The high school football coaching carousel is in full effect across Northern California, but the biggest change will arguably be at Freedom High, where Kevin Hartwig has decided to step down after 16 years leading the program.
Hartwig, whose final victory at the helm was his 100th victory, beating Antioch in the North Coast Section Division I semifinals, made the decision for family reasons and has no plans to coach anywhere in the coming season.
“It was a real hard decision to make, but it was time,” Hartwig said. “It’s time to just be a dad, and do the dad things. I haven’t missed a Friday or Saturday of football since my freshman year of high school, since 1984.”
Hartwig, who has two kids attending Heritage High and a third entering middle school next year, has already been an active parent in his kids’ athletic activities. But stepping away will give him more time with his family, leaving a post which requires year-round dedication, especially as he built the Falcons’ program into one which has played into December for each of the past two years, and has been the only on-campus coach each of the past three years. He will remain on staff as a physical education teacher.
“Making the section finals two straight years has been amazing,” Hartwig commented. “We’ve also won a number of team GPA awards in recent years, and we’ve had a kid at the National Football Foundation banquet every year since 2010, and a couple times before that as well. I’m most proud of the fact that we have been sending out quality kids from our program, not just in football, but in life.”
Of course, Hartwig also saw his Freedom program ascend to a level where it was regularly turning out great football players and competing for Bay Valley Athletic League championships. The Falcons won league titles in 2011, 2012, and 2016, with outright championships in the latter two years. He has also seen numerous players go on to play at the next level, including five quarterbacks who went on to play college football. Meanwhile, players such as Diondre Borel, Darrell Greene, Darrell Daniels, and Joe Mixon have graced NFL rosters, and others still such as Roman Runner and Cameron Gupton have played professionally overseas.
As a continued testament to the football knowledge that his players gained at Freedom, multiple former athletes have gone into coaching. Freedom alumni such as Ryan Rodriguez, Gerardo Magana, Jorge Magana, Jr., and Nick Ostlund are all current college coaches.
And any successful high school program usually has one staple above all others – continuity in the coaching ranks. This has certainly been the case at Freedom, where over a half-dozen coaches spent a minimum of eight years on staff with Hartwig. And his varsity level benefited from his longest-tenured coaches, with defensive coordinator Sam Arnold and running backs coach Ron Rivers each serving for over a decade, and passing game coordinator Ryan Seto holding that position on Hartwig’s staff since the day he was hired, in the spring of 2002.
“We’ve had quality coaching at all levels, and that made a huge difference, knowing I could count on those guys to get the job done,” Hartwig said. “I couldn’t have done it for this long without those guys.”
Seto's ties to Hartwig date all the way back to when the two of them played at Saint Mary's College, and his tenure as a Freedom varsity coach mirrored that of Hartwig's. He tried to reflect upon the impact of the last 16 years.
"It feels like it was just yesterday that we started at Freedom," Seto commented. "Coaching with Kevin has been amazing, and I don't think anyone can realize how much he has sacrificed for this program. He made this all possible for us as assistant coaches, working around our schedules, and constantly sacrificed extra hours to benefit the kids. He's such an extremely humble person, and I just hope that he gets the recognition he deserves from our community, because his impact on this program has been incredible."
Hartwig's impact, and willingness to go the extra mile for the Freedom program, might best be summed up in a story from late this season. The Falcons' team manager for the past couple years, Nick, had to move to Sacramento late in the season. When Freedom drew playoff games on Saturdays, Hartwig drove up to Sacramento each Saturday, picked Nick up so he could attend the game that evening, and then made sure to get him home on Sunday. That was, of course, in addition to the rest of his game-day duties.
When Freedom beat Antioch in overtime for Hartwig's 100th victory as head coach, it was Seto who gathered the team, parents, and even Hartwig's family members into the team room after the game to announce the milestone. Hartwig himself had no clue he had reached the mark.
Jokingly, Hartwig mentioned that one of his only regrets in leaving coaching right now was the fact that he will not outlast Pittsburg coach Vic Galli, who will now become the longest-tenured coach in the BVAL. Hartwig and Galli became head coaches at the same time, and their two programs grew into rivals on an annual basis, with the league title often decided by their head-to-head meetings. The rivalry blossomed in the very first year they met, when Freedom beat Pittsburg, 44-32, and each of the Falcons’ outright league titles was earned with a victory against Pitt.
Over the final stretch of his tenure, Hartwig also saw the entire league get stronger, following the lead of programs such as his which had become annual playoff fixtures. In 2016, Freedom reached the championship game of the NCS Open Division, beating Pittsburg in the semifinals. This year, the Falcons had to outlast Antioch in overtime to reach the Division I title game. Both were firsts for the Freedom, and the Oakley, community.
But while the entire Oakley community will be losing its own fixture, Hartwig gives credit to that community in regards to the success he has enjoyed on and off the field.
“I just want to thank the Oakley community and all the parents who have helped so much over the years,” Hartwig said. “They have all helped build this program. It can’t be done by just one person, and they have all played a huge role in the development and success here.”
Freedom will now be seeking just the third head football coach in school history, as Freedom heads into its 21st varsity season in 2018. Larry Rodriguez started the program when the school opened, and led the varsity program for its first four seasons before giving way to Hartwig. Now, he leaves a void which will not be easily filled.
"I will let other people talk about the football side of it, but as an administrator, I have truly loved working with Kevin, and appreciate all that he has done and will continue to do to make Freedom a great place to go to school," said Liberty Union High School District superintendent Eric Volta, who also served as principal at Freedom during Hartwig's tenure as head coach. "I respect him as a coach, a teacher, and most importantly, as a person. And therefore, I respect this decision."
In an era of constant change among leadership roles at the high school level, Hartwig’s 16 years should be celebrated by the Freedom community, much like they are appreciated by the leaders in the district. Getting another in the same mold certainly won’t be easy.
