New Rays Coach Talks Winning

New football coach Rich Costante is excited as he puts his first Rays team through summer drills at Marco Island Academy. He feels a roster deep in both linemen and skill position players are poised to win this fall. And while Costante isn’t afraid to talk about winning, he also doesn’t shy away from talking about the team’s 2-36 record over the past several seasons. He sees Marco as a “football island” and aims to give the people what they want.

“This island loves football,” Costante said confidently after putting his players through a weight room session and route running Monday evening. “Whether it be college or pro football, Marco Island is a football island. Back in the day with the youth program that was here, they had two teams at every age level. So the love for football is on this island. We’ve just got to make sure that everyone knows about us, that we're here. We've got to make sure that they know we’re at Winterberry Park for our four home games. And then we’ve got to get them out there to see us. Once we start winning and change the culture a little bit, hopefully we'll make it more exciting. I remember back when MIA teams had their best runs. Friday night football games were fun. Obviously, let's not kid ourselves, it's not like a Naples High game. But there's a good crowd and there's a lot of excitement. We're trying to bring that pride back to the island.”

Costante’s confidence is buoyed by what he sees as a balanced, talented roster.

“We have about 15 linemen,” Costante said, "and about 15-20 skill players. We can always use more. But right now, we're happy with what we've got. We’re waiting for the eighth graders, the incoming freshmen, to get out here. That's going to be a big, big factor too."

Looking forward to next season, Costante said former head coach Lew Montgomery did a great job in assembling next year’s schedule.

“Our goals are just to improve every week,” Costante said. “We've got a competitive yet attainable schedule. We want to go out every week and improve. We want to put a good product on the field for the community. We want the community to come out and enjoy football again. We really want to give them something to get excited about.”

He likes what he saw from his players during spring practice.

"The kids are buying in,” he said, "that was the biggest thing with spring ball. Our offense and defense is different than what they've run in the past. There are some similarities. Some of the concepts transfer over. But it is a different style of offense and defense. So, getting them to buy in was probably the first hurdle. From when I got announced to the boys in the classroom to when we wrapped up spring ball is leaps and bounds. Physically in the weight room, on the football field, mentally on the football field. And just with the camaraderie and the connection, the kids are buying in.”

Costante is excited about two new assistant coaches who are MIA alumni. One was an outstanding running back, the other a 1,000-point scorer in girls’ basketball.

"I think it helps with the new coaches that are coming in,” he said. "It's giving a new outlook on things. It's giving new hope for these kids. Tyler Gresham is going to be coaching our linebackers and running backs. He's one of the good ones. We’ve got Gianna Rose, who is going to be coaching with us, linebackers, and some receivers. She's going to be our eyes in the sky. She knows more football than 95 percent of the grown adult men on this island. She was a very good basketball player. Great athlete. She studies football. She played peewee football here on the island when we had it. She was the only girl that did that. She would have played in high school, but things were different back then. But she definitely is someone that I can trust and rely on. The coaches that are upstairs on the headsets with us are almost more important than anything we do on the field. So, I’ve got to have someone up there that I can trust, and I can trust Gianna with my life. Having her up there is going to be a great, great asset for us."

Costante, who was district coach of the year twice when he was in charge of the Lely softball program, remembers when Marco Island - and MIA specifically - had a solid football program. But now the island offers only an Optimist flag football program for its youth. There is no tackle football feeder system for MIA anymore. Costante does have two players coming in from tackle programs in Naples.

"We have one kid coming in that played for the Naples Gators,” he said. "We have another kid that played for the South Naples Trojans. So, a couple kids are coming from Pop Warner in the Naples area. Most of our kids are coming in from the Optimist Club's flag football league. But the problem is that league stops at seventh grade. So, seventh and eighth grade has no Optimist League football. You know they do a great job for the youth on the island. They try to throw together pickup games for seventh and eighth graders. But there's hope that the middle school may launch a flag football team. Just getting kids out and getting kids understanding the concepts of football two years, three years earlier will benefit this program. The earlier you get them playing, the better. If the middle school can get that team off the ground, that's going to help tremendously. My long-term hope is that there's interest to maybe start a youth football program on the island again, like they used to have back in the day, the Marco Island Eagles. That was huge. They had football and cheerleaders, and it was the real deal. That would be great if that happens again. But that's at least a few years away. The island is getting filled with more and more people. Every year, more and more students' families are making this their year-round home. I moved here in 2004, and the difference between then and now is leaps and bounds with the number of families here year-round."

Costante plans to win multiple games next season.

“Obviously, we want to win games,” he said. “I talk to the boys about season goals, and we have nothing set in stone yet. But I keep telling them, you know, about the 2-36. You know the program's 2-36 in their last 38 games. We want to break that trend. We want to stop that cycle. We want to go out and win some games. We've done some things to put us in a position to have some success. Coach Montgomery did a great job with the schedule this year and getting teams of a level caliber. So, the playing field is a lot more even. Now can the boys can take the step and win those winnable games? I mean, every game we have on the schedule is a winnable game. I'm a realist. I don't think we're going to go undefeated. We'd love to because who doesn't? But you know, the boys have got to take that step and win those winnable games. And I've told them all, there will be one game this year that we win because of this weight room, because of the strength program that got put in place for us. Hopefully, that will lead to us potentially qualifying for a playoff berth.”

So far, Costante hasn’t identified players for specific roles.

"At this point we have nothing identified,” he said. “We're kind of going through spring, and everyone's getting the reps. We're gonna go through summer. Same thing. And once camp comes on July 28, we're going to put something together for the community to come out to see the team before our first game. We're going to call it our meet the team night, going to have a little scrimmage-type thing. We'd love to get the community out there to support us and watch us and get to know us. That’s when we're going to hone in on who our starters are going to be, things like that. But we've got some time now."

Costante said he plans to build his team with students who are already at MIA, unlike the trend across the country to bring in players from other school zones.

“Kids choose their school for whatever reason it might be academically, athletically,” he said. "I mean, in the in the state of Florida, you can go to any school you want for whatever reason. I work with the students that walk our hallway. I don't believe in going out and trying to find players. I believe in the kids that are in the hallway. And that's how I've always been. That's how our high school coaches ran it. Everywhere I've been, that's how I've coached. That's what I believe in. I don't worry about transfers. I just coach the kids that are in our school, the ones that are going to suit up for us Friday night, and they're the ones that are going to go win games for us. And at the end of the day, once we have success, they're the ones that are going to hoist a big state championship trophy because ultimately that's our goal. Whether it happens this year or next year, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years down the road, we want to win a state title for Marco Island Academy. We don't just want to win a game. We want to win games. Multiple games. We want to have a winning streak. Good teams don't go on losing streaks. Good teams lose, but you don't lose back-to-back games. You don't go on losing streaks. And that’s true of any sport you play. We know we're going to lose. The plan is if we lose, we pick ourselves up and we go out and we win the next week. We don't want it to snowball because that's when the injuries happen and the disconnect happens. The kids mentally checking out and getting ready for the next season. I want our kids to buy in. Academics first, football second."