Crooksville football has its new leader: 'Sometimes you have to roll with the flow'

McLUNEY — Crooksville's new football coach is a name all too familiar.

Nathan Van Meter, a 2006 Ceramic graduate, was hired to become the school's fourth head coach in the last decade on Tuesday. He replaces Gage Lotozo, who resigned last week because of health issues .

Van Meter has coached a variety of sports at his alma mater, most recently as head golf coach since his return to the district in 2020. He also has served as head baseball coach and is currently an assistant girls basketball coach under Matt Jones.

He holds multiple roles in the district, serving as a high school physical education teacher who also has taught health, while his year he is teaching the school's Commercial Driving License program and also partnering with Mid-East Vocational School to teach a workforce-based program.

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He and wife Nikkia, who have been married 11 years and been a couple for 20, also have four children — Alexia, a junior at Crooksville, fifth-grade Bronx, fourth-grade Boston and third-grade Baire.

It's only fitting he was chosen to step into yet another new role, one whose circumstances are anything but ideal.

"I am a man who wears many hats, for sure," Van Meter said on Tuesday. "(The district) came to me and said I could be the man for this job at this time. When the district comes to you, and the school board, they have an idea of what I can bring to the table. I care about this community."

In a statement sent Tuesday, Superintendent Kevin Smith, a former head coach in his pre-administration days, said he was "thrilled" to welcome Van Meter as the new coach, citing "his passion and advocacy for all aspects of the school system."

"His proven ability to lead and inspire our students, combined with his dedication to our community, ensures that the tradition of excellence in Crooksville football," Smith said.

Van Meter has an extensive football lineage, from his days as a rare three-year, two-way starter for Crooksville in the mid-2000s to previous coaching stints at Crooksville and Miller. He spent five years on the varsity staff at Miller, including four under Shawn Bartley.

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He made it clear that this was not a situation he pursued, echoing the district's stance that Lotozo was a valued coach whose circumstances required him to step away from a program he was in the process of building.

Van Meter credited Lotozo for building a strong weight room culture that he said he has seen grow exponentially in the last two years. He also served as the team's defensive coordinator.

"Gage going down, nobody wants to see that," Van Meter said. "I had nothing but full support for him. His background and knowledge of how to run a program — and getting to observe him run a program — you respect a guy like that. Losing a guy like him is not easy to replace, especially on July 21 after meeting the boys for the first time.

"I spoke to him personally," Van Meter added. "I am not ego driven. I am a guy who cares about the community and the kids. I wasn't sitting back in the weeds waiting for something like this to happen."

The Ceramics hosted a passing scrimmage on Tuesday evening, the first time that Van Meter had a chance to see the new outfit in an intimate manner. He has spent much of the past few days learning Lotozo's system and associated verbiage already familiar to the players. He is hoping to being fully acclimated by August camp.

The program he inherits hasn't had a winning season since 2010 or won a playoff game since 2001 but returns the bulk of a 3-7 team in 2023 that started 3-0.

Much of that core of players were freshmen and sophomores, including a multidimensional quarterback in Brayson Hill and many of his surrounding playmakers.

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They had a passing scrimmage on Tuesday, Van Meter's first as coach.

"This situation isn't easy on anybody," Van Meter said. "It's not easy on the district, not easy on the players. I've been on both sides of this. Sometimes you have to roll with the flow. The message (to the players) was to control what you can control. If they continue to put in that effort we are going to have success."

Van Meter played safety and quarterback in his high school days, when he led the Ceramics to an 8-2 record and their last playoff berth (in a non-COVID-19 year) in 2004. He also left as one of the top baseball players in program history, the sport in which he later excelled as a pitcher at Muskingum University.

He's not getting ahead of himself, including what the future might hold.

"Like I told the staff, I am concerned about tomorrow's plan, the weekly plan and adjust and go from there," Van Meter said. "I haven't had my football voice in five or six years."

s blackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Crooksville football has its new leader: 'Sometimes you have to roll with the flow'