By Andy Walter

LEWES — For most of his life, Mike Frederick has been going to the beach in Lewes during the summer.

With his uncle, Dave, and cousins living there, it just became a part of his routine growing up.

Frederick just assumed that’s what summer was like for everyone.

“We didn’t know there was a different way to vacation,” he joked.

But now Frederick is at the beach to stay — and he’s here to work, not just hang out on the sand.

Hired in April as the new head football coach at Cape Henlopen High in April, the 49-year-old will start his first preseason camp with the Vikings on Monday.

A handful of Henlopen Conference teams will open practice this weekend because they start their schedule on the first weekend of September. Cape opens on Sept. 1 with a non-conference contest at Salesianum.

While he’s a native of Chester County, Pa., Frederick already has plenty of name recognition around Cape. The school has had its share of coaches and athletes from his extended family.

He and his own family bought a house in the beach area a couple years ago.
Frederick also spent five years as a defensive lineman in the NFL, playing three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.

The former University of Virginia standout said the fact that he’s a former pro player isn’t that big a deal with the high school kids, though.

“It’s interesting,” said Frederick. “It doesn’t come up as much as you might think.

“We’ve got some Cape alum who are on the staff, we’ve got local community members. We’ve got people who can talk about how football has impacted their life. What we’re trying to do is make sure we get enough of those teachable moments so these kids leave us, not just as better players, but hopefully as better people.

“The NFL stories, maybe some of them are a little outrageous, some of them — hopefully — are a little bit funny,” he added. “But usually we try to tie them to something where there’s a lesson learned. Maybe they don’t have to make the same mistake because I made it.”

One of Frederick’s new staff members is Cape athletic director Kevin Smith. The former Polytech High coach is going to work with the Vikings’ passing game.

Frederick has spent 10 years coaching high school football in Pennsylvania. He was the head coach at his alma mater, Neshaminy High, for one season, going 4-6 in 2014.

He stepped down from the position because of work obligations. He’s now a director at SEI, a private weath management company.

It’s been a difficult stretch for Cape Henlopen’s football program. The Vikings finished just 1-10 last fall and are 11-37 since 2016.

Frederick knows about Cape’s history, of course. But he also says he hasn’t spent too much time digging into the past.

He said he’s more interested in the future. He likes what he’s seen from his new players during off-season workouts and scrimmages.

“They’re great kids,” said Frederick. “These are our future leaders. These are the future men and women that are going to go on and lead businesses and change policy and do all kinds of fun stuff.

“We’re talking about football maybe a little differently than they’ve heard it in the past. ... It’s about them. We’d like to see them have success.”

The bottom line, said Frederick, is it’s not about what he and his coaching staff can accomplish. The only thing that matters is what the players themselves get out of the experience.

Frederick said if people are talking about the coaches rather than the players and the team, than he’s doing something wrong.

But Frederick also realizes that his family name means something in the beach area. He’d like to think he’s a mix of both the old and the new.

“I do have a family that’s built a lot of goodwill and trust in that community,” he said. “I want to do everything in my power to make sure what my relatives built in that community ... I’m an extension of that to some extent.

“But, also, I talked to them when I was offered the job. We discussed the fact that I’m going to try to implement some change in our culture and expectations. Some of that stuff is not easy. They supported me on that.”

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at 302-741-8227 or walter@iniusa.org.
Follow on Twitter at @DSNSports.