Domsitz assisted with the high school and junior high programs before coaching the pee wee teams in the evening. Then in 1976, he was hired as the head coach at Trotwood-Madison.
These days, the 75-year-old Alter High School head coach is still going strong. He’s entering his 50th consecutive season as a head coach. He coached at Trotwood, Alter and Northmont before returning to Alter, where he has been since 1999. He won back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009 and has a career record of 387-180.
“How long will I keep doing this? I think I’m going to wake up some morning and just call in and say, ‘I’m done,’” Domsitz said, “and I don’t think it’ll be during the season. I don’t see me making an announcement. I’m not looking to have those farewell games.”
Domsitz still teaches six classes per day — three periods of freshman world studies and three periods of honors world studies.
“Coaching and teaching helps to keep you young,” Domsitz said. “I don’t speak their language, their jargon, their terms. I kid around with ‘capping’ and ‘skibidi,’ but then they just look at me like ‘What’s he trying to sell?’ … I enjoy the classroom. I really can’t see myself doing one and not the other.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Alter senior Nolan Ogburn called playing for Domsitz an “awesome experience.”
“Some players just look forward to this,” Ogburn said. “In high school, it’s always nice to have a structured program because when we come to practice each day, it’s not just goof off and do whatever the heck you want to. Here, there’s a structure. There’s a standard. He expects us to meet that standard, and the standards are never lowered. At the end of the day, his goal is to make us better football players but also to make us better people off the field once football is over. Being able to play for him and have that experience, it’s been awesome. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Domsitz played for Paul Dienstberger at Trotwood and later coached under Dale Sterner, both of whom he said played a key role in his development as a coach. He still talks to Dienstberger, who now lives in Ashland.
Domsitz has coached in many big games over the years, but none bigger than Week 10 of the 1978 season.
The Trotwood-Madison Rams went 2-18 in his first two seasons. The following year, unbeknownst to him, the administration had decided that if he didn’t go 5-5 that they were going to look elsewhere.
They were 4-5 heading into a Week 10 matchup with Vandalia. The Rams jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead and won 32-12.
“(Sterner) had moved on to administration and came up and told me afterwards ‘You understand that saves your job?’” Domsitz said. “That’s probably a rather big game for me.”
Domsitz has coached many incredible players over the years, including several who played in the NFL. Two of his favorites were his brothers, Todd and Joe Domsitz.
“We’ve been blessed with a number of great players,” Domsitz said, “and it’s difficult because you start naming those players, and you always leave somebody out.”
A lot has changed in the last 50 seasons, Domsitz said, especially the complexity of the game. Teams have to be prepared for everything, he said.
“Now you get all kinds of shifts, slants and defensively, we have to prepare for teams that run wing T, teams like Fairmont who run the flexbone, and of course, the majority of teams who run spread,” he said. “It requires coaches to be able to teach kids how to handle each and every situation. … It’s not that simple anymore.”
Nowadays, coaches and parents also have a much better understanding of the negative repercussions of head injuries, he said.
“That’s probably the biggest question facing football over the next 10 or 15 years, and I think things that we do now to prevent that are going to pay off down the road, but that’s a challenge for football today,” Domsitz said. “Can we get better at dealing with that? We want people to feel good about their sons playing football and not worry that there’s going to be some long-lasting brain damage. That’s changed a lot, and that’s changed for the better.”
The Alter Knights enter the season seeking their 25th straight playoff appearance. They’ve played in six state championship games under Domsitz. They finished state runner-up in 2006, 2014, 2018 and 2023.
“Many programs in the state set that as a goal,” he said. “We set that as a goal. That’s a realistic goal for us in any given year. We were 3-5 last year after eight ball games, and then we ended up playing for a regional championship. That was an amazing run, and I give our senior leaders last year a great deal of credit for that. And our coaches, they never gave up.
“Our kids can exceed expectations,” Domsitz said. “We have a set of expectations and the challenge for them is to meet those expectations.”
Domsitz, however, isn’t taking all the credit for Alter’s success over the years.
“When you look at a good, solid program, the experience that parents have should create memories of a lifetime,” Domsitz said. “We want to make our parents part of the program, make them feel part of the program. I’ve been blessed with support from not just parents, but the faculty, the administration. It takes all those things to be able to put together a great program and consistently win.”
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