Todd Rykal has seen the resurgence of the Cadott football program up close.
Now the Cadott graduate is eager to take over leading the program as Rykal was announced as the team's new head coach on Tuesday. Rykal replaces Jeff Goettl who stepped down following last season after six years as head coach.
Rykal spent the last two years as an assistant coach under Goettl and throughout last season the team knew Goettl would be stepping aside following the 2023 season. After the year was done, the staff met and felt Rykal was in the best spot to apply for the position. While interviewing with the school for the job, Rykal spoke about how if hired the transition could be a smooth one with the majority of the coaching staff eager to return for the upcoming season.
“That was one of the biggest talking points I had," Rykal said. "We know all these guys, we know what they have to work on, we know what they’re good at and we can just keep the ball rolling without missing a beat, without taking a year to know everybody.”
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The 1997 Cadott graduate has spent the last dozen years coaching football in Cadott, starting with five years at the flag football level before moving up to five years at the youth level before the last two with the high school team.
“I really wanted to be sure we gave the best opportunities that we could to the kids in the whole program," Rykal said.
Under Goettl and the staff, the Hornets have seen a resurgence in recent years. Cadott snapped a 16-year playoff drought in 2021, won its first playoff game in 19 years in 2022 and advanced to the second round of the Division 6 playoffs once again last season.
Last year Cadott rebounded from an 0-4 start to reach the postseason and opened the playoffs with a last-second 22-20 victory as a seven seed over second-seeded Abbotsford 22-20.
“It was the honor of my life just to be a part of some of those games," Rykal said. "Beating Spring Valley and that crazy win against Abbotsford were just some of the funnest things I’ve ever been involved with at any level of football.”
With Rykal and the majority of the staff set to return, younger players in the program won't have to start over with a new group of coaches. The focus instead will be on continuing to build upon the improvements made since the program returned to varsity competition in 2014 after nearly two years worth of varsity competition was canceled due to a low number of varsity-level players in 2012 and 2013.
The Hornets will have some younger faces in the lineup this fall as Cadott graduates a strong senior class of more than a dozen players. But Rykal said the staff is looking forward to the 'fun challenge' of developing with some new players around the gridiron.
“It’s so great to be a part of it the last few years," Rykal said. "Just to get a couple of playoff wins and put Cadott football back on the map a bit. That’s really what I and the staff want to do is make sure Cadott football stays relevant (and) we can compete at any level and we’re just looking to grow this so that we’re consistently competing against any program.”
This fall Cadott moves to the Lakeland Conference as a part of the latest round of statewide conference realignment. The Hornets are scheduled to open the season by hosting Augusta on Aug. 23 before traveling to Stanley-Boyd on Aug. 30 to close nonconference play. The Lakeland schedule starts on Sept. 7 with Cadott traveling north to face Unity.
Rykal is excited to get the new season going and said the coaches care about the players and want to do all they can to put each one in a position to succeed.
“I’m a pretty competitive guy, so I wanna win just as much as everybody but I also want to develop these guys into being good football players and more importantly good humans," Rykal said. "So it’s important for me to make sure we’re growing in all aspects and that we’re really teachers out there.”