When Kevin Wallace announced last month he was leaving the Bowling Green football program after 22 years as head coach to take the head coaching job at St. Xavier, then-interim coach Mark Spader made sure to tell the players that the administration would find the right man to replace Wallace.

It turns out Spader was that man, with the Purples’ longtime assistant and defensive coordinator since 2013 officially introduced as Bowling Green’s head coach Thursday.

Spader said he felt like it was his ties to the program – dating all the way back to a stint as an assistant under Dan Haley from 1991-93 – that helped him get the head coaching job.

“I laid that out for the committee that I go back to Coach Haley’s days,” Spader said. “I think that goes back to the foundations that Coach Wallace continued to build on and I will as well. I think that was important.”

Spader said he knew in his heart that he wanted to apply when the head coaching job became available and prayed this day would come.

Bowling Green Independent School District Superintendent Gary Fields said Spader, one of five candidates to interview for the job, was the perfect choice to replace Wallace.

“This is a hard job,” Fields said. “I think people talked about when Kevin left, ‘You are going to have hundreds of people wanting this job.’ I tell people all the time that there are very few people that can handle this job. I think Mark truly understands that and he is going to thrive in that environment.”

In addition to being an assistant at Bowling Green, Spader also spent seven seasons at Warren East from 1994-2001 – serving as the head coach for three years. Wallace also was a former assistant and former Warren East head coach before becoming Bowling Green’s head coach – something Fields mentioned when talking about Spader – joking that the last time the Purples hired a former Warren East coach it worked out pretty well.

“If this one works out as well, we are all going to look like geniuses,” Fields said. “I have every expectation that Mark Spader is going to lead this program. I have a fifth-grade son who I hope one day plays in this program and I would be more than honored to have Mark Spader lead him as a coach.”

Spader said he believes that experience at Warren East, as well as two seasons as an assistant under Ricky Wood at Warren Central, is part of the reason he is ready to take on this new challenge at Bowling Green.

“That was so important for my coaching career,” Spader said. “You feed off things that went on at those places and things you had to deal with. It all kind of fits together. It’s years of coaching at another place dealing with other problems. It does make for a more well-rounded coach.”

Spader said he talked to Wallace on Thursday.

“I thanked him once again,” Spader said. “He included me on a lot of things that he didn’t have to. I think that just shows how much he wanted to make sure the program was taken care of when he left that hopefully the guy he thought should get the job would be prepared for some of the things you have to deal with.”

Spader added he expects a few minor changes, but overall a rather smooth transition.

“I think the big plus will be already knowing the players,” Spader said. “A staff is in place that I’m really close (to) and we have a great deal of respect for each other. I think the biggest transition for me will be as the role of head coach now. You have to be on top of things and make the hard decisions and I think my role changes there as far as how approachable I am for the kids. They are more apt to go to an assistant coach with questions, problems, things like that.

“I’m still going to be a player’s coach and I still think they will be comfortable in me, but I do know there is a change in roles being head coach.”{&end}