The heat punching into mid- and upper-80s, eight-year-old Hawkins Reisert and his sister, five-year-old Lennox, for the moment are making Gardner-Webb’s track-and-field sandbox their personal playground while mom, Emily, circles the track.
Their dad, Cris Reisert, surveys the scene.
He’s Gardner-Webb’s first-year head coach, and he’s seeing his program bedrock on display: Family first.
“My wife and I from a really early stage, we’ve always known that we wanted to have a program that is relationship-driven in all we did,” Reisert tells FootballScoop. “That takes time and investment. We want to have a program built that way and we want a program that helps young men in being good fathers and husbands. We’re super-intentional in doing this together; when we take the team to the pool or have a cookout, our families are there.
“I think it creates a really unique atmosphere and one in which truly people care about you outside of football. I think authenticity is a really important trait for a leader and head coach. You’ve got to be who you are. Student-athletes don’t get enough credit for how smart and perceptive they are. If you try to be something other than exactly who you are or move different than how you say, I think players see right through that.”
Taking over for Tre Lamb following his departure to take over at ETSU after Lamb’s record-setting success atop the Runnin’ Bulldogs, Reisert also is very much a coach on the rise.
He’s coming off an 11-win, undefeated regular season in his final campaign at NCAA Division II program Tiffin and bringing an energetic, barnstorming approach to the North Carolina campus.
That means not just replenishing the roster but going to every corner of campus and fostering relationships, an element Reisert embraces as his team readies for its season opener Aug. 29 at home against Southern Conference program Wofford.
“We weren’t looking to just leave for any job and didn’t really want leave for another D-2 job. It was apparent to us when we got down to our interview that Gardner-Webb is a special place with a special vision,” Reisert tells FootballScoop. “I love being around people who innovative and have an entrepreneurial spirit. So, maybe we have a vision of something that we can’t do it right now, but they’re going to help find a way to flip it on its head and still get it done. I love being around that industriousness and love the faith-based atmosphere.”
The cohesion about which Reisert speaks is pervasive throughout the campus community, an element that continues to resonate with the Cincinnati, Ohio, native some seven months since his hiring.
“The first thing we did, we had dinner with the school president (Williams Downs) and his wife, a couple other coaches and our athletics director (Andrew Goodrich) and his wife at the president’s house. It was just about people and who we are and what we’re about, their visions for Gardner-Webb and Gardner-Webb athletics.
“To hear that laid out, and to hope we can help play a role in elevating where it’s at right now and where it can go is special. Every decision we make is built around people, people we want to be around and aligned with. To connect with all the different parts of our campus from the band director, cheerleading, financial aid, academic support; it was cool to see the amount of buy-in and investment.”
Reshaping the Runnin’ Bulldogs roster is ongoing for Reisert, as well as a coaching staff with Tyler Johns running the offense and Tim Cooper the defensive play-caller.
Inheriting approximately 45 players on roster upon their arrival, Reisert & Co. are continuing to fold in 36 newcomers between the two NCAA Portal Windows and filling out their remaining 110-man roster through high school recruiting – an element Reisert maintains at the forefront of his program.
Blending that roster, with players being tasked to take an intentional approaching to learning and getting to know their teammates, is helping set the foundation for what Reisert believes will be the Gardner-Webb program’s identity.
“The No. 1 core value in our program is effort,” Reisert says. “We’re going to play really, really hard and I certainly hope you see a super-energetic team who’s passionate to play football and the game we love. We want to be the most excited team, to have an edge and juice and have the most energy to go out and do what we want to do.
“We attack in everything we do, and I believe there’s a big difference in playing to win versus playing not to lose. We’re going to attack in all phases, and I think we’re going to play a really exciting brand of football.”