With the high school football playoffs approaching, every team is honing their skills and locking in their strategies. The Rocks got off to a hot start, taking four straight wins, two of which were against Westfield rivals Center Grove and Carmel. It’s all thanks to their new head coach, Joshua Miracle. “The mission is that, whether it’s Brownsburg week or sectional week, however far we can advance, we’ll really just try to have a great experience and meet that full potential,” said the first-time head coach. With former head coach Jake Gilbert leaving to be the head-coach-in-waiting at Wabash University, the torch has been passed to Miracle. The team has seen some changes in operation, but has retained the family spirit that Gilbert set in place for them.
“I do think there’s a lot of core principles that we’ve developed together in here over the last fourteen years that will certainly stay the same,” said Miracle. “We are still going to be a family driven culture, we’re rooted in that whole principle of outwork and out love.” Miracle has been a part of the team for 13 years, having played for Gilbert at Wabash before Westfield. The two had been working together tirelessly, with the rest of Westfield’s staff, to maintain the team’s feeling of family and sense of belonging that Gilbert had built. With Miracle now at the helm, the team has felt more empowered to work on their own and have more interaction between position-specific coaches. “He lets the assistants have control of their position,” said special team coordinator Ken Hampton. “Not to say that Gilbert didn’t, it’s just the way coach Miracle handles different situations; he’s calm, that’s just his personality.” This approach allows for Miracle to delegate any problem that arises within the team. When the freshman team lacked focus, Miracle leaned on leadership council to handle the issue.
“He’s good at assigning the right people to handle jobs and activities,” said senior center and leadership council member, Issac Cole. “If there’s something that needs to be done, he’ll give it to the leadership council, and he’s good about giving us a time frame and directing us to the people to communicate that through.” Now, as for the playoffs – the team-defining competition that devours teams whole, and either spits them out as champions or labels them for reworking – the Rocks say they feel ready, but Miracle says he can’t judge based off of past performance, looking for the small improvements today, rather than the big picture of tomorrow. “I’m always thinking about how we can be the best version of ourselves,” said Miracle.
“If we can get our team, in all three phases, to embark on the mission together, then we feel pretty good about what we can do in the playoffs.” Miracle’s low-key demeanor seeps into the team personality. By keeping the team calm, the players are better able to take in everything they see in their opponent’s strategy.
Cole said “He’s making sure that we saturate every week and learn these lessons from each individual team, so that once we get to playoffs, we’ve already seen most of this stuff.” The emphasis on family within the football program has only grown under Miracle’s leadership. With every challenge put before him, Miracle has shown that he makes his
own imprint on this team. He can utilize his talents and personality without altering what the previous coach, and good friend, has left behind. “It’s more about me taking the details and saying, how can we continue to improve?” said Miracle. “You’re just looking to continue to make it better, that’s what Coach (Gilbert) would want. ‘Hey, take it and run with it and see what we can continue to improve.’ ” With expectations at a middle ground, the coach has changed, but the goal hasn’t. The program will continue to work hard, and there isn’t a doubt in Miracle’s mind that this year, the playoffs are Westfield’s to take.
