The Abilene Teachers Federal Credit Union Coach of the Week this week is Hawley head football coach Mitch Ables.

Ables is in his 10th season leading the Bearcats football program, and it isn’t recognizable from when he took over in Hawley.

They have two trips to the state championship game, and they won the state championship in football for the first time in school history in 2022.

Now, Ables faces the challenge of doing it, again. How does he manage to keep his players interested and motivated after winning the title and hold off the teams that want to knock you off?

Ables said, “There’s not a season that’s the same. Every year’s got it’s challenges, and you’ve just got to take them head on, and try to do the best you can. We’ve got to do some things right up front, do some things right in the passing game, be good blockers. It’s all the stuff you work on every day. You’ve got to get better and keep improving. It’s nothing new. You just approach it one game at a time, just like you did the year’s before. I think they are all onboard. They want to be good, and they all want to practice and put in the time. It seems like we jell together a little better every week. We try to get them to where they are trying hard. It’s been a process, so far, but it seems like we are playing a little better at the right times.”

Hawley head football coach Mitch Ables is the Abilene Teachers Federal Credit Union Coach of the Week.