Clouse finds a new home

By SEAN SHAPIRO
Special to The Oakland Press

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — It's early Thursday morning and a few stragglers are sprinting to make it the huddle before the coach addresses the team on the campus of Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.

A relatively small group — just two players sat out during special teams drills — the team quickly devotes its attention to first-year head coach Sean Clouse.

After reviewing the morning's practice, Clouse and his players walked off the field together and instead of heading home for some rest and relaxation, both the coach and his players had and would spend the night on campus, coming together as a team for a week during training camp.

Staying as a team had also helped Clouse get acclimated to his new surroundings, after spending 19 years an assistant at Orchard Lake St. Mary's.

“It's definitely different — not better, not worse, just different,” Clouse said. “The kids have been awesome. They work hard and are trying to get the right attitude around here about football.”

The right attitude that Clouse is looking to establish is deep rooted in football's most basic skill sets: tackling and blocking.

“Sean brings a lot to that program. He does a great job at teaching the basics, and he'll add some toughness to their team. I miss him,” St. Mary's head coach George Porritt said.

At St. Mary's, Clouse served primarily as line coach. But in his 19 years of service, he got to do a little bit of everything.

Clouse's time assisting Porritt helped him develop much of his football philosophy, preparing him for when he was ready to move on and take a head coaching position.

“It was a very hard decision. I'd been in the system at Orchard Lake for a very long time,” Clouse said. “So I wanted to give it a shot, being a head coach. It's a good opportunity and a great place to be.”

His decision to leave St. Mary's was even more difficult, considering Clouse graduated from the school in 1984, before playing college football at Michigan State .

Last season, Cranbrook went 4-5 and missed the state playoffs. This year, Clouse hopes his team is able to simply be successful and eventually reach its goal of making the playoffs.

“We're going to try and play great defense and run the ball,” Clouse said. “Control the game as best we can up front, and try and eliminate any mistakes we can.”

Controlling the clock will be even more important, with most of his players playing on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

Offensively, controlling the clock will lead to Cranbrook running a version of the veer, an offense based on quarterback reads and options.

Making the decisions for Clouse during the play will be his senior quarterback, Mike Corey.

A returning starter, Clouse has helped the senior's transition from a spread offense to the veer, while the quarterback has helped his coach's first season go smoothly with the rest of the team.

“It's hard to implement that system in a short time, and that's what we have, but they're doing great,” Clouse said.

Prep Football

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