on the East Coast, attending high school in North Carolina and playing college football at Fairmont State University in West Virginia.
He coached several seasons at the college level before moving over to the high school level, including his most recent stint at Oskaloosa High (1-8) last season.
Prior taking the Oskaloosa job Norton coached Southern Valley High School in Oxford, Neb.
"My wife is a (physician's assistant) so that's how we wound up in Nebraska,'' Norton said. "We took a program that was on a downslide and we turned it around, wound up making the playoffs and winning some games and breaking some records.
"We just kind of felt like we had done all we could do there. They were dropping down to Eight-Man football and I wasn't ready to give up trying to coach the 11-man game so we started looking.''
Kelly, a former Topeka West star, served as the Chargers' head coach for five seasons after previously coaching at Benedictine, his college alma mater.
Topeka West is coming off a 3-6 record last fall and will become a member of the United Kansas Conference this season.
"
