Pete Huse knew the time would come when he would have to replace Bob Gaddis as head football coach at Columbus East. He just wasn’t sure when.
That time has arrived. Gaddis announced his retirement Wednesday morning after 42 years as a head coach, the final 20 at East.
“It’s something that I knew at some point in my career here at East, I was going to have to do,” Huse said. “You were always just hoping you could get one more year out of him. Unfortunately, we won’t get one more year out of him, but I certainly get it, and I appreciate it.”
Gaddis, who turned 65 last week, is the sixth all-time winningest coach in Indiana high school football history. He had head coaching stops at Tri-County, South Putnam, Danville, Pike, Evansville Reitz and East, compiling a 330-143 record along the way.
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But the Indiana Hall of Famer’s longest and most successful run came with the Olympians. He went 212-43 at East, winning 11 sectional, 10 regional, three semistate and two state championships. His teams have won 17 consecutive Hoosier Hills Conference titles and 96 straight HHC games.
“It’s been a tremendous run at Columbus East,” Gaddis said. “You want kids to reach their potential, and I feel like our coaching staff has done a very good job of that — getting our kids to play at a very high level.”
Coming to Columbus
Gaddis was coming off a 5-5 season at Reitz in 2000 when the East job opened following John Stafford’s retirement. He had a tough act to follow.
Stafford was the only coach the Olympians had ever had, guiding them from the opening of the school in 1972. He leading them to the Class 3A state title in 1979.
In his first three years at East, Gaddis went 18-16. Over the following 15 years, the Olympians had the best record of any team in the state regardless of class.
Although Gaddis led East to five regional titles from 2004-12, the Olympians couldn’t get past the semistate until routing New Palestine 49-14 at Stafford Field in 2013. That put them in the 4A state finals, where they beat Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger 28-27 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“We had made it to the final four a few times, but we had never made it to the big show,” Gaddis said. “It was just a fun week for everybody and the whole community. That pushed us into 5A, and when we were able to make it to the finals in 2016 and 2017, those were fun times as well.”
In those 2016 and 2017 runs, the Olympians had to go on the road to pull off huge upsets. They upset top-ranked New Palestine 35-7 in the opening round of the 2016 tournament and went on the road to beat Zionsville in the regional and Bloomington South in the semistate.
In 2017, East routed a heavily-favored Cathedral team 42-13 in the semistate.
“When you look back, those are really big games,” Gaddis said. “That New Pal game was something else. When we left 4A and went to 5A, I think there were a lot of people that didn’t think we could compete at that level. To beat New Pal, and then when we got to the regional and semistate and state level, those teams we played were all quality programs. The next year, when we made it back, when we went to Cathedral and beat them, there was a core of a lot of those kids that were there the year before and got us over the hump.”
When the Olympians won another regional in 2018, they accumulated enough points to move up to 6A under the IHSAA’s tournament success factor. They became the state’s first public school to move up two classes under that success factor.
“That’s an accomplishment we’re very proud of,” Gaddis said. “That doesn’t happen unless you have lots of good players and good coaches and good support.”
Molding young men
As big a success as Gaddis has been in terms of wins and losses, he may be a bigger success in the impact he has made in the lives of hundreds of student-athletes.
Markell Jones, who was a junior on the 2013 state championship team, set the state single-season rushing record in 2014 and was named Mr. Football. He went on to play four years at Purdue, obtained a degree in aviation and got his pilot’s licence.
“He used to say, ‘Do what Olympians do. Be a good person on and off the field,’” Jones said. “Over the years, he’s created a lot of men out of boys. He wanted good men first and foremost, and he was a good football coach, too. He won a lot of games, but he also wanted good men, which is really awesome.”
Harry Crider, who was the center on the state runner-up team and the state’s Offensive Lineman of the Year in 2016, is the starting center on an Indiana University team that is ranked No. 9 in the country. On Tuesday, he was selected as a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award.
“(Playing for Gaddis) was a really special time,” Crider said. “Coach Gaddis is one of the biggest leaders and role models I’ve had in my life so far. He instills values that go way beyond the football field. He raises kids to be great leaders and young men and husbands, and he’s been great for the Columbus East football community.”
Josh Major, the quarterback on the 2017 state championship team and now a wide receiver at DePauw, agreed.
“I felt really lucky and blessed to play for the Columbus East football program,” Major said. “I grew up dreaming about playing for coach Gaddis, and it exceeded all of my expectations when I got there. I loved playing for and learning about the game from him.”
Wrapping it up
Gaddis will miss a few things about coaching, including the rivalry game with Columbus North. Tim Bless has been the coach at North during Gaddis entire tenure at East, and the teams’ late-August meetings regularly have drawn upwards of 5,000 fans.
“That game when we get to play North, that’s a really good experience for all of our kids,” Gaddis said. “That’s a big event, just the environment that our kids got to play in.”
Bless messaged Gaddis Wednesday morning, congratulating him on a remarkable run and all the fun and exciting matchups.
“It will have a different feel to it, as many battles as coach Gaddis and I have had over the years,” Bless said. “We’ve worked hand in hand in developing the sport of football in the community of Columbus, and I feel proud about what we’ve both been able to accomplish together. Hopefully, as the next regime settles in, the relationship will remain as cordial.”
Gaddis informed his coaching staff and his players of his decision on Wednesday morning. But his first call was to Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. director of secondary education Bill Jensen, who was the principal at East when Gaddis was hired.
Gaddis, who served as the Olympians’ athletics director from 2006-15, also credited Glen Brown and Gary Young, who were the AD and assistant AD when he came to Columbus.
“Twenty years went fast, but those guys were instrumental to our program,” Gaddis said. “It’s unusual for guys to stay in it for 43 years, and it’s unusual for someone to stay in the same place for 20 years. When you find a place like this to stay in one spot, that’s really great. We love it here. We’re just fortunate that we ended up at Columbus East. They’ve been very good to me and my family.”
Gaddis plans to continue as physical education waiver coordinator and credit recovery program coordinator for the school through the end of the school year. He also will continue as executive director for the Indiana Football Coaches Association and as a member of several state and national committees.
“You take a Hall of Fame coach, somebody that’s put in not only 20 years at Columbus East, but 42 years overall, you take a state leader, a person that serves on national committees about the state of football, and you have to replace him, it’s going to be a tough position to fill,” Huse said. “What helps is, he’s left Columbus East in one of the best football positions that could be out there for someone to take over. This is going to be an attractive job, and we are going to have some very talented coaches looking into it.”
While COVID-19 played havoc with teams’ offseason training and practice routines this year, Gaddis said the timing of his decision had nothing to do with that.
“In retrospect, the thing that was the toughest about this year was the kids did not get to experience all the things that go along with football, the big crowds and getting to be with your teammates,” Gaddis said. “We had to keep them separate. Hopefully, it’s going to be behind us by next fall, and we won’t have to worry about it.”
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Name: Bob Gaddis
Age: 65
Born: Nov. 12, 1955 in New Castle
1974: Graduated from Muncie Southside High School
1978: Graduated from Ball State with degree in physical education health and U.S. history
1978-79: Hamilton Southeastern assistant football coach
1980-81: Tri-County head coach
1982-84: South Putnam head coach
1985-88: Danville head coach
1989-90: Pike head coach
1991-2000: Evansville Reitz head coach
2001-2020: Columbus East head coach
2004: Won first of 17 consecutive Hoosier Hills Conference titles, first of 11 sectional titles and first of 10 regional titles at East
2011: Won 100th game at East, 35-21 over Floyd Central on Sept. 23
2013: Led East to the Class 4A state championship with a 28-27 win against Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger
2014: Inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame
2016: Led East to a Class 5A state runner-up finish after a 16-13 title-game loss to Westfield
2017: Won 300th career game, 56-14 against Bedford North Lawrence on Oct. 27
2017: Led East to the Class 5A state title with a 42-28 win against Kokomo
2018: Led East to a regional title, ensuring it would move up to Class 6A for the next two years
2020: Led East to its first playoff win as a 6A school, 41-14 at Franklin Central on Oct. 30
2020: Announced retirement from coaching Nov. 18
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A breakdown of Bob Gaddis’ 212-43 record in his 20 seasons at Columbus East:
130-8 in Hoosier Hills Conference (with 96 consecutive wins)
142-9 vs HHC teams (including playoffs)
155-25 in the regular season
57-18 in the postseason
102-25 at Stafford Field
105-17 on the road
5-1 on a neutral field
17 consecutive HHC titles
11 sectional titles
10 regional titles
three semistate titles
two state titles (2013 and 2017)
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